Faith is central to the Christian religion. We believe that a person is justified by faith alone (Rom 5:1). We believe that once a person is saved he is to live a life of faith. “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). But Christianity is not the only religion to give a high place to faith. In fact, we speak of the various “faiths,” by which we mean the religions of the world. The “man on the streets” will sometimes speak of “keeping the faith,” and not have in mind any particular religion or even God, but rather an attitude or hope that things will somehow work out. During the shocking victory of the U.S. Olympic hockey team over the Soviet Union in 1980, the broadcasters gave us the expression, “Do you believe in miracles?,” which launched a fleet of signs ever since urging that fans “believe,” meaning that if we all think positively, good things might happen. There is what we might call, “faith in faith,” aplenty in our day.

What is true faith? Remember, the Apostle John is dealing with false prophets who claimed to believe but whose faith was spurious. He provides once more (see 2:18-24; 4:1-4) the signs of true faith: its content, its source, its fruit (5:1-5), and later, its reward (5:6-13). We can see that it is important, but what is it, and how can we get it?

Content

And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 Jn 5:5)

Believers are overcomers. They overcome the world. How? By faith. What does faith believe? That “Jesus is the Christ.” “He is stressing the content of true Christian confession,” says Kruse.[1] True faith has a particular object, Jesus, and a particular content, that He is “the Christ,” the divine Messiah. True faith, faith that overcomes the world and endures, believes that “Jesus is the Son of God” (5:5; cf. 4:9,10,015). True faith (if we may personify it) confesses that Jesus is the preincarnate, only begotten Son of God who has “come in the flesh” (4:2); who was “sent . . . into the world” (4:9); who is the “Savior of the world” (4:14). Faith is not positive thinking. Faith is not a vague trust that things will turn out all right. Faith is not religious sentiment without regard to the object of faith, as in “we all (we practitioners of the religions of the world) have faith and that’s what’s important.” Faith, as the Bible speaks of faith, has a specific object, Jesus, and specific content, His full humanity and divinity, and specific confidence, that His death was a blood offering, an atoning death, a propitiatory sacrifice that removes guilt and reconciles us to God (2:1,2; 4:10).

Faith in Jesus is meaningful because Jesus is trustworthy. I trust in Him because He is worthy of trust. Each Tuesday I attend the Men’s Prayer Breakfast at 6:30 a.m., go directly from there to teach “Western Civilization, Enlightenment to the Modern World” until 9:00 a.m., and directly from there to our church staff meeting, from 9:00 until 9:45 or 10:00. I then walk downstairs, through my door, and plop down in my chair, weary from an early start and 3-1/2 hours of non-stop activity, with full confidence that my chair will support me. But what if it were broken? What if it were damaged to the point that it could support no more than 100 pounds, and would collapse beneath me if I fell into it with all my weight? What good would my confidence in the chair be? Faith, trust, and confidence are only as good as their object, and false religion, like broken chairs, are unworthy of faith, be the chair ever so lovely and my faith ever so sincere. Sincerity has no impact on trustworthiness. Faith in false gods and idols is not faith but presumption and blindness. False gods are not trustworthy. They cannot deliver what they promise or what we need. Don’t place faith in idols and errors. Don’t place faith in faith. Place faith in Jesus Christ. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6). He alone “is able to save unto the uttermost” (Heb 7:25, KJV). Faith is “being fully assured that what (God in Christ has) promised, He (is) also able to perform” (Rom 4:21).

Source

The Apostle John mentions both faith and the new birth in verse 1. Those who “believe” (or have faith) are “born of God.” Both faith and regeneration are integral to our salvation. Jesus said we must be “born again” to see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3). Yet, what must I do to be saved? Believe (Acts 16:31). How, then, do faith and the new birth relate to each other? The Apostle John writes,

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. (1 Jn 5:1)

Only those who confess that Jesus is the Christ are born of God. Likewise all those who are born of God believe. Which comes first? Follow the verb tenses. What the NASV translates “is born” is literally “has been born,” a perfect passive form of the verb, as in the ESV. Whoever “believes” (present) “ has been born of God” (past). The new birth is prior to faith. The use of the perfect, says Stott, “shows clearly that believing is the consequence, not the cause, of the new birth.”[2]

We may draw two conclusions. First, regeneration precedes faith. We are born again first, then we believe. How then are we born again if our faith doesn’t cause it? By a sovereign work of God. God initiates our salvation causing us to be born again, then we believe. Someone may object, “You’re placing a lot of weight on the verb tenses in one passage, aren’t you?” Fair enough. Let’s look at two other crucial passages that address the issue. Remember Jesus said,

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, (Jn 1:12)

The children of God, clearly, are those who believe. Yet Jesus then said of those who receive and believe,

who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (Jn 1:13)

Believers are “born” spiritually, but not by an act of their will. They are born “of God,” of His sovereign will. The “will of the flesh” or “the will of man” have nothing to do with it. Similarly, the same Jesus who told Nicodemus that he must be born again (Jn 3:7), also told him in the very next verse:

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8)

To be born of the Spirit is to be subject to forces outside of oneself that are as uncontrolled and seemingly arbitrary as the blowing of the wind. Faith in Jesus as the Christ is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in a person’s life, with respect to which one is passive. Faith is a gift (Eph 2:8,9). Faith is a response to God’s prior grace, as is our love. “We love,” said the Apostle John, “because He first loved us” (4:19). If a person is to become a believer the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is required. The one who “believes” (now) “has been born of God” (in the past)! If a person is a believer, then the new birth has taken place. Wherever there is true faith, spiritual birth has preceded it.

The doctrine of regeneration is a humbling doctrine. I thought I might at least claim my faith as my own, one might say. No, the last ground for spiritual boasting is removed. I can take credit for nothing. “By His doing (we) are in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor 1:30), not our doing. “You did not choose me but I chose you,” Jesus says to us (Jn 15:16). Indeed, apart from Me you can do nothing. (Jn 15:5b)

The necessity of regeneration means that those who have been in church all their lives, who may be very moral and religious, must also be “born of the Spirit.” God must transform us. We must seek the new birth if we are to have genuine faith, saving faith. We are dependent upon God in ways we may not have imagined.

A people that understand this will be a praying people. Only as we wage spiritual warfare in prayer are we able to see others come to Christ (Eph 6:12). It takes supernatural power to make a person a Christian. It takes a miracle. People will not be converted because of clever arguments, or our “persuasive words of wisdom,” but only by “the demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor 2:4). They must be born again before they’ll believe. Only God can perform this work of regeneration. We must pray that God will bring spiritual life to the dead.

Calvinists and Arminians have argued about these things for centuries. I like the approach the Calvinist Charles Simeon took with the Arminian John Wesley. He said to him,

“Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions  . . . Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?” “Yes,” says the veteran, “I do indeed.” “And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?” “Yes, solely through Christ.” “But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?” “No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last.” “Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?” “No.” “What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother’s arms?” “Yes, altogether.” “And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?” “Yes, I have no hope but in Him.” “Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree.”[3]

Theologians may debate the two sides of this question. But in our hearts, on our knees before God, we know that we owe even our faith to the grace of God. I look back to the crowd I ran around with in high school. Years later I believe and most of them don’t (though not all!). Why? We heard the same sermons. We were in the same Sunday School. Why do I believe and they remain unbelieving? Because God caused me to become a new creation, with eyes that could see, and ears that could hear. He took out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh, and that new heart responded. Where does faith come from? It comes from a heart that has been regenerated by the Spirit of God. It comes from the new birth.

Are we born again? Better, let’s ask it as the Apostle John does. Do we believe? If we truly do, we must be born of God. If we don’t believe, we must pray to God that He might bring life to our souls.

Fruit

For years the polls have indicated that something like one-fourth to one-third of the American adult population claim to be “born again,” or to have had a “born again experience.” The current moral climate in this country makes this seem ludicrous to most. The Apostle moves in verse 1b from faith to the fruit of faith. It has often been said, and rightly so, that it is faith alone that saves, but not a faith that is alone.[4] Faith always produces godly fruit. “Faith without works,” says James, “is dead” (Jas 2:26). Faith works through love (Gal 5:6). The Apostle John moves from faith to the fruit of faith in verses 1b-5. He names several of the fruits of faith that will always be present if faith is real.

First, he speaks of love.

. . . whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. (1 Jn 5:1b-2)

The Apostle John moves seamlessly from faith to love for God to love for the children of God. Following the Apostle’s train of thought is difficult in these verses. But it is clear that he has in mind a familial love. Real faith is accompanied by love for the family of God – for our heavenly Father, and for His children, our brethren. Like a broken record John has returned to this theme. Do we know the God who is light? We will walk in the light and love the brethren (2:7-11). Do we know God as our Father? Then we will love the children of God (3:10-15). Do we know the God who is love? Then we will love one another (4:7-12). Love for God produces love for the children of God. We may have thought that we just want to be left alone, to be our old selfish selves, but the gospel won’t let us. We must love others. A relationship with God never stops with God. It goes on to be expressed in love for others.

The logic of verse 2 is either, “When we love God and do His commandments, we do in fact love the children of God,” or “When we love the children of God we realize that we in fact are loving God and doing His commandments.” Either way, we see the interrelatedness of the two loves. Stott notes, “A family relationship unites the two loves.”[5] They cannot be divorced from each other. They cannot be separated from each other. Smalley says,

Each kind of love (for God, and for others) demonstrates the genuineness of the other, and reinforces it. Brotherly love is proof of the love of God; but the reverse is also true.[6]

We see also the interrelatedness of love and the commandments. Don’t erect a wall between love and commandment. Don’t pit the one against the other. “Love and law are not enemies,” says Hamilton, “they are spiritual twins.”[7] Love is commanded (see Mt 22:34-40; cf. Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). The law requires love. In fact, all the commandments of the Bible can be summed up in one: love. This is why love, true love, fulfills the law. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law,” says the Apostle Paul (Rom 13:10). In loving God and doing His commandments we end up loving others. In loving others we end up loving God and doing His commandments. This leads us to our second point.

Second, he speaks of obedience. Faith always results in obedience, even as it produces love. The progression, if there is one, might be from faith to love to obedience.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (1 Jn 5:3)

A real faith will result in love for God. Love for God will result in obedience to the commandments of God. Why will I keep the commandments? Because of love. Love will motivate obedience. Whom I love I will trust (that His commandments are good) and I will wish to please. Pleasing God, and so obeying God, becomes our ambition (2 Cor 5:9).

Love will also transform my outlook. I will come to see that God’s rules are not “burdensome,” heavy, or “irksome.”[8] The world, and far too many Christians, see the commands of the Bible as bondage. They are “heavy” to them. All they see are chains and drudgery (see Ps 2). But because of love, we do not see them as such. “John is not a legalist,” Morris insists, “but he recognizes that love is busy,” busy about doing the things that please the beloved.[9]

When I was a baby, my father was in graduate school, caring for 3 children, and holding down 2 jobs. Was this a burden? No, he gladly did it because of love. My grandfather worked for over 40 years in the Pennsylvania coal mines. During the winter he would not see the sun during the week. I once asked him why he did it. His answer was, “I had to get bread on the table.” Love makes no task too great or hard. Jacob labored for 7 years for Rachel and we read, “they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her” (Gen 29:20). If we love God, we gladly serve Him and His law is a delight, not a hardship. We want to please Him because He is our Father. We find His yoke to be easy, and His burden light (Mt 11:30). The laws of God delight and refresh (Ps 19:7-14). The commands of God, as Moses told the children of Israel, are “not too difficult for you or beyond your reach” (Deut 30:11). On the contrary, “The way of the transgressor is hard,” the Proverbs warn (Prov 13:15). Worldlings weary themselves with sin. Their drugs and alcohol and promiscuity, their pursuit of the false gods of wealth and pleasure, take a heavy toll physically and emotionally.

Augustine said, “Love, and you cannot but do well.”[10] God’s commandments are really one command – love. If we do that, we will have done all that He requires. But really, one might say, it is hard to obey God, isn’t it? In some ways, it is. For the Pharisees it was hard because they piled on to the law of God their own commandments (Mt 23:4). Sometimes we do the same thing, making the Law of God stricter than God Himself did. We also struggle because of the weakness of our flesh. But the defect here is not with God’s commandments, it is with us. Calvin says our struggle,

does not arise from the nature of the Law but from the vice of our flesh . . . he (John) suggests that it is through the power of the Spirit that it is not grievous or vexatious for us to obey God.[11]

Do not view the law of God through the eyes of the Pharisees. View it through the Psalmist who loves and delights in the law of God (e.g. Ps 1,19,119). Wherever there is true faith, there will result obedience to the commandments of God. This too is a reminder of what John has been saying all along (2:4,5; 3:4-8; 3:22ff). True faith always issues in obedience.

Third, he speaks of triumph. If we are to love and obey, there is much to overcome. We battle the world, the flesh, and the devil. How are we to do so? By faith.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 Jn 5:4,5)

Follow the verb tenses in verses 4 and 5.[12] Faith “overcomes the world” (4a) says the Apostle, “has overcome the world” (4b), and again, “overcomes the world” (5a). There are two aspects of salvation in view. On the one hand, “has overcome” is a Greek aorist indicating a “once-for-all action or event,” as Hamilton puts it.[13] This is faith as conversion, as trust in Christ for salvation, as receiving and believing in Christ (Jn 1:12). By this act of believing we have entered into His victory over sin, death, and the devil. Jesus has overcome the world (Jn 16:33). We overcome because “greater is He who is in (us) than he who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4). In Christ we are “more than conquerors” (Rom 8:37). In Christ God gives us the victory (1 Cor 15:57). “Has overcome,” says Morris, “means that the decisive victory is in the past, when Jesus died to overcome evil, and in the case of the individual believer when that believer came to trust in him.”[14]

On the other hand, “overcomes” in verses 4 and 5 is the present tense. He speaks here not of Jesus’ decisive, once-for-all victory, but of our daily battles to overcome the world, our ongoing participation in His triumph.

The “world,” as we have noted, is humanity organized in opposition to God. The “world” is the realm of error, immorality, idolatry, and persecution. To persevere in faith, the world must be overcome. Those born of God (past) have a faith which overcomes (present) the seductions and obstacles of the world. When a person becomes a Christian there is a whole world of opposition that he or she must encounter. Some of this is overt, some is subtle. But it is there. It can be moral, the temptation to believe that sin is not sin, that it is harmless and one can get away with it. It can be intellectual, in the form of false doctrine or unbelief or even underbelief. By the latter I mean lukewarm belief. We can be tempted to believe that it all doesn’t matter very much, and swallow the world’s powerfully appealing universalism and religious relativism (“It doesn’t matter what you believe, just so you are sincere”). It can be social, tempting us to sell our souls for the sake of the world’s approval, its prestige and position and popularity. How many young people fall prey to the proverbial “peer pressure”? How many others as well are duped by social status and are slaves to social recognition and inclusion? Faith conquers all of this.

The world is like a flowing stream into which we are born. The stream flows downhill, over high cliffs, and crashes upon the rocks in hell. The ride can be exciting, for some, and easy, until it ends in an eternal nightmare. The means of escape is to swim upstream by the strength which the Spirit of Christ gives. The child of God, because he is born again, has the desire and the energy to do this. “Faith” may mean continuing faith, or faithfulness. It is by continuing trust in Christ and obedience that we overcome the world. Or it may refer to “the faith,” to “the facts believed by a Christian.”[15] The Christian faith is the only “faith” which is able to take on the world and win. Either way it is the Christ in whom we believe who has overcome the world (Jn 16:33), and into whose victory we enter. The second view (faith as the content of faith) seems to be confirmed by verse 5:

And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 Jn 5:5)

Through belief in Jesus we “overcome the world.” Indeed this is the testimony of countless men and women throughout the history of the church. Crooks have found freedom from their vice, addicts have found freedom from their habits, the anxious have found freedom from their fears in Christ. Again, the weak have found strength, slaves have found freedom, the oppressed have found justice through the gospel. The gospel overcomes the world. Stalin’s contemptuous question, “How many divisions (i.e. military troops) does the Pope have?,” came back to haunt his heirs. The church has plenty of divisions. The Christian faith kept hope alive for the people of Eastern Europe, and it finally overcame the oppression of communism and its “iron curtain.”

Faith’s fruit is love, obedience, and triumph. In the end faith overcomes and perseveres in believing the content of the gospel, trusting in the source of the gospel, and bearing the fruit of the gospel.