5:4a
born of God: (Meaning) See the note on 5:1b.
overcomes the world: (Metaphor) With this metaphor John is saying that Christians can successfully resist the temptation to follow the ways of this world. And normally this is what they do. Therefore nothing can force us to disobey God. He is not saying that we have actually defeated the people of this world in some fight.
the world: (Multiple Senses) In this verse the world means the evil ways of human beings and everything in the world that is opposed to God.
5:4b
victory that has overcome: (Lexical Problem) This is a figure of speech meaning “the thing which has enabled us to overcome.”
our faith: (Emphasis) John is here emphasizing that it is through our continuing to trust God that we are able to overcome the world.
faith: (Biblical Term) The next verse makes clear that here faith refers to believing in Jesus as God’s Son.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.