The New Birth.—1 John 5:1-6

Notes

1. Verses 1-3.—The new birth is the condition of entrance to the kingdom (John 3:3), and it is a spiritual birth (verse 5). Man "must have a new life from above. This change is the new birth." To thus become children of God is granted to believers (John 1:12, 13) in Christ (Gal. 3:26). Such are children of promise (Gal. 4:28), being born of the word (James 1:18). Love to the brethren is a proof of conversion (1 John 3:14), and obedience to God is proof of love to the brethren, hence obedience is proof of conversion. There can be no true love apart from obedience (John 14:23), which is the highest form of worship. "If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? When the principle of love is implanted in the heart, when man is renewed after the image of Him that created him, the new covenant promise is fulfilled, 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.' Heb. 10:16. And if the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life?" "If we abide in Christ, if the love of God dwells in us, our purposes, our actions will be in harmony with the will of God as expressed in the precepts of his holy law." God is love, and his law, "being an expression of the mind and will of God," "the transcript of the character of God," is founded upon love (Matt. 22:40) and fulfilled in love (Rom. 13:10). His commandments "are not burdensome" (Matt. 11:30) to those who have been set free from the bondage of sin (John 8:34-36), but rather a delight (Ps. 1:2). "The truth a bondage?—Yes, in one sense; it binds the willing souls in captivity to Jesus Christ."

2. Verses 4, 5.—The greatest victories of the world have been gained through faith (Heb. 11:32-34) in Christ (1 Cor. 15:57), who was an overcomer (John 16:33), and "has given us the advantage of his victory, that we may be able to resist the temptations of the evil one." "We gain the victory through faith in Christ's power to save us." "This is the victory that hath overcome the world," is the reading of the Revised Version, thus making the victory an accomplished fact.

"The Lord Jesus is making experiments on human hearts through the exhibition of his mercy and abundant grace. He is effecting transformations so amazing that Satan, with all his triumphant boasting, with all his confederacy of evil united against God and the laws of his government, stands viewing them as a fortress impregnable to his sophistries and delusions. They are to him an incomprehensible mystery. The angels of God, seraphim and cherubim, the powers commissioned to coöperate with human agencies, look on with astonishment and joy that fallen men, once children of wrath, are, through the training of Christ, developing characters after the divine similitude, to be sons and daughters of God, to act an important part in the pleasures and occupations of heaven." Only in him who "believeth that Jesus is the Son of God" can such a work as this be wrought.

3. Verse 6.—Jesus came by water and by blood (John 19:34). "In the shed blood we see the sacrificed life of Christ, and in the water we see the Word and the Spirit of Christ. In the blood we see expiation made for sin, and through the blood we get remission of sins. Then comes the water to sanctify and cleanse us."—Rodgers.

Blood and water were both used in the typical service (Lev. 14:6, 8) as symbols of cleansing. So we are cleansed by the blood (1 John 1:7), and by water which is explained to be the word (Eph. 5:26, compare with John 15:3).