MacArthur (1, 2)
These... verses... direct our attention to this issue of being an overcomer... We need to view ourselves as overcomers. The word here for overcomes, nikaoin, means to conquer, to win, to defeat, to gain victory... from which we get the word Nike. The Greeks loved the word nike. They actually had a goddess by the name of Nike, and this was the goddess of victory, the goddess of triumph. And the Greeks actually believed that victory could not be achieved by mortals, but only by the gods. Only the gods were ultimately unconquerable... They were the only ones who could conquer and become unconquerable. For men, there might be a triumph here and a triumph there, but there would also be mingled in between defeat and failure. Only the gods could reach the level of being unconquerable.
Playing against the background of that kind of thinking in the ancient times, it was a pretty stunning thing to assign to Christians the kind of unconquerability that belonged only to the gods in that culture. We like that word even in English. The United States military forces have for many, many years called their missiles Nike Missiles. And then of course we have Nike shoes that are supposed to lead you to triumph in whatever athletic endeavor you're engaged in.
The word is used by our Lord Jesus Himself in John 16:33, He uses the verb form when He says, "In this world you shall have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." I have won out in conflict with the world. I have defeated the world. I have conquered the world. I am the victor over the world. And, of course, there is a form of that word used in one of our most favorite portions of Scripture, Romans chapter 8. At the close of that great eighth chapter where Paul is speaking about the unconquerable position of Christians in Christ, he says, verse 37, "In all these things we are more than conquerors," that's the Authorized. The NAS says, "We overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." Paul says, "We're not just overcomers, we're not just nike... he compounds the word and adds huper which would be in English saying, "We're super-conquerors. We are the ultimate conquerors..." We are, to put it another way, invincible, unconquerable. So much that, "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, or any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There is nothing that can conquer us, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword. We are super-conquerors. We are the unconquerable. We are the overcomers...
First of all, at the point of our salvation and from then on we have become super conquerors of Satan... We have overcome the evil one... Not only have we become overcomes of Satan as powerful as he is, but we have become overcomers in the realm of life as well. That is, we have overcome death. I think the most notable portion of Scripture that speaks to that is 1 Corinthians 15:54... "Death is swallowed up in victory. O, death, where is your sting." The sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God that gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ...
"Whatever is born of God overcomes the world..." If you're still loving the world, if you're still attracted to the world, if you have not yet overcome the world, the love of the Father is not in you. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world and the world is passing away and all its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever." We have overcome the world. It no longer overwhelms us. It no longer is the object of our attraction...
We're in the world no longer of the world. Its allurements don't pull our hearts. We are drawn by the Holy Spirit. We are drawn by the love of Christ. We are drawn by righteousness. We are drawn by the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of this world. We love not this world, but the kingdom of God. And so, in the very real sense we who are in Christ have overcome the world... You have overcome the world also in the sense that you no longer are deceived by the false prophets who ply their lies and deception in the world...
We struggle though in the world. Paul struggled in Romans 7 against the power of his fallen flesh. He struggled under terrible persecution by the world, beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, whipped, assaulted, attacked, despised, hated, jailed, put in stocks, finally executed. But none of that took away his victory because the worst that you could ever do to a believer would be to kill a believer, and to do that is to usher them into the full honors of their eternal triumph. It's really an astounding thing. The worst you could ever do to us is the best. If they take our lives, they free us from the debilitating flesh which clings to us. They can never take our salvation. Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ. Nothing can ever break our faith. Nothing can ever cause a believer to stop believing.
Piper (1, 2)
Love for God is expressed in obedience to his commandments with a spirit that does not act burdensomely. Verse 3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” The mark of love for God is joyful obedience, not begrudging obedience.
The basis of this unbegrudging obedience is the power of the new birth to overcome the world. Verse 4a: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.” Our love for God obeys him freely and joyfully because in the new birth the spell of the world is broken and it loses its power. When the world loses its powerful attraction because of the new birth, God and his holy will become attractive. Not burdensome. How does this work? This world-defeating power that breaks the spell of sin and makes the will of God beautiful, not burdensome, is our faith. Verse 4b: “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
So the train of thought goes like this: The new birth happens as we are brought into contact with the living and abiding word, the gospel. The first effect of this new birth is that we see and receive God and his Son and work and his will as supremely beautiful and valuable. That’s faith. This faith overcomes the world, that is, it overcomes the enslaving power of the world to be our supreme treasure. Faith breaks the enslaving spell of the world’s allurement. By doing that, faith leads us into obedience with freedom and joy. God and his holy will look beautiful and not burdensome. The new birth has taken the blinders off. We see things for what they are. We are free to obey with joy.
If there ever was any testimony in the courtroom of life that we ought to listen to, it would be God's testimony... "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life." So according to God's testimony, the way to have life is to have the Son. Verse 12: "He who has the Son has life." And the reason we know it is eternal life is that verse 11 says, "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." So the way to have eternal life is to have the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
And John sums it all up in the word LIFE. He who has the Son has life! Eternal life is not just the extension of all the frustrations and half-joys of this life. When Jesus finishes doing his thing, every frustration will be gone and every half-joy will be full. As he said in John 10:10, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly."
If you HAVE the Son, it means that anything that infinite love and infinite power and infinite wisdom can do for your good will in fact be done for you...
He who has the Son has One who can take all tribulation and distress and persecution and peril and turn it so that out of it comes not just a wounded soldier—no we are not just conquerors. Those who have the Son are "more than conquerors." Which means that the Son of God takes the tribulations of your life and actually turns them for your good. You don't just escape from your enemy. He serves you...
The Son of God... has two goals: the liberation of his people from sin and death, and the glorification of his own powers. That is the origin of salvation. That is the source of eternal life. And to show that what he loves is the liberation of his people and the magnification of his power, his services are not for sale. He will not be paid.
So how do you come to HAVE the Son of God? He makes you a free offer, and you accept his offer, you trust him. He does his thing for those who trust in him. He who has the Son has life.
Spurgeon
Verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: These are very simple words, but they contain a great depth of meaning. The teaching conveyed by this Epistle is very profound, though the language is such as even a child can understand. There must be faith in Jesus Christ as the anointed Son of God; otherwise, there is no new birth, no regeneration of the Holy Spirit...
If we really love God with our whole heart, we must equally love Jesus Christ, and we shall also love all his people, for they are one with him. If you truly love God, you also love his well-beloved and only-begotten Son, and you also love all his children. There cannot be a true love to the Father and a hatred to his family, that is impossible. Judge therefore by this test whether you love God or not...
"And his commandments are not grievous." To his people, they are charming; not grievous. They delight themselves in the law of God; and they only wish that they could be perfectly conformed to the divine will...
"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." The cleansing of the outward life does not stand alone, but it is accompanied by the putting away of sin from the heart. The two must go together; and no man will ever rightly value the cleansing water unless he equally values the atoning blood.
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