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NASB | 1 John 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes [with a deep, abiding trust in the fact] that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) is born of God [that is, reborn from above--spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose], and everyone who loves the Father also loves the child born of Him. |
Subject: Faith following Regeneration |
Bible Note: As there has been much discussion lately on the topic, I thought that this might be an interesting article to post. Please see the link below if you'd like to question Dr. White on the issue. "Generally such a passage would be understood to present the following order of events: 1) Believe that Jesus is the Christ, and 2) you are born of God. Yet, the original readers of this text would not jump to such a conclusion. In reality, the most literal rendering would be, 'Every one believing (present tense participle, emphasizing both the on-going action as well as the individuality of saving faith, 'each believing person') that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God (a perfect passive verb, 'has been born by the agency of God'). In John, 'the one believing' is very common, and it is no accident the the emphasis falls upon the on-going action of faith. The one believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. If a person is now believing that Jesus is the Christ in a true and saving fashion, they are doing so because, as a completed action in the past, they were born again through the work and agency of God. The verb 'to be born' is passive: they were caused to be born by another, that being God. They did not cause their own spiritual birth. And what is the inevitable result of being born of God? belief that Jesus is the Christ. Just as all those who are given by the Father to the Son come to the Son (John 6:37), so too all who are spiritually reborn through the work of God have as the object of their faith the Lord Jesus Christ. "Some ... exegetes might object to this interpretation. A means of testing the consistency of the exegesis offered of this passage would be to ask how such a person interprets these words from John: "'If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.' (1 John 2:29) "Every consistent protestant would say, 'the reason one practices righteousness is because they have already been born of Him. We do not practice righteousness so as to be born, but instead the birth give rise to the practice of righteousness'. And such is quite true. But, this means that in 1 John 5:1 the belief in Jesus as the Christ is the result of being born of Him. The verbal parallel is exact: in 1 John 2:29 'the one practicing righteousness' is a present participle; in 1 John 5:1 'the one believing' is a present participle. In both passages the exact same verb in the exact same form is used. Therefore, sheer consistency leads one to the conclusion that divine birth precedes and is the grounds of both faith in Christ as well as good works. "The testimony to the fact that God's work of grace precedes any human action can be found all through the text of scripture. Luke knew it well: "'A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.' (Acts 16:14)" By Dr. James White http://www.aomin.org/ |
Down View Branch | ID# 173596 | ||
Questions and/or Subjects for 1 John 5:1 | Author | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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mark d seyler | ||
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Missypj | ||
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reedy |