| 1 John 5:5 5 Who is he who overcomes [has conquered] the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? [Unless you believe Jesus, you will never be able to overcome the world; but the converse is not true. Just because you believe Jesus is the Son of God, does not mean you have automatically conquered the world; to conquer the world you must crucify your sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial.] | 1 John 5:4 4 For whoever is born of God overcomes [has conquered] the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. [John tells us what it means to overcome the world in 1 John 2:17: the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it. Paul confirms: they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have (past tense) come; the world has been crucified to me, and me to it, Gal 6:14. To overcome the world is to be crucified from the lusts of the world: to have mortified the lusts and desires for things, wealth, bodies, sex; that is the victory that overcomes. But the only victory the believers of Christendom have experienced, is victory over their conscience and guilt for committing sin .] | ||||||||