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17 1st John 5.4-6
July 24th 2016
Meat
Okay, up to this point John has pretty much slammed us with the importance of agape love.
But now he returns to the key to the faith, even the key to operating by and through love – faith.
This is no mistake. Let’s read:
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
Back to verse four where John takes us a new direction before wrapping this epistle up – and he says in verse 4
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
The first thing I notice here is that the term whatsoever (or whatever) is used here instead of who or whomsoever.
It appears that this is written in what is called the “neuter singular perfect passive participle of gennaô” instead of in the masculine singular and from what I can tell this is John’s way of expressing quite poignently the universality of the principle.
John does this several times in his gospel too, for instance in John 3:6 he writes:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Again skipping the he or she which is born of the flesh and making it a universally applicable principle.
4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world . . .”
There are elements of scripture that are specifically to the people of that day and age and have direct application to them alone.
These often deal with the times and age that they were in. For instance in Matthew 24 where Jesus says to His disciples:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
These instructions were directly to them and not to us at all today. Then there are cultural examples in scripture (like washing feet and anointing visitors heads with oil) which are also outside of application to us as well.
But there are general instructions – what we might view as spiritual principles – that certainly have application to all peoples – those then and to us today.
These include things like the importance of faith, and love, and all the descriptive elements of them like patience, longsuffering, temperance and the like.
Well, here we discover one of these spiritual principles which have existed from the fall out to even this very day and age:
The directive for people of God to “overcome the world.”
Here the term world is kosmos, not gahay, and therefore we know John is using the term to represent the fallen state of man in this material circumstance – a universal principle.
And in relation to the world – its maxims, precepts, customs, trends, and methods – John speaks of our (believers) overcoming it.
Why does God want us to overcome the world and its ways?
We read back in chapter 2 of this epistle the following:
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
If it is not of Him God wants us to overcome it – become freed from it, emancipated from its influences upon us, and to therefore be more inclined to Him – who is genuine selfless unconditioned love and not anything based in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life.
John here says:
4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world . . .”
Born from above, born of the spirit (and not just born from the flesh) – born of God Himself. And what is the result of such a birth?
Overcoming this material natural fallen world. It is as important a principle to us today as it was for Cain and Abel, Abraham, the COI and Christians in the Apostolic Church.
The word overcome here in the Greek is Nee-ka-oh – which means to subdue, conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory.
It’s interesting that the word comes from the root Nike, which means victory or success, and has been adopted BY THIS world to symbolize almost everything that God is not –
The lust of the flesh (tap into the feeling of owning a brand new pair), the lust of the eyes (look at the styles and imagery in their ads) and the pride of life (look at how the corporation associates pride, fleshly victory and dominance with its products).
Instead of focusing on victories in the flesh John writes to our OVERCOMING the world that is founded upon such victories.
Note that John does NOT say that the victory is found in love. He has talked about love and pounded the need for it (in the Christian life) like no other but He steps back from it when it comes to our having victory over the world and its elements.
The key to this is faith. And this primary characteristic (love is not primary in the Christian walk – it is secondary) is not only what allows for us to possess the love he has been talking about but it is what helps us OVERCOME this world of flesh, and lust and pride.
Think of love as all the techniques and styles of a great martial artist. Agape love is represented by the strikes, the holds, the takedowns, the defensive elements and the offensive. All really important factors to an MMA fighter, right?
But let’s liken faith to courage, fearlessness, mental acuity, and focus.
All the techniques and styles are meaningless in an MMA fight if a person is afraid of getting in the ring, if the person does not believe they will survive the first blow.
By taking this view we are able to strip agape love of its touchy feely elements and see it in its proper light – a response to faith.
God has told us to love – we may or may not feel like it, but we do it anyway because we trust Him – or have placed our faith in Him and His ways over our own.
IT is by our faith in Him and His promises that we overcome the World NOT by our own worldly willful ways, NOT by our touchy feely love, NOT by our having Invictus Victories – but by our faith and trust in Him.
When this is in place our ability to overcome this world and its ways becomes possible as does our decisions to let His love rule and reign.
And here is the key – when this one-two punch is in place His children become truly free – which is for me a tremendous motivator.
In John 16:33 Jesus says, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
These are the exact same Greek terms John uses here in his epistle. In the Gospel we discover that there is no need to fear, feel uncertain, wonder, equivocate or question our place in the ring – we ought to be of good cheer, said our Master for “he has had the Nikeo, the real and genuine victory over the world. He has overcome it and its elements.
Get ready now –
How did He have this victory? Was it just on the cross? No, no. That was part of it, but it was in all that He did and all that He was.
It was through being born of God literally (as we are born from above spiritually).
It was through submitting His will to that of His Father’s (as we are now called, by and through Him and His Spirit, to submit ours to Him).
It was through trusting in the ways of God over the ways of the flesh (a command placed upon us as well)
And THEN it was by SUBMITTING (to the stripes of others, accepting mockery, taking up His cross, walking outside the city gates to Golgotha, allowing His flesh to be nailed to a cross, asking forgiveness for his tormentors, suffering, dying, being buried and then rising to new life on the third day – then ascending victoriously to the presence of His Father.
By and through His having overcome the world, having victory over the things which overtake us, we need to be of Good Cheer – and to first and foremost have faith in Him, the author and the finisher of our faith!
John affirms this for all “who are born of God,” saying essentially, “Everything which is begotten of God, there is this victory over the world.”
This proclamation makes passages like James 4:4 even more weighty where he said:
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
This maxim is truly one of the most pressing and obvious in the faith – “Christians are truly not of this world.”
But while it is something that we repeat and even put on bumperstickers what does it really mean from a biblical perspective?
We could spend all afternoon coming up with answers but in the end we have to look at the life of God with us to define this – and not much more.
And in doing so we have to examine Him and His life relative to principles and not cultural applications and according to circumstances of his day.
So what do we learn about living on this planet and upon this world from Jesus?
I think we can say the following and have support from scripture as a result:
The priorities of His life were to do His Father’s business. It seems that everything He did was somehow couched in this priority although we do not have an exhaustive record.
(the application for us then would be that a Christian ought to make the will of Christ their own.)
He did what we do as humans – he ate regular food, attended events, drank alcohol and had a vocation for the majority of His life – that of a carpenter.
He had friends in Mary, Martha and Lazarus and spent time with them.
He prepared disciples to carry on His work.
He spent time with others, hearing and serving those in need.
He prayed, He fasted, He spoke the truth no matter the cost but considered the audience and was not one to scream out to large groups.
He had particular distain for the religious and seemed to argue and even criticize them more than any other people type.
He came to bring light, and love, to serve, to give of himself but He would also take time to commune with God outside the needs of the masses.
He had no discernable desire for political power, fame or wealth or riches. But He did use money to accomplish things that were in accordance with all we said.
He was not against the world and its ways – he did not come to destroy it – He came not to fight the world but to save it by overcoming it.
If we were to summarize Jesus life I think we could summarize it through the words:
Godly
Spiritually driven and devoted
Humble, kind, meek, selfless
Giving, wise, loving
Without material priority
Reasonable
Productive
Trusting in His Father
Compassionate
Amiable to the needs of others
In these ways He seems to have not been of the world and had victory over it.
He overcame the world and it is by faith in Him that makes us one with him, imbuing us with His Spirit which then allows us to have the same victory.
John reiterates in verse 5 saying:
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
In other words, ONLY the actual and true Son of God could and would have overcome the world – only Him. All others are pretenders, tourists, wannabees.
If you really want to overcome this world, of which the Father has no part, believe that Jesus is the actual, literal Son of God and as such overcame the world on our behalf!
Why place your faith and trust on any intermediary along the way? The apostles never allowed people to trust them – they always pointed to Jesus as the Way, Truth and Life.
So it ought to be now – Him. Faith in Him which opens the door to our having victory too.
Now, it’s true that a person might gain a victory over one worldly passion or another by following others. We might subdue some evil propensity in our flesh by embracing a higher power and a twelve step program.
There are all sorts of effective methods for helping humans break free from destructive actions and attitudes but in the end the Spirit of this world will reign in the heart of those so redeemed and the only way to overcome this world and all of the ways that are opposite of God, is to believe and receive Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Some might claim that they have transcended this world and the things of it by following the ways of an Eastern Mystic.
But I would suggest that the mystic and his or her ways are of this world – but the Son of God Himself never was. He came from above and returned from whence He came.
All the rest are from below and therefore their ideas and methods and ways are from the same.
Some people have wrongly assigned to my person the title Universalist with the implication being that I believe all roads lead to God.
Let me be clear – there is ONLY one way to God – by and through faith on His Only Begotten Son.
No other – not even close.
And since all that is of the world is NOT of the Father the only means to get to the Father is by faith in His Only Begotten Son who overcame the world!
I praise His name as Lord, Savior and King. There is no other and no other way.
Okay at this point we come to what is called the Johannine Comma among scholars – verses 6, 7 and 8 are passages that are called into question due to manuscript evidence.
Let’s read them again from the King James Version. John has told us in verse 5
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is he (meaning Jesus Christ) that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
Alright, let’s first look at a comparison between the KJV and the Revised (and those versions that come from the Revised).
ON BOARD
(Yellow is agreeable. Green is not agreeable)
VERSE 6
KING JAMES
6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
REVISED
6 This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood.
VERSE 7
KING JAMES
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (KJV)
REVISED
7 And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. (RSV)
VERSE 8
KING JAMES
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
REVISED
8 There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree.
So here’s the gig behind the whole matter (before we cover them verse by verse)
The Johannine comma, as it is called, is a sequence of “extra words” located in 1st John 5:7-8 which appear in some early printed Greek texts (notably those of Erasmus which came about post 1530 AD), and also in later versions of the Latin Vulgate, and then (naturally) in the King James Version of the Bible.
These extra words are generally absent from almost all ancient Greek manuscripts.
Frankly, they only appear in the text of four late medieval manuscripts and they seem to have originated as a marginal note which were added to certain Latin manuscripts during the middle ages and were eventually incorporated into the text of most of the later Vulgate manuscripts. Of course we know that the vulgate and Erasmus work are what contributed to the creation of the Authorized or King James versions of the Bible.
But bottom line, the passage is absent from every known Greek manuscript except eight, and these eight contain the passage only because of a late recension of the Latin Vulgate.
Add in that four of those eight manuscripts contain the passage as a “variant reading” which was written in the margin as a later addition to the manuscript original MS and we are left with four references all created post 1215.
Add in the fact that the passage is NOT quoted by any of the guys called the early Greek church Fathers, who, if they were aware of it would have used it to fight against positions against the Trinity (like Sabellianism and Arianism).
Its first appearance in Greek MS is in a Greek version of the (Latin) Acts of the Lateran Council in 1215.”
Finally, there is a myth out there that I have even unwittingly passed along that says Erasmus omitted the passage from an early translation of the Bible and when criticized for this is said to have said:
“If you can provide me with a MS that says it I’ll include it in my next translation.”
Bible critic and Princeton Scholar Bruce Metzger originally said this about the Erasmus story:
“Erasmus promised that he would insert the Comma Johanneum, as it is called, in future editions if a single Greek manuscript could be found that contained the passage. At length such a copy was found—or made to order.”
However, Theopedia says that on page 291 of the New (3rd edition) of The Texet of the New Testament Bruce Metzger writes:
“What is said on p. 101 above about Erasmus’ promise to include the Comma Johanneum if one Greek manuscript were found that contained it, and his subsequent suspicion that MS. 61 was written expressly to force him to do so, needs to be corrected in the light of the research of H.J. de Jonge, a specialist in Erasmian studies who finds no explicit evidence that supports this frequently made assertion.”
Apparently, Erasmus was criticized for NOT including the passage in one edition with the assigned criticism leveled at Erasmus is he only checked on proof text source.
Erasmus defended himself and said:
“Let Lee (his critic) produce a Greek MS. which contains what my edition does not contain and let him show that that manuscript was within my reach. Only then can he reproach me with negligence in sacred matters.’
From this we can see that Erasmus does not challenge Lee to produce a manuscript as the myth goes.
All Erasmus argues was that his critic can only reproach Erasmus with negligence if he demonstrates that Erasmus could have consulted any MS. in which the Comma Johanneum figured and did not. Erasmus challenge was really to just call Lee out for calling him negligent in his scholarship.
This however does not explain to us WHY Erasmus did include the passage in a later translation of his Bible.
I would have to personally conclude that Erasmus was a friend of the Catholic faith and tradition and found justification for including the words – whether he was given one of the later MSS or not.
What troubles me most about this very questionable verse is that is it so formulaic in support of creedal Trinitarianism and (again to me) it just reeks of manipulation.
We have two other obvious manipulations in scripture that make my blood boil as they too, in my opinion, reek of manipulation.
The first is found in the Great Commission – Matthew 28:19 which says:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Do your homework. It’s a highly questionable passage and one that conveniently endorses the doctrine of the Trinity but inconveniently is not found in many ancient mss.
In fact Eusibius, who was a Roman Christian historian that became the Bishop of Caesarea in 314 BC quoted this passage in his writings 17 times before the council of Nicea – and in every one of those quotations he cited it as saying:
“Go and make disciples of all nations in my name,” while excluding the present day appellation to formulaic Trinitarianism.
Another formula inserted into this beautiful word of God is found in Acts 8:37
The setting is Philip has been sent to Gaza by the Spirit to teach an Ethiopian man who is seeking.
The man requests water baptism and verse 37 has Philip surreptitiously provide him this religious man mae formula:
“If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Again, not found in most mss.
It is remarkably apparent that these specific passages are united in their attempt to systematize the faith with two of them aimed at promoting the Trinity and one of them aimed at establishing an interview for water baptism.
Anyway . . . let’s hit on the Johannine Comma (which means a short clause) before wrapping it up today.
John has told us that we overcome the world by believing that Jesus is the Son of God. Then he adds in verse 6 words that are interesting, debated as to their meaning, and really impossible to know John’s purpose in saying them – except by the Spirit.
So, speaking of Jesus John says:
(THE GIG HERE)
6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
It seems that John’s objective is to prove the actual literal nature of Jesus to his reader who are influenced by the Gnostic Doecetae that were challenging his earthly nature.
And he refers to three well-known elements present in the person and ministry of Christ – the water, and the blood, and the Spirit.
Jesus on whom they believed was the Son of God and this, “is the same one that came,” and then John adds:
“By water and blood. Not by water ONLY but by water and blood.”
The positions on this phrase:
First, that these elements were manifested over the course of His life – either with Him as the Living Water who shed His blood for the sins of the world OR by His water baptism and atonement.
Other opinions include that of Clement of Alexandria supposes that by water regeneration and faith were denoted, and by blood the public acknowledgment of that.
Noted scholar Wetstein, among others, says that the words are used to denote the fact that the Lord Jesus was truly a man, in contradistinction from the doctrine of the Docetae; and that the apostle means to say that he had all the properties of a human being with Him – spirit or soul, blood, and “the watery humors of the body.”
Grotius supposes that by his coming “by water,” there is reference to his pure life, as water is the emblem of purity; and he refers to Ezekiel 36:25; Isaiah 1:16; Jeremiah 4:14 to support this view.
The most popular view (held by Tertullian, Ecumenius, Theophylact, and then moderns like Capellus, Lieumann, Stroth, Lange, Ziegler, Adam Clarke, Bengel, Rosenmuller, and Macknight think that the reference is to the baptism of Jesus, and that by his “coming by water and blood,” that the latter refers undoubtedly to his death so therefore the reference to water is to His baptism. Because John adds
And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
And this line is used in the description of His baptism that the “Spirit bare witness” this is the most widely held view of what John meant in writing this.
Then there is the thought that “water and the blood” refers to the water and blood that flowed from the side of the Lord when he was pierced by the spear of the Roman soldier.
John had himself laid great stress on this occurrence, and on the fact that he had himself witnessed it, and as we have seen John often alludes to His Gospel in this epistle it would seem most natural to think that this phrase is an allusion to His death.
In other words, John himself witnessed water and blood flowing from the pierced side of the Lord and this would be proof of His mortality and human body for the Gnostics.
There is another thought that I have, which is not as strong as some of these others and that is John has written this epistle to offset the lies of the Gnostics who claimed that Jesus was not a human.
Because John says, speaking of Jesus, “that He came” I wonder if it speaks to His birth into the world as a mortal man because present at every human birth is water breaking, blood being shed and new blood entering into the lifestream of this world, and a new soul or spirit.
In the end, I personally have no problem seeing verse 6 as a hub of truth with all of these ideas (and more not mentioned) extending off of the central theme or elements of Christ, water, blood and spirit.
Let’s stop here.
Q and A
