“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (v12). John warned believers against “antichrists” and false teachers (ch2): people who claimed to be Christians but did not know Jesus, those who unrepentantly practiced sin, and those who did not love others. True life, now and for eternity, can only be found in Jesus Christ, who came by “water and blood” (v6). God was in Christ at the water of His baptism and in the blood of the cross.

“And we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ” (v20). Knowing about Jesus isn’t enough. The gift of God is that we live “in Him” by the Spirit.