1 John 5:18 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

We know, &c. As if he had said, Yet this gives no encouragement to sin. On the contrary, it is an indisputable truth, that whosoever is born of God That is, regenerated and made a new creature; see on 1 John 2:29; sinneth not Doth not commit any known sin, so long as he lives by faith in the Son of God, and by that faith has union with Christ; but he that is begotten of God By the word of truth, (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23,) accompanied by the influence of the Divine Spirit; keepeth himself By the aid of divine grace watching unto prayer, denying himself and taking up his cross daily; and that wicked one Namely, the devil; toucheth him not So as to overcome and lead him into known, wilful sin. And we know By the testimony of the Holy Spirit and our own consciences; that we Who believe in Christ, (1 John 5:13,) and are born of God, and made partakers of the divine nature; are of God Belong to him, as his children and his heirs; and the whole world All the rest of mankind, that are not such, all who have not his Spirit, are not only touched by him, but very generally are guilty of idolatry, fraud, violence, lasciviousness, impiety, and all manner of vice; lieth in wickedness Rather, in the wicked one, as εν τω πονηρω signifies. They are under his dominion: just as it is said of believers in the next verse, that they are εν τω αληθινω, in the true one. “The power of Satan in this lower world, and over its inhabitants, is often spoken of in Scripture. Thus Ephesians 2:2, he is called the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience: 2 Corinthians 4:4, he is termed the god of this world, and is said to blind the minds of them that believe not: 1 Peter 5:8, he is called our adversary, and is said to be going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Further, 2 Timothy 2:26, wicked men are said to be held in the snare of the devil, who (Eph 6:11) is said to use wiles for the destruction of mankind, and (2Co 11:3) to have beguiled Eve by his subtlety.”