1 John 5:1

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ ¹  has been fathered ²  by God, and everyone who loves the father ³  loves the child fathered by him. ⁴ 

John 16:13-15

16:13 But when he, ⁵  the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide ⁶  you into all truth. ⁷  For he will not speak on his own authority, ⁸  but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you ⁹  what is to come. ¹⁰  16:14 He ¹¹  will glorify me, ¹²  because he will receive ¹³  from me what is mine ¹⁴  and will tell it to you. ¹⁵  16:15 Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit ¹⁶  will receive from me what is mine ¹⁷  and will tell it to you. ¹⁸ 

John 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ¹⁹ 

Colossians 1:3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church

1:3 We always ²⁰  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

[5:1]  ¹ tn Or “the Messiah.”

[5:1]  ² tn The verb γεννάω (gennaw) here means to be fathered by God and thus a child of God. The imagery in 1 John is that of the male parent who fathers children. See the note on “fathered” in 2:29 for further discussion of this imagery.

[5:1]  ³ tc ‡ Most witnesses ([א] A P 1739 Ï sy) have καί (kai, “also”) before the article τόν (ton). But the external evidence for the shorter reading is significant (B Ψ 048^vid 33 pc sa), and the conjunction looks to be a motivated reading in which scribes emulated the wording of 4:21 (ἀγαπᾷ καὶ τόν, agapa kai ton). NA²⁷ places the conjunction in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[5:1]  ⁴ sn Also loves the child fathered by him. Is the meaning of 5:1b a general observation or a specific statement about God and Christians? There are three ways in which the second half of 5:1 has been understood: (1) as a general statement, proverbial in nature, applying to any parent: “everyone who loves the father also loves the child fathered by him.” (2) This has also been understood as a statement that is particularly true of one’s own parent: “everyone who loves his own father also loves the (other) children fathered by him (i.e., one’s own brothers and sisters).” (3) This could be understood as a statement which refers particularly to God, in light of the context (5:1a): “everyone who loves God who fathered Christians also loves the Christians who are fathered by God.” Without doubt options (2) and (3) are implications of the statement in its present context, but it seems most probable that the meaning of the statement is more general and proverbial in nature (option 1). This is likely because of the way in which it is introduced by the author with πᾶς ὁ (pas Jo) + participle. The author could have been more explicit and said something like, “everyone who loves God also loves God’s children” had he intended option (3) without ambiguity. Yet that, in context, is the ultimate application of the statement, because it ultimately refers to the true Christian who, because he loves God, also loves the brethren, those who are God’s offspring. This is the opposite of 4:20, where the author asserted that the opponents, who profess to love God but do not love the brethren, cannot really love God because they do not love the brethren.

[16:13]  ⁵ tn Grk “that one.”

[16:13]  ⁶ tn Or “will lead.”

[16:13]  ⁷ sn Three important points must be noted here. (1) When the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide the disciples into all truth. What Jesus had said in 8:31-32, “If you continue to follow my teaching you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” will ultimately be realized in the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Jesus’ departure. (2) The things the Holy Spirit speaks to them will not be things which originate from himself (he will not speak on his own authority), but things he has heard. This could be taken to mean that no new revelation is involved, as R. E. Brown does (John [AB], 2:714-15). This is a possible but not a necessary inference. The point here concerns the source of the things the Spirit will say to the disciples and does not specifically exclude originality of content. (3) Part at least of what the Holy Spirit will reveal to the disciples will concern what is to come, not just fuller implications of previous sayings of Jesus and the like. This does seem to indicate that at least some new revelation is involved. But the Spirit is not the source or originator of these things – Jesus is the source, and he will continue to speak to his disciples through the Spirit who has come to indwell them. This does not answer the question, however, whether these words are addressed to all followers of Jesus, or only to his apostles. Different modern commentators will answer this question differently. Since in the context of the Farewell Discourse Jesus is preparing the twelve to carry on his ministry after his departure, it is probably best to take these statements as specifically related only to the twelve. Some of this the Holy Spirit does directly for all believers today; other parts of this statement are fulfilled through the apostles (e.g., in giving the Book of Revelation the Spirit speaks through the apostles to the church today of things to come). One of the implications of this is that a doctrine does not have to be traced back to an explicit teaching of Jesus to be authentic; all that is required is apostolic authority.

[16:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “speak from himself.”

[16:13]  ⁹ tn Or will announce to you.”

[16:13]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “will tell you the things to come.”

[16:14]  ⁹ tn Grk “That one.”

[16:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “will honor me.”

[16:14]  ¹¹ tn Or “he will take.”

[16:14]  ¹² tn The words “what is mine” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:14]  ¹³ tn Or “will announce it to you.”

[16:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “I said he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:15]  ¹⁴ tn The words “what is mine” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:15]  ¹⁵ tn Or “will announce it to you.”

[16:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”

[1:3]  ²¹ tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).