1 John 5

Read 1 John 5 here first: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+5&version=NIV

We made it to the end of 2 books in 3 weeks!

1 John concludes with a discussion about overcoming,the connection of Jesus and God the Father, and our connection with both of them. Of course there’s more discussion of love as John tries to tie things together than throws in his grandfatherly advice at the end- hey kids- keep yourself from idols which I don’t think he’s discussed before. It’s like the last words of advice before you go on a date from mom- have a great night! Love you! Be back by 10pm! It doesn’t negate what was said before- it’s actually a sign of love that the last words are yelled at you. Mom knows what happens after 10pm on date night- she starts to get worried about you!

There are mysteries in this chapter: What are the 3 things that testify? blood, water, and the spirit. Some think this refers to the spear going into Jesus side, that pulled out water and blood, some Jesus baptism for water which started his ministry and the spirit came down on him, and his death where he gave up his spirit, the vulgate even translates blood as word- which gives it a whole different meaning. As a Lutheran I think he’s referring to the sacraments- Baptism and the Lord’s Supper all of which are ways the Holy Spirit comes to us and testify to the greatness of our God.

Then he talks about the sin that leads to death- often taken as the unforgivable sin of not asking God for forgiveness, some as saying something bad about the Holy Spirit, some the prolonged belief in gnosticism that John has been speaking against through out the passage, others saying suicide as it doesn’t say that the sin that leads to death leads to hell, and we see people who lie in the new testament about their offerings immediately dying, but we don’t know if that means they were damned or not. So it’s a little odd to leave us with some mysteries- it’s assumed that the early chruch would have known exactly what he was talking about. Regardless because it’s not clear here we certainly shouldn’t make theology from it nor teach it to people with certainty when we can’t say we know what it means. It’s an odd thing to throw in at the end but goes back to John remembering last pieces of information he needed to get out before the scroll finished.

What do we take from this whole chapter and it’s weirdness- probably go back to the themes off the whole book. Light beats darkness. Love trumps hate. Jesus, God and man rolled into one, defeats death, sin, and the devil, if you’re with him you can’t be defeated and you shall overcome. Flee from hate and sin and run to God- run to love for neighbor and Jesus. This is a love letter. Now go be God’s love letter to the world!