1Jn 5:1
Πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται· καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν γεννήσαντα, ἀγαπᾷ καὶ τὸν γεγεννημένον ἐξ αὐτοῦ. The synthesis of our relation to God and to the brethren, which the apostle here perfectly sets forth, he has thus educed primarily from the love of God supposed to exist in us: the right relation to God is confirmed and corroborated only by the right relation to the brethren. He now seizes the matter from the opposite side: brotherly love is to be measured by the reality of our fellowship with God. This thought, expressed in 1Jn 5:2, is the fundamental note of the verses which follow, the first verse of the chapter forming only a transition to it. Several new ideas enter here. First, instead of the ἀδελφὸς [“brother”], as the hitherto usual designation of the neighbour, the phrases γεγεννημένοςἐκτοῦΘεοῦ [“having been born of God”] and τέκνατοῦΘεοῦ [“Children of God”] (1Jn 5:2) are selected to be reproduced. This is done in the service of the synthesis here brought out perfectly: because we are to love our neighbour as the child of God, the genuineness of our love to him is proved, as 1Jn 5:2 declares, by the genuineness of our love to God; if this love to God is absent, I cannot love my neighbour as a child of God, and therefore do not regard him with the right kind of sentiment. For since, according to 1Jn 4:1-21, charity to the neighbour depends upon the infusion of divine love, that is, of the divine Spirit, such charity must be always absent where the right relation to God is not sustained. The first verse of our new chapter asserts generally, that between our relation to God and our relation to the brethren there must be a reciprocal influence; 1Jn 5:2 ff. then explains, as we have seen, how the approval of our relation to God is a sure token of our right relation to the brethren. Similarly significant is the introduction of the idea πιστεύειν [“to believe”]. It had twice before occurred, 1Jn 3:23 and 1Jn 4:16, but on both occasions only in a certain sense as signals for the future, without taking any definite place in the organic train of thought in the Epistle. It does not take that place until this fifth chapter. In other respects the beginning of the first verse is based upon 1Jn 4:2 and 1Jn 4:15; the question therefore arises, why in those passages ὁμολογεῖν [“confession”] is the subject, while here it is πιστεύειν [“to believe”]. It is clear that ὁμολογεῖν [“confession”] presupposes πιστεύειν [“to believe”] and includes it. In the fourth chapter, as our investigation has shown us, faith in Christ does not appear as a characteristic in man himself, or a property of his own; but as the token by which he may be known to be a child of God, a partaker of the Divine Spirit. But what is in man may be known only so far as it takes outward expression; and the outward expression of faith is simply and only the ὁμολογεῖν [“confession”]. Here, however, the question is not of an external, but of an internal token of divine sonship; hence the word πίστις [“faith”] is introduced. That πιστεύειν [“to believe”] in this place and generally expresses primarily the acknowledgment of a truth is sufficiently obvious: as here, the proposition that Jesus is the Christ is to be acknowledged. So, when we read of πιστεύειντινί[“to believeinsomeone”], we acknowledge the trustworthiness of the person generally. But this does not exhaust the idea: for, when in Joh 5:44 the πιστεύειν [“to believe”] is opposed to the δόξανπαρ᾿ἀλλήλωνλαμβάνοντες [“you accept praise from one another”], that is, to the egoism which seeks τὰἴδια [“its own”], such a view of faith as that is seen to be insufficient; and when in Joh 20:31 the end of the whole Gospel is laid down as being ἵναπιστεύοντεςζωὴνἔχητε [“that by believing you may have life”], it is impossible to suppose that a mere acknowledgment as truth could include the whole ζωή [“life”], which is the state of the whole man as thinking, feeling, and willing. In very deed, there lies in πιστεύειν [“to believe”] the idea of the unio mystica; more strictly, the union and conjunction of the human with the divine, which is effected fundamentally in the acknowledgment of the central fact of salvation (Ἰησοῦς ἐστινὁΧριστός[“Jesus is the Christ”]). Now it is certainly true that the πίστις [“faith”] is not in itself the sonship; for to this belongs another element, the gift of God. Compare as to this two passages of the Gospel, in which, as here, faith and sonship are placed in juxtaposition. The first is in Joh 1:12: ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτὸν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. [“But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name”]. If to believers the power is given to become sons of God, then they are not such in virtue of their faith: there is necessary beyond this a special gift of God (ἔδωκεν [“he has given”]). And as, in the immediately following words, this divine sonship is explained as a γεγεννῆσθαιἐκ τοῦθελήματοςτοῦΘεοῦ [“to have been born by the will of God”], it cannot be regarded as simply equivalent to the human acting of faith; but the divine causality is there brought prominently forward which makes us the children of God. The second passage is in Joh 3:3-7. In the fourth verse the γεγεννῆσθαι ἄνωθεν [“to have been bornagain” / “from above”fn] is described as a γεγεννῆσθαιἐξὕδατος καὶπνεύματος [“to have been born of water and Spirit”]; it is therefore marked out as an act of God, or rather as the communication of the Divine Spirit. But then Christ answers the question of Nicodemus, πῶςδύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι; [“how can these things be?”],—which was by no means an exclamation in the wondering rhetorical form of interrogation, but literally a simple question: “In what way, through what means, is such a total renewal possible?”—Christ answers it, we affirm, summarily by the requirement of faith: “Dost thou, the celebrated teacher of the law, so little know the law?” As, in the Old Testament, the people stung by serpents were saved by believing on the sign divinely lifted up, so in the New Testament men are saved by faith in the divine sign of the Son of man lifted up. Thus through faith δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι [“these things can be”]; and still this ταῦτα [“these things”] is, according to 1Jn 5:2-3, a divine act, the γεγεννῆσθαιἐκπνεύματος [“to have been born of the Spirit”]. Between these two, the human faith and the divine act, there is no contrariety, but a synthesis is necessary. In order to the γεγεννῆσθαιἐκ τοῦΘεοῦ [“to have been born of God”] there must be, first of all, an infusion of the σπέρμαΘεοῦ [“seed of God”], the divine germ of life, and this represents the one element. As, however, the γεγεννῆσθαι [“to have been born”] is not a new creation, but rather a renewal or transformation, the new life can come to realization only as it stamps its impress on the original elements of man’s nature, and makes that its organ; or, in other words, as the subject under the operation unites himself and is conjoined with the divine σπέρμα [“seed”]. Now this latter element is the πίστις [“faith”]. When, then, our passage says that everyone who believeth is born of God, the ideas of subject and predicate are not in themselves of equal comprehension, that of the subject is narrower than that of the predicate; and it is only established that where faith, the act demanded on the part of man, is present, there certainly also the divine act, the impartation of the Spirit, may be found also; and thus the existence of the former is a sufficient and satisfactory sign of the reality of sonship. Where, however, a γεγεννῆσθαιἐκ τοῦΘεοῦ [“to have been born of God”] is experienced,—this is the further meaning of the verse,—a relation is proved not only to Him who begets, but also to those begotten of Him, that is, to the brethren.
Textual note fnThe word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) has a double meaning, “again” and “from above.” The meaning is determined by context. This word is used 5 times in the Gospel of John (John 3:3, John 3:7, John 3:31, John 19:11 and John 19:23). In the latter 3 cases the context makes it clear that it means “from above.” But in John 3:3 and John 3:7 it could mean either. It seems the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above,” in terms of a spiritual birth. But given Nicodemus’ question in John 3:4, he thinks Jesus is talking about a second physical birth. This gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant. Both meanings seem to fit, as being born “from above” is to be “born again” spiritually.
