1 John 5:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

So now the beloved disciple of the Lord had received the promise that he would not die until he saw the Kingdom of God come in power (Jn 21:22; Mk 9:1).

He saw in reality the fulfillment of the Lord's prediction concerning the victory of His teaching and His followers over the world.

He saw how the Jewish synagogue, powerless in its malice against the Prophet of Nazareth and His disciples, raised up cruel persecutions against His followers after the murder of Jesus.

Yet it could not conquer them, and it itself fell under the blows of Rome, having brought upon itself the innocent Blood of the Son of God.

With the fall of Jerusalem the legal shadow also passed away, while the Church of Christ continued victoriously to grow and be strengthened.

The Apostle John also saw another great victory, won by Christianity over paganism. Paganism, in the persons of Nero, Domitian, and other emperors and rulers of the pagan world, repeatedly raised cruel persecutions against the followers of the Crucified.

Yet the more the blood of the martyrs was poured out, the stronger and more flourishing the Church became, while paganism weakened.

By the end of the Apostle's life, that is, by the end of the first century of our era, the number of believers in Christ had grown so much that the more prudent pagans considered it dangerous to persecute them.

They feared that by such persecution of Christians they might bring the country to a far greater devastation than it could suffer from the bloodiest war. Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, wrote this in a letter to Emperor Trajan.

Nor was it only this external victory of the Christian faith over the world that the Apostle John saw. He saw and understood very well the inner victory which Christianity won over Judaism and paganism.

It won this victory in religious, moral, intellectual, and social respects, and the external victory was conditioned by it. The ancient pagan religions fell. New and higher principles were introduced into moral life.

All the foundations of pagan social life were shaken. The pagan worldview was changed and lost its enchanting influence. All sides of the life of the ancient world received another, new direction under the influence of Christian ideas.

This lasted not for one century or two, but for whole millennia, and it continues to our own day.

However ancient and modern thinkers and historians may regard Christ and the Gospel, no one can deny that Christianity accomplished the greatest revolution in the life of humanity. History knows and can imagine nothing like it.

All modern education, all present social and family life among educated peoples, morality and religion, have received and bear a purely Christian character, even among those peoples and persons who do not acknowledge Christ and the Gospel.

Equality, freedom, and brotherhood, inscribed on the banner of revolution, were first preached by Christ and the Apostles, of course in the highest and noblest sense of these words.

Freedom of thought and conscience, purity of morals, recognition of women's rights, the abolition of slavery, torture, the death penalty, and the like, together with justice, humanity, peaceableness, and much else, are things of which modern humanity is proud.

The ancient world did not know them. All this takes its beginning from Christianity and little by little enters the life of humanity. It elevates and ennobles the human person.

It conquers animal instincts and wild passions, and disperses the darkness of ignorance and egoism. In a word, it conquers the world.

This is the victory that John saw and foresaw, and he proclaimed it with inspired prophecy: "This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith."

To understand how this victory is attained, and how this great moral and social revolution in the world was and is being accomplished, we must note what the faith required of us Christians gives us.

It gives us the possibility of receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit. With its help we conquer in ourselves sins, passions, and every evil.

Once evil has been conquered in man, he can boldly contend with the father of evil, the devil, and with his instruments, the world and evil men. He can not only contend with them, but conquer them.

There are dangers also from life's misfortunes, countless and varied: illnesses, failures, deprivations, and every kind of sorrow. These can often shake even the firmest soul and draw it toward vices.

Finally, there are dangers from evil people. They try to act against the pious by the tempting example of their own life, by conversations poisonous to morals, and often by still more poisonous writings.

At times they also employ slander, contempt, and even persecutions against virtue (2 Tim 3:12).

"He who is born of God overcomes the world. The Apostle explains what this victory consists in and through what it is accomplished. He calls both of these faith, that is, faith in God.

This faith, being born of God, has conquered and driven away every unbelief. Neither Jew, nor Greek, nor heretic has power against it."

Then, when someone resolves to break these bonds, repents, and approaches the mysteries of renewal, whether Baptism or repentance, faith lets him mystically taste the sweetness of a life opposed to the world.

This sweetness is such that all the world's pleasures cannot be compared with it. From this, aversion to everything worldly takes up its dwelling in the heart. This, properly speaking, is victory over the world.

In that same mystical act, through which aversion to the world is born, strength is also given for unwavering perseverance in that aversion and alienation from the world. This is decisive and firm victory.