OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD - 1 JOHN 5:4-5

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.

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[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 

 

LOVE THE CHILDREN OF GOD - 1 JOHN 5:1-3

Verses 1–3: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

These first three verses of chapter five is John’s summarization of his discussion of the believers’ love for God and fellow brothers in Christ.

The Christ

John’s opening assertion is a statement of unequivocal truth, but its significance is often missed by casual reading. The important aspect of what a person believes about Jesus is that He is the Christ—the Jewish Messiah. For He came to earth to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) and accomplished His mission. By this it should be noted that John and the 1^st Century Jews had not given up hope for their Messiah Who would restore the nation and fulfill the Davidic Covenant as their eternal King. In a few years from having written this epistle, John would be given the “Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1), a vision which will provide believers for all generations with the fulfillment of God’s plan for His peoples, Israel and the Church: Israel will receive the Promised Land and kingdom; the Church a heavenly eternity.

John adds that the one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. This is the rebirth which Our Lord told Nicodemus: “You must be born again” (John 3:7). When Jesus proclaimed this new birth He was alluding to Ezekiel 36:25–27 and the promised spiritual regeneration necessary to prepare the Jewish nation for the fulfillment of their covenant blessings still to come. Yet it must be clearly stated: the Church today does not replace Israel but instead shares in this blessing of spiritual regeneration by faith in Jesus Christ.

Loves the Father

Those who love the Father love their brothers, who are also born of God. But as previously discussed in 4:20, love of the Father is not merely saying “I love the Father.” Instead, it is demonstrated by the believer who resides in the love relationship with the Father, evidenced by their decision to consistently study and accurately apply of Scripture in their life. This is how personal love for God is exhibited; motivating and enabling the believer to function effectively in serving Him.

Hence, John declares a simple fact that whoever loves the Father loves fellow believers who are born of the Father—the children of God. This John stressed in 4:11, that we “ought to love one another.” To imagine the opposite is to imagine the impossible.1 It would imply that a believer is spiritually disconnected from the reality of his relationship with God.

However, we are not able to love all believers in an intimate personal way, for this is virtually impossible; nor are we to pretend to love them in a superficial manner. Scripture asserts that our love is to be genuine and sincere (Romans 12:9; 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22). Instead, we can and should exhibit impersonal love towards all believers. This type of love is not sentimental or emotional; neither does it demand that we tolerate or condone bad behavior. R.B. Thieme, Jr. provided a valuable example of impersonal love that we can emulate:

Impersonal love is a relaxed and objective mental attitude toward everyone—friend or enemy, worthy or unworthy, pleasant or obnoxious. Impersonal love solves problems in personal relationships. The believer with impersonal love is able to accept all people as they are, without demands for reciprocation, without reaction or retaliation, without incurring mental attitude sins.2

His Commandment

John doesn’t miss the opportunity to remind us of our obligation to keep His commandments. He assures us that we can know that we sincerely love the brethren without any hint of hypocrisy, when (assuming that) we love God and comply with His commandments.  Vincent aptly concludes that,

Our perception of the existence of love to our brethren is developed on every occasion when we exercise love and obedience toward God.3   

Observing God’s commandments places the believer in a right relationship with the Father and therefore enabling him to exhibit impersonal love towards other believers.

John further clarifies his argument in verse 3 by declaring that the demonstration of the believers’ love for God is evidenced explicitly when we consistently keep His commandments. In particular, the one commandment of love that Our Lord gave on numerous occasions: towards our neighbor (Matthew 19:19b; 22:39) and towards other believers (John 13:34; 15:12, 17). John has reiterated our obligation to keep His commandments throughout his epistle (2:3–4; 3:22, 24). But on this issue of love for fellow believers he specifically charged that we are not to “love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (3:18).

Therefore this love that we are commanded to carry out has a divine origin, from God the Father, Who first loved us (4:19). It follows that in order for us to love others or even to love God we must understand the essence and extent of His love for us:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Never forget that Christ was willing to accomplish this on our behalf even while we were His enemies (Romans 5:10), while we were sinners in open rebellion to our Creator.

We must get this straight in our thinking, exactly how we exhibit our love towards God: by a right response to the love He demonstrated toward us, determinedly resolving to abide in His love relationship and consistently studying His Word, making application of His truth in our moment-by-moment walk of faith. This is the advance to spiritual maturity; enabling us to obey His commandments and exhibit love towards all fellow believers, regardless of those who are obnoxious or unpleasant.

No Burden to Bear

John concludes his analysis of the biblical principle of love with an encouraging footnote: His commandments are not burdensome.

The core meaning of this word burden implies a great physical weight, something that is heavy. But commands have no physical weight; instead John is referring to the psychological stress of constraining and challenging mandates. He is most likely drawing from his memory of how Our Lord reprimanded the scribes and Pharisees who “weigh men down with burdens hard to bear” (Luke 11:46), referring to the oppressive rules they had devised for the Jews to comply with.

If we consider John’s guidelines for our responsibility to love as a great burden, then we need to do some soul searching to determine if we are in fellowship with Our Lord. Being indifferent towards His command to demonstrate impersonal love for all believers is sinful and rebellious. It indicates that we are not “of the truth” (3:19). However, this can be rectified by regaining fellowship when our sin is confessed. There in His love relationship we are able to avail ourselves of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to change our attitude towards this essential truth, and become dynamic witnesses before a lost and watching world.

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

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[1] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.518.

[2] Thieme, R.B., Jr. (2022). Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary, Houston, TX: R.B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, p. 136.

[3] Vincent, Marvin R. (n/d). Word Studies in the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2.363.

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi 

 

GOD FIRST LOVED US - 1 JOHN 4:19-21

Verses 19–21: We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

John begins by affirming exactly what makes it possible for the believer to exhibit personal love for God the Father: because He first loved us. God took the initiative, the first step in reaching out to man by providing redemption for sinful mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ. For “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8b). This is the evidence of His first loving us. Our response is not to beat our chest and proclaim “I found God!” The right response is to diligently seek Him (Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13) and to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation (Acts 16:31). The apostle Paul summarizes:

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18–19)

Duplicity of Love

It should be noted that the brother mentioned in verse 20 is not a sibling but specifically a fellow believer in Christ. John, the master of forthrightness, previously told us that the deceptive believer who hates his brother is in the darkness (2:9) and that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (3:15). And now here, he clearly states that the one who claims to love God and hates his brother is an unequivocal liar. Darkness, murderer, liar is quite an indictment for the hating believer.

He follows with a logical conclusion to this indictment. Simply stated, if you hate your brother who you see, you cannot love God Who you have not seen. It is noteworthy that John points out that seeing someone becomes the basis of loving another. Often, someone’s visual characteristics will initiate attraction towards another, whether it is their face, hair style or the way they walk. For it stands to reason that it is more natural to love a real live human being that can be seen. How can there be genuine love expressed with someone met and conversed with on the internet that has never been actually seen? In our times, they may not even be a real live human; they could be an AI entity. Therefore, mankind was designed to have physical, tangible relationships with other people.

But in contrast, John is attempting to demonstrate that the most important relationship that man can have is with his Creator. That it may not be physical or observable with the human eye, yet this is far more real and authentic than a physical relationship because of the spiritual union the believer possesses with God. This is the abiding relationship that John has been discussing (4:16); it is an eternal relationship that is knowable because God has revealed Himself through His Word. And by learning and obeying the principles and directives in His Word we gain this intimate relationship with God that the unbeliever cannot. The Apostle Paul explains why this is so:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14–16)

Paul develops this further, that the Holy Spirit assists the believer in comprehending His Word.

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16–19)

By being “filled up to all the fullness of God” the believer experiences a relationship with the God Who “first loved us.”

This Commandment

There is a commandment given by God that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39). But John is referring to a specific commandment when he says this commandment, one that Our Lord personally gave to His disciples prior to His death, to “love one another, just as He commanded us” (3:23):

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34)

This is a reciprocal love that produces a harmonious relationship within the community of believers so that consequently “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

This presupposes the obedience of “the one who loves God” and corresponds with the mandate Our Lord described as “the great and foremost commandment” (Matthew 22:38): “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

But here John integrates this great and foremost command with the directive Our Lord gave to the disciples during His Upper Room Discourse (John 14–17): “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Love for His Brother

 To what degree are we to love fellow believers? It is worth quoting again the late Bible teacher Chester McCalley (1935-2000) and his concise summary of this type of love:

Love directed towards man is the mental attitude that demands that we do what is best for another in the light of eternity no matter what it costs us.1

This is in accordance with what Our Lord told His disciples:

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

And it is exactly what Our Lord did, having mentioned it 4 times in his discussion of the Good Shepherd laying down His life for the sheep (John 10: 11–18).

The apostle Paul succinctly outlined how Jesus Christ demonstrated His greater love for His sheep:

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6–8)

When we consider the enormity of His command to love our brother in Christ, are we willing and able to follow His example, no matter what it costs us?

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[1] McCalley, Chester. http://wordoftruthkc.org/sites/default/files/file/Philippians%20Commentary.pdf, p. 4. [Retrieved April 19, 2025]

 

© David M. Rossi 

 

WHEN FEAR STRIKES OUT - 1 JOHN 4:18

Verse 18: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

The idea that “the opposite of fear is love”1 has been proclaimed by many in the community of believers.2 But unfortunately it is an inaccurate summary of this passage. For the context establishes that fear is the opposite of confidence (v.17) and as simply stated by R.C.H. Lenski: “where the one is, the other is not.”3

No Fear in Love

John begins with this declarative statement of absolute truth: there is no fear in love. There are two things to consider at the outset: the meaning of fear and the significance of the phrase in love. First, various degrees of the word fear are designated in Scripture depending upon its usage—“fear, dread, terror...reverential fear.”4 The fact is, fear does not always indicate terror or the frightfulness designated as “fear with trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5; Philippians 2:12). For here, John is referring to an anxious dread5 in anticipation of the day of judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10-11) and loss of reward (1 Corinthian 3:14-15) as was discussed in the previous verse.

Secondly, in love again refers to the believer’s ideal place of spiritual residence—in the sphere of God’s divine love. This was discussed in verse 16, that “the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Thus, while the faithful believer resides consistently in this unique and intimate fellowship with God it is impossible for there to be any dread or fear present.

Fear and Punishment

In contrast, perfect love casts out fear. The emphasis is on the word perfect which derives its meaning from the Greek to be “complete, full, wanting in nothing,”6 in the sense of having matured and of being excellent in quality. Fear and dread is evidence of an immature believer, impeding their ability to think and therefore hindering their growth to maturity. It also means that the believer is no longer in fellowship and is residing outside of the sphere of God’s love. Whereas, perfect love is characterized by the confident believer who is in fellowship and is producing good works. Mind you, this perfect love does not originate from the believer, for it is God’s love, and the believer replicates it when empowered by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Thus dread of the judgement of the believers’ works is literally thrown out by an active decision by the believer to endeavor that this perfecting process of His love be accomplished together with us (v.17).

Note also the consequences of fear and dread: it involves punishment. Bishop Trench asserts that this word punishment implies disciplining with “reference to the correction and bettering of the offender.”7 The writer of Hebrews declares:

“For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:6–7; cf. Job 5:17-18)

The question one might pose is how exactly can a believer avert His discipline? The answer is not quite as forthcoming as one may anticipate, yet John continually reminds us to keep His commandments (2:3; 3:22, 24; 5:3; cf. John 14:15) implying our need to search Scripture for these commands.

However, within the context of chapter 4, John is emphasizing the love relationships of the faithful believer: to love one another (v.7, 20-21) and to consistently abide in God in the sphere of His divine relationship of love (v.15-16). Thus, the believer who is not intent upon pleasing the Lord may well expect to undergo the dread of impending discipline for their failure to walk in the light, because all of their works while they are in the state of sin will be judged as “wood, hay, and straw” and burned up as inadequate for reward (1 Corinthians 3:12-14). These works are considered human good, “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1), performed in the power of the flesh (Romans 7:18), instead of divine good, accomplished while empowered by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 22).

Our Discipline

The writer of Hebrews affirms God’s objective for our discipline: “But He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10b). Sharing in His holiness is when the believer is sinless and able to fulfill His desire that we “bear more fruit” (John 15:2) in the production of divine good works. This is to assure that the quality of our works will be acceptable to God, enduring the testing of fire so that we “will receive a reward” (1 Corinthians 3:13-14) on the day of judgment. Thus, discipline “is designed so that a good man may become a better man.”8 The Apostle Paul outlines the essential need of the believer to achieve spiritual maturity and to avoid discipline:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

John concludes with this fact: the one who still dreads impending discipline has not been made perfect in love—they have not become a mature believer in the sphere of God’s divine love relationship. Unfortunately, the immature believer may be totally unaware of God’s discipline for their sinful condition and will lose out on all the benefits of an abiding fellowship in Christ (John 15:5) inside the sphere of God’s divine love relationship.

A Final Thought

Therefore, it is a necessity for all believers to objectively analyze every instance of spiritual testing to determine if it is meant as a forewarning for them to return to fellowship (1 John 1:9), or if it is a “testing of your faith” in order to develop spiritual endurance to become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3-4) in our life of faith, while residing in the sphere of God’s love.

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[1] Schneider, J. (1964–). κόλασις. In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich, Eds.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 3.817.

[2] Yunuen Trujillo, (lay minister): https://uscatholic.org/articles/202309/the-opposite-of-love-is-fear/; Robert O’Neill (Episcopalian Bishop): https://medium.com/@TEC_CO/the-opposite-of-love-fear-d38508f943d2; Judith E. Lipson, (Licensed Professional Counselor): https://www.spiralwisdom.com/the-opposite-of-love-is-not-hate-it-is-fear/; J.D. Walt: https://seedbed.com/1john-the-opposite-of-love-is-fear-not-hate/  [Retrieved June 2025]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

[3] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.513.

[4] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.230.

[5] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Peabody: Hendrickson, p. 2452.

[6] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G5046.

[7] Trench, Richard (1975). Synonyms of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, p. 24.

[8] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 7.72.

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi