1 John 5:1  “…everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him”
Thought this was saying if you love God you also love Jesus who is the only begotten of God.  But I think John is referring to all who become children of God through faith in Christ.  In keeping with his assertion that to love God is to love others of God.  And when we love others it shows that we truly love God.

3  “…His commandments are not burdensome”
Doing what God requires is not burdensome because we love Him and want to please Him.  We also realize they are sincerely for our good.  We may feel conflict with our fallen natures, but our trust in Him will help us overcome.  Reminds me of what scripture says of Jacob when he worked for seven years for Rachel.  It seemed a short time because of his love for her.  Perhaps part of our problem with God is that we’re not taught to love Him when we receive Him.  Maybe in our witnessing we should stress more of the relationship with Him.

6  “…He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ…”
By water of baptism and shedding His blood on the cross.  Each inaugurated a point in His ministry.  First was the example for us, how to live as God intended.  The second is the redemption for us, to enable us to live life as intended.

7  “…the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit…”
God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.  Trinity.  Jesus is called the Word because He is the physical incarnation of God as is His word.

11  “…God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son”
Stated plainly.  We have eternal life when we receive Christ because God has given it to us through Him.

13  “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life…”
John knew it by experience so he wrote to let others know.  We don’t have to wonder about it.  I used to think he was setting up the proof for our belief, but I came to see that he is showing us the proof is already here.  If we believe in Christ and have our faith in Him for salvation, we have eternal life.  The fact that we love Him and keep His commandments, and that we love others in Christ is proof that we belong to Him.

14-15  “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
This is not a magic formula to get whatever we ask for.  He’s saying that we receive what we ask for when it is in accordance with God’s will.  The ideal is to be so in tune with God and His will that the only things we would ask for are the things He would want, thus we are assured that we would receive them.  In our fallen state, it is sometimes difficult to know exactly what is completely in line with His will.  Sometimes our requests are trivial and selfish.  God has shown that He is interested in all aspects of our lives, even the parts we may consider trivial, but He won’t give us something that is harmful.  And He wants our requests to be born from faith in Him.  Which is why we should be able to praise and thank Him for that which we ask even before He provides it.

16  “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.”
Sounds complicated, but it’s not.  He’s just saying we can intercede for others in Christ who are sinning, ask God to help them realize what they’re doing and repent, and then to forgive them.  Just as we would do for any other request, physical or material.  But for those who have never believed, who are committing the unpardonable sin of rejecting Christ, we can pray for their salvation, that they would turn to Him and that God would keep trying to reach them, but we can’t intercede on their behalf.  We can’t ask God to ignore or forgive that sin.  They must repent and receive His salvation on their own.  When Christ asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him because they didn’t know what they were doing, He was asking for forgiveness for their current actions, not for their salvation.  Stephen did the same for those stoning him.  I’m sure his intercession was in the hope that it would give them more time to see their need for the Savior and that they would soon repent and receive Him.

17  “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.”
All sin can be forgiven except for the sin of rejecting Christ.  If you reject Christ, there is no other way for forgiveness or salvation.  He is the only way.  There is no way for that sin to be forgiven.

18  “…whoever is born of God does not sin…”
Continual, habitual sin.  We fall short due to our nature, but the indwelling of Christ prevents us from living in habitual sin without consequence.

I hope you enjoy reading and studying His word.  May it accomplish what He desires.  Please feel free to comment or post questions.  Thanks for reading!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.