1 John 5:10

5:9-12 Nothing can be more absurd than the conduct of those who doubt as to the truth of Christianity, while in the common affairs of life they do not hesitate to proceed on human testimony, and would deem any one out of his senses who declined to do so. The real Christian has seen his guilt and misery, and his need of such a Saviour. He has seen the suitableness of such a Saviour to all his spiritual wants and circumstances. He has found and felt the power of the word and doctrine of Christ, humbling, healing, quickening, and comforting his soul. He has a new disposition, and new delights, and is not the man that he formerly was. Yet he finds still a conflict with himself, with sin, with the flesh, the world, and wicked powers. But he finds such strength from faith in Christ, that he can overcome the world, and travel on towards a better. Such assurance has the gospel believer: he has a witness in himself, which puts the matter out of doubt with him, except in hours of darkness or conflict; but he cannot be argued out of his belief in the leading truths of the gospel. Here is what makes the unbeliever's sin so awful; the sin of unbelief. He gives God the lie; because he believes not the record that God gave of his Son. It is in vain for a man to plead that he believes the testimony of God in other things, while he rejects it in this.

He that refuses to trust and honour Christ as the Son of God, who disdains to submit to his teaching as Prophet, to rely on his atonement and intercession as High Priest, or to obey him as King, is dead in sin, under condemnation; nor will any outward morality, learning, forms, notions, or confidences avail him.

{11} He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. (11) He proves the sureness of the earthly witness by every man's conscience having that testimony in itself, whose conscience he says cannot be deceived because it agrees with the heavenly testimony which the Father gives of the Son: for otherwise the Father must be a liar, if the conscience which agrees and assents to the Father, should lie.

1 John 5:10 . A subtle and profound analysis of the exercise of soul which issues in assured faith. Three stages: (1) “Believe God” ( πιστεύειν τῷ Θεῷ , credere Deo ), accept His testimony concerning His Son, i.e. , not simply His testimony at the Baptism ( Matthew 3:17 ) but the historic manifestation of God in Christ, the Incarnation. God speaks not by words but by acts, and to set aside His supreme act, and all the forces which it has set in operation is to “make Him a liar” by treating His historic testimony as unworthy of credit. (2) “Believe in the Son of God” ( πιστεύειν εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ , credere in Filium Dei ), make the believing sell-surrender which is the reasonable and inevitable consequence of contemplating the Incarnation and recognising the wonder of it. (3) The Inward Testimony ( τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἐν αὐτῷ , testimonium in seipso ). “Fecisti nos ad te, et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te” (Aug.). The love of Jesus satisfies the deepest need of our nature. When He is welcomed, the soul rises up and greets Him as “all its salvation and all its desire,” and the testimony is no longer external in history but an inward experience ( cf. note on 1 John 4:9 : ἐν ἡμῖν ), and therefore indubitable. These three stages are, according to the metaphor of Revelation 3:20 , (1) hearing the Saviour’s voice, (2) opening the door, (3) communion.

1 John 5:10 . He that believeth on the Son of God, with such a faith, hath the testimony in himself — Namely, knows by experience, that what God hath testified concerning his Son, and salvation in and through him, is indeed true, being already saved by him from the guilt and power of sin, into the favour and image of God, and a state of communion with him. He knows by experience, that Jesus is the Son of God in such a sense as to be an all- sufficient Saviour, and that he came by cleansing water, and by atoning blood, having received justification through the latter, and sanctification through the former. Or, which is to the same purpose, he hath received the testimony mentioned 1 John 5:11 . For, as in that verse, “the witness, by a usual metonymy, is put for the thing witnessed, and the thing witnessed being, that God hath given us eternal life through his Son, he who believeth on the Son of God, may justly be said to have eternal life, the thing witnessed, in himself; because, by his faith on the Son, being begotten of God, he hath, in the dispositions of God’s children communicated to him, eternal life begun in him; which is both a pledge and a proof that God, in due time, will completely bestow on him eternal life through his Son.” — Macknight.

Add to the above, that eternal life is begun in him, and that God will, in due time, bestow on him the full enjoyment of it, he hath the testimony of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the Father having lifted up the light of his countenance upon him, and thereby put joy and gladness into his heart, Psalm 4:6-7 ; Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, and being precious to his soul, Ephesians 3:17 ; 1 Peter 2:7 ; and the Holy Ghost, as a Spirit of adoption, witnessing with his spirit that he is a child of God, and producing in him love, joy, and peace, Romans 8:15-16 ; Galatians 5:22 . And he hath the witness of the Spirit in himself, mentioned 1 John 5:8 , or of the inspired writings, which bear witness to the genuineness of his religion, and his title to eternal life, and which are the food of his soul, the sweetness of which he tastes, and is nourished thereby; tastes the good word of God, Hebrews 6:5 . He hath the witness of the water in himself, having been baptized with water, and had the sign, and also the thing signified thereby, the regenerating grace of God; and the witness of the blood, having received the atonement, and pardon through it, and taking all opportunities of receiving the Lord’s supper, when the bread that he breaks is to him the communion of Christ’s body; and the wine which he drinks, the communion of his blood; and he feeds on Christ in his heart by faith, with thanksgiving.

On the Son of God Faith in the person of Christ, not merely in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. God Also personal. To believe God, is to believe the message which comes from Him. See on John 1:12. Hath made - hath believed (πρποίηκεν - πεπίστευκεν) The perfect tense marks the two results expressed by the verbs as connected with a past act. The act perpetuates itself in the present condition of the unbeliever. Believed on the witness (πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὴν μαρτυρίαν) The phrase occurs only here. See on John 1:12. In one other case to believe on is used with an object not directly personal, πιστεύετε εἰς τὸ φῶς; but the reference is clearly to the personal Christ as the Light of the World (John 8:12).

1 John 5:10 . Ἐν ἑαυτῷ ,[23] in himself ) in the inner man. [23] The reading ἐν αὐτῷ is preferred by the decision of Ed. 1 and 2. The sense remains the same.—E. B. B (judging from silence of collators) and Rec. Text support ἐν ἑαυτῷ : so Lachm. A and (according to Lachm.) C support αὐτῷ : so Tisch.—E.

Verse 10. - Hath the witness in him. This rendering is to be preferred to either "in Him," i.e. , God, or" in himself." The former is obscure in meaning; the latter, though probably correct as an interpretation, is inaccurate as a translation, for the better reading is αὐτῷ , not ἑαυτῷ . But ἐν αὐτῷ may be reflexive. The believer in the Incarnation has the Divine testimony in his heart, and it abides with him as an additional source of evidence, supplementing and confirming the external evidence. In its daily experience, the soul finds ever fresh proof that the declaration, "This is my beloved Son," is true. But even without this internal corroboration, the external evidence suffices, and he who rejects it makes God a liar; for it is God who presents the evidence, and presents it as sufficient and true. The second half of the verse is parenthetical, to show that the unbeliever, though be has no witness in himself, is not therefore excused. In verse 11 we return to the main proposition at the beginning of verse 10. 1 John 5:10

10. hath the witness—of God, by His Spirit (1Jo 5:8). in himself—God's Spirit dwelling in him and witnessing that "Jesus is the Lord," "the Christ," and "the Son of God" (1Jo 5:1, 5). The witness of the Spirit in the believer himself to his own sonship is not here expressed, but follows as a consequence of believing the witness of God to Jesus' divine Sonship. believeth not God—credits not His witness. made him a liar—a consequence which many who virtually, or even avowedly, do not believe, may well startle back from as fearful blasphemy and presumption (1Jo 1:10). believeth not the record—Greek, "believeth not IN the record, or witness." Refusal to credit God's testimony ("believeth not God") is involved in refusal to believe IN (to rest one's trust in) Jesus Christ, the object of God's record or testimony. "Divine "faith" is an assent unto something as credible upon the testimony of God. This is the highest kind of faith; because the object hath the highest credibility, because grounded upon the testimony of God, which is infallible" [Pearson, Exposition of the Creed]. "The authority on which we believe is divine; the doctrine which we follow is divine" [Leo]. gave—Greek, "hath testified, and now testifies." of—concerning.