NOTES for Jo1 5:5-13

"This testimony" is God's testimony about His Son. Judging by the context, this refers to the episode of Jesus' baptism (Matt. 3:16-17), when God's voice from heaven called Jesus the beloved Son. Let us notice the chain of witnesses that brings this news to us: the Father bears witness to the Son, John the Baptist bears witness to this to his disciples, and the disciples bear witness to this testimony to us through the Gospels. Testimony is the main way the good news is transmitted, because in it, for all its truth, there is no coercion of the listener.

What is this testimony about? "In Him is My good pleasure," that is, the good will of the Father is revealed in the Son. What, then, is this good will of God? Look at several passages: Ezek. 33:11, Matt. 18:14, John 3:16 - and you will see that God wants to deliver us from death and give eternal life. Therefore, in Jesus Christ the Father's will for eternal life for human beings is revealed: the Son of Man, passing through death into resurrection, ascended to the Father and abides forever at the Father's right hand. This means that our life can become eternal if we are united with Christ and allow Him to fill us with His presence and His life.

As he concludes his discussion of the Christian's spiritual life, John returns once more to the question of sin and the Kingdom. The apostle affirms that the fullness of life in the Kingdom is bound up with the person of Jesus Christ. The heavenly Father bears witness to the life whose fullness the Son—the Messiah—has brought into the world. And God's breath speaks of that same life, reminding everyone it touches of it. What is at issue here is not a religious reality but a spiritual one, existing before and above every religion. Anyone who seeks God after Christ's coming into the world and the beginning of the Kingdom's history inevitably comes into contact with the Kingdom and will sooner or later meet Christ—provided, of course, that they do not turn aside from the path but follow it to the end.

John speaks here of Christianity not as a new religion with a new doctrine, but as a new life whose reality is as objective as any other reality, independent of what a person believes or what opinions they hold. Whether this new reality will have a bearing on the life of a particular person, however, depends on that person.

No one forces anyone into the Kingdom; for a time, its presence in the world can be ignored altogether. But if a person does choose the Christian path, the question of sin becomes unavoidable. John, meanwhile, speaks of sins that lead to death and sins that do not. These words of the apostle have even given rise, in the history of the Church, to a whole range of theories about mortal sins: which sins should be regarded as such and which should not.

Yet in the context of all that John has said about sin and righteousness, it is not difficult to see that sin leading to death is conscious and voluntary sin, sin of which a person does not repent because they choose it deliberately, knowing what they are doing. The point is not that this deliberate choice makes the sin more grievous, but that by choosing it the person identifies with the sin and becomes one with it.

God could, of course, separate a person from their sin even in this case, but such a separation would then violate that person's free will: it would mean that they had chosen one thing, while God was imposing something else on them against their wishes. Thus a person who consciously chooses sin, if they consistently confirm that choice time after time and repent of nothing, eventually finds themselves outside the Kingdom: there is, after all, no place for sin in the Kingdom. And therefore no place there for someone who cannot conceive of themselves without their sin.

Today we read the fifth chapter, in which the apostle clarifies and develops his thought about discerning spirits. Once again, in somewhat different words, he offers a criterion for discernment, saying that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is born of God. This means that the birth of the Spirit about which we read at the beginning of the third chapter of John’s Gospel occurs at the moment when, regardless of how much or how little you know about Jesus, you say in your heart: He is God. Bewilderment and grumbling then fall away, and you no longer need any proof. You simply know that this Jesus, who came by water and blood, also came by the Holy Spirit, and that He is your God. What a miracle that He has made this birth available to us!

In ordinary words John speaks of what is simple and natural to him, yet so difficult to grasp with the mind, and still more difficult to experience fully: God's mysterious presence in those who confess Jesus as the Son of God. When this thought truly sinks in, our first reaction is like Peter's when he cried out to Christ: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). Yet He comes to us precisely to free us from the power of sin.

If God is love, then abiding in love means abiding in God. In unfolding the qualities of love, John stresses that there is no fear in love, whereas fear involves torment. This means that there is no torment in God. If so, how are we to explain the torments of unrepentant sinners? Is it not that, in turning away from God, they have rejected the source of love and fallen under the power of fear, from which they cannot free themselves, however brave a face they may put on? For fear involves torment...

Love for one's brother is the sign of love for God. All people are called to brotherhood; and if we are told to help our neighbours, it is because we must begin with those close at hand, not excuse ourselves by saying we first need to care for those far away. The beginning is always near, within ourselves and close by, but from this little patch of ground we are called to go further, serving the Lord, who seeks to save and transform the whole world.

Today’s reading brought back a rather unpleasant memory of school days... The teacher says confidently, “But the problem is quite easy!” while the pupil stares gloomily at the desk, knowing that he understands nothing... The apostle John tells us, “His commandments are not burdensome.” An inner voice replies, “Yes, you are a saint, you are an apostle; it is easy for you to say.” What is wrong with this comparison? Of course, it is the phrase “it is easy for you to say.” The apostle John speaks not as a teacher but as one of us. Is he a saint? Yes, but not because he possessed special “aptitudes for holiness.” We have no right to say that it was easy for him and that we lack the gift. Every saint was simply a human being, just like us. The Lord’s commandments are objectively not burdensome; we need only desire to fulfill them. Everything depends on our choice, on our free will, and the Lord gives grace in abundance.