1 John 5:1-6 is part of the summary of the topics which the author of the epistle introduces in 2:22-28. This summary actually ends in v. 12, verse 13 being the start of the concluding part of the letter1
1 John 5:1-12 can be divided as follows:
- vv. 1-5 Those who are children of God obey His commands, that is, believe in Jesus Christ and love one another
- vv. 6-8 Jesus Christ, the Son of God is testified to by the Spirit, water and blood
- vv. 9-12 Those who believe in Jesus Christ have God's testimony in their hearts and therefore have eternal life
Verses 1-5. It has been rightly observed that the two verbs that structure the epistle is love and believe. The predominance of these two verbs are reflected in vv. 1-5 (love) and vv. 9-12 (believe). Obedience to God's commandments is subsumed under these two verbs since the commandment itself is expressed thus:
"believe in the name of Jesus Christ and
love one another just as he has commanded us" (3:23)
Those who are more familiar with the two-fold commandment as expressed in the Synoptics should consider that the author is putting forward the program of the Christian life under circumstances that required orthodoxy and communion. There has been a schism in the Johanine community where one group has left communion by following a new doctrine that denied the humanity of Christ in favor of his divinity. Scholars trace this offending doctrine to a rudimentary form of gnosticism that will find its full-blown expression in the heresy of Cerinthus (II c. AD).
Gnosticism -- which also finds itself expressed in the Gospel of Judas among others -- denies that Christ was human, that he died on the cross and that the death of the man Jesus had no effect for salvation. What matters to the gnostics is the secret that Christ has left behind. This "secret knowledge" is the key for the salvation of the initiate. Thus the author's insistence on abiding in what has been heard "from the beginning" as opposed to the new teaching on the one hand and on the the salvation effected through the cross, on the other.
Verses 6-8. One of the features of Cerinthian gnosticism is the assertion that the Spirit of God which possessed Jesus at his baptism left him on the cross. To this, the author of the epistle opposes a memory -- that of Christ hanging on the cross with water and blood flowing from his wounded side (v. 6; John 19:34). This past event is made present in the life of the Church through the water of Baptism and the blood of the Eucharist, both of which are "applications" of the event of Christ's death on the cross to each succeeding Christian generation through the power of the Spirit. In formulating the three-fold witness of Spirit, water and blood, the author draws from the tradition of the Johanine gospel which presents Christian regeneration in terms of "being born in water and Spirit" on the one hand and having eternal life in terms of eating "my flesh" and drinking "my blood", on the other. Salvation, therefore, is not tied up with a secret but with the person of Jesus Christ who offered himself on the cross (1 Jn. 4:10)
Verses 9-12. What has been proclaimed from the beginning -- what was seen and touched, i.e., the Word of God made flesh from whose side water and blood flowed -- brings life. Here, the introduction of the Gospel of John (John 1:1.3-4.14) and that of the epistle (1:1-3) are recalled. Jesus the Son of God was human and he truly died. The water and blood that flowed from his side are God's witnesses. In and through them, God testifies in behalf of His Son. They are signs of that eternal life that God has bestowed upon His children (cf. 3:1) for whom Christ died (3:16), by which death is revealed God's love (4:9-10).
Note on Dominica in Albis (B)
For the Sunday following Easter, only verses 1-5 and 6 are selected for reading alongside that of the account of Thomas's unbelief (Gospel) and the life of the first Christian community (Reading I). Verses 1-4 is framed by the phrase "born and God", and the life of communion described here -- of a shared faith and mutual love -- completes the description of Christin communion found in Acts 4. It is a faith that "conquers" all opposing forces, especially those which divide and draw away from Christ (v.5).
Verse 6 has been separated from vv. 7-8 because the "water and blood" mentioned there is a direct reference to the event of Christ's death on the cross while that found in verse 8 refers to the sacramental life of the Church. If vv. 7-8 were taken out, it is because the sacramental element is already clear in the selection from Acts 4. At the same time, the focus on the death of Christ prepares for the episode where Jesus offers his hands and side for the examination of Thomas who does not believe in a gnostic Christ.
- 1. Note how "I write this ..." in verse 13 recalls those in 2:1ff
