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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 John 5:12 - 5:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
12. A deduction from the preceding clause. If the Son has the life in Himself, then whoever has the Son has the life, and no man can have the one without the other. ‘To have the Son’ must be compared with ‘to have the Father’ in 1Jn 2:23. In both cases ‘have’ signifies possession in living union through faith.
ἔχει τὴν ζωήν. As R.V., hath the life; not merely ‘the life just mentioned’, or ‘the life which God gave us’, but the life which in the full sense of the word is such.
ὁ μὴ ἔχων. As in 1Jn 5:10, the negative alternative is stated generally and indefinitely (μή not οὐ). The addition of τοῦ θεοῦ is neither fortuitous nor pleonastic. Those who possess Him know that He is the Son of God; those who do not, need to be reminded Whose Son it is that they reject.
The verse constitutes another close parallel with the Gospel: comp. the last words of the Baptist (Joh 3:36).