1 John 5:20 teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, has come into the world and given believers the ability to know the true God. The verse also says that those who belong to Christ are united with the one who is true, and it identifies Jesus Christ as the true God and the source of eternal life. The apostle John wrote this as the closing affirmation of his letter to a church community facing confusion about who Jesus really was.
We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
1 John 5:20 (WEB)
What 1 John 5:20 Means
The verse begins with “We know,” a phrase John uses often in this letter. He is not offering a hopeful guess. He is pointing to things his readers can be confident about because of what God has already done. The Son “has come” means the incarnation is a completed event in history, not a theory or a future hope.
The next phrase tells us that the Son “has given us an understanding.” This is a gift from God, not a skill we earn by study alone. The understanding is specific: it lets us “know him who is true.” The word “true” here points to God as the one who is genuine, reliable, and real, in contrast to the false gods and empty teachings John warns about elsewhere in the letter.
The verse also says we are “in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.” Being in Christ describes a relationship of belonging and shared life. The verse does not promise that every question will be answered or every struggle removed. It does affirm that the believer’s knowledge of God rests on the Son’s coming, not on personal cleverness.
The Context of 1 John 5:20
First John was written by the apostle John, traditionally identified as the disciple who knew Jesus during his earthly ministry. The letter was addressed to Christians facing teachers who denied that Jesus had truly come in the flesh and who were drawing believers away from the community. John writes to reassure those who remained, reminding them of what they already know and what is true about Jesus.
Verses 17 through 19 speak of sin, the believer’s protection in God, and the whole world lying under the power of the evil one. Verse 20 then turns from that contrast to the confident knowledge available to God’s children. Verse 21 closes the letter with a command to keep away from idols, which fits the verse’s emphasis on knowing the true God rather than anything false. The verse reads more clearly when you see it as the anchor point between warning and exhortation.
Key Phrases in 1 John 5:20
John 17:3
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
(WEB)
Jesus defines eternal life as knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. This connects directly to 1 John 5:20, where knowing the true God and receiving eternal life are held together in Christ.
1 John 5:11
The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
(WEB)
John states that God has given us eternal life and that this life is found in his Son. Reading it alongside 1 John 5:20 shows how the knowledge of God and the gift of life belong together in the Son.
A Short Prayer From 1 John 5:20
Father, thank you that your Son has come and has opened the way for us to know you. Thank you for giving us understanding, not because we have earned it, but because you have made yourself known through Jesus Christ. When doubt rises or when other voices pull at me, help me return to what I already know to be true. Keep me rooted in you, the true God, and let my life be shaped by the eternal life you have given me in your Son.
Amen.
