Exchange on 1 John 5:1

Actually, the Greek of 1 John 5:1 uses γεγέννηται, a perfect tense verb meaning “has been born”, signifying an action completed in the past.

1 John 5:1- “Everyone believing [Πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων – present participle] that Jesus is the Christ has been born [γεγέννηται – perfect tense verb] of God…”

This indicates that every true believer in Christ (who possesses saving faith) has already been born of God in water baptism. We discuss this in our article and video on Cornelius: https://vaticancatholic.com/speaking-in-tongues-baptism-holy-spirit/

You can’t believe with the result that you are reborn. It’s just the opposite: you must be reborn in baptism in order to possess saving faith.

As the Council of Trent declared:

Council of Trent, Sess. 6, Chap. 7 on Justification: “This faith, conformably to Apostolic tradition, catechumens beg of the Church before the sacrament of baptism, when they ask for the faith that gives eternal life, which without hope and charity faith cannot give.”

As St. John and the Council of Trent teach, a person does not have saving faith until he or she is born of God in the Sacrament of Baptism. That’s why the Church has always taught that only the baptized are ‘the faithful’. Pope Innocent III also solemnly declared that there is absolutely no salvation outside the Church of the faithful.

Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215: “There is indeed one universal Church of the faithful outside of which no one at all is saved…”

“Una vero est fidelium universalis ecclesia, extra quam nullus omnino salvatur…”