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What is the proper understanding to this passage? Who is the true God being referred here into?

1 John 5:20

"We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ."


I'm not a scripture scholar. However, it seems that St. John is referring to God the Father with the phrase "the one who is true" because we are "in his Son Jesus Christ."

--John

Yes, John, I also think that the reference is to the Father.

As you wrote RE:

/1 John 5:20

"We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ."


I'm not a scripture scholar. However, it seems that St. John is referring to God the Father with the phrase "the one who is true" because we are "in his Son Jesus Christ."

--John/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Using the Gospel of John 14:8-11 we can compare.

Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father"? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me..."

And also the prayer of Jesus in John 17:21-23:

"...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one AS WE ARE ONE. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "

In Christ and the Theotokos,

Porter.

Actually, my problem lies on the sentence after what you quoted: "He is the true God and eternal life".

Again, I'm not a scholar of Scripture. But, well, let's look at the whole verse and try to figure it out together. :-)

We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the One who is True. And we are in the One who is True, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 1 John 5:20

In this passage, St. John is referring to "the One who is True." Jesus was sent to enable us to know "the One who is True." And, we are in "the One who is True" because of Jesus. Then, St. John tells us that "the One who is True" is also the Father of Jesus. So, "the One who is True" is God the Father. Hence, the last verse tells us that God the Father is the true God and eternal life.

--John

If you gaze at a flat field without grass growing you see only two deminsions. The land and the sky, at some point they come together, you only see one. If a dove would fly through past in the direction you are gazing, then the three dimensions become one. So one cannot see the sepration of the Triune God, but that they are one.

We cannot separate out from the verse one thought. The concordance in the St Jerome states:

The author joins the concepts he has presented into a circular chain of six links that begins with love for the bretheren (4:20-5:17)

1. Love for believers is the inseperable product of the love of God (4:20-5:1)

2. Love for God arises out of obedience to his commandmanets(5:2-3)

3. Obedience to God is the result of faith in his Son(5:4-5)

4. This faith is in Jesus, who was teh Christ not only at his Baptism (the water) but also his death(the blood 5:6-8)

5. The divine witness to the person of Christ is worthy of complete belief (5:9-13)

6. This belief prduces conficent access to God in prayer (5:14-17)

Since intercessory prayer is a manifestation of love for others, the chain has come full circle.

The Epilouge (5.18-21) summarizes the conslusions fo the epistle of a series of three certainties:

1. Sin is a threat to fellowship, and it should be regarede as foregin to the believer's position in Christ (cf Ro.6)

2. The believer stands with God against the satanic world system.

3. Incarnation produces true knowledge and communion with Christ. Since he is the true God and eternal life, the one who knows him should avoid the lure of any substitute.

From page 1299 St. Jerome Edition Holy Bible 1985

Some aditional Scriptures....

Scripture verses where we see there is one God, one Father, one Son, one Spirit: Romans 3:30, there is one God; Ephesians 4:4-6, there is one body and one Spirit; one Son (Lord), one faith, one baptism; and one God and Father of all; I Timothy 1:17, the only God, eternal, immortal, invisible; I Timothy 2:5, there is one God, one Mediator (the Son); Genesis 1:1/ John 1:1/ Hebrews 3:4, there is one Maker, the Word (the Son), God; and I John 5:20, He is the true God and eternal life.

Scripture verses where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all mentioned in one passage: Matthew 28:19, John 6:62-65, Philippians 2:5-11, I Peter 1:2. In others two but not all three are mentioned, such as in Acts 1:4-5,7-8, where we see the Father and Holy Spirit, in I Corinthians 12:3-11, where we see the Holy Spirit and God, and in I Timothy 2:3, where we see God our Savior. And there are many, many verses that mention only one Personage in the message.

Scripture verses where we are told about God, the Father: Acts 1:7, Matthew 3:16-17, John 1:14, John 4:23, John 5:26, John 6:37,40,44-46,65, John 8:18-19,38,42,54, John 14:16,26, John 15:26, John 16:15,17, John 20:17,21-22, Acts 13:33/Psalm 2:7, Philippians 2:11, Hebrews 2:18, I Peter 1:2, Isaiah 63:16, 64:8.

Scripture verses where we are told about God, the Son, Jesus the Christ: Matthew 3:16-17, Matthew 4:1-4, Matthew 12:32, John 1:1-2,14, John 3:16-18, John 5:26-27, John 6:37,40,44,46,62, John 8:36,58, John 14:20, John 16:13,16, John 20:17,21-22,28,31, Acts 1:2,7-8, Acts 7:55-56, Acts 13:33/Psalm 2:7, Acts 17:24,31, I Corinthians 1:9, Philippians 2:11, I John 5:1-12,20.

Scripture verses where we are told about God, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter: Matthew 3:16-17, Matthew 4:1-4, Matthew 12:32, Matthew 22:43, John 3:5-8, John 4:24, John 6:63, John 14:16-17,26, John 15:26, John 16:7,13,15, John 20:21-22, Acts 1:2,8, Acts 2:38, Acts 7:55-56, Acts 10:38, Acts 20:28, I Corinthians 2:10-14, II Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 2:18, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 9:8,14, I Peter 1:2, I John 4:2-3, I John 5:1-12.

Scripture verses where we are told about the one and only true God: Matthew 4:1-4,7,10, Matthew 22:29,31-32, John 1:1-2,14, John 3:3,16-18, John 4:24, John 6:45-46, John 7:17, John 8:40,42,54, John 20:17,30, John 14:1, Acts 1:3, Acts 2:39, Acts 7:55-56, Acts 10:38, Acts 13:32/Psalm 2:7, Acts 17:24,27,29, Romans 1:16,20,25, I Corinthians 1:9, I Corinthians 2:10-14, II Corinthians 5:21, II Corinthians 13:14, Philippians 2:9, Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 7:19, Hebrews 9:14, I John 4:2-3, I John 5:20.