1 Juan 5

VBL · Chapter 5/5

1Todo el que cree que Jesús es el Cristo nacido de Dios, y el que ama al Padre también ama a su hijo.

2¿Cómo sabemos que amamos a los hijos de Dios? Cuando amamos a Dios y seguimos sus mandamientos.

3Amar a Dios quiere decir que seguimos sus mandamientos, y sus mandamientos no son una carga pesada.

4Todo el que nace de Dios vence al mundo. La manera como obtenemos la victoria y vencemos al mundo es por la fe en Dios.

5¿Quién puede vencer al mundo? Solo los que creen en Jesús, creyendo que él es el Hijo de Dios.

6Él es el que vino por agua y sangre, Jesucristo. No solo vino por agua, sino por agua y sangre. El Espíritu prueba y confirma esto, porque el Espíritu es la verdad.

7Así que hay tres que dan evidencia de ello:

8el Espíritu, el agua, y la sangre, y los tres están de acuerdo como si fueran uno.

9Si aceptamos la evidencia que dan los testigos humanos, entonces la evidencia que da Dios es más importante. La evidencia que Dios da es su testimonio sobre su Hijo.

10Los que creen en el Hijo de Dios han aceptado y se han aferrado a esta evidencia. Los que no creen en Dios, llaman a Dios mentirosos, porque no creen la evidencia que Dios da sobre su Hijo.

11Y la evidencia es esta: Dios nos ha dado vida eterna por medio de su Hijo.

12Todo el que tiene al Hijo tiene vida; y quien no tiene al Hijo no tiene vida.

13Escribo para decirles a los que entre ustedes creen en el nombre del Hijo de Dios, para que puedan estar seguros que tienen la vida eterna.

14Podemos estar seguros de que él nos escuchará siempre y cuando pidamos conforme a su voluntad.

15Si sabemos que él oye nuestras peticiones, podemos estar seguros de que recibiremos lo que le pedimos.

16Si ves a tu hermano en la fe cometiendo un pecado que no es mortal, debes orar y Dios le otorgará vida al que ha pecado. (Pero no por un pecado mortal. Porque hay un pecado que es mortal, y no quiero decir que la gente deba orar por eso.

17Sí, todo lo que no es recto es pecado, pero hay un pecado que no es mortal).

18Reconocemos que los que nacen de Dios no siguen pecando más. El Hijo de Dios los protege y el diablo no puede hacerles daño.

19Pues sabemos que pertenecemos a Dios, y que el mundo está bajo control del maligno.

20También sabemos que el Hijo de Dios ha venido, y nos ha ayudado a entender, para que podamos reconocer al que es verdadero. Vivimos en él, que es verdadero, en su Hijo Jesucristo. Él es el verdadero Dios, y es vida eterna.

21Amigos queridos, aléjense del culto a los ídolos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

John concludes by explaining that overcoming the world is the fruit of faith in Jesus as the Son of God, presenting three witnesses—the Spirit, the water, and the blood—that confirm this truth. He closes by affirming the certainty of eternal life for those who believe and warning against idols.

Explanation

The references to 'the water and the blood' likely point to Jesus's baptism and his death on the cross, moments that publicly confirmed his identity and messianic mission, also witnessed to by the Holy Spirit. The letter ends with one of the most direct declarations of assurance of faith in the whole Bible: 'these things have I written unto you... that ye may know that ye have eternal life' (5:13), standing in contrast to religions that leave their followers in permanent doubt about their spiritual standing. The final, abrupt warning, 'keep yourselves from idols,' though it may seem disconnected, reinforces the theme of the entire letter: exclusive faithfulness to the true God revealed in Jesus Christ, against any false substitute. Today's practical application is that the Christian faith offers certainty, not just vague hope, about eternal life for those who trust in Jesus.

Fun facts

  • The so-called Johannine Comma (a Trinitarian phrase found in some older translations of 5:7-8) does not appear in the oldest and most reliable Greek manuscripts, and is now recognized by practically all scholars as a later addition to the original text.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Juan 5:1Links faith and love in a natural way: whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and loving God (the Father) automatically includes loving whoever else is born of Him, that is, other believers.
  2. 1 Juan 5:2Reverses the logic: one way of knowing that we truly love the other children of God is to observe whether we also love God and keep His commandments.
  3. 1 Juan 5:3Defines love for God in practical terms: it is not an abstract feeling, it is keeping His commandments — and the text assures that this obedience is not a heavy burden.
  4. 1 Juan 5:4Calling faith “the victory that overcometh the world” sums up a recurring theme in the letter: resisting the values opposed to God, described in chapter 2 as lust and pride, is not a matter of willpower, but of sustained trust.
  5. 1 Juan 5:5Repeats, in the form of a rhetorical question, the criterion for victory over the world already mentioned: only whoever believes that Jesus is the Son of God can overcome the world’s opposing values.
  6. 1 Juan 5:6Saying that Jesus “came by water and blood” is generally understood as a reference to His baptism, the water, and His death on the cross, the blood — a way of reinforcing, once again, that Christ had a real physical life and death, against those who tried to separate the spiritual Christ from the human Jesus.
  7. 1 Juan 5:7The verse about “three” that bear record in heaven — the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost — is one of the most debated points among Bible scholars: this specific wording does not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts and is considered by most specialists to be an addition made centuries later; more recent Bibles usually include a note explaining this.
  8. 1 Juan 5:8Complements the previous verse about the witness in heaven, now with a witness “in earth”: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, three proofs that all point to the same truth about Jesus.
  9. 1 Juan 5:9Argues by comparison: if people already accept the witness of other human beings, the witness of God, which is even greater, about His own Son, deserves to be accepted all the more.
  10. 1 Juan 5:10Distinguishes between believing and not believing this witness: whoever believes in the Son carries this certainty within; whoever does not believe, in practice, makes God a liar, rejecting His witness.
  11. 1 Juan 5:11Sums up the content of this witness of God: He gave eternal life, and this life is specifically tied to the Son, Jesus Christ.
  12. 1 Juan 5:12Makes the logic even more direct: having the Son, through faith, is having life; not having the Son consequently means not having that life.
  13. 1 Juan 5:13Explains the purpose of the whole letter: to give certainty to those who already believe in the Son of God that they truly have eternal life, reinforcing that faith.
  14. 1 Juan 5:14Links this confidence to prayer: believers can approach God with assurance, knowing that He hears requests made according to His will.
  15. 1 Juan 5:15Continues the reasoning about prayer: if there is certainty that God hears, there is also certainty that requests made within His will are, in a sense, already granted.
  16. 1 Juan 5:16The distinction between “a sin unto death” and sin that is not unto death is not detailed by the text itself, which has led to quite different interpretations throughout Christian history about what exactly this sin unto death would be — the author seems to assume readers already understood what he meant, without needing to explain.
  17. 1 Juan 5:17Clarifies a distinction made in the previous verse about “a sin unto death”: all unrighteousness is sin, but not all sin falls into this more serious category.
  18. 1 Juan 5:18Repeats a statement already made in chapter 3: whoever is born of God does not live in a pattern of sin, because this new condition protects him from the wicked one’s actions.
  19. 1 Juan 5:19Contrasts the identity of Christians — “we are of God” — with the condition of the rest of the world, described as lying under the control of the wicked one.
  20. 1 Juan 5:20Sums up the spiritual understanding given by the Son of God: recognizing what is true and being united to this true God through Jesus Christ, called here directly “the true God, and eternal life.”
  21. 1 Juan 5:21The final warning, “keep yourselves from idols,” seems abrupt after all the letter’s content about love and truth, but it reflects a common concern among the early Christian communities, living in cities where the worship of deities and images was part of daily life.

Chapters

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.