For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here. https://stevehusting.com/alivetogod/meditations-on-1-john-11-4-with-notes/
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “If love for God and one’s fellow Christians is at its core obedience to God’s commands, how can these be carried out? … John pointed to faith as the secret of a victorious obedient life.”
v. 4, because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “This [God’s commands are not burdensome] is because the principle of victory resides in everyone born of God. … His faith in Christ, … constitutes a victory over the world system which is satanically blinded.”
(Vincent’s II) “That overcometh. The aorist tense, overcame. The victory over the world was, potentially, won when we believed in Jesus. … We overcome the world by being brought into union with Christ. On becoming as He is (iii. 17) we become partakers of His victory.” “Our faith. …the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
(Life) “5:3-4 Jesus never promised that obeying him would be easy.” (ESV) “Genuine Christians are not defeated by the world’s hostility or compelled by it to turn from Christ.”
(Recovery) “The regenerated spirit of the regenerated believer does not practice sin (3:9) and overcomes the world. … This divine birth, which brings in the divine life, is the basic factor of all the mysteries concerning the divine life, such as the fellowship of the divine life (1 John 1:3-7), anointing … (1 John 2:20-27), abiding … (1 John 2:28-3:24). … regenerated believers have the capability of the divine life to overcome the world, the powerful satanic world system. … The faith that brings us into the organic union with the Triune God and that believes that Jesus is the Son of God (v. 5) that we may be begotten of God and have His divine life.”
v. 5, Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “This suggests such faith is the secret of his continuing victory and, … obedience to God’s commands need not be burdensome.”
(Vincent’s II) “He that overcometh. … denoting what is habitual; one who leads a life of victory over the world.”
(Recovery) “The divine life empowers him to overcome the evil world energized by Satan.”
FIRST JOHN 5 MEDITATION vv. 4-5.
We who have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation have already embraced a direction the world system opposes. Our faith in Christ (v. 5) means we no longer have faith in the systems of the world to save us from the troubles caused by Adam’s sin. The government won’t do it. Technology guided by man and AI can’t do it. The medical and business fields are helpless. We have overcome the realities the world has put forth and found them to be lies. We have overcome the wicked one because we have found them poor counterfeits to the life of Christ.
People will try to move us away from trusting in Christ for all things related to life and godliness. People will turn us from the Bible, which points us to Jesus. It points out our lost state (Rom. 1-3) and salvation by faith in Christ alone, apart from works (Rom. 3-5). We need the discernment the Bible provides to see what dangers lie ahead of us.
You have believed that Jesus is the Son of God because you believed the record of God’s witness in the Scriptures. Now continue in that faith. Continue to read page by page and take on the commands, values, and instructions by faith, and implement them in your life as though the Lord is leading you. In many cases, we’ll have to wrestle against the knowledge crammed into us by the world before we can turn from it to faith in what the Bible says. So the faith is an informed one, guided by God’s holy, written Word. But that very faith is the victory, and faith ensures continued victory. “The just (righteous) shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). Every day we live according to the kingdom of God as outlined in the Scriptures, over and above the government of man.
