The passage
      v1. John again repeats a point he has made a number of times. The person who "is born of God", the person who is a child of God, who is saved, is someone who "believes that Jesus is the Christ". Christianity is constantly invaded by pagan or secular god-like images and so the god we often worship is not the God of the Bible. Salvation is dependent on a faith which rests on a right understanding of the person and work of Christ. That is, it is a creedal faith, an apostolic faith. John then goes on to link believing with "love". He has already done this several times. A genuine faith in Christ issues in a life of love - faith issues in love.
      v2. John now develops the principle that a person who loves the parent loves the child. John has made the point a number of times that a believer who loves God will love their brothers and sisters in the Lord. Such confirms their relationship with God. When we love God, that is, when we strive to keep ("do") his commands, we will find ourselves impelled to love our brothers and sisters, to consider their practical needs. "From this principle we know that when we love God, when we obey him, as a natural consequence we will love his children too."
      v3. In the clearest of terms, John defines how our love for God is demonstrated. Love for God is expressed in obedience, in the keeping of his commandments. John adds that the keeping of God's commands is not "burdensome"; God's commands are not there to spoil our fun. It is only natural to imagine that John has in mind something like the ten commandments, but he has already defined the substance of God's commands, "that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another", 3:23.
      v4. John probably has in mind the command to "love one another" when he says that the command is not "burdensome". It is not burdensome because a believer conquers the world through faith. This is actually the first time that John has used the noun "faith". The victory is not won through our capacity to have a strong inner conviction; the victory is won because we rely on a particular truth. The victory comes through what we believe, not how we believe. So, it is "the faith", the truth upon which we rely, the good news of a risen, life-giving, glorious Lord. Christ has overcome the power of this world, he has overcome the power of sin and death, releasing us from its grip.
      v5. And to whom does this victory come? It comes to those who believe on Jesus as he is revealed in the scriptures; it comes to those who rely on Christ, the Son of God.

Faith's victory
      In this letter John pens the words, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." He writes that we may be sure of our standing in Christ. In our passage for study John gives us a test for genuine faith. He tells us the nature of a true faith and the effects of such a faith.

1. The nature of faith
      A person who loves God, that is, a person who obeys God, is a person who believes in Jesus. John explains that what matters is not so much belief itself, but what we believe in. The person who is "born of God" "believes that Jesus is the Christ." John identifies a range of truths about Christ: his deity, 1:1-3; his power to cleanse from sin, 1:7; his power to save from the wrath of God, 2:2; his demonstration of God's love in his sacrificial death, 4:9-10; his gift of eternal life, by grace through faith, 5:11-12. Saving faith entails a reliance on the truth of Jesus' person and work.

2. The effects of faith
      Genuine faith demonstrates itself in the life of a believer in two particular ways.
        i] Love. An orientation toward "charity", that is, an orientation toward mercy, compassion, forgiveness.... This love for one another is a love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
        ii] Victory. Everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. As Howard Marshall puts it, our faith "rests foursquare on the fact that Jesus Christ has defeated death, and anybody who can defeat death can defeat anything."

v1
      oJ pisteuwn (pisteuw) pres. "who believes" - [all] the ones believing. The "believing" here is present tense and the "born" of God, or more literally "has already been begotten" of God, is perfect. This raises the issue of the "ordo salutis" - the stages of salvation. The grammar may imply that regeneration precedes and therefore enables faith. This leans to a Calvinist view of the order of salvation, namely, that faith is preceded by a regenerative work which enables faith and thus, the completion of God's sovereign work of regeneration. Yet, the grammar can also imply that regeneration is a present and continuing reality for a person who believes. In this case, faith is the instrument of regeneration. The debate over the relationship between faith and regeneration hinges on what is meant by faith. Some see faith as a spiritual gift of God, others as a human trust or reliance. Clearly, regeneration is a sovereign work of God's grace and is not a gift dependent on the quality of a person's faith, but on the quality of Christ's sacrifice. So, faith is not a good work rewarded with regeneration. None-the-less, it is reasonable to argue that faith is a weak and feeble response to Christ, a response as small as a mustard seed, a response that taps into God's sovereign grace.
      oJti "that" - that. Introducing the content of the faith.
      oJ cristoV "the Christ" - Faith is focused on the truth that Jesus is the Messiah, along with all that this entails.
      gegennhtai (gennaw) perf. ind. "is born" - has been born, begotten, regenerated, born anew. See above on the issue of the tense.
      oJ agapwn (agapaw) pres. part. "who loves [the father]" - [all] the ones loving. Loving the Father is not a condition of salvation, nor does faith and love together save us. Such a view is theologically known as semi-pelagianism and is a heresy. It is a view often found in both protestant and catholic circles and can be identified by the description, "sanctification by obedience". The heresy leads believers to think that their standing before God is confirmed, maintained, and advanced by obedience, by love. The New Testament does not say this, rather, it constantly affirms that our salvation is totally a work of God's grace which we appropriate through faith in the finished work of Christ. Love is but a fruit of faith. Genuine faith issues in love. So, the two go together, with love the product of faith. Eph.1:15-16, Col.1:3-4, 1Thes.1:3, 1Pet.1:8.

v2
      en + dat. "-" - in, by [this we know]. "By this", ie. "on the basis of the truth stated in v1; "from this principle we know", Schnackenburg.
      oJtan + subj. "by" - when, whenever. Forming the protasis of a conditional sentence, 3rd class, made up of two appositional clauses, "we love God" and "his commands we do", which leans toward the temporal, "whenever", "every time that", rather than "if". The apodosis, the second half of the "if" clause, serves as the natural consequence of loving God, namely, "we love the children of God." It is this natural consequence which serves to strengthen assurance. "From this principle we know that if/when we love God, if/when we obey him, as a natural consequence we will love his children too."
      poiwmen (poiew) pres. subj. "carrying out" - we may make, do. A number of texts have the variant "keep/obey" as in v3, rather than "do". The phrase "do the commandments" is rare. Either "keep" or "do", the question is, what is his command? God requires that we love him, and we obey this command when we believe on his son.

v3
      gar "-" - for [this is the love]. Introducing an explanation of the essential nature of love.
      tou qeou "[This is love] for God" - of God. Objective genitive, where God is the object of the love, so NIV, "for God." Love toward God may have an emotional element, but in the scriptures it is primarily active. Love toward God is expressed in obeying his command, which command is clearly defined in 3:23.
      iJna + subj. "to" - that [we obey]. Forming a substantival clause which is epexegetic, explaining what it means to love God. "We show our love for God by obeying his commandments", CEV.
      thrwmen (threw) pres. subj. "obey" - we keep, observe, obey
      bareiai (baruV) adv. "burdensome" - heavy, weighty, burdensome. Presumably applying to the command, "love one another." "They are not hard to follow", CEV.

v4
      oJti "for" - because.
      pan adj. "everyone" - The word is actually neuter and therefore is best translated "everything." Most commentators translate it as masculine, on the assumption that it is influenced by "children" which is neuter, but some, Stott, Plummer, ... translate it as neuter, with an abstract sense, "whatsoever." The point being that it is not so much the person who is victorious, but the power of God expedited through faith. "For whatever is born of God conquers the world", Moffatt.
      gegennmenon (genaw) perf. pas. part. "born" - [all] that has been born. If it is "whatsoever is born", then presumably what is born is faith. Faith is our "heredity", Phillips.
      nika/ (nikaw) pres. "has overcome" - conquers, overcomes. "Overcomes" is better than "has overcome", in that the tense is present continuous. In what sense is the world conquered? The world John is referring to is the organized system of this age which is opposed to God and promotes sin and death. This system is under the control of the evil one, 5:19. The children of faith are released from this system and its plague of death, 2:17, and are transferred to the kingdom of light and life eternal, 3:14. Christ, of course, does the conquering, in that he overcomes the curse of sin and death, so releasing the child of God (the one having faith) from this curse. The victory over sin is best understood as a victory over the curse of sin and death rather than the power of sin, although our no longer being subject to Mosaic Law indirectly breaks the power of sin. Sin's power to tempt remains, which temptations we may well succumb to, but its power to condemn is destroyed for all who trust Christ. "Every child of God is victor over the godless world (eternal damnation?)", NEB.
      hJ nikh (h) "the victory" - the conquest, victory
      nikhsasa (nikaw) aor. act. part. "has overcome" - having overcome. The NIV "has overcome" properly expresses the aorist as a completed act. The world of sin and death was overcome by Christ's sacrifice, which victory is expedited through faith. "The victory which overcomes the world is our faith", Barclay.
      hJ pistiV hJmwn "our faith" - the faith of us. The use of the noun is very rare for John. The point here is that our reliance on the power of God, operating through his promises, expedites these promises. Thus, the empowered promise is what actually conquers.