Did John Call Jesus God In First John?

And we know that the Son of God is come, 

and hath given us an understanding,

that we may know Him that is true, 

and we are in Him that is true, even in 

His Son Jesus Christ. This is

 the true God, and eternal life.

1John 5:20 

     Context, context, context, is the only way to arrive at truthful translation. No other way! Any other way is only supposition an assumption, a hypothesis. When this is the way to translate Scripture then whatever a man or woman may say is not to be true necessarily even though it sounds true. If a saying cannot be substantiated by Scripture rightly translated then it is a lie. 

     The Trinity has been and is hotly debated. Is there a Trinity, or not? Is Jesus God? Or not? Is Jesus the Only Begotten Son of God? Or not? This theological battle has been going on from the beginning of Christianity. Arius fought against the Trinity and taught that Jesus was a created being, and the Jehovah Witnesses agree with Arius. So do the Mormons as they too make Jesus to be a created being albeit they have a different theological view of Jesus than Jehovah Witnesses. The last line of verse 20 here in 1John is of importance: "This is the true God, and eternal life." (1John 5:20b). Is John speaking about God the Father or Jesus the Son when he uses the word "He?" 

     Let us learn a little about the problem(s) of translating. Question: Did Ancient Greek use punctuation? Herein lies the problem: Ancient Greeks did not have an equivalent as we do for punctuation. Sentence punctuation came several centuries after the beginning of Christianity. The oldest copies of both Greek and Hebrew are written with no punctuation. Let me add to the problem: Ancient Greeks used no spaces between words or paragraphs and the text was a continuous string of letters. At time an occasional blank line was inserted to set off the end of a major section.In addition, the ancient Greeks used no spaces between words or paragraphs. Texts were a continuous string of letters, with an occasional blank line inserted to mark the end of a major section, though even this was not always done. Need more salt in the wound of translating? Texts were written in all capitals. Here is a test:
WHATAMISAYINGBILLOWNSABLUETRUCK
     I am sure you can read those letters and know what words are included and what punctuation is needed. Native speakers would be able to do the same. A problem lies in the translation as the translation has an element of subjectivity in the process. Bible scholars live their lives reading Biblical documents in the original languages and come to a good understanding of the style and preference of each author. We can develop the skill also to see what an author would most likely have intended where in those lists of letters that form words to see where a division is likely and what punctuation should be used. We may not come to a correct answer but in doing this study you will have a valuable learning experience. So how can we study in this way? Context, context, context, and reading other works by an author. 
     Test: "ANDWEKNOWTHATTHESONOFGODISCOMEAND HATHGIVENUSANUNDERSTANDINGTHATWEMAYKNOWHIMTHATIS TRUEANDWEAREINHIMTHATISTRUEEVENINHISSONJESUSCHRISTTHISISTHETUREGODANDETERNALLIFE. Divide the words into sentences and punctuate. Is John referring the "He" to God the Father or to Jesus Christ? Is John calling Jesus God? Read to aid you the Book of John and compare it with this first letter of John and see what answer you come up with. Context is more than at the area of the verse or words alone, it takes in the Book, the Author, and other works by him and the Bible as a whole, that is other writings. 
     If you do this your faith will grow and become strong, you will: CHANGEINSIDE/OUT!

Behold, God is my salvation;
     I will trust, and not be afraid:
for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength
    and my song; He also is become 
my salvation.
                Isaiah 12:2

God saves: you speak the Gospel

Richard L. Crumb