1 John 5:20

1 John 5:20, in plain English

Jesus has actually come, and He's opened your eyes so you can know the true God; and right now, you're living in relationship with the real God through His Son Jesus Christ, who is true God and gives eternal life.

Why it's here

This is John's final statement, tying everything together. He's saying: this isn't speculation or wishful thinking. Jesus came historically. He's given you understanding historically. You're in relationship with the true God right now. Everything is real, present, and secured in Christ.

Who's speaking

John the apostle

Where it sits in the story

This is the climax of 1 John. John began by testifying to what he'd seen and heard (1:1), and he ends by affirming that his readers have encountered the same real Christ. The gospel isn't a myth or philosophy; it's the invasion of eternal reality into time. And through Jesus, you're connected to that reality forever.

The scholarly reading

The Son of God has completed his incarnate mission and now grants us understanding of the true God; we stand in him as our true reality, and he himself is the ultimate reality—God incarnate and the source of eternal life.

Language and setting

This epistle's conclusion returns to its opening (1:1-4): the incarnation as the revelatory act through which God makes himself known. The phrase 'understanding' (διάνοια/dianoia) suggests cognitive grasp of divine reality, not mere mystical experience. John's opponents claimed special knowledge; John claims the true knowledge is Christological.

Voice

John, in his final synthesizing statement

Significance

This recapitulates the entire arc from John's Gospel (1:1-18) through the epistle: the Logos has come, been rejected and received, now dwells in his people, inviting them into union with the true God through faith in him. It is the culminating assertion of incarnational Christology.

18We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

19We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Read all of 1 John 5 — Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory — our faith. And this is the confidence: if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.