Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 John 5:13

"These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, [even] unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." — 1 John 5:13 (ASV)

1. Fresh statement of the purpose of writing, equivalent to that at the beginning of the Epistle, but differing from it (1 John 5:13).

2. What can be done for those who do not come up to the standard assumed throughout the Epistle (1 John 5:14–17).

3. Some practical points recapitulated (1 John 5:18–20).

   • God’s sons do not sin (1 John 5:18);

   • Personal assurance that we are God’s sons (1 John 5:19);

   • Personal assurance that Christ has come, of the gift of the spiritual sense, and of abiding in the God of Truth through His Son (1 John 5:20).

4. Last warning (1 John 5:21).

St. John, perhaps thinking of the close of his Gospel where he states the same purpose (John 20:31), and reminded by 1 John 5:11 of the supreme importance of having eternal life and of the necessity of finding this in the Son, sums up the purpose of his Letter in these two ideas. He tells his friends again that he writes to them because they believe on the name of the Son of God, and explains his wish is that, by the thoughts he has put before them, they may feel certain that the eternal life which ought to be theirs is theirs already, and that their belief may not cease but may be truly vital.

Thinking then of those who would be deceiving themselves if they pretended to any such hopeful assurance, he reminds the faithful of the power of prayer. Beginning with the general statement that confidence in God means that He hears us, he goes on to show that hearing must imply that our petitions are granted. Next, he shows that it would be a petition fully in accordance with God’s will, and therefore likely to be heard, if a believer were to pray for a sinning brother. At the same time, it must be remembered that there is such a state of willful, hard-hearted rebellion that it is past praying for.

Meanwhile, they must remember again that as far as they were born of God, they could not willfully sin. If they were what St. John thought them, they had ample proof that they were of God and must not forget that the whole world was corrupted. Furthermore, there could not be any doubt that the Son of God had come and had given them the spiritual sense necessary for discerning the true God.

In that true God they were, through His Son. The God of whom the Son had spoken was that true God, and to know Him as such in His Son was eternal life. The last request was that they should strictly guard themselves against any appearance or tendency whatsoever which might claim their sympathy or allegiance apart from God.

Fresh statement of purpose (1 John 5:13).

Compare John 20:31. The expression here is more positive than in the Gospel: there, that you might believe, and that believing you might have life; here, that you may know that you have. He wishes to produce in them a good hope. The specific purpose at the beginning of the Epistle was the communication of joy through fellowship with the Apostles; the knowledge of possessing eternal life and the continuance of their faith would be precisely that joy.