1 John Chapter 5
It seems that in Chapter 5 John is answering the question raised by a believer concerning a friend or relative. The question is: Suppose my friend / relative loves God; does he have eternal life?
John’s answer is this: the standard for everyone is the same – you (and your friend / relative) have to believe that Jesus is the Christ to have eternal life, and you (and your friend / relative) have to love those who are born of God, and stop practicing sin.
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the {child} born of Him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith.
5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
If you love God you will keep His commandments, which are: believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, and love your brother, and stop practicing sin (i.e. overcome the world).
It is not intrinsically hard to keep these three commandments.
When you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, you will overcome the world.
To overcome the world is to not love the world.
6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that testify:
8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.
10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
God wanted to testify something important to man. He wanted to tell man how man could get eternal life. His testimony was that eternal life was available through His Son Jesus, and only through Him (v 11,12).
God used three methods to give this testimony: the water, the blood and the Holy Spirit (v 6-8).
Now the testimony of the Holy Spirit is the most important because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (v 6) and therefore His testimony is true. If we gladly receive the testimony of man and act upon it we have no excuse for rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit (v 9).
To reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit is to call the Holy Spirit a liar (v 10). Now, the devil is the father of lies (Jn 8:44). So essentially, accusing the Holy Spirit of lying is the same as calling Him an unclean spirit - an act that Jesus said would not be forgiven (Mk 3:22-30).
In Mk 3:22-30 the scribes accused Jesus of doing miracles by the power of the devil. Therefore Jesus told them that if they accuse the Holy Spirit of being unclean they would not be forgiven.
In 1 Jn 5:12, John says that if you don't have the Son you don't have life. That is, you have death. Those who fail to believe the Holy Spirit do not have the Son of God and thus they have eternal death.
Now a sin leads to death is the same thing as the sin that cannot be forgiven. That is, it leads to death precisely because it cannot be forgiven. So those who reject the witness of the Holy Spirit (that Jesus is the source of eternal life) commit the sin that leads to death.
So we see that the sin unto death that John speaks about in 1 Jn 5 it the same one that Jesus talks about in Mk 3:22-30 – it is to call the Holy Spirit a liar and reject His witness regarding how to be saved. People who hear the gospel and have no interest in salvation, or try to get saved in some other way, or get saved and then fall away are calling the Holy Spirit a liar. They have committed the sin that leads to death.
From the above it should be clear that the sin that leads to death that John is talking about is the sin of calling the Holy Spirit a liar.
That is the background with which John goes into 1 Jn 5:13-17, the passage that talks about the sin leading to eternal death.
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Here we see John saying that he is writing so that we know the conditions under which we have eternal life.
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us {in} whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
The person who has eternal life has contact with God and God answers his prayers. John alluded to this earlier and now says it again.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not {leading} to death, he shall ask and {God} will for him give life to those who commit sin not {leading} to death. There is a sin {leading} to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.
John now addresses the following question: if someone is deliberately rejecting the gospel should we pray for him?
John says that if we ask according to God's will, God will grant our request. Therefore, if we see a brother struggling with forgivable sin John says it is good to ask God to help your brother by asking God to forgive him and give him life (i.e. help him overcome the sin). This ties back with what John spoke in 1 Jn 5:4,5 about overcoming sin (or 'the world') which ties back with what John said in 1 Jn 5:3 about keeping the commandments.
It is not according to God's will to ask the same for someone who deliberately rejects Christ or who falls away after believing in Christ. This is because that person is not born again and cannot keep the commands - it is impossible for him to do so. This is because John says in 1 Jn 5:4,5 that the ones who can keep the commands (which is the same as 'overcoming the world') are exactly those who are born again.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not {leading} to death.
For the unbeliever any and all sin leads to death. But for a believer all sin is forgivable (and therefore does not lead to death) except for the sin of calling the Holy Spirit unclean.
John is saying that it only makes sense to pray for people who are not committing the sin that leads to eternal death. You can’t do much for those who are committing the sin that leads to eternal death.
18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in {the power of} the evil one.
The point made in the paragraphs above is reinforced in 1 Jn 5:18,19. That is, people who are born of God are not in the devil's control and therefore can overcome sin, but the rest of the world cannot overcome sin because they are in the power of the devil. Therefore, if you friend / relative has eternal life then he / she will not want to sin in any way.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Jesus has come and has given us understanding of how to get eternal life so that we can have fellowship with God and know Him.
John reminds us that we are in Him only because we are in His Son Jesus Christ.
John’s final point is that Jesus is truly God and truly the only source of eternal life, and the only person who makes fellowship with God possible. So if you friend / relative does not have Jesus, he doesn’t have eternal life. It doesn’t matter whether he is a ‘good person’ or a ‘nice person’.
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
So don’t be too attached to your unbelieving friend / relative. They are like an idol.
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