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1Jn_5:4. Confirmation of the preceding thought.
πᾶν τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ] The neuter is used here as in Gospel of Joh_3:6; Joh_6:37; Joh_17:2; it serves “to bring out the general category;” see Meyer on Joh_3:6; comp. Winer, p. 160; according to the sense = πάντες οἱ κ . τ . λ .; it is not the disposition, but persons that are meant. Quite erroneous is the remark of Baumgarten-Crusius: “the γεγενν . ἐκ τ . Θ . has here only an external signification: whatever has the position of God’s children.”
νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον ] for: μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν αὐτοῖς , ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ , chap. 1Jn_4:4.
νικᾷ is the simple present; in the conflict between the κόσμος and him who is born of God, the latter is constantly gaining the victory. Baumgarten-Crusius unsatisfactorily explains νικᾷν by “to keep oneself innocent;” this does not exhaust the idea of victory; that is not obtained when we take our stand against the enemy, but only when the enemy is overcome. The completion of the victory in its full sense certainly only takes place with the second coming of Christ.
Rickli and de Wette explain κόσμος by “love of the world and of self;” better Lücke, Calvin, Sander, Düsterdieck, Brückner, etc.: “all that strives against the will of God within and without man;” but even this is too abstract. It is the kingdom of the wicked one which, under its prince the devil, striving against the kingdom of God, seeks to tempt the believer to unbelief and disobedience to the divine commands.
As the apostle wants to show how he that is born of God overcomes the world, he continues: καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ νίκη ἡ νικήσασα τὸν κόσμον ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν . The pronoun αὕτη refers to ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν , which in its import is no other than the πίστις , ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστὶν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ , 1Jn_5:5. The expression is peculiar, inasmuch as faith is described as the νίκη itself, and the νικᾷν is ascribed to it. Lorinus rightly remarks: victoria proprie non vincit, sed comparatur pugnando, sed energiam continet ea formula, denotans in quo sita sit vincendi ratio, unde victoria parta.[296] The aorist ΝΙΚΉΣΑΣΑ is not to be turned into the present (a Lapide, Lorinus, Grotius, etc.); even though the victory is a continuous one, in which every believer is constantly taking part, the aorist nevertheless indicates that faith from the beginning overcame the world. The explanation of Baumgarten-Crusius: “it is already victory won that ye have become believers” (similarly Neander), is incorrect; it is not here intended to commend faith as the result of a fight, but as that which fights, and which has won the victory; hence the active Ἡ ΝΙΚΉΣΑΣΑ (so also Braune).
[296] Ebrard opposes this explanation with the arbitrary statement that ἡ νίκη “is the action which conquers the world” (!).