1 John 5

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¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him. ✦ ²By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. ✦ ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, ✦ ⁴because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. ✦ ⁵Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. ✦ ⁶This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth. ✦ ⁷For there are three that testify: ✦ ⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement. ✦ ⁹Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son. ✦ ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son. ✦ ¹¹And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ✦ ¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. ✦ ¹³I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. ✦ ¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ✦ ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him. ✦ ¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin. ✦ ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, yet there is sin that does not lead to death. ✦ ¹⁸We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him. ✦ ¹⁹We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one. ✦ ²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ✦ ²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

1 Jn 5 ·26 1 Jn 2 ·19 1 Jn 4 ·14 1 Jn 3 ·13 John 14 ·12 John 15 ·12 John 1 ·12 John 3 ·11

Christ at the center

Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'

How 1 John 5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

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★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — 1 John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on 1 John 5YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — 1 John 5David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on 1 JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — 1 John 5Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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