Verse 1.— Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ. The history of apostolic preaching given by the sacred penmen shows that the burden of their message was to induce belief in God's Son. The belief that Jesus is the Christ, accepted whole-heartedly, confessed with the mouth, followed by obedience to the command to be immersed, as the same Jesus enjoined, makes one a child of God— is born of God. If we love the father by whom we are begotten and have thus become his children, we love also all those like­wise begotten.