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1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. 17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. 18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
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[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 John 5:1
"Wherefore he again exclaims in his Epistle, "Every one that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, has been born of God; "
[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on 1 John 5:1
We can turn this around and say that anyone who despises the Begotten also despises the One who begat him.

Source: Catechetical Lecture 11:7
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 5:1
This describes everyone who is born of God and does what God wants him to do.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:1
Who is he that believes not that Jesus is the Christ? He that does not so live as Christ commanded. For many say, I believe: but faith without works saves not. Now the work of faith is Love, as Paul the apostle says, And faith which works by love. Galatians 5:6 Your past works indeed, before you believed, were either none, or if they seemed good, were nothing worth. For if they were none, you were as a man without feet, or with sore feet unable to walk: but if they seemed good, before you believed, you ran indeed, but by running aside from the way you went astray instead of coming to the goal. It is for us, then, both to run, and to run in the way. He that runs aside from the way, runs to no purpose, or rather runs but to toil. He goes the more astray, the more he runs aside from the way. What is the way by which we run? Christ has told us, I am the Way. John 14:6 What the home to which we run? I am the Truth. By Him you run, to Him you run, in Him you rest. But, that we might run by Him, He reached even unto us: for we were afar off, foreigners in a far country. Not enough that we were in a far country, we were feeble also that we could not stir. A Physician, He came to the sick: a Way, He extended Himself to them that were in a far country. Let us be saved by Him, let us walk in Him. This it is to believe that Jesus is the Christ, as Christians believe, who are not Christians only in name, but in deeds and in life, not as the devils believe. For the devils also believe and tremble, James 2:19 as the Scripture tells us. What more could the devils believe, than that they should say, We know who you are, the Son of God? What the devils said, the same said Peter also. When the Lord asked them who He was, and whom did men say that He was, the disciples made answer to Him, Some say that you are John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He says unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Matthew 16:13-18 And this he heard from the Lord: Blessed are you, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. See what praises follow this faith. You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. What means, Upon this rock I will build my Church? Upon this faith; upon this that has been said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Upon this rock, says He, I will build my Church. Mighty praise! So then, Peter says, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God: the devils also say, We know who you are, the Son of God, the Holy One of God. This Peter said, this also the devils: the words the same, the mind not the same. And how is it clear that Peter said this with love? Because a Christian's faith is with love, but a devil's without love. How without love? Peter said this, that he might embrace Christ; the devils said it, that Christ might depart from them. For before they said, We know who you are, the Son of God, they said, What have we to do with you? Why are you come to destroy us before the time? It is one thing then to confess Christ that you may hold Christ, another thing to confess Christ that you may drive Christ from you. So then ye see, that in the sense in which he here says, Whoso believes, it is a faith of one's own, not as one has a faith in common with many. Therefore, brethren, let none of the heretics say to you, We also believe. For to this end have I given you an instance from the case of devils, that you may not rejoice in the words of believing, but search well the deeds of the life.
Let us see then what it is to believe in Christ; what to believe that Jesus, He is the Christ. He proceeds: Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. But what is it to believe that? And every one that loves Him that begot Him, loves Him also that is begotten of Him. To faith he has straightway joined love, because faith without love is nothing worth. With love, the faith of a Christian; without love, the faith of a devil: but those who believe not, are worse than devils, more stupid than devils. Some man will not believe in Christ: so far, he is not even upon a par with devils. A person does now believe in Christ, but hates Christ: he has the confession of faith in the fear of punishment, not in love of the crown: thus the devils also feared to be punished. Add to this faith love, that it may become a faith such as the Apostle Paul speaks of, a faith which works by love: Galatians 5:6 you have found a Christian, found a citizen of Jerusalem, found a fellow-citizen of the angels, found a pilgrim sighing in the way: join yourself to him, he is your fellow-traveller, run with him, if indeed you also art this. Every one that loves Him that begot Him, loves Him also that is begotten of Him. Who begot? The Father. Who is begotten? The Son. What says he then? Every one that loves the Father, loves the Son.
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on 1 John 5:1
John immediately joined love to faith, because without love faith is useless. According to charity, faith belongs to Christians, but without love it belongs to the demons. Moreover, those who do not believe are even worse than the demons.

Source: SERMONS 186.1
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:1
By practicing virtue, those who are born of God have become his children, his friends, just as Abraham was. Once again John touches on the doctrine of truth, revealing the depths of the unbelief of the heretics.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:1
And everyone who loves the one who begot, loves also the one, etc. With marvelous skill in preaching, blessed John took care to incite us to the love of our neighbor, first noting that everyone who perfectly believes is born of God, then suggesting how just it is that the one who loves God should love also the one born of God. For if anyone is so slow as to neglect to love a man because he is a man, because he endures the same pilgrimage on earth with him, he should be admonished to at least love him for this reason, that he is born of God, that he is made a partaker with him of divine grace, that he expects the same rewards of heavenly life with him. Indeed, this exhortation particularly pertains to those who have not only become our brothers by the companionship of human nature but also by the profession of faith. However, because there are some who love their neighbors but because of kinship or for some temporal benefit, the holy evangelist rightly reveals what true neighborly love is by adding:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:2
In this we know that we love the sons of God. 1 John 4:2 What is this, brethren? Just now he was speaking of the Son of God, not of sons of God: lo, here one Christ was set before us to contemplate, and we were told, Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loves Him that begot, i.e. the Father, loves Him also that is begotten of Him, i.e. the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on: In this we know that we love the sons of God; as if he had been about to say, In this we know that we love the Son of God. He has said, the sons of God, whereas he was speaking just before of the Son of God— because the sons of God are the Body of the Only Son of God, and when He is the Head, we the members, it is one Son of God. Therefore, he that loves the sons of God, loves the Son of God, and he that loves the Son of God, loves the Father; nor can any love the Father except he love the Son, and he that loves the sons, loves also the Son of God. What sons of God? The members of the Son of God. And by loving he becomes himself a member, and comes through love to be in the frame of the body of Christ, so there shall be one Christ, loving Himself. For when the members love one another, the body loves itself. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26-27 And then he goes on to say, Now you are the body of Christ, and members. John was speaking just before of brotherly love, and said, He that loves not his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he sees not? 1 John 4:20 But if you love your brother, haply you love your brother and lovest not Christ? How should that be, when you love members of Christ? When therefore you love members of Christ, you love Christ; when you love Christ, you love the Son of God; when you love the Son of God, you love also the Father. The love therefore cannot be separated into parts. Choose what you will love; the rest follow you. Suppose you say, I love God alone, God the Father. You are lying: if you love, you love Him not alone; but if you love the Father, you love also the Son. Behold, do you say, I love the Father, and I love the Son: but this only, the Father God and the Son God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, that Word by which all things were made, and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us: this alone I love. You are lying; for if you love the Head, you love also the members; but if you love not the members, neither do you love the Head. Do you not quake at the voice uttered by the Head from Heaven on behalf of His members, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME? Acts 9:4 The persecutor of His members He called His persecutor: His lover, the lover of His members. Now what are His members, you know, brethren: none other than the Church of God. In this we know that we love the sons of God, in that we love God. And how? Are not the sons of God one thing, God Himself another? But he that loves God, loves His precepts. And what are the precepts of God? A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another. John 13:34 Let none excuse himself by another love, for another love; so and so only is it with this love: as the love itself is compacted in one, so all that hang by it does it make one, and as fire melts them down into one. It is gold: the lump is molten and becomes some one thing. But unless the fervor of charity be applied, of many there can be no melting down into one. That we love God, by this know we that we love the sons of God.
And by what do we know that we love the sons of God? By this, that we love God, and do His commandments. We sigh here, by reason of the hardness of doing the commandments of God. Hear what follows. O man, at what do you toil in loving? In loving avarice. With toil is that loved which you love: there is no toil in loving God. Avarice will enjoin you labors, perils, sore hardships and tribulations; and you will do its bidding. To what end? That you may have that with which you shall fill your chest, and lose your peace of mind. You felt yourself haply more secure before you had it, than since you began to have. See what avarice has enjoined you. You have filled your house, and art in dread of robbers; hast gotten gold, lost your sleep. See what avarice has enjoined you. Do, and you did. What does God enjoin you! Love me. You love gold, you will seek gold, and perchance not find it: whoever seeks me, I am with him. You will love honor, and perchance not attain unto it: who ever loved me, and did not attain? God says to you, you would make you a patron, or a powerful friend: you seek a way to his favor by means of another inferior. Love me, says God to you: favor with me is not had by making interest with some other: your love itself makes me present to you. What sweeter than this love, brethren? It is not without reason that you heard just now in the Psalm, The unrighteous told me of delights, but not as is Your law, O Lord. What is the Law of God? The commandment of God. What is the commandment of God? That new commandment, which is called new because it makes new: A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another. John 13:34 Hear because this is the law of God. The apostle says, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so shall you fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 This, even this, is the consummation of all our works; Love. In it is the end: for this we run: to it we run; when we have come to it, we shall rest.
You have heard in the Psalm, I have seen the end of all perfection. He has said, I have seen the end of all perfection: what had he seen? Think we, had he ascended to the peak of some very high and pointed mountain, and looked out thence and seen the compass of the earth, and the circles of the round world, and therefore said, I have seen the end of all perfection? If this be a thing to be praised, let us ask of the Lord eyes of the flesh so sharp-sighted, that we shall but require some exceeding high mountain on earth, that from its summit we may see the end of all perfection. Go not far: lo, I say to you, it is here; ascend the mountain, and see the end. Christ is the Mountain; come to Christ: you see thence the end of all perfection. What is this end? Ask Paul: But the end of the commandment is charity, from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned: 1 Timothy 1:5 and in another place, Charity is the fullness, or fulfillment, of the law. What so finished and terminated as fullness? For, brethren, the apostle here uses end in a way of praise. Think not of consumption, but of consummation. For it is in one sense that one says, I have finished my bread, in another, I have finished my coat. I have finished the bread, by eating it: the coat, by making it. In both places the word is end, finish: but the bread is finished by its being consumed, the coat is finished by being made: the bread, so as to be no more; the coat, so as to be complete. Therefore in this sense take ye also this word, end, when the Psalm is read and you hear it said, On the end, a Psalm of David. You are for ever hearing this in the Psalms, and you should know what ye hear. What means, On the end?— For Christ is the end of the law unto every one that believes. Romans 13:10 And what means, Christ is the end? Because Christ is God, and the end of the commandment is charity, and Charity is God: because Father and Son and Holy Ghost are One. There is He the End to you; elsewhere He is the Way. Do not stick fast in the way, and so never come to the end. Whatever else you come to, pass beyond it, until you come to the end. What is the end? It is good for me to hold me fast in God. Have you laid fast hold on God? You have finished the way: you shall abide in your own country. Mark well! Some man seeks money: let not it be the end to you: pass on, as a traveller in a strange land. But if you love it, you are entangled by avarice; avarice will be shackles to your feet: you can make no more progress. Pass therefore this also: seek the end. You seek health of the body: still do not stop there. For what is it, this health of the body, which death makes an end of, which sickness debilitates, a feeble, mortal, fleeting thing? Seek that, indeed, lest haply ill-health hinder your good works: but for that very reason, the end is not there, for it is sought in order to something else. Whatever is sought in order to something else, the end is not there: whatever is loved for its own sake, and freely, the end is there. You seek honors; perchance seekest them in order to do something, that you may accomplish something, and so please God: love not the honor itself, lest you stop there. Do you seek praise? If you seek God's, you do well; if you seek your own, you do ill; you stop short in the way. But behold, you are loved, art praised: think it not joy when in yourself you are praised; be praised in the Lord, that you may sing, In the Lord shall my soul be praised. Thou deliverest some good discourse, and your discourse is praised. Let it not be praised as yours, the end is not there. If you set the end there, there is an end of you: but an end, not that you be perfected, but that you be consumed. Then let not your discourse be praised as coming from you, as being yours. But how praised? As the Psalm says, In God will I praise the discourse, in God will I praise the word. Hereby shall that which there follows come to pass in you: In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do unto me. For when all things that are yours are praised in God, no fear lest your praise be lost, since God fails not. Pass therefore this also.
See, brethren, how many things we pass, in which is not the end. These we use as by the way; we take as it were our refreshment at the halting places on our journey, and pass on. Where then is the end? Beloved, we are sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be; 1 John 3:2 here is this said, in this epistle. As yet then, we are on the way; as yet, wherever we come, we must pass on, until we attain unto some end. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. That is the end; there perpetual praising, there Alleluia always without fail. This, then is the end he has spoken of in the Psalm: I have seen the end of all perfection: and as though it were said to him, What is the end you have seen? Your commandment, exceeding broad. This is the end: the breadth of the commandment. The breadth of the commandment is charity, because where charity is, there are no straits. In this breadth, this wide room, was the apostle when he said, Our mouth is open to you, O you Corinthians, our heart is enlarged: you are not straitened in us. 2 Corinthians 6:11-12 In this, then, is Your commandment exceeding broad. What is the broad commandment? A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another. Charity, then, is not straitened. Would you not be straitened here on earth? Dwell in the broad room. For whatever man may do to you, he shall not straiten you; because you love that which man cannot hurt: lovest God, lovest the brotherhood, lovest the law of God, lovest the Church of God: it shall be for ever. Thou laborest here on earth, but you shall come to the promised enjoyment. Who can take from you that which you love? If no man can take from you that which you love, secure you sleep, or rather secure you watch, lest by sleeping you lose that which you love. For not without reason is it said, Enlighten my eyes, lest at any time I sleep in death. They that shut their eyes against charity, fall asleep in the lusts of carnal delights. Be wakeful, therefore. For then are the delights, to eat, to drink, to wanton in luxury, to play, to hunt; these vain pomps all evils follow. Are we ignorant that they are delights? Who can deny that they delight? But more beloved is the law of God. Cry against such persuaders: The unrighteous have told me of delights: but not so as is your law, O Lord. This delight remains. Not only remains as the goal to which you may come, but also calls you back when you flee.
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:2
To love the children of God is to love the Son of God; to love the Son of God is to love the Father. Nobody can love the Father without loving the Son, and anyone who loves the Son will love the other children as well.

Source: TEN HOMILIES ON 1 JOHN 10.3
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:2
In this we know that we love the children of God, etc. Therefore, he alone is proven to love his neighbor rightly who is known to burn with the love of the Creator. And lest anyone deceive himself about the love of the Creator, professing that he loves by word alone, after having said: In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, he added, and we keep His commandments.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on 1 John 5:2
If we love God, then we must also love those whom God has brought to birth and who have become our brothers and sisters. Loving one another is a sign of how much we love God.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:3
For the love meant is the love of God. "And this is the love of God "says John, "that we keep His commandments; ".
"This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments."

Source: Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book III
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 5:3
The substance and ground of the love we ought to have for God is obedience to his commandments.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:3
Already you have heard, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. See how He would not have you divide yourself over a multitude of pages: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. On what two commandments? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40 See here of what commandments this whole epis tle talks. Therefore hold fast love, and set your minds at rest. Why do you fear lest you do evil to some man? Who does evil to the man he loves? Love : it is impossible to do this without doing good. But it may be, you rebuke. Kindness does it, not fierceness. But it may be thou beatest. For discipline you do this; because your kindness of love will not let you leave him undisciplined. And indeed there come somehow these different and contrary results, that sometimes hatred uses winning ways, and charity shows itself fierce. A person hates his enemy, and feigns friendship for him: he sees him doing some evil, he praises him: he wishes him to go headlong, wishes him to go blind over the precipice of his lusts, haply never to return; he praises him, For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul; he applies to him the unction of adulation; behold, he hates, and praises. Another sees his friend doing something of the same sort; he calls him back; if he will not hear, he uses words even of castigation, he scolds, he quarrels: there are times when it comes to this, that one must even quarrel! Behold, hatred shows itself winningly gentle, and charity quarrels! Stay not your regard upon the words of seeming kindness, or the seeming cruelty of the rebuke; look into the vein they come from; seek the root whence they proceed. The one is gentle and bland that he may deceive, the other quarrels that he may correct. Well then, it is not for us, brethren, to enlarge your heart: obtain from God the gift to love one another. Love all men, even your enemies, not because they are your brethren, but that they may be your brethren; that you may be at all times on fire with brotherly love, whether toward him that has become your brother, or towards your enemy, so that, by being beloved, he may become your brother. Wheresoever ye love a brother, you love a friend. Now is he with you, now is he knit to you in unity, yea catholic unity. If you are living aright, you love a brother made out of an enemy. But you love some man who has not yet believed Christ, or, if he have believed, believes as do the devils: you rebuke his vanity. Love, and that with a brotherly love: he is not yet a brother, but you love to the end he may be a brother. Well then, all our love is a brotherly love, towards Christians, towards all His members. The discipline of charity, my brethren, its strength, flowers, fruit, beauty, pleasantness, food, drink, meat, embracing, has in it no satiety. If it so delight us while in a strange land, in our own country how shall we rejoice!
Let us run then, my brethren, let us run, and love Christ. What Christ? Jesus Christ. Who is He? The Word of God. And how came He to the sick? The Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us. John 1:14 It is complete then, which the Scripture foretold, Christ must suffer, and rise again the third day from the dead. Luke 24:46 His body, where is it? His members, where toil they? Where must you be, that you may be under your Head? And that repentance and remission of sins be preached in His name through all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:47 There let your charity be spread abroad. Christ says, and the Psalm, i.e. the Spirit of God, Your commandment is exceeding broad: and forsooth some man will have charity to be confined to Africa! Extend your charity over the whole earth if you will love Christ, for Christ's members are over all the earth. If you love but a part, you are divided: if you are divided, you are not in the body; if you are not in the body, you are not under the Head. What profits it you that you believe and blaspheme? Thou adorest Him in the Head, blaspheme Him in the Body. He loves His Body. If you have cut yourself off from His Body, the Head has not cut itself off from its Body. To no purpose do you honor me, cries your Head to you from on high, to no purpose do you honor me. It is all one as if a man would kiss your head and tread upon your feet: perchance with nailed boots he would crush your feet, while he will clasp your head and kiss it: would you not cry out in the midst of the words with which he honors you, and say, What are you doing, man? You tread on me. You would not mean, Thou treadest on my head; for the head he honored; but more would the head cry out for the members trodden upon, than for itself because it was honored. Does not the head itself cry out, I will none of yours honor; do not tread on me? Now say if you can, How have I trodden upon you? Say that to the head: I wanted to kiss you, I wanted to embrace you. But do you not see, O fool, that what you would embrace does in virtue of a certain unity, which knits the whole frame together, reach to that which you tread upon? Above you honor me, beneath you tread upon me. That on which you tread pains more than that which you honor rejoices. In what sort does the tongue cry out? It hurts me. It says not, It hurts my foot, but, It hurts me, says it. O tongue, who has touched you? Who has struck? Who has goaded? Who has pricked? No man, but I am knit together with the parts that are trodden upon. How would you have me not be pained, when I am not separate?
Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, ascending into heaven on the fortieth day, did for this reason commend to us His Body where it would continue to lie, because He saw that many would honor Him for that He is ascended into heaven: and saw that their honoring Him is useless if they trample upon His members here on earth. And lest any one should err, and, while he adored the Head in heaven should trample upon the feet on earth, He told us where would be His members. For being about to ascend, He spoke His last words on earth: after those same words He spoke no more on earth. The Head about to ascend into heaven commended to us His members on earth and departed. Thenceforth you find not Christ speaking on earth; you find Him speaking, but from heaven. And even from heaven, why? Because His members on earth were trodden upon. For to the persecutor Saul He said from on high, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Acts 9:4 I am ascended into heaven, but still I lie on earth: here I sit at the right hand of the Father, but there I yet hunger, thirst, and am a stranger. In what manner then did He commend to us His Body, when about to ascend into heaven? When the disciples asked Him, saying, Lord, will you at this time present yourself, and when shall be the kingdom of Israel? Acts 1:6-8 He made answer, now at the point to depart, It is not for you to know the time which the Father has put in His own power: but you shall receive strength of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me. See where His Body is spread abroad, see where He will not be trodden upon: You shall be witnesses to me, unto Jerusalem, and unto Judea, and even unto all the earth. Lo, where I lie that am ascending! For I ascend, because I am the Head: my Body lies yet beneath. Where lies? Throughout the whole earth. Beware you strike not, beware you hurt not, beware you trample not: these be the last words of Christ about to go into heaven. Look at a sick man languishing on his bed, lying in his house, and worn out with sickness, at death's door, his soul as it were even now between his teeth: who, anxious, it may be, about something that is dear to him, which he greatly loves, and it comes into his mind, calls his heirs, and says to them, I pray you, do this. He, as it were, detains his soul by a violent effort, that it may not depart ere those words be made sure. When he has dictated those last words, he breathes out his soul, he is borne a corpse to the sepulchre. His heirs, how do they remember the last words of the dying man? How, if one should stand up and say to them, Do it not: what would they say? What? Shall I not do that which my father, in the act of breathing out his soul, commanded me with his last breath, the last word of his that sounded in my ears when my father was departing this life? Whatever other words of his I may not regard, his last have a stronger hold upon me: since which I never saw him more, never more heard speech of his. Brethren, think with Christian hearts; if to the heirs of a man, his words spoken when about to go to the tomb are so sweet, so grateful, so weighty, what must we account of the last words of Christ, spoken not when about to go back to the tomb, but to ascend into heaven! As for the man who lived and is dead, his soul is hurried off to other places, his body is laid in the earth, and whether these words of his be done or not, makes no difference to him: he has now something else to do, or something else to suffer: either in Abraham's bosom he rejoices, or in eternal fire he longs for a drop of water, while his corpse lies there senseless in the sepulchre; and yet the last words of the dying man are kept. What have those to look for, who keep not the last words of Him that sits in heaven, who sees from on high whether they be despised or not despised? The words of Him, who said, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? who keeps account, unto the judgment, of all that He sees His members suffer?
And what have we done, say they? We are the persecuted, not the persecutors. You are the persecutors, O wretched men. In the first place, in that you have divided the Church. Mightier the sword of the tongue than the sword of steel. Agar, Sarah's maid, was proud, and she was afflicted by her mistress for her pride. That was discipline, not punishment. Accordingly, when she had gone away from her mistress, what said the angel to her? Return to your mistress. Genesis 16:4-9 Then, O carnal soul, like a proud bond-woman, suppose you have suffered any trouble for discipline' sake, why do you rave? Return to your mistress, hold fast the peace of the Church. Lo, the gospels are pro duced, we read where the Church is spread abroad: men dispute against us, and say to us, Betrayers! Betrayers of what? Christ commends to us His Church, and you believe not: shall I believe you, when you revile my parents? Would you that I should believe you about the betrayers? First believe Christ. What is worth believing? Christ is God, you are man: which ought to be believed first? Christ has spread His Church abroad over all the earth: I say it— despise me: the gospel speaks— beware. What says the gospel? It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name. Luke 24:47 Where remission of sins, there the Church is. How the Church? Why, to her it was said, To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Matthew 16:19 Where is this remission of sins spread abroad? Through all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Lo, believe Christ! But, because you are well aware that if you shall believe Christ, you will not have anything to say about betrayers, you will needs have me to believe you when you speak evil against my parents, rather than yourself believe what Christ foretold!
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:3
The commandments of which John speaks are the two given by Jesus: Love God and love one another. Hold fast to this love and set your minds at rest. You need not be afraid of doing harm to anyone, for how can you harm the person you love? Love, and you cannot but do well.

Source: TEN HOMILIES ON 1 JOHN 10.7
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:3
Keeping the commandments is both the form and substance of our love for God. Those who obey them are brought close to God by them. If someone looks at them in the wrong way and says that they are heavy to bear, he is merely revealing his own weakness.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. The Lord Himself says this: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word (John XIV). Therefore, the proof of love is the exhibition of work. For we truly love if we constrain ourselves to His commandments from our will. For he who still flows with illicit desires certainly does not love God, because he contradicts Him in his will.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:3
And His commandments are not burdensome. The Lord Himself says: My yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. XI). It should not appear contrary to the words of the Lord or blessed John that the Lord Himself says elsewhere that the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life (Matt. VII); and the prophet says to Him: For the words of your lips, I have kept hard ways (Psalm XVI); and the apostle: For through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts XIV). For what is inherently hard and rough, the hope of heavenly rewards and the love of Christ makes light. Indeed, it is hard to suffer persecutions for righteousness, but what makes it sweet is that for those who suffer thus, the kingdom of heaven belongs. Hence it is well added:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 John 5:4
Neither a Jew nor a pagan nor a heretic can do anything in the face of this victory which is ours through faith.

Source: CATENA
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:4
This means that such a person has overcome all evil and ungodliness. For our faith has destroyed all ignorance and driven out all darkness.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Therefore, God's commandments are not heavy because all who devote themselves to them in true devotion equally despise the adversities and blandishments of the world with equal mind, even loving death itself as the entrance to the heavenly homeland. And lest anyone trust that he can overcome the world or its luxuries or labors by his virtue, it is deliberately added:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:4
And this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith. Specifically, that faith which works through love; that faith by which we humbly seek the help of Him who said: In the world you will have tribulations, but take courage, I have overcome the world (John 16).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on 1 John 5:4
Once you have become brothers and sisters in love, you must go on to the next stage, which is to overcome the world. For those who have been born again in God must expel every kind of unbelief from their midst.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:5
Who is he that overcomes the world, etc.? He overcomes the world who, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, combines works worthy of that faith. But does the faith and confession of His divinity alone suffice for salvation? See what follows.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 5:5
It is not faith in the abstract that overcomes the world. It must be faith in Jesus Christ, as John makes plain.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 John 5:6
, and calls them into his own kingdom? And why is his goodness, which does not save all

Source: Against Heresies Book IV
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:6-8
He says, "This is He who came by water and blood;" and again -

"For there are three that bear witness, the spirit," which is life, "and the water," which is regeneration and faith, "and the blood," which is knowledge; "and these three are one." For in the Saviour are those saving virtues, and life itself exists in His own Son.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 5:6
We have indeed, likewise, a second font, (itself withal one with the former, ) of blood, to wit; concerning which the Lord said, "I have to be baptized with a baptism," when He had been baptized already. For He had come "by means of water and blood," just as John has written; that He might be baptized by the water, glorified by the blood; to make us, in like manner, called by water, chosen by blood.

Source: On Baptism
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:6
What flowed from his side was also the blood which cleanses us from sin and sanctifies the people of God.… It was not a mere man who appeared at the Jordan but the incarnate Word of God, to whom the Father also bore witness: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Similarly, when he was hanging on the cross, what sounded to the people like thunder was the voice of God speaking at the moment that his blood fell to the ground.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:6
This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He who was the eternal Son of God became man in time, so that He who created us by His divine power might recreate us by the weakness of His humanity. He came by water and blood, namely the water of baptism and the blood of His passion. He not only deigned to be baptized for our cleansing to consecrate and deliver to us the sacrament of baptism, but also gave His blood for us, redeeming us by His passion, that we might be nourished unto salvation by the sacraments.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:6
And the Spirit is He who testifies because Christ is the truth. When the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, bearing witness to Him as the truth, that is, the true Son of God, the true mediator between God and men, the true Redeemer and Reconciler of mankind, who is indeed free from all stain of sin, truly able to take away the sins of the world. As also the Baptist, understanding when he saw the coming of the same Spirit, said: He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, He it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God (John 1). Therefore, since the Spirit testifies that Jesus Christ is the truth, He calls Himself the truth, the Baptist proclaims Him as the truth, the son of thunder evangelizes the truth, let the blasphemers be silent, who maintain that this is a phantasm; let the memory of those perish from the earth who deny that He is truly either God or man.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 850] Ishodad of Merv on 1 John 5:6
John calls Christ’s baptism “water” and his passion “blood.” He fulfilled all the dispensations for our sake, by means of his baptism, his passion and by the Holy Spirit.

Source: COMMENTARIES
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 5:6
Why did Jesus come? To give us new birth and to make us children of God. How are we born? Through water and blood. The Jesus who came gives us new birth by water and by blood. The water stands for his baptism, when Jesus was revealed as the Son of God. The blood, of course, stands for his crucifixion, when he prayed that the Father would glorify him and a voice answered from heaven: “I have glorified and I will glorify.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:7
The spirit is life, the water is regeneration and faith, the blood is knowledge, and these three are one. In the Savior these are the saving powers, and life itself is found in the Son.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS
[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 5:7
And again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, "And these three are one."
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:7
Since there are three who bear witness on earth, etc. The Spirit has borne witness that Jesus is truth, when it descended upon Him at His baptism. For if he were not truly the Son of God, by no means would the Holy Spirit have come to Him with such a great manifestation. Water and blood also bore witness that Jesus is truth, when from His side on the cross, after He had died, they flowed out: which could not have happened at all, if He did not have a true nature of flesh. And also this that before His passion, when He prayed, His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22), gives testimony to the truth of the flesh He had assumed. Nor should it be ignored that in this also blood and water bore witness to Him, that from His side after death they flowed out vividly, which was against the nature of dead bodies, and therefore was apt for mysteries, and was fitting as a testimony of the truth, namely showing that the very body of the Lord would live more gloriously after being resurrected, and that His very death would grant us life. This too, that His sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood, bore witness to that holy mystery that He would wash the whole Church all over the world with His blood. Therefore, there are three who bear witness to the truth.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:7
And (he says) the three are one. For these remain indivisible, and none of them is separated from its connection, because divinity is not to be believed without true humanity, nor humanity without true divinity. But in us also these are one, not by nature of the same substance, but by the operation of the same mystery. For, as the blessed Ambrose says: "The Spirit renews the abiding, water leads to washing, blood pertains to redemption." For the Spirit has made us sons of God through adoption, the wave of the sacred font washes us, the blood of the Lord has redeemed us. Therefore, one invisible, the other visible testimony, follows the spiritual sacrament.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:8
What was it that flowed from Jesus’ side if not the sacrament which believers receive? The Spirit, the blood and the water—the Spirit which he gave up, the blood and water which flowed from his side. The church is signified as being born from this blood and water.

Source: SERMONS 5.3
[AD 461] Leo the Great on 1 John 5:8
This means the Spirit of sanctification, the blood of redemption and the water of baptism, which three are one and remain distinct, and none of them is separated from union with the others. This is the faith by which the church lives and moves.

Source: LETTERS 28
[AD 850] Ishodad of Merv on 1 John 5:8
The three things are one because everything was accomplished by the one Christ.

Source: COMMENTARIES
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 5:9
The testimony of men refers to the testimony of people like Moses and the prophets, who were all men of God.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:9
If we accept the testimony of man, the testimony of God is greater, etc. Great is the testimony of man that he gives concerning the Son of God, saying: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand" (Psalm 109). And from the person of the Son himself: "The Lord said to me: You are my Son" (Psalm 2). And likewise from the person of the Father speaking about the Son: "He will call upon me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation'" (Psalm 88). "My Father," because I am the Son of God. "My God," because I am man. "The rock of my salvation," because I will suffer and be saved from death. "And I (he says) will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth" (Ibid.). This is a great and true testimony, worthy of all acceptance. The testimony of man concerning the Son of God is great, but much greater is the testimony of God, who has testified himself about his Son when, speaking from heaven, he said: "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Luke 3). Great is the testimony of the forerunner, who, bearing testimony about the Son of God, said: "I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 3). Greater is the testimony of the Father, who sent the Holy Spirit upon him, whom he was always full of, even visibly.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 5:10
God can never turn himself into a liar, because he is the essence of truth. But an unbelieving man is a liar, because he does not believe in the truth of God.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:10
After giving us one testimony about his Son, God gave us another, which is eternal life.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:10
He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony of God in himself. He who thus believes in the Son of God, so as to practice in work what he believes, has the testimony of God in himself. Surely this is because he also may rightly be counted among the number of the sons of God, as the only Son of God promises to his faithful: "If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him" (John 12). If you have deserved to have the testimony of God, if you possess God as a witness of your unblemished faith, what does the infamy of men, what does even persecution harm you? For if God is for us, who can be against us?

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:10
Whoever does not believe in the Son makes him a liar, etc. In vain the Jews and heretics think they believe in and venerate the Father, as long as they despise Christ and refuse to believe in him. For he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Those who do not believe in the Son, who says "I and the Father are one" (John 10), and when Caiaphas asked, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" (Mark 14), he replied: "I am" (ibid.); but they argue that he is either not the Christ, or not the Son of God, or not similar to the Father, they certainly make the Father a liar, because they do not believe the testimony he has testified about his Son: namely, in what I mentioned before: "You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased" (Luke 3); and even in what he testified when the hour of passion was imminent, while he was praying and saying: "Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name" (John 12), he responded, even the crowd hearing from heaven, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again" (ibid.), truly signifying himself as God the Father in the heavens of him who, as a true man, was about to suffer death on earth.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 160] Shepherd of Hermas on 1 John 5:11
Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For "he continued, "before a man bears the name of the Son of God

Source: Shepherd of Hermas Similitude Ninth
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:11
And this is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life. He said, He has given us eternal life. And he who speaks, still living a temporal life and subject to death in the flesh. But he has given us eternal life, just as he has given us the power to become children of God to those who believe in his name. For to know that the power to have eternal life has been given by God, listen to the prophet: "Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit," and so on to the end of the psalm (Psalm 33). Therefore he has given us eternal life, but still to those wandering on earth in hope, which he will give in heaven to those who arrive to him in reality.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:11
And this life is in His Son. Namely, in the faith and confession of His name, in the reception of His sacraments, in the observance of His commandments. Hence He Himself also said: No one comes to the Father except through Me (John XIV). And Peter about Him: Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts IV).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 5:11
God has promised to give us eternal life because we have been adopted into him through his Son, of whom Scripture says: “In him was life.” Therefore whoever has the Son by holy baptism also has life.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 5:12
We believe not the testimony of God in which He testifies to us of His Son. "He that hath not the Son, hath not life." And that man has not the Son, who believes Him to be any other than the Son.

Source: Against Praxeas
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:12
Here John testifies that no one has life unless he has Christ.

Source: AGAINST JULIAN 6.9.27
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:12
He who has the Son, has life, etc. So that it may not seem too little to say that life is in the Son, he added that the Son Himself is life. Which the Son, glorifying the Father, also showed when He said: For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself (John V). But how the same life which is common to both the Son and the Father also enlightens believers, the same Son elsewhere intimates in prayer to the Father: As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John XVII).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you, that you may know that you have eternal life, etc. That you may know, he says, that you may be certain of your future blessedness, who believe in Christ, so that you are not deceived by the fraud of those who deny that Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore assert that nothing will benefit those who have believed in His name. And the wondrous madness of heretics, who, though the Son of God is referred to throughout this entire Epistle, still assert that Christ is not the Son but a creature of God. Which in no way do they read, except when His humanity is mentioned.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 5:13
John says that he has written to those who are inheritors of eternal life, for such things would never be written to people who are not. After all, it is not right to give holy things to dogs or to scatter pearls before swine.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:14
"And this is the confidence which we have towards Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He will hear us." He does not say absolutely what we shall ask, but what we ought to ask.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 5:14
Those who possess technical skills and know how to repair things are fully confident that when the need arises they will be able to do so. Similarly these holy men, John and the other apostles, knew from their own experience that if they asked God for what was pleasing and acceptable to him, they would obtain it. For God is most generous to those who have this knowledge and will grant the requests of those who ask according to his will.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:14
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, etc. He provides us with great confidence to hope for heavenly goods from the Lord, because even in this life, whatever we ask of him in a salutary manner, we obtain, according to what he himself promises believers in the Gospel: "I say to you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark XI). But it must be noted that we are heard by the Lord when praying in such a way, provided we ask for what he has commanded. He himself says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew VI). Hence, John rightly interposed after saying, "Whatever we ask, we receive from him," by adding, "according to his will." Therefore, we are commanded to have full and undoubted confidence of being heard only regarding those things which align not with our own benefits or temporal comforts but with the Lord's will. This is also to be included in the Lord’s Prayer: "Your will be done" (Matthew VI), that is, not ours. For if we remember the Apostle's words: "For we do not know what to pray for as we ought" (Romans VIII), we understand that sometimes we ask for things contrary to our own salvation, and it is most beneficial for us that those things we ask are denied by him who perceives our benefit more rightly than we do. This undoubtedly happened even to the teacher of the Gentiles himself.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:15
And we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, etc. He repeatedly emphasizes the same points previously stated, to encourage us to pray more energetically. But the objection remains that we should ask according to the will of our Creator. This can be understood in two ways: both that we ask for those things he desires, and that we come to petition him in the manner he desires us to be. This means to have faith that works through love (Galatians V), and above all, to remember that gospel command: "And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses" (Mark XI).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 5:15
What this means is that if we ask according to his will, he hears us, and if he hears us in everything that we ask of him, we know that we are praying according to his will. Therefore we already have inside us the things which we have asked for. For these are the kingdom and righteousness of God, which he has asked us to pray for.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:16
For "there is a sin unto death: I do not say that one is to pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death."
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 5:16
Touching this difference, we have not only already premised certain antithetical passages of the Scriptures, on one hand retaining, on the other remitting, sins; but John, too, will teach us: "If any knoweth his brother to be sinning a sin not unto death, he shall request, and life shall be given to him; "because he is not "sinning unto death," this will be remissible. "(There) is a sin unto death; not for this do I say that any is to request" -this will be irremissible.

Source: On Modesty
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 5:16
For (in making these assertions) he was looking forward to the final clause of his letter, and for that (final clause) he was laying his preliminary bases; intending to say, in the end, more manifestly: "If any knoweth his brother to be sinning a sin not unto death, he shall make request, and the Lord shall give life to him who sinneth not unto death. For there is a sin unto death: not concerning that do I say that one should make request." He, too, (as I have been), was mindful that Jeremiah had been prohibited by God to deprecate (Him) on behalf of a people which was committing mortal sins.

Source: On Modesty
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 John 5:16
Since there are sins “unto death,” it follows that anyone who commits one of them will die as a result.

Source: SERMONS ON LEVITICUS 11.2.6
[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 John 5:16
Of this same thing in the first book of Kings: "If a man sin by offending against a man, they shall pray the Lord for him; but if a man sin against God, who shall pray for him? "

Source: Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:16
Even though the Lord commands us to pray for our very persecutors, this passage clearly shows that there are some brothers for whom we are not commanded to pray. We therefore must acknowledge that there are some sins among the brothers which are worse than persecution by enemies. I think that the sin of a brother is unto death when anyone who has attained a knowledge of God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ opposes the brotherhood and is aroused by the fires of envy against that very grace by which he was reconciled to God.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 1.22.73
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 John 5:16
In another place I defined the sin of a brother unto death [see above], but I should have added: “if he ends this life in a perversity of mind as wicked as this.” For surely we must not despair of anyone, no matter how wicked he is, while he lives, and we should pray with confidence for him of whom we should not despair.

Source: RETRACTATIONS 1.18.7
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:16
It is the sin of heresy, or of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which leads to death. If one man sins against another, pray for him. But if he sins against God, who is there who can pray on his behalf?

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:16
Just as Christ washes us from our sins by interceding with the Father on our behalf, so also should we, if we know that our brother is committing a sin which is “not unto death.”

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 2.5
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:16
Who knows his brother to sin a sin not unto death, etc. These and such things are asked according to the will of the Lord, which pertain to the duty of brotherly love. He speaks, however, of daily and light sins, which as they are difficult to avoid, so also are easily cured. But regarding the manner in which this mutual request should be carried out for sins, James more clearly indicates, saying: Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another that you may be saved (James V). If, therefore, by speaking, or thinking, or forgetfulness, or ignorance you have perhaps erred, go to your brother, confess to him, ask for intervention. If he purely confesses to you, making you aware of his own frailty, and you piously intercede for his errors, correct him. But these things are said about lighter sins. Moreover, if you have committed something more serious, bring in the elders of the Church, and at their examination, punish yourself.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:16
There is a sin unto death, etc. A great question arises here, because blessed John clearly shows that there are certain brothers for whom we are not instructed to pray, whereas the Lord even commands us to pray for our persecutors. This can only be resolved by admitting that there are some sins among the brothers which are more grievous than the persecution by enemies. Therefore, the sin of a brother unto death occurs when, after the knowledge of God, which is given through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, someone attacks the brotherhood and is inflamed with envy against the very grace by which they were reconciled to God. However, a sin not unto death is if someone has not withdrawn love from their brother but has not shown the duties owed to brotherhood due to some weakness of mind. Therefore, the Lord on the cross says: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23). For they had not yet become participants in the grace of the Holy Spirit, nor had they entered the communion of holy brotherhood. And blessed Stephen prays for those by whom he was being stoned because they did not yet believe in Christ, nor did they fight against that common grace. And the apostle Paul, for this reason, I believe, does not pray for Alexander because he was already a brother; and he had sinned unto death, that is, by attacking brotherhood with envy. But he prays that those who had not severed love but had succumbed to fear be forgiven. For he thus says: Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil; the Lord will repay him according to his works; whom do you also avoid, for he has greatly resisted our words (2 Tim. 4). Then he adds for whom he prays, saying: At my first defense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me; may it not be charged against them (Ibid.). However, a sin unto death can be understood as one for which someone is forbidden to pray, because a sin that is not corrected in this life, its forgiveness is sought in vain after death. But if we carefully inspect the following, the previous sense of this reading seems to align more with its tenor. For it continues:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:17
All iniquity is sin, etc. Such is the diversity of sins, he says, that everything which deviates from the rule of equity is counted among the sins, although small sins cannot in any way take away or diminish the merit of righteousness from the just, as long as they are those without which this life cannot be lived, and likewise there are certain sins so discordant with all justice, committed with such iniquity, that without any contradiction, unless they are corrected, they lead their perpetrator to eternal punishment. Concerning which it is written: The soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18). Blessed John’s statement clearly repudiates the inept argument of the Stoics, who dared to say against all human sense and to affirm that all sins are equal, saying it makes no difference whether a man steals a human being, an ox, or a chicken, because it is not the animal but the intention that constitutes the crime. Jovinian the heretic followed them, asserting that there is no distinction between marriage and virginity, claiming that those who abstain in no way should be preferred in any privilege of recompense over those who simply partake in feasting. Therefore, everything that is unjustly committed or thought is to be referred to as sin. But there are some sins unto death, about which the Apostle says: For those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 John 5:17
Only those sins which are not repented of lead to death. Judas, for example, although he showed remorse, did not repent and was led off to his death. But whoever has given himself over to Christ cannot commit mortal sin, even though his nature remains unchanged and he still sins.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 5:18
If it is true that when someone does what is righteous his power to do so comes from God, and if it is also true that righteousness and evil cannot live together, then it is perfectly clear that as long as a person does such things he is righteous and does not sin. But because this ability is given by grace and is not natural, John adds that the righteous person must watch out, so that evil will not touch him.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:18
It may be true that the righteous person does not sin, but no one is a child of God by nature. This is why we avoid sin, not by the way in which we were made, which would make sin impossible for us, but by watching out that we do not fall into it.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:18
We know that everyone who is born of God does not sin. Sin, namely unto death. This can be understood about all mortal crimes, and specifically that which violates brotherhood, as we have explained above. But also, the sin unto death can be said to be rightly understood as the sin prolonged up to the time of death, which everyone born of God does not commit. After all, King David committed a mortal crime. For who does not know that adultery and murder deserve eternal death? But yet David, because he was born of God, because he belonged to the society of the children of God, he did not sin unto death, because he immediately obtained forgiveness for his guilt by repenting.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:18
But the generation of God preserves him, etc. The grace of Christ, by which the faithful are reborn, preserves those who are called holy according to the purpose, so that they do not commit sin leading to death; and if they err in anything due to the frailty of human condition, it protects them from being touched by the malignant enemy. Furthermore, it must be said, we remain in the generation of God as long as we do not sin; indeed, those who persevere in the generation of God cannot sin, nor be touched by the malignant. For what communion has light with darkness, Christ with Belial (II Cor. VI)? Just as (he says) day and night cannot be mixed, so righteousness and iniquity, sin and good works, Christ and Antichrist, the malignant one and the generation of God.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:18
We know that we are born of God, etc. We are of God, regenerated by His grace and baptism through faith, and saved so that we may endure in faith. However, the lovers of the world are subjected to the enemy, either never freed from his dominion by the wave of regeneration, or after the grace of regeneration, returned again to his dominion by sinning. Not only the lovers of the world but also those who are recently born and do not yet have discernment of good and evil, because of the guilt of the first violation, belong to the kingdom of the evil enemy unless by the grace of the kind Creator they are rescued from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1). Hence, he did not simply say that the world is in the evil one but added, And (he says) the whole world is placed in the evil one. For as blessed Ambrose says: "We are all born under sin, whose very birth is in defect." And Pelagius strives in vain to affirm that infants recently born have no need of the grace of baptism to be reborn, because they are said to be born as clean from all stain of sin as Adam was created in paradise, deriving no stain of original guilt from him, and being guilty of nothing until they begin to sin by their own will. But as for us, setting aside the poisons of the Antichrists, which are condemned and expelled from the Church all through this Epistle by the one who drank from the breast of the Lord, the fountain of life, let us hear in the closure the good word of salvation which he pours out for us. Let us observe the works of the supreme King which he tells of. The following ensues:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:19
"And the whole word lies in the wicked one;" not the creation, but worldly men, and those who live according to their lusts.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:19
“World” does not mean creation as a whole but rather worldly people and those who live according to their lusts.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS
[AD 311] Methodius of Olympus on 1 John 5:19
"As then, when the days of our present life shall fail, those good deeds of beneficence to which we have attained in this unrighteous life, and in this "world "which "lieth in wickedness"
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 5:19
The “world,” that is, those who love the world, are subjected to evil. This includes everybody, because we are all born under sin, which traces its origin to the disobedience of Adam. Many heretics claim that there is a creator god who made the world evil to begin with, but this is not so. The word refers to people, not to the material substance of creation.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 420] Jerome on 1 John 5:19
[Daniel 4:4] "I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace." The narrative is clear indeed and requires but little interpretation. Because he displeased God, Nebuchadnezzar was turned into a madman and dwelt for seven years amongst the brute beasts and was fed upon the roots of herbs, Afterwards by the mercy of God he was restored to his throne, and praised and glorified the King of heaven, on the ground that all His works are truth and His ways are justice and He is able to abase those who walk in pride. But there are some who claim to understand by the figure of Nebuchadnezzar the hostile power which the Lord speaks of in the Gospel, saying: "I beheld Satan falling from heaven like lightning" (Luke 10:18). Likewise John in Revelation, in the passage where the dragon falls upon the earth drawing a third of the stars with him (Revelation 12:4). Likewise Isaiah: "How hath the morning star fallen, which used to rise early in the morning" (Isaiah 14:12). These authorities assert that it was absolutely impossible for a man who was reared in luxury to subsist on hay for seven years and to dwell among wild beasts for seven years without being at all mangled by them. Also they ask how the imperial authority could have been kept waiting for a mere madman, and how so mighty a kingdom could have gone without a king for so long a period. If, on the other hand, anyone had succeeded him on the throne, how foolish he would have to be thought to surrender an imperial authority which he had possessed for so long. Such a thing would be especially incredible since the historical records of the Chaldeans contain no such record, and since they recorded matters of far less import, it is impossible that they should have left things of major importance unmentioned. And so they pose all of these questions and offer as their own reply the proposition that since the episode does not stand up as genuine history, the figure of Nebuchadnezzar represents the devil. To this position we make not the slightest concession; otherwise everything we read in Scripture may appear to be imperfect representations and mere fables. For once men have lost their reason, who would not perceive them to lead their existence like brutish animals in the open fields and forest regions? And to pass over all other considerations, since Greek and Roman history offer episodes far more incredible, such as Scylla and the Chimaera, the Hydra and the Centaurs, and the birds and wild beasts and flowers and trees, the stars and the stones into which men are related to have been transformed, what is so remarkable about the execution of such a divine judgment as this for the manifestation of God's power and the humbling of the pride of kings? Nebuchadnezzar says, "'I was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace...'" or as Theodo-tion renders it "upon my throne." Now those who follow the interpretation we are opposing understand by the devil's home this world of ours. Concerning the world Satan himself in the Gospel says to the Savior: "All these things have been given over to me" (Luke 4:6). Likewise the Apostle says: "The world lieth in the Wicked One" (1 John 5:19).

Source: St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER FOUR
[AD 532] Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on 1 John 5:19
To remain altogether without experience of ill. For, as one says, the whole world lieth in wickedness; ".
For in the most general application it holds good, that it does not appear to be possible for any man to remain altogether without experience of ill: for, as one says, "The whole world lieth in wickedness; "
[AD 850] Ishodad of Merv on 1 John 5:19
The world is subjected to the perversion which gives birth to sin, and because of that it is prone to the cultivation of evil things.

Source: COMMENTARIES
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 John 5:20
"And the Son of God has come and given us understanding," which comes to us, that is, by faith, and is also called the Holy Spirit.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 5:20
The understanding which God gave, by which it is known that the true Son of God is coming, is the same as the mind of Christ.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 John 5:20
Even at the end of his letter, John never stops insisting on the need for right doctrine. We have been given understanding to the extent that we have known the Son of God, who really has come into the world. This is what it means to say that “we have the mind of Christ.” The person who has this mind and understanding knows what is really true and is united with him because he shares the same mind.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God has come, etc. For what could be clearer than these words? What could be sweeter? What could be said more strongly against all heresies? Christ is the true Son of God. The Father of Christ Jesus our Lord is the true God. The eternal Son of God came temporally into the world, who was in the world, and through whom the world was made. Nor did He come for any other reason than for our salvation, that is, to give us the understanding to know the true God. For no one could come to life without divine knowledge, no one could know God except by His teaching: as He Himself says: And no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and whom the Son wills to reveal Him (Luke X). It is implied: both the Father and the Son. For the Son reveals both, who, appearing visibly in the flesh, has deigned to now reveal the secrets of divinity through His Gospel.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:20
This is the true God, and eternal life. He had said that the Son is the true God, and repeatedly affirms that this one is the true God. He says that this one is eternal life. Not in the way eternal life is promised to us, which takes us from time and places us so that we never cease living well; but the Son is life, always remaining without the beginning of time, always remaining without end.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 5:21
John did not tell us to keep away from worship, but from idols, that is, from their very likeness. For it is wrong for you, who are created in the image of the living God, to become the image of an idol and a dead man.

Source: ON THE CROWN 5.10
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 John 5:21
Even an earthly serpent sucks in men at some distance with its breath. Going still further, John says, "My little children, keep yourselves from idols," -not now from idolatry, as if from the service of it, but from idols-that is, from any resemblance to them: for it is an unworthy thing that you, the image of the living God, should become the likeness of an idol and a dead man.

Source: De Corona
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 John 5:21
Why is it that after everything else which he has said to his hearers during the course of his letter, John should keep this warning about idols to the very end? In my opinion it is because here he is addressing the church in general. There must have been many in that assembly who were former idolaters, and he adds this caution for their benefit.

Source: CATENA
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 John 5:21
The letter ends as it began, with an admonition to worship the one true God alone. Everything else that John says is contained in this one golden rule.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
[AD 735] Bede on 1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. You who have known the true God, in whom you have eternal life, keep yourselves from the doctrines of heretics, which lead to eternal death, because, like those who make idols in place of God, they change the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of corruptible things with perverse teachings (Rom. I). Keep yourselves from love of money, which is the service of idols. Be careful not to prefer any worldly allurements over the love of the Creator. For this too will be counted among idols, so that having the care and diligence for truth alone, you may deserve to rejoice endlessly in its vision. For the world passes away, and its desire. But whoever does the will of the Lord remains forever (1 John II).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles