Stroll through Scripture for July 21, 2024

Based on 1 John 5:1–6

When I read this passage of Scripture, I can see a range of interpretation. On one end of the spectrum, the passage might be read through the lens of obedience, order, and ruling. On the other end of the spectrum, the passage might be read through the lens of relationship, faithfulness, and overcoming. These two lenses seem to summarize so much of the differences in Christianity in America today.

In verse 2, there is talk about keeping or obeying God’s commands. What does this mean? Again, it depends on what lens you are looking at this passage through. Do you hear a message about order and following rules, or do you hear a message that we keep God’s commandments because of God’s love for us and our responding to that love?

In verse 4 and 5 we hear about conquering or overcoming the world. Does this mean control over the world so that God’s ways can be imposed, or does that mean the ways of the world have no power over the faithful any longer?

You can see how this passage can we twisted in a variety of ways as ammunition in the battle over translation and what it means to be a faithful following of Jesus. Are we called to conquer and impose Christian morality (or some variation of it) on the world? Or is this passage about “overcoming” the world — a type of outlasting whatever is thrown at you?

When I read this, verses 4–6 seem to give some context of how to read it. In verses 4–5 we hear about victory in conquering the world. The Greek for victory and conquering is nike (pronounced Nee-Kay). In ancient cultures, there was a tendency to treat such ideas as victory as a divine force, or god. Nike was part of the Greek pantheon of gods that the Romans adopted into their pantheon — referring to this goddess as Victoria.

The author of 1 John uses the term, the name of the goddess, in such a way that this goddess is subject to Jesus. Victory doesn’t come from some false god embodying the concept of victory, overpowering and dispatching enemies through brute force, but rather from the faith that Jesus has given to believers.

That’s not the only Greek deity named by the author of 1 John. In verse 6 the author names truth. The Greek here is aletheia. This was the Greek goddess of truth. In Latin, the name is Veritas.

Again, Truth doesn’t come from a false goddess, but rather from God. Truth is subject to God. And it is the…