And this is the record - This is the sum, or the amount, of the testimony (μαρτυρία marturia) which God has given respecting him.

That God hath given to us eternal life - Has provided, through the Saviour, the means of obtaining eternal life. See the notes at John 5:24; John 17:2-3.

And this life is in his Son - Is treasured up in him, or is to be obtained through him. See the John 1:4; John 11:25; John 14:6 notes; Colossians 3:3 note.

This is the record - The great truth to which the Spirit, the water, and the blood bear testimony. God hath given us eternal life - a right to endless glory, and a meetness for it. And this life is in his Son; it comes by and through him; he is its author and its purchaser; it is only in and through Him. No other scheme of salvation can be effectual; God has provided none other, and in such a case a man's invention must be vain.

And this is the record,.... The sum and substance of it, with respect to the person of Christ, and the security of salvation in him, who is the true God, and eternal life:

that God hath given to us eternal life; which is a life of glory and happiness hereafter; in the present state is unseen, but will in the world to come be a life of vision, free from all the sorrows and imperfections of this; and will be of the utmost perfection and pleasure, and for ever. This is a pure free grace gift of God the Father, proceeding from his sovereigns good will and pleasure, and which he gives to all his chosen ones, for they are ordained unto eternal life; to as many as he has given to his Son; to all that are redeemed by his blood, and are brought to believe in him: to these he gave it in his Son before the world began; and to the same in time he gives the right unto it, the meetness for it, and the pledge and earnest of it; and will hereafter give them the thing itself, the whole of it, to be possessed and enjoyed by them in person, to all eternity.

And this life is in his Son: not only the purpose and promise of it, but that itself; Christ asked it of his Father in the covenant of peace, and he gave it to him, that he might have it in himself for all his people; and here it is safe and secure, it is hid with Christ in God, it is bound up in the bundle of life with him; and because he lives, this life will never be lost, or they come short of it.

Hath given (ἔδωκεν)

The aorist tense, gave. So Rev. The reference is to the historic fact of the gift. So 1 John 3:23 : "We should love one another as He gave (ἔδωκεν) us commandment." 1 John 3:24 : "We know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He gave (ἔδωκεν) us." On the other hand, 1 John 3:1 : "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed (δέδωκεν) upon us." The gift of love abides in the fact that we are now children of God (1 John 3:2).

Eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον)

Compare the phrase τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον the life, the eternal life (1 John 1:2), and ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ the eternal life (John 17:3). For the distinction between the phrases see on 1 John 1:2. The phrase here, without either article, merely defines the character of the life.

{12} And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

(12) Now at length he shows what this testimony is that is confirmed with so many witnesses: that is, that life or everlasting happiness is the gift of God, which is the Son, and proceeds from him to us, who by faith are joined with him, so that without him, life is nowhere to be found.

5:11 This is the record. God gives us eternal life through this Son. We know that we have it because we know that we have a new life.

5:11 And this is the sum of that testimony, that God hath given us a title to, and the real beginning of, eternal life; and that this is purchased by, and treasured up in, his Son, who has all the springs and the fulness of it in himself, to communicate to his body, the church, first in grace and then in glory.

11. hath given-Greek, aorist: "gave" once for all. Not only "promised" it.

life is in his Son-essentially (Joh 1:4; 11:25; 14:6); bodily (Col 2:9); operatively (2Ti 1:10) [Lange in Alford]. It is in the second Adam, the Son of God, that this life is secured to us, which, if left to depend on us, we should lose, like the first Adam.

5:9-12 Nothing can be more absurd than the conduct of those who doubt as to the truth of Christianity, while in the common affairs of life they do not hesitate to proceed on human testimony, and would deem any one out of his senses who declined to do so. The real Christian has seen his guilt and misery, and his need of such a Saviour. He has seen the suitableness of such a Saviour to all his spiritual wants and circumstances. He has found and felt the power of the word and doctrine of Christ, humbling, healing, quickening, and comforting his soul. He has a new disposition, and new delights, and is not the man that he formerly was. Yet he finds still a conflict with himself, with sin, with the flesh, the world, and wicked powers. But he finds such strength from faith in Christ, that he can overcome the world, and travel on towards a better. Such assurance has the gospel believer: he has a witness in himself, which puts the matter out of doubt with him, except in hours of darkness or conflict; but he cannot be argued out of his belief in the leading truths of the gospel. Here is what makes the unbeliever's sin so awful; the sin of unbelief. He gives God the lie; because he believes not the record that God gave of his Son. It is in vain for a man to plead that he believes the testimony of God in other things, while he rejects it in this. He that refuses to trust and honour Christ as the Son of God, who disdains to submit to his teaching as Prophet, to rely on his atonement and intercession as High Priest, or to obey him as King, is dead in sin, under condemnation; nor will any outward morality, learning, forms, notions, or confidences avail him.