1 John 5.13-21-The Epilogue of First John
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 11, 2018
First John: 1 John 5:13-21-The Epilogue of First John
Lesson # 198
1 John 5:13 I 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. 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 5:15 And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him. 5:16 If anyone sees his fellow Christian committing a sin not resulting in death, he should ask, and God will grant life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. There is a sin resulting in death. I do not say that he should ask about that. 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not resulting in death. 5:18 We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him. 5:19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life. 5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. (NET)
1 John 5:13 begins the eleventh major section of First John and which section ends in 1 John 5:21 and constitutes the epilogue to the epistle.
Therefore, 1 John 5:13 marks a transition from the tenth major section of the epistle to the eleventh and final section, which constitutes the prologue of the epistle.
We noted that the first major section of this epistle is 1 John 1:1-4, which serves as the prologue to the epistle.
The second major section is 1 John 1:5-2:2, which addresses the subject of making God out to be a liar by one’s conduct.
The third major section appears in 1 John 2:3-17, which speaks of the old or familiar commandment to love one another.
The fourth is 1 John 2:18-27 which addresses the existence of many antichrists or false teachers when John wrote this epistle.
The fifth is 1 John 2:28-3:10, which teaches that the recipients of this epistle will have confidence at the rapture of the church and subsequent Bema Seat Evaluation of the church by continuing to make it their habit of practicing righteousness, which is the direct result of living in fellowship with the Trinity.
The sixth major section appears in 1 John 3:11-18, which emphasizes the importance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 to love one another as He loves.
The seventh major section which appears in 1 John 3:19-24 teaches that the believer can possess confidence at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church which will be conducted by the Lord Jesus Christ by obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
The eighth major section of the epistle is 1 John 4:1-6, which addresses the subject of the false teachers or proto-Gnostic teachers who rejected the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ.
The ninth major section of First John is 1 John 4:7-5:3a, which reminds the recipients of First John that the command to love one another is rooted in the character and nature of God in that it is one of His attributes.
The tenth major section is 1 John 5:3b-12, which addresses the subject of making God out to be a liar by failing to exercise faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As we noted, there is a chiastic structure to First John, which means that each of these sections, with the exception of one, parallels each other.
So therefore, the epilogue in 1 John 5:13-21 parallels the prologue in 1 John 1:1-4.
Both sections address the subject of eternal life.
In the former, John testifies that he is an eyewitness that Jesus of Nazareth is eternal life incarnate whereas in the latter, he assures his reader that they possess eternal life through faith in Jesus at justification and are experiencing eternal life by obedience to his apostolic teaching.
In 1 John 5:13-21, he also assures them that when they present a request to God in prayer, they can be confident that they will have these requests fulfilled if they ask them according to His will.
John reminds them again that sin prevents them from experiencing eternal life but they can also be assured of their eternal security because of their faith in Jesus at justification and consequently, they are protected from Satan.
1 John 5:3a-12 parallels 1 John 1:5-2:2.
These sections stand on either side of the sections devoted to love teach how the believer can call God a liar.
Both explicitly mention making God a liar.
Both begin with similar expressions, namely “this is the message” (1:5) and this is the one who comes” (5:6).
In 1 John 1:5-2:2, John reminds his readers that they make God a liar when they live their lives in disobedience to God’s Word.
In 1 John 5:4-12, he says that they make God a liar by failing to exercise faith in God’s Word.
Unbelief produces disobedience whereas faith produces obedience.
When they exercised faith in Jesus at justification, they received eternal life and when they obey God’s Word after justification, they will experience eternal life.
1 John 4:7-5:3 parallels 1 John 2:3-17 and both stand on either side of the Antichrists passages developing the central idea of loving one another.
1 John 2:3-17 presents the imperatives of fellowship with a holy God, which is obedience to the command to love one another.
It also addresses the subject of the provision for sin and the imperative of confession of sin to God in order to be restored to fellowship with God.
The believer is restored to fellowship with a holy God because of the merits of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross which satisfied the demands of God’s holiness that sin be judged.
Verses 12-14 are poetic sections containing six declarations which address the subject of forgiveness, knowledge of the eternal God and victory over the devil.
John assures his readers that they have been forgiven, they know the eternal God experientially and are thus experiencing fellowship with Him.
He also affirms that they have experienced victory over Satan by their obedience to the Word of God.
This section concludes with a warning that love for the cosmic system of Satan demonstrates a failure to love God.
1 John 4:7-5:3 reminds the recipients of First John that the command to love one another is rooted in the character and nature of God in that it is one of His attributes.
In this section, John reminds them that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for sinful humanity was the greatest manifestation of the love of God in history.
His readers are the beneficiaries of this love and are thus obligated to love one another.
This section assures the reader that the Spirit testifies or confirms that the believer is experiencing fellowship with God.
The practice of love gives the believer assurance as well that they are experiencing fellowship with God.
John teaches that the one who hates their brother or sister in Christ is not experiencing fellowship with God.
In fact, by obeying the command to love one another, they will know for certain that they are children of God.
1 John 4:1-6 parallels 1 John 2:18-27 since they both refer to the proto-Gnostic teachers who rejected the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ in the sense that they rejected He was truly a human being.
1 John 2:18-27 and 1 John 4:1-6 deal with those who oppose the gospel and thus oppose the Christian living according to the standard of God’s holiness which involves love for God and for one’s fellow human being.
1 John 2:18-27 addresses the subject of false teachers whose false doctrine threatens the Christian community’s fellowship with God.
1 John 4:1-6 provides information as to how the Christian community can identify these false teachers and their false doctrine.
In 1 John 2:18-27, John describes them as “antichrists” and asserts that they never belonged to the Christian community because of this rejection of the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ while on the other hand, in 1 John 4:1-6 he describes them as “false prophets.”
The chiastic structure of First John reveals that 1 John 3:11-18 which emphasizes the importance of the command to love one another, is the most important section in this letter since it is standing in the middle of the letter.
The emphasis on love is further developed in sections 1 John 2:3-17 and 1 John 4:7-5:3 and is mentioned in two other parts of the book, namely, section 1 John 2:28-3:10 and 1 John 3:19-24 which stand on either side of this central pericope.
1 John 2:28-3:10 addresses the subject of confidence before God by practicing righteousness and 1 John 3:19-24 concerns itself with how a believer can have confidence before God as a result of practicing the command to love one another.
These two concepts are closely connected or intertwined since practicing righteousness expresses itself by obedience to the commands to love God with one’s entire being and one’s neighbor as oneself.
In other words, if a believer is loving God and their neighbor they are practicing righteousness since righteousness is fulfilling one’s obligation to love God with one’s entire being and fulfilling one’s obligation to one’s fellow human being to love them as one would love oneself.