Verses 4-5: For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (ESV)
The opening word for indicates that John is continuing his thought from verse 3 by supplying the reason that God’s commandments are not burdensome. Briefly, the reason is that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world; this is the resultant status of their faith—having believed in Christ for salvation. The world, as Smith aptly declares, refers to “the sum of all the forces antagonistic to the spiritual life.”1 For the believers to have overcome the world means they have overcome the ruler and influencer of the world, the evil one (2:13–14), whose chief aim is to dissuade mankind from believing in Christ, causing them to perish eternally. Therefore, John is able to assert that everyone who believes in Christ exists as a permanent victor over the evil one; having thwarted the evil one’s intent upon distracting us from fulfilling the plan of God for our life.
However, he points out that there is a dual aspect of our faith victory of having overcome the world: it is procured at the moment we are born of God, when we believed in Jesus Christ as or Savior; and our faith is the provision for our empowerment over the forces of the world that continue to oppress us throughout our Christian life.
Faith
A vitally important note needs to be made about John’s use of this word faith, since this is the only time he uses it in his epistles or gospel account. The word does appear 4 times in the Revelation, so understanding how John uses it there can clarify its meaning here. First it should be pointed out that the believers’ faith always has an object: faith in Jesus Christ for salvation as John conveys in Revelation 14:12: Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
But John appears to employ a broader significance to the word faith by indicating “that which is believed, body of faith or belief, doctrine,”2 meaning the content of God’s Word which the Christian has learned, believes and practices. This is the impression John gives in the other times he uses faith in Revelation (2:13, 19; 13:10). It is also how the apostle Paul views the word faith (Romans 1:5; 12:6; Galatians 1:23; 3:23–5). Yet, in our passage John seems to merge both concepts of faith that enables the believer to overcome the world: by the content of what we believe, and in verse 5, by believing “that Jesus is the Son of God” as the object of our faith.
Therefore, our faith in Jesus secures our victory over the world, but also, as John described in 2:14, because “you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” This is the identical concept Our Lord conveyed to the believing Jews in John 8:31–32:
“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
The truth He is referring to is the content of His Word, the doctrine that embodies the beliefs of our faith. Thus, as a result of our knowledge and proper application of His truth in our lives we are free, victorious over the slavery of sin which the world and the evil one advocates and entices. Yet, our faith is not intended to be idle or motionless; it is to be a dynamic faith in Christ that should actively motivate us to know and abide in His word, aspiring to reach spiritual maturity and to consistently reside in the sphere of His love relationship.
Overcoming the World
The Greek word for overcome is nike, from which the American athletic footwear and apparel corporation ‘Nike’ derives its name. It simply means victory as demonstrated by an action that overthrows an opposing force and is manifest for all to see.3 This concept of overcoming is unique to John’s writings, as he employs this word 25 out of the 34 times it appears in the New Testament. What must have reverberated in John’s mind was what he heard Our Lord proclaim just prior to His crucifixion:
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
We might correctly ask: How had Our Lord overcome the world? Clearly, from the very beginning of His Incarnation He had been under attack by the demonic opposition of the evil one, Satan: King Herod’s attempt to kill Him (Matthew 2:16); the temptations of the devil while in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13); the planned stoning by the Jews (John 8:59; 10:31); the conspiracy of the Pharisees and scribes to destroy and kill Him (Matthew 12:14; Mark 14:1), and their attributing that His power to cast out demons came from “the ruler of demons” (Matthew 9:34; Mark 3:22); the disputation of His deity by the Jews (John 5:18; 10:33; 19:7). This was the onslaught of Satan, the evil one (2:13) who Christ vanquished. But Our Lord’s resurrection from the dead was His ultimate triumph—the victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:12ff).
The Question
The question in verse 5 is one that each of us should contemplate: are we able to say that we have overcome the world? Here John is stating that we can only affirm this if we have believed that “Jesus is the Son of God.” This belief is interconnected with what John expressed in 4:2 of those who confess “that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” These are the ones who believe that He is the unique person of the universe—both God and man in hypostatic union. Paul proclaimed this precisely: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). Therefore, upon the certainty of this truth exists the relevancy of our faith; not only our belief in Christ for salvation, but also the basis of the content of the doctrines we believe and hold to steadfastly (Philippians 2:16). To believe otherwise violates the doctrines of Scripture and is the deceptive heresy of the Gnostics.
[1] Smith, David (1990). In The Expositor’s Greek Testament (Nicoll, W. Robertson, Ed.), Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 5.194.
[2] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 664.
[3] Bauernfeind, Otto. 1964–. Νίκη, In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Eds.), Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 4:942.
© 2025 David M. Rossi
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