1 John 5
Contemporary English Version
Victory over the World
5 If we believe Jesus is truly Christ, we are God's children. Everyone who loves the Father will also love his children. 2 If we love and obey God, we know we will love his children. 3 (A) We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow.
4 Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory. 5 No one can defeat the world without having faith in Jesus as the Son of God.
Who Jesus Is
6 Water and blood came out from the side of Jesus Christ. It wasn't just water, but water and blood.[a] The Spirit tells about this, because the Spirit is truthful. 7 In fact, there are three who tell about it. 8 They are the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and they all agree.
9 We believe what people tell us. But we can trust what God says even more, and God is the one who has spoken about his Son. 10 If we have faith in God's Son, we have believed what God has said. But if we don't believe what God has said about his Son, it is the same as calling God a liar. 11 (B) God has also said he gave us eternal life and this life comes to us from his Son. 12 And so, if we have God's Son, we have this life. But if we don't have the Son, we don't have this life.
Knowing about Eternal Life
13 All of you have faith in the Son of God, and I have written to let you know you have eternal life. 14 We are certain God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him. 15 And if we know God listens when we pray, we are sure our prayers have already been answered.
16 Suppose you see one of our people commit a sin that isn't a deadly sin. You can pray, and this person will be given eternal life. But the sin must not be one that is deadly. 17 Everything that is wrong is sin, but not all sins are deadly.
18 We are sure God's children do not keep on sinning. God's own Son protects them, and the devil cannot harm them.
19 We are certain we come from God and the rest of the world is under the power of the devil.
20 We know that Jesus Christ the Son of God has come and has shown us the true God. And because of Jesus, we now belong to the true God who gives eternal life.
21 Children, you must stay away from idols.
Footnotes
- 5.6 Water and blood came out from the side of Jesus Christ. It wasn't just water, but water and blood: See John 19.34. It is also possible to translate, “Jesus Christ came by the water of baptism and by the blood of his death! He was not only baptized, but he bled and died.” The purpose of the verse is to tell that Jesus was truly human and that he really died.
1 John 5
Young's Literal Translation
5 Every one who is believing that Jesus is the Christ, of God he hath been begotten, and every one who is loving Him who did beget, doth love also him who is begotten of Him:
2 in this we know that we love the children of God, when we may love God, and His commands may keep;
3 for this is the love of God, that His commands we may keep, and His commands are not burdensome;
4 because every one who is begotten of God doth overcome the world, and this is the victory that did overcome the world -- our faith;
5 who is he who is overcoming the world, if not he who is believing that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This one is he who did come through water and blood -- Jesus the Christ, not in the water only, but in the water and the blood; and the Spirit it is that is testifying, because the Spirit is the truth,
7 because three are who are testifying [in the heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these -- the three -- are one;
8 and three are who are testifying in the earth], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are into the one.
9 If the testimony of men we receive, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that He hath testified concerning His Son.
10 He who is believing in the Son of God, hath the testimony in himself; he who is not believing God, a liar hath made Him, because he hath not believed in the testimony that God hath testified concerning His Son;
11 and this is the testimony, that life age-during did God give to us, and this -- the life -- is in His Son;
12 he who is having the Son, hath the life; he who is not having the Son of God -- the life he hath not.
13 These things I did write to you who are believing in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that life ye have age-during, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God.
14 And this is the boldness that we have toward Him, that if anything we may ask according to his will, He doth hear us,
15 and if we have known that He doth hear us, whatever we may ask, we have known that we have the requests that we have requested from Him.
16 If any one may see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give to him life to those sinning not unto death; there is sin to death, not concerning it do I speak that he may beseech;
17 all unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not unto death.
18 We have known that every one who hath been begotten of God doth not sin, but he who was begotten of God doth keep himself, and the evil one doth not touch him;
19 we have known that of God we are, and the whole world in the evil doth lie;
20 and we have known that the Son of God is come, and hath given us a mind, that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ; this one is the true God and the life age-during!
21 Little children, guard yourselves from the idols! Amen.
1 John 5
The Message
5 1-3 Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-born. If we love the One who conceives the child, we’ll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God’s children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.
The Power That Brings the World to Its Knees
4-5 Every God-born person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
6-8 Jesus—the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God’s presence at Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us. A triple testimony: the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement.
9-10 If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God’s testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God’s own testimony regarding his Son.
11-12 This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.
The Reality, Not the Illusion
13-15 My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.
16-17 For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning (clearly I’m not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that is “fatal,” leading to eternal death), we ask for God’s help and he gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is not fatal. There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I’m not urging you to pray about that. Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.
18-21 We know that none of the God-born makes a practice of sin—fatal sin. The God-born are also the God-protected. The Evil One can’t lay a hand on them. We know that we are held firm by God; it’s only the people of the world who continue in the grip of the Evil One. And we know that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God—what a gift!—and we are living in the Truth itself, in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life. Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles.
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson