1 John 5:1-5

Overcoming the World
  1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.  3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.  4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

John here consolidates the themes of the last few chapters, with three evidences of our salvation.

Firstly in v1 he points out that if we are born of God we will believe in Jesus, belief that Jesus is the Christ means that we believe he is the only one who paid the penalty of our sin, we deserve eternal death, but instead the eternal became death for us. Note also that it is not the belief that comes first but the being born of God, if we are not reborn we cannot believe, this will bear itself out in love for the Father and for the Father’s children, again we cannot love the Father and his children without being born of him.

Following on from the first sign of belief, in v2-3 we see that we show our love for God and his children by obedience to his commandments, John reminds us that the commandments are not burdensome to those that are born of God.  The kind of love being spoken about here is not phileo which is comraderie, or eros which is that ‘in love’ emotive love, but rather agape which always works its way out in practical obedient action.

This leads into the next evidence in v4-5 which is that those who are born of God overcome the world through our faith which of course is given to us at our new birth in order that we may believe and love and overcome the world.

It is notable that these evidences do not stand on their own, but support and are inextricably bound together. We cannot believe and love without overcoming the world or the worldliness in us. We cannot love without believing and overcoming. We cannot overcome without belief and love for the Father and his children.

All three of these evidences are sourced on the fact of the new birth, none of them are truly possible unless we are first born of God, and that is an act of God, not something we can force by trying to act out the results, our love, belief, and overcoming of the worldly things around us will never bring us to God – they are descriptive of those who have already been brought to God, whilst we will flounder around in this world, the price has already been paid and the victory already won.

To state the above negatively: If we do not or cannot overcome the world and it’s worldly desires in the character of our life we do not have the new birth, if we do not love the Father and all his children we do not have the new birth, and if we do not have belief that Jesus is the Christ, we do not have the new birth.