1 John 5:19

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 5:19

Omit the "and" before "we know." There is no καί or δέ in the true text; and the asyndeton is impressive. The whole world lieth in the evil one. This is the second great fact of which Christians have certainty. They, as children of God, and preserved from the evil one by his Son, have nothing to do with the world, which still lies in the power of the evil one. That "the evil" τῷ πονηρῷ is here not neuter but masculine is evident from the context, as well as from 1 John 2:13 ,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 John 5:19

And we know that we are of God - We who are Christians. The apostle supposed that true Christians might have so clear evidence on that subject as to leave no doubt on their own minds that they were the children of God. Compare 1 John 3:14; 2 Timothy 1:12.And the whole world - The term “world” here evidently means not the material world, but the people who dwell on the earth, including all idolaters, and all sinners of every grade and kind.Lieth in wickedness - “In the wicked one,” or under the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 John 5:18-19

1 John 5:18-19. We know, &c. As if he had said, Yet this gives no encouragement to sin. On the contrary, it is an indisputable truth, that whosoever is born of God That is, regenerated and made a new creature; see on 1 John 2:29; sinneth not Doth not commit any known sin, so long as he lives by faith in the Son of God, and by that faith has union with Christ; but he that is begotten of God By the word of truth, (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23,) accompanied by the influence of the Divine... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 John 5:13-21

Practical results of assurance (5:13-21)When Christians know with assurance that God has accepted them and given them eternal life, they will have confidence to come to him with their requests. First, however, they must consider God’s will, and not make requests from the wrong motives. They can then be assured that God will hear and answer their prayers (13-15). John encourages them to pray for one another, but he points out that there may be some cases where a person, through his sin, sets in... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 John 5:19

wickedness = the wicked one, as 1 John 5:18 . He is the prince of this world (John 14:30 , &c), and the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4 ). read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 1 John 5:19

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one.We know ... This is the second of three great certainties stressed by the apostle in 1 John 5:18-20: (1) We know that we are guarded from the evil one by Jesus Christ our Lord. (2) We know that we belong to God in a hostile, Satan dominated world. (3) We know the great basic of divine revelation, especially the Incarnation of God in Christ.That we are of God ... To what other source, indeed, could the joyful life in Jesus... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 1 John 5:19

1 John 5:19. And we know that we are of God, &c.— "And we are well satisfied that we are so born of God, as to be partakers of a divine nature, which is a powerful and abiding principle of all holiness; and that we are the children of God, in a peculiar relation to him; and that we side with him: and we know that all the rest of mankind, who are strangers to the new birth, and make up the greater part of this world, continue voluntarily under the power of sin, and of the wicked one (εν τω... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 1 John 5:19

19. world lieth in wickedness—rather, "lieth in the wicked one," as the Greek is translated in 1 John 5:18; 1 John 2:13; 1 John 2:14; compare 1 John 4:4; John 17:14; John 17:15. The world lieth in the power of, and abiding in, the wicked one, as the resting-place and lord of his slaves; compare "abideth in death," John 17:15- :; contrast 1 John 5:20, "we are in Him that is true." While the believer has been delivered out of his power, the whole world lieth helpless and motionless still in it,... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 1 John 5:18-21

VI. CHRISTIAN CERTAINTIES 5:18-21John concluded this epistle by synthesizing the major thoughts he had presented to reinforce and review them for his readers. "We know" many things as a result of what Jesus taught and what John taught."The writer’s fundamental thought here is that if the readers perceive the truths he mentions, they will be fortified against the allurements of the idolatrous pagan practices around them." [Note: Hodges, The Epistles . . ., p. 241.] read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 1 John 5:19

Moreover, we are distinct from the world system that Satan controls since we are God’s children (1 John 5:9-13). We need not accept the worldly teachings of antichrists (1 John 3:7-8) nor capitulate to worldly lusts (1 John 2:15-17). read more

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