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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Power, Testimony, and Substance of Faith.
The wonderful power of faith:
v. 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him.
v. 2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
v. 3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.
v. 4. For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.
v. 5. Who is he that overcomes the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
The apostle here virtually returns to the topic with which he opened his letter, showing that faith is the source of all Christian life: Every one that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loves Him who brought [him] forth loves also him that was brought forth by Him. That is the great test of Christianity, a man's attitude toward Jesus Christ, Mat_22:42. If he believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the eternal Son of God and the Savior of the world, then there is unmistakable evidence that he is born of God, regenerated, that he has received the new spiritual life. Such a person will love God, his heavenly Father, in a twofold sense, as a matter of fact. Just as self-evident, however, ought to be his love for all others that have been begotten of God, for all other children of God, who by virtue of their regeneration are his spiritual brethren. That is a necessary consequence of the new spiritual life: love toward God and toward the brethren. This love of the Christians is a living power; By this we find out that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. Love toward God is not a matter of sentimental feelings and consists still less in the sanctimonious talk that it is our duty to love the heavenly Father. There must be concrete evidence, also for our own satisfaction, namely, keeping of God's commandments, living in accordance with His holy will. True children of God cannot but show their sonship in this manner. With this is most intimately connected, moreover, the love toward the brethren. This is also not a matter of specious, pious talk, but of acting toward the brethren at all times as the will of the heavenly Father desires it.
Since the knowledge of our sonship toward God is so important in our lives, the apostle repeats: For this is the love to God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. That is the essence of true love toward God, that His children find their greatest delight in fulfilling His commandments, in performing and practicing everything that pleases Him, and therefore also in loving our brethren in deed and in truth. And such conduct on our part we do not consider a grievous, bothersome burden, for love feels no loads. Faith in God, love toward God brings strength from God; and "through His love and His strength all His commandments are not only easy and light, but pleasant and delightful" (Clarke).
This fact, that to a Christian the commandments of God are not burdensome, is now explained more fully: Everything that is born of God conquers the world; and this is the victory which conquers the world, our faith. The apostle uses the very strongest expression that he can find to indicate that his statement is a universal principle, that it applies to every Christian without exception. Wherever the new birth has taken place, wherever faith has been planted in the heart, there this wonderful power exists, there the believer is able to conquer the world, all the forces in this world that are opposed to the spiritual life in him, the entire kingdom of sin and evil. This conquest, this overcoming of the world, is a continuous process; that is the work in which the regenerate are always engaged. Not in their own power, indeed, do they battle with the forces of darkness, but in and by the faith which God kindled in them in conversion. Without this faith the professed believers would be lost, no matter what prodigies of cleverness and wisdom they may be otherwise. But with this faith they are victors even in advance, for they become partakers of the victory which their Champion, Jesus Christ, won over the kingdom of darkness. He overcame sin, death, and hell, and therefore these enemies are powerless against the faith which clings to the Savior and His victory.
This faith is, of course, not a matter of the imagination: Who is he that conquers the world but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? There are many things in our days which are labeled faith that have nothing in common with saving, justifying faith, opinions which deny the redemption of Christ and fatuously rely upon the eventual recognition of the innate goodness of man by God. There is only one true faith, namely, this knowledge and conviction, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, that God Himself was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, that He is gracious and merciful to us for the sake of Christ. This only is faith, this conviction only has that almighty power of which St. John speaks; everything else is vain imagination. As the entire Christian life is a fruit of justifying, saving faith, so also the ceaseless conquest of evil with all its power.