5:1 John opens with two parallel statements that sum up the main theme: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves [also] the one begotten by him. How are the two statements (“everyone who believes,” “everyone who loves”) related? John is uniting two of his major themes in the letter: faith in Jesus Christ and love for one another. The one who truly believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, shows that he or she has been begotten
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