1 John 5:6-19
THERE is an apparent abruptness in the way in which the final scene on the cross is brought prominently forward in ver. 6. After saying in ver. 5, that Jesus is the Son of God, it is added, “This is he that came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood.”
The chapter is full of the truth of the new life given of God to those who believe on the name of His Son. But if a sinner is to receive life from God, His Son must die for that sinner. The testimony of the Lord to Nicodemus was clear and definite as to this (John 3:14), and (in John 19:34) the fact that blood and water flowed after death from the pierced side of Jesus is related with special emphasis. The moral necessity for cleansing the sinner and making propitiation for his sins arises from his condition. He is unclean, and he is guilty God has met both in judgment on His Son; and He sets before us (believers) these remarkable signs as abiding witnesses, with the Spirit, that He has given us eternal life in His Son.
For ver. 7 there is no sufficient authority. Read— “For they that bear witness are three: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree in one” (ver. 8).
The Spirit, received from Christ in glory, bears witness that Christ's death cleanses the believer from the defilement of his nature: “sin in the flesh” is condemned (Rom. 8:3). He is, in the sight of God counted as having died under judgment. He died with Christ, and is so to reckon himself, to count with God as to himself (Rom. 6) The flesh is not cleansed, but he is cleansed from it; and this, when seen in the clear light of the Spirit's witness in the Epistles, is exceedingly cheering and strengthening to the true but timid Christian. This is the meaning of the sign “water,” as interpreted by the Spirit in connection with the blood.
The blood testifies to justification from all the doings of the flesh. “Being now justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:9). God, the Judge of all, has set forth Jesus Christ (before the day of judgment) as a propitiation (mercy-seat) through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:23-26), and declares His righteousness in justifying him who believes in Jesus. “Christ our passover hath been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7), and God is saying, still, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13). The combined testimony of the water and the blood, with the Spirit also witnessing, is most powerful, and deeply affecting too: the voice from the Cross and from the Throne.
In the presence of such testimony, not to believe God is to make Him a liar. How grave, how solemn, how wicked, thus to dishonor Him! seeing that in far less important matters we receive the witness of men. Is not His witness greater? And this the more so, since he that believeth receiveth in the Son what is witnessed; the cleansing, the justification, and the life are his (vers. 9-10). Unbelief dishonors God and robs man beyond measure.
The apostle presses this. Much that he had written before might be misused to lead sincere souls to look to themselves, their experience and their walk, for full assurance of having eternal life. Surely the fruits of life are to be theirs, as well as the life itself. Hence such passages as 2:5-29, 3:7-14, 18, 19, 24, 5:4. But he would not close the Epistle without making the clearest statement that the one sure ground of assurance is faith in God's testimony, not making light of the comfort flowing from other assurances. “These things have I written unto you that ye may know that ye have eternal life, (even) you that believe on the name of the Son of God.” And remark, that here the verb “know” means conscious knowledge (chap. 5:13, R.V.). Divinely assured of the possession of eternal life, our thoughts are led to that which is proper to it—confidence in God (ver. 14). This is remarkably beautiful, because blessedly practical. We are still in the body, still in the world where we have tribulation (John 16:33); but the relationship of children to God is known, and is proper to eternal life (John 17:3). The Spirit of His Son in our hearts cries, “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6), and our very groanings are heard (Rom. 8:26-27); so that in the depths, as to circumstances, we have all the resources of God. When we think of all He has done for us, how can we limit Him? He has a delight in our prayers (Prov. 15:8), and would secure to us exceeding quietness and rest of spirit, whatever the turmoil and distractions around us.
There is an “if” in ver. 14. “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us,” but an “if” we need not fear. It conveys a warning against self-confidence, as if, in any of our matters, we knew what was best. No: faith leaves all to God. It is enough to know how He careth for us (1 Peter 5:7).
“So will He by His Spirit lead
In ways unknown to us indeed,
And, our well-ordered conflicts o'er,
Bring us where sorrows are no more.”
Verse 15 will check all impatience, as ver. 14 all self-confidence. The answer may not come at once; “but we know (are inwardly conscious) that we have the petitions which we have desired of Him,” petitions for ourselves, petitions for others. Ver. 16 shows clearly that in our petitions we must not lose sight of the direct government of the Father in the family (according to 1 Peter 1:17); and, while soul prosperity is ever to be the first consideration, the health of the body is of account also (3 John 2). There is to be no prying into evil, nor suspecting it; “but if any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and (God) will give him life for them that sin not unto death.” What an honor to put upon one, perhaps of no account in the church, but one with a tender heart that enters into a brother's affliction, yet jealous for the glory of God! Precious grace! precious in the sight of Him Who is the alone witness of it. To be in haste to deal with evil in another has often made matters worse. To be brought on our knees before God for a brother is to love him with a pure heart.
“There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” Cases of extreme heinousness, as some in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:30) and Ananias and Sapphira are in point. It is a very solemn view of sickness in the family of God; and therefore the responsibility is put upon us (seeing how many of the children of God are sick) to be exercised as to what is fitting to pray for in certain cases. “I do not say that he shall pray for it” —that is, for the forgiveness of it. The apostle is clearly writing about physical death, and the Father's dealings in discipline, not the final judgment of the last day. In all this, His glory and our brother's blessing should be very dear to us.
Now, in the sight of God “all (or every) unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death” (ver. 17), that is, not calling for that severe discipline. There is much need to be reminded of this. Every unrighteousness toward God or man is sin. We own to failures, inconsistencies, slips and mistakes; but to drop these euphemisms and to substitute “sin,” would quicken the moral sense. In how many things, even religious things, do we need to have our senses exercised to discern good and evil (Heb. 5:14)!
It is quite true that all discipline is not for sin, and also, as one in sore affliction said— “The Father does not send the rod, He brings it;” but there is always a cause. The real state of the soul in the sight of God is the point. The case of Job is most instructive. The truth is, the flesh often escapes detection and must be discovered and kept down. When this was accomplished in Job, he prayed for his friends, not they for him. If the flesh escapes our observance, the wicked one is not blind to any movement of it in us; hence the truth in ver. 18, A.V.
“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” In Jesus he had nothing to touch. He came to Him and found sinless perfection, infinite love, absolute obedience (John 14:30, 31). But if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (i. 8). As born of God, we enter on a life of conflict. While on earth, we are in the field of warfare. Armor and weapons are provided, the wiles of our enemy are exposed (Eph. 6:2; 1 Thess. 5:8; Rom. 13:12), and we are called to fight (1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7). Happy it is to serve others; but let us not forget that there is oneself to keep watch and guard over, and to see to it that, by the word of God and in His strength, the wicked one shall do us no hurt. In God our Savior there is power to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24, 25), “So fight I,” said Paul in a passage full of energy (1 Cor. 9:26, 27). All this (and more might be added) leads one to think that in this ver. 18— “keepeth himself” is the inspired reading, and not “keepeth him,” as in the R.V. The next verse discloses the power of the enemy and his success in the world. “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness (or, the wicked one).”