1 John 5:19 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And we know that we are of God, &c.— "And we are well satisfied that we are so born of God, as to be partakers of a divine nature, which is a powerful and abiding principle of all holiness; and that we are the children of God, in a peculiar relation to him; and that we side with him: and we know that all the rest of mankind, who are strangers to the new birth, and make up the greater part of this world, continue voluntarily under the power of sin, and of the wicked one (εν τω πονερω), and must be ranked under him as their head and prince, who works in the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2.)." Doddridge is of opinion, that the word κειται, lieth, alludes to the circumstance of a body which lies slain, in which sense it is often used by Homer: and on this interpretation it gives us a most affecting idea of the great miseryand helpless state of mankind by nature,fallen by the stroke of this formidable enemy, the wicked one, and insulted over by him as his prey: but our comfort is, that the grace of God is offered to all, and is sufficient for the salvation of all who will embrace and improve it.