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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 5:13

That ye may know that ye have eternal life - I write to show your privileges - to lead you into this holy of holies - to show what believing on the Son of God is, by the glorious effects it produces: it is not a blind reliance for, but an actual enjoyment of, salvation; Christ living, working, and reigning in the heart. And that ye may believe - That is, continue to believe: for Christ dwells in the heart only by Faith, and faith lives only by Love, and love continues only by Obedience;... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 5:10

Verse 10 9For this is the witness, or testimony, of God The particle ὅτι does not mean here the cause, but is to be taken as explanatory; for the Apostle, after having reminded us that God deserves to be believed much more than men, now adds, that we can have no faith in God, except by believing in Christ, because God sets him alone before us and makes us to stand in him. He hence infers that we believe safely and with tranquil minds in Christ, because God by his authority warrants our faith.... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 5:11

Verse 11 11That God hath given us eternal life Having now set forth the benefit, he invites us to believe. It is, indeed, a reverence due to God, immediately to receive, as beyond controversy, whatever he declares to us. But since he freely offers life to us, our ingratitude will be intolerable, except with prompt faith we receive a doctrine so sweet and so lovely. And, doubtless, the words of the Apostle are intended to shew, that we ought, not only reverently to obey the gospel, lest we... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 5:12

Verse 12 12He that hath not the Son This is a confirmation of the last sentence. It ought, indeed, to have been sufficient, that God made life to be in none but in Christ, that it might be sought in him; but lest any one should turn away to another, he excludes all from the hope of life who seek it not in Christ. We know what it is to have Christ, for he is possessed by faith. He then shews that all who are separated from the body of Christ are without life. But this seems inconsistent with... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 5:13

Verse 13 13These things have I written unto you As there ought to be a daily progress in faith, so he says that he wrote to those who had already believed, so that they might believe more firmly and with greater certainty, and thus enjoy a fuller confidence as to eternal life. Then the use of doctrine is, not only to initiate the ignorant in the knowledge of Christ, but also to confirm those more and more who have been already taught. It therefore becomes us assiduously to attend to the duty of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 5:1-12

Faith and the Divine testimony. I. FAITH . 1 . A common faith with a common life is the foundation of brotherly love. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God: and whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him." A general aspect is given to the truth. Given a person who (according to what John has formerly taught) believes that Jesus is the Christ, it can be said of him that he is begetter, of God, i.e., is the subject of a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 5:6-11

The fourfold witness to the Divine Sonship of Jesus. "This is he that came by water and blood," etc. We omit the interpolated clauses, and take the text as it is given in the Revised Version. St. John here states the basis of that faith by means of which the Christian overcomes the world. We have the most convincing testimony that the confidence which is reposed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is well founded. That testimony is manifold. We have— I. THE TESTIMONY OF HIS ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 5:6-12

The section takes a new turn; the test of the Christian life furnished by the witness of the life itself. This witness is that of the Spirit ( 1 John 5:6 ), identical with that of God ( 1 John 5:9 ), and possessed by every believer ( 1 John 5:10 ). Few passages of Scripture have produced such a mass of widely divergent interpretation. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 5:9-10

Human and Divine testimony compared. Connecting link: There is a topic suggested in these verses closely bearing on the themes of the two preceding homilies. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come into the world, bearing a message from the eternal throne. Of the contents and value of the message there are three witnesses—the Spirit, the water, and the blood. The message is that God has given to us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son. Where the Son of God has been... read more

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