translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET study note

text: Also loves the child fathered by him. Is the meaning of 5:1 b a general observation or a specific statement about God and Christians? There are three ways in which the second half of 5:1 has been understood: (1) as a general statement, proverbial in nature, applying to any parent: “everyone who loves the father also loves the child fathered by him.” (2) This has also been understood as a statement that is particularly true of one’s own parent: “everyone who loves his own father also loves the (other) children fathered by him (i.e., one’s own brothers and sisters).” (3) This could be understood as a statement which refers particularly to God, in light of the context ( 5:1 a): “everyone who loves God who fathered Christians also loves the Christians who are fathered by God.” Without doubt options (2) and (3) are implications of the statement in its present context, but it seems most probable that the meaning of the statement is more general and proverbial in nature (option 1). This is likely because of the way in which it is introduced by the author with πᾶς ὁ ( pas Jo ) + participle. The author could have been more explicit and said something like, “everyone who loves God also loves God’s children” had he intended option (3) without ambiguity. Yet that, in context, is the ultimate application of the statement, because it ultimately refers to the true Christian who, because he loves God, also loves the brethren, those who are God’s offspring. This is the opposite of 4:20 , where the author asserted that the opponents, who profess to love God but do not love the brethren, cannot really love God because they do not love the brethren.


text: The author is once more looking at the situation antithetically (in ‘either/or’ terms) as he sees the readers on the one hand as true believers ( everyone who is fathered by God ) who have overcome the world through their faith, and the opponents on the other as those who have claimed to have a relationship with God but really do not; they belong to the world in spite of their claims.


text: Conquers the world. Once again, the author’s language is far from clear at this point, and so is his meaning, but the author has used the verb conquers ( νικάω , nikaw ) previously to describe the believer’s victory over the enemy, the evil one himself, in 2:13-14 , and over the secessionist opponents, described as “false prophets” in 4:4 . This suggests that what the author has in mind here is a victory over the opponents, who now belong to the world and speak its language (cf. 4:5 ). In the face of the opponents’ attempts through their false teaching to confuse the readers (true believers) about who it is they are supposed to love, the author assures the readers that loving God and keeping his commandments assures us that we really do love God’s children, and because we have already achieved victory over the world through our faith, keeping God’s commandments is not a difficult matter.


text: This verse is a parenthesis in John’s argument.


text: In understanding how “God’s testimony” (added to the three witnesses of 5:8 ) can consist of eternal life it is important to remember the debate between the author and the opponents. It is not the reality of eternal life (whether it exists at all or not) that is being debated here, but rather which side in the debate (the author and his readers or the opponents) possesses it (this is a key point). The letter began with a testimony that “the eternal life” has been revealed ( 1:2 ), and it is consummated here with the reception or acknowledgment of that eternal life as the final testimony. This testimony (which is God’s testimony) consists in eternal life itself, which the author and the readers possess, but the opponents do not. This, for the author, constitutes the final apologetic in his case against the opponents.


text: The one who has the Son. The expression “to have the Son” in 5:12 means to “possess” him in the sense that he is present in the individual’s life (see 1 John 2:23 for the use of the Greek verb “to have” to indicate possession of a divine reality). From the parallel statement in 5:10 a it is clear that believing in the Son and thus having God’s testimony in one’s self is the same as “having” the Son here in 5:12 a. This is essentially identical to John 3:16 : “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” In contrast, the negative statement in 5:12 b reflects the author’s evaluation of the opponents: “the one who does not have the Son does not have (eternal) life.” The opponents, in spite of their claims to know God, do not possess (nor have they at any time possessed, cf. 2:19 ) eternal life.


text: The pronoun This one ( οὗτος , Joutos ) refers to a person, but it is far from clear whether it should be understood as a reference (1) to God the Father or (2) to Jesus Christ. R. E. Brown ( Epistles of John [AB], 625) comments, “I John, which began with an example of stunning grammatical obscurity in the prologue, continues to the end to offer us examples of unclear grammar.” The nearest previous antecedent is Jesus Christ , immediately preceding, but on some occasions when this has been true the pronoun still refers to God (see 1 John 2:3 ). The first predicate which follows This one in 5:20 , the true God , is a description of God the Father used by Jesus in John 17:3 , and was used in the preceding clause of the present verse to refer to God the Father ( him who is true ). Yet the second predicate of This one in 5:20 , eternal life , appears to refer to Jesus, because although the Father possesses “life” ( John 5:26, 6:57 ) just as Jesus does ( John 1:4, 6:57 , 1 John 5:11 ), “life” is never predicated of the Father elsewhere, while it is predicated of Jesus in John 11:25 and 14:6 (a self-predication by Jesus). If This one in 5:20 is understood as referring to Jesus, it forms an inclusion with the prologue, which introduced the reader to “the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” Thus it appears best to understand the pronoun This one in 5:20 as a reference to Jesus Christ. The christological affirmation which results is striking, but certainly not beyond the capabilities of the author (see John 1:1 and 20:28 ): This One [Jesus Christ] is the true God and eternal life .