based on the LGG Study, The Armor of God / w4d5

Scripture: 1 John 5:4-5

 because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith. ⁵ Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

1 John 5:4-5

From the first day of this week’s journey, I have had the song “Faith is the Victory”  playing daily in my head at some point. Today’s passage has amplified the song to full blast, and if I weren’t writing this late at night and worried about waking my daughter, I would be belting out the tune loud and clear – perhaps even marching around my room. For now, I must settle for the more timid celebration of marching and singing in my heart and head.

Reread our verses and read them out loud this time. Listen as John first proclaims that our faith is the conquering power that has overcome the world, and then as he clarifies that the person of faith is the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.Surely, those hearing these words at the time would have broken out in loud cheers and shouts of victorious praise to their God that would have rivaled a Super Bowl crowd. After all, this is the final chapter of the First John letters. So far the church has received a series of four letters including: lessons about the fellowship of believers (1), instructions on being Followers of Christ(2), the requirement to love one another(3), instructions on the importance of testing the spirits to make sure they are from God(4), and then he wraps it all up, here in chapter 5, with this beautiful message of peace – that it is our faith, our believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that gives us the power to overcome the world! This is where our text focuses today. And I believe it is the crux of the demand to put on the whole armor of God and stand firm. For, without faith, there is no hope and there is no victory to celebrate – there is only fear and dread.

We could stop here, but this is one of those scenic overlooks of a journey where you want to stop and take a picture of the majestic mountains or some other wonderful sight to remember. So, let’s stop for a minute before rushing on and look at the scenic overview to experience it and appreciate the beauty of what led up to John’s declaration of conquering the world.

¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father loves the child fathered by him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down, ⁴ because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. -This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith. ⁵ Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 

1 John 5:1-5

Did you see the beauty? Verse one explains or at least sheds light on verse four’s comment about being “fathered by God.” Then verse three poses this statement: And his commandments do not weigh us down, but John addresses his statement as if it were a question: “Because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world.” For me, this is an ultimate photo op, one best captured by this quote from gotquestions.org – “The apostle is not implying that only certain “super-Christians” are overcomers; rather, every true believer is an overcomer because he has been born of God.” There it is, a great photo op and a truth that should ignite loud shouts of cheers of victory and thunderous praise for the conquering power of our faith!

The apostle is not implying that only certain “super-Christians” are overcomers; rather, every true believer is an overcomer because he has been born of God: 

Gotquestions.org

Prayer of Response to God’s Word

Father, thank you for this message from John. May our application be to daily celebrate this beautiful knowledge of peace that we are overcomers by the conquering power of our faith in Christ Jesus, Your only begotten Son. Thank You for adopting us, who were once Your enemies, and fathering us as children naturally born to You. We are most blessed to have this faith – please help us to walk in it faithfully, claiming the victory that is ours in Christ and sharing the message of our faith so others may hear and believe in the One, whose name I pray, His name is Jesus and He is the author and perfecter of our victoriously powerful faith! And Father, if there is anyone, even one, who reads this but doesn’t share in our faith, will you open the eyes and the ears of their heart to understand and to claim the faith as their own by believing that Jesus is Your Son, the author, and perfecter of our faith – Amen and amen!

Going Further in the Journey

John refers to believers as victorious conquerors multiple times (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21)

How is faith the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4)?

Be sure and check out today’s Love God Greatly Blog Post