@1Jo 3:1-24. DISTINGUISHING MARKS OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD AND THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL. BROTHERLY LOVE THE ESSENCE OF TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1. Behold--calling attention, as to some wonderful exhibition, little
as the world sees to admire. This verse is connected with the previous
@1Jo 2:29, thus: All our doing of righteousness is a mere sign
that God, of His matchless love, has adopted us as children; it does not
save us, but is a proof that we are saved of His grace.
what manner of--of what surpassing excellence, how gracious on His
part, how precious to us.
love . . . bestowed--He does not say that God hath given us some
gift, but love itself and the fountain of all honors, the heart
itself, and that not for our works or efforts, but of His grace
[LUTHER].
that--"what manner of love"; resulting in, proved by, our being, &c.
The immediate effect aimed at in the bestowal of this love is,
"that we should be called children of God."
should be called--should have received the privilege of such a
glorious title (though seeming so imaginary to the world), along with
the glorious reality. With God to call is to
make really to be. Who so great as God? What nearer relationship
than that of sons? The oldest manuscripts add, "And we
ARE SO" really.
therefore--"on this account," because "we are (really) so."
us--the children, like the Father.
it knew him not--namely, the Father. "If they who regard not God,
hold thee in any account, feel alarmed about thy state" [BENGEL].
Contrast @1Jo 5:1. The world's whole course is one great act of
non-recognition of God.
2. Beloved--by the Father, and therefore by me.
now--in contrast to "not yet." We now already are really sons,
though not recognized as such by the world, and (as the consequence) we
look for the visible manifestation of our sonship, which not yet has
taken place.
doth not yet appear--Greek, "it hath not yet ('at any time,'
Greek aorist) been visibly manifested what we shall be"--what
further glory we shall attain by virtue of this our sonship. The "what"
suggests a something inconceivably glorious.
but--omitted in the oldest manuscripts. Its insertion in
English Version gives a wrong antithesis. It is not,
"We do not yet know manifestly what . . . but we know," &c.
Believers have some degree of the manifestation already, though the
world has not. The connection is, The manifestation to the world of what we shall be, has not yet taken place; we know (in general;
as a matter of well-assured knowledge; so the Greek) that when
(literally, "if"; expressing no doubt as to the fact, but only as to the
time; also implying the coming preliminary fact, on which the
consequence follows, @Mal 1:6 Joh 14:3) He
(not "it," namely, that
which is not yet manifested [ALFORD])
shall be manifested (@1Jo 3:5 2:28), we shall be like Him
(Christ; all sons have a
substantial resemblance to their father, and Christ, whom we shall be
like, is "the express image of the Father's person," so that in
resembling Christ, we shall resemble the Father). We
wait for the manifestation (literally, the "apocalypse"; the same
term as is applied to Christ's own manifestation) of the sons of God. After our natural birth, the new birth into the life of grace is
needed, which is to be followed by the new birth into the life of
glory; the two latter alike are termed "the regeneration" (@Mt 19:28).
The resurrection of our bodies is a kind of coming out of the womb of
the earth, and being born into another life. Our first temptation was
that we should be like God in knowledge, and by that we fell; but being
raised by Christ, we become truly like Him, by knowing Him as we are
known, and by seeing Him as He is
[PEARSON, Exposition of the Creed].
As the first immortality which Adam lost was to be able not to die, so
the last shall be not to be able to die. As man's first free choice or
will was to be able not to sin, so our last shall be not to be able to
sin [AUGUSTINE, The City of God, 22.30].
The devil fell by aspiring
to God's power; man, by aspiring to his knowledge; but aspiring
after God's goodness, we shall ever grow in His likeness. The
transition from God the Father to "He," "Him," referring to Christ
(who alone is ever said in Scripture to be manifested; not the
Father, @Joh 1:18), implies the entire unity of the Father and the
Son.
for, &c.--Continual beholding generates likeness (@2Co 3:18);
as the face of the moon being always turned towards the sun, reflects
its light and glory.
see him--not in His innermost Godhead, but as manifested in Christ.
None but the pure can see the infinitely Pure One. In all these passages
the Greek is the same verb opsomai; not denoting the action of
seeing, but the state of him to whose eye or mind the object is
presented; hence the Greek verb is always in the middle or reflexive
voice, to perceive and inwardly appreciate
[TITTMANN]. Our
spiritual bodies will appreciate and recognize spiritual beings
hereafter, as our natural bodies now do natural objects.
3. this hope--of being hereafter "like Him." Faith and love, as well as hope, occur in @1Jo 3:11,23.
in--rather, "(resting) upon Him"; grounded on His promises.
purifieth himself--by Christ's Spirit in him (@Joh 15:5, end).
"Thou purifiest thyself, not of thyself, but of Him who comes that He
may dwell in thee" [AUGUSTINE]. One's justification through faith is
presupposed.
as he is pure--unsullied with any uncleanness. The Second Person, by
whom both the Law and Gospel were given.
4. Sin is incompatible with birth from God (@1Jo 3:1-3). John
often sets forth the same truth negatively, which he had before set
forth positively. He had shown, birth from God involves
self-purification; he now shows where sin, that is, the want of
self-purification, is, there is no birth from God.
Whosoever--Greek, "Every one who."
committeth sin--in contrast to @1Jo 3:3, "Every man that hath
this hope in Him purifieth himself"; and @1Jo 3:7, "He that doeth
righteousness."
transgresseth . . . the law--Greek, "committeth transgression of
law." God's law of purity; and so shows he has no such hope of being
hereafter pure as God is pure, and, therefore, that he is not born of
God.
for--Greek, "and."
sin is . . . transgression of . . . law--definition of sin in
general. The Greek having the article to both, implies that they are
convertible terms. The Greek "sin" (hamartia) is literally, "a
missing of the mark." God's will being that mark to be ever aimed at.
"By the law is the knowledge of sin." The crookedness of a line is shown
by being brought into juxtaposition with a straight ruler.
5. Additional proof of the incompatibility of sin and sonship;
the very object of Christ's manifestation in the flesh was
to take away (by one act, and entirely, aorist) all sins, as the
scapegoat did typically.
and--another proof of the same.
in him is no sin--not "was," but "is," as in @1Jo 3:7,
"He is righteous," and @1Jo 3:3, "He
is pure." Therefore we are to be so.
6. He reasons from Christ's own entire separation from sin, that
those in him must also be separate from it.
abideth in him--as the branch in the vine, by vital union living by
His life.
sinneth not--In so far as he abides in Christ, so far is he free from
all sin. The ideal of the Christian. The life of sin and the life of God
mutually exclude one another, just as darkness and light. In matter of
fact, believers do fall into sins (@1Jo 1:8-10 2:1,2); but all such
sins are alien from the life of God, and need Christ's cleansing blood,
without application to which the life of God could not be maintained. He
sinneth not so long as he abideth in Christ.
whosoever sinneth hath not seen him--Greek perfect, "has not seen,
and does not see Him." Again the ideal of Christian intuition and
knowledge is presented (@Mt 7:23). All sin as such is at variance
with the notion of one regenerated. Not that "whosoever is betrayed into
sins has never seen nor known God"; but in so far as sin exists,
in that degree the spiritual intuition and knowledge of God do not
exist in him.
neither--"not even." To see spiritually is a further step than
to know; for by knowing we come to seeing by vivid realization
and experimentally.
7, 8. The same truth stated, with the addition that he who sins is,
so far as he sins, "of the devil."
let no man deceive you--as Antinomians try to mislead men.
righteousness--Greek, "the righteousness," namely, of Christ
or God.
he that doeth . . . is righteous--Not his doing makes him
righteous, but his being righteous (justified by the
righteousness of God in Christ, @Ro 10:3-10) makes him to do
righteousness: an inversion common in familiar language, logical in
reality, though not in form, as in @Lu 7:47 Joh 8:47. Works do not
justify, but the justified man works. We infer from his
doing righteousness that he is already righteous
(that is, has the true and only principle of doing righteousness,
namely, faith),
and is therefore born of God (@1Jo 3:9); just as we
might say, The tree that bears good fruit is a good tree, and has a
living root; not that the fruit makes the tree and its root to be
good, but it shows that they are so.
he--Christ.
8. He that committeth sin is of the devil--in contrast to "He that
doeth righteousness," @1Jo 3:7. He is a son of the devil (@1Jo 3:10 Joh 8:44). John does not, however, say, "b
orn
of the
devil." as he does "born of God," for "the devil begets none, nor does
he create any; but whoever imitates the devil becomes a child of the
devil by imitating him, not by proper birth" [AUGUSTINE,
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily 4.10]. From the
devil there is not generation, but corruption [BENGEL].
sinneth from the beginning--from the time that any began to sin
[ALFORD]: from the time that he became what he is, the devil. He seems
to have kept his first estate only a very short time after his creation
[BENGEL]. Since the fall of man
[at the beginning of our world]
the devil is (ever) sinning
(this is the force of "sinneth";
he has sinned from the beginning, is the cause of all sins, and still
goes on sinning; present). As the author of sin, and prince of this
world, he has never ceased to seduce man to sin [LUECKE].
destroy--break up and do away with; bruising and crushing the
serpent's head.
works of the devil--sin, and all its awful consequences. John
argues, Christians cannot do that which Christ came to destroy.
9. Whosoever is born of God--literally, "Everyone that is begotten
of God."
doth not commit sin--His higher nature, as one born or begotten of
God, doth not sin. To be begotten of God and to sin, are states
mutually excluding one another. In so far as one sins, he makes it
doubtful whether he be born of God.
his seed--the living word of God, made by the Holy Spirit the seed
in us of a new life and the continual mean of sanctification.
remaineth--abideth in him (compare Note,
see on 1Jo 3:6;
@Joh 5:38). This does not contradict @1Jo 1:8,9; the regenerate
show the utter incompatibility of sin with regeneration, by
cleansing away every sin into which they may be betrayed by the old
nature, at once in the blood of Christ.
cannot sin, because he is born of God--"because it is of God that
he is born" (so the Greek order, as compared with the order of
the same words in the beginning of the verse);
not "because he was born of God"
(the Greek is perfect tense, which is present in
meaning, not aorist); it is not said, Because a man was once for all
born of God he never afterwards can sin; but, Because he is born of God,
the seed abiding now in Him, he cannot sin; so long as it energetically
abides, sin can have no place. Compare @Ge 39:9, Joseph, "How
CAN I
do this great wickedness and sin against God?" The principle within me
is at utter variance with it. The regenerate life is incompatible with
sin, and gives the believer a hatred for sin in every shape, and an
unceasing desire to resist it. "The child of God in this conflict
receives indeed wounds daily, but never throws away his arms or makes
peace with his deadly foe" [LUTHER]. The exceptional sins into which
the regenerate are surprised, are owing to the new life principle being
for a time suffered to lie dormant, and to the sword of the Spirit not
being drawn instantly. Sin is ever active, but no longer reigns. The
normal direction of the believer's energies is against sin; the law
of God after the inward man is the ruling principle of his true self
though the old nature, not yet fully deadened, rebels and sins.
Contrast @1Jo 5:18 with @Joh 8:34; compare
@Ps 18:22,23 32:2,3 119:113,176. The magnetic needle, the nature of
which is always to point to the pole, is easily turned aside, but always
reseeks the pole.
10. children of the
devil--(See on 1Jo 3:8;
@Ac 13:10). There is no middle class between the children of God
and the children of the devil.
doeth not righteousness--Contrast @1Jo 2:29.
he that loveth not his brother--(@1Jo 4:8); a particular
instance of that love which is the sum and fulfilment of all
righteousness, and the token (not loud professions, or even seemingly
good works) that distinguishes God's children from the devil's.
11. the message--"announcement," as of something good; not a mere command, as the law. The Gospel message of Him who loved us, announced by His servants, is, that we love the brethren; not here all mankind, but those who are our brethren in Christ, children of the same family of God, of whom we have been born anew.
12. who--not in the Greek.
of that wicked one--Translate, "evil one," to accord with
"Because his own works were evil." Compare @1Jo 3:8, "of the
devil," in contrast to "of God," @1Jo 3:10.
slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's
righteous--through envy and hatred of his brother's piety, owing to
which God accepted Abel's, but rejected Cain's offering. Enmity from the
first existed between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
13. Marvel not--The marvel would be if the world loved you.
the world--of whom Cain is the representative (@1Jo 3:12).
hate you--as Cain hated even his own brother, and that to the extent
of murdering him. The world feels its bad works tacitly reproved by your
good works.
14. We--emphatical; hated though we be by the world, we know
what the world knows not.
know--as an assured fact.
passed--changed our state. @Col 1:13, "from the power of
darkness . . . translated into the kingdom of His dear Son."
from death unto life--literally, "out of the death
(which enthrals the unregenerate) into the life
(of the regenerate)." A palpable coincidence of language and thought,
the beloved disciple adopting his Lord's words.
because we love the brethren--the ground, not of our
passing over out of death into life, but of our knowing that we
have so. Love, on our part, is the evidence of our justification
and regeneration, not the cause of them. "Let each go to his own
heart; if he find there love to the brethren, let him feel assured that
he has passed from death unto life. Let him not mind that his glory is
only hidden; when the Lord shall come, then shall he appear in glory.
For he has vital energy, but it is still wintertime; the root has
vigor, but the branches are as it were dry; within there is marrow
which is vigorous, within are leaves, within fruits, but they must wait
for summer" [AUGUSTINE].
He that loveth not--Most of the oldest manuscripts omit "his brother,"
which makes the statement more general.
abideth--still.
in death--"in the (spiritual) death" (ending in eternal death)
which is the state of all by nature. His want of love evidences that
no saving change has passed over him.
15. hateth--equivalent to "loveth not" (@1Jo 3:14); there is no
medium between the two. "Love and hatred, like light and darkness, life
and death, necessarily replace, as well as necessarily exclude, one
another" [ALFORD].
is a murderer--because indulging in that passion, which, if followed
out to its natural consequences, would make him one. "Whereas,
@1Jo 3:16 desires us to lay down our lives for the brethren;
duels require one (awful to say!) to risk his own life, rather
than not deprive another of life"
[BENGEL]. God regards the inward
disposition as tantamount to the outward act which would flow from it.
Whomsoever one hates, one wishes to be dead.
hath--Such a one still "abideth in death." It is not his future state, but his present, which is referred to. He who hates (that is,
loveth not) his brother
(@1Jo 3:14), cannot in this his present
state have eternal life abiding in him.
16. What true love to the brethren is, illustrated by the love
of Christ to us.
Hereby--Greek, "Herein."
the love of God--The words "of God" are not in the original.
Translate, "We arrive at the knowledge of love"; we apprehend what true
love is.
he--Christ.
and we--on our part, if absolutely needed for the glory of God, the
good of the Church, or the salvation of a brother.
lives--Christ alone laid down His one life for us all; we ought
to lay down our lives severally for the lives of the brethren; if
not actually, at least virtually, by giving our time, care, labors,
prayers, substance: Non nobis, sed omnibus. Our life ought not to be
dearer to us than God's own Son was to Him. The apostles and martyrs
acted on this principle.
17. this world's good--literally, "livelihood" or substance. If we
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (@1Jo 3:16), how
much more ought we not to withhold our substance?
seeth--not merely casually, but deliberately contemplates as
a spectator; Greek, "beholds."
shutteth up his bowels of compassion--which had been momentarily
opened by the spectacle of his brother's need. The "bowels" mean the
heart, the seat of compassion.
how--How is it possible that "the love of (that is, 'to')
God dwelleth (Greek, 'abideth') in him?" Our superfluities should
yield to the necessities; our comforts, and even our necessaries in some
measure, should yield to the extreme wants of our brethren. "Faith gives
Christ to me; love flowing from faith gives me to my neighbor."
18. When the venerable John could no longer walk to the meetings of
the Church but was borne thither by his disciples, he always uttered the
same address to the Church; he reminded them of that one commandment
which he had received from Christ Himself, as comprising all the rest,
and forming the distinction of the new covenant, "My little children,
love one another." When the brethren present, wearied of hearing the
same thing so often, asked why he always repeated the same thing, he
replied, "Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and if this one
thing be attained, it is enough" [JEROME].
in word--Greek, "with word . . . with tongue, but in deed
and truth."
19. hereby--Greek, "herein"; in our
loving in deed and in truth (@1Jo 3:18).
we know--The oldest manuscripts have "we shall know," namely, if we
fulfil the command (@1Jo 3:18).
of the truth--that we are real disciples of, and belonging to,
the truth, as it is in Jesus: begotten of God with the word of
truth. Having herein the truth radically, we shall be sure not to
love merely in word and tongue. (@1Jo 3:18).
assure--literally, "persuade," namely, so as to cease to condemn us;
satisfy the questionings and doubts of our consciences as to whether we
be accepted before God or not (compare @Mt 28:14 Ac 12:20,
"having made Blastus their friend," literally, "persuaded"). The
"heart," as the seat of the feelings, is our inward judge; the
conscience, as the witness, acts either as our justifying advocate,
or our condemning accuser, before God even now. @Joh 8:9, has
"conscience," but the passage is omitted in most old manuscripts. John
nowhere else uses the term "conscience." Peter and Paul alone use it.
before him--as in the sight of Him, the omniscient Searcher of
hearts. Assurance is designed to be the ordinary experience and
privilege of the believer.
20. LUTHER and BENGEL take this verse as consoling the believer whom his heart condemns; and who, therefore, like Peter, appeals from conscience to Him who is greater than conscience. "Lord, Thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love Thee." Peter's conscience, though condemning him of his sin in denying the Lord, assured him of his love; but fearing the possibility, owing to his past fall, of deceiving himself, he appeals to the all-knowing God: so Paul, @1Co 4:3,4. So if we be believers, even if our heart condemns us of sin in general, yet having the one sign of sonship, love, we may still assure our hearts (some oldest manuscripts read heart, @1Jo 3:19, as well as @1Jo 3:20), as knowing that God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. But thus the same Greek is translated "because" in the beginning, and "(we know) that" in the middle of the verse, and if the verse were consolatory, it probably would have been, "Because EVEN if our heart condemn us," &c. Therefore translate, "Because (rendering the reason why it has been stated in @1Jo 3:19 to be so important to 'assure our hearts before Him') if our heart condemn (Greek, 'know [aught] against us'; answering by contrast to 'we shall know that we are of the truth') us (it is) because God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things." If our heart judges us unfavorably, we may be sure that He, knowing more than our heart knows, judges us more unfavorably still [ALFORD]. A similar ellipsis ("it is") occurs in @1Co 14:27 2Co 1:6 8:23. The condemning testimony of our conscience is not alone, but is the echo of the voice of Him who is greater and knoweth all things. Our hypocrisy in loving by word and tongue, not in deed and truth, does not escape even our conscience, though weak and knowing but little, how much less God who knows all things! Still the consolatory view may be the right one. For the Greek for "we shall assure our hearts" (see on 1Jo 3:19), is gain over, persuade so as to be stilled, implying that there was a previous state of self-condemnation by the heart (@1Jo 3:20), which, however, is got over by the consolatory thought, "God is greater than my heart" which condemns me, and "knows all things" (Greek "ginoskei," "knows," not "kataginoskei," "condemns"), and therefore knows my love and desire to serve Him, and knows my frame so as to pity my weakness of faith. This gaining over the heart to peace is not so advanced a stage as the having CONFIDENCE towards God which flows from a heart condemning us not. The first "because" thus applies to the two alternate cases, @1Jo 3:20,21 (giving the ground of saying, that having love we shall gain over, or assure our minds before Him, @1Jo 3:19); the second "because" applies to the first alternate alone, namely, "if our heart condemn us." When he reaches the second alternate, @1Jo 3:21, he states it independently of the former "because" which had connected it with @1Jo 3:19, inasmuch as CONFIDENCE toward God is a farther stage than persuading our hearts, though always preceded by it.
21. Beloved--There is no "But" contrasting the two cases, @1Jo 3:20,21, because "Beloved" sufficiently marks the transition to the case of the brethren walking in the full confidence of love (@1Jo 3:18). The two results of our being able to "assure our hearts before Him" (@1Jo 3:19), and of "our heart condemning us not" (of insincerity as to the truth in general, and as to LOVE in particular) are, (1) confidence toward God; (2) a sure answer to our prayers. John does not mean that all whose hearts do not condemn them, are therefore safe before God; for some have their conscience seared, others are ignorant of the truth, and it is not only sincerity, but sincerity in the truth which can save men. Christians are those meant here: knowing Christ's precepts and testing themselves by them.
22. we receive--as a matter of fact, according to His promise.
Believers, as such, ask only what is in accordance with God's will; or
if they ask what God wills not, they bow their will to God's will, and
so God grants them either their request, or something better than it.
because we keep his commandments--Compare
@Ps 66:18 34:15 145:18,19. Not as though our merits earned a hearing
for our prayers, but when we are believers in Christ, all our works of
faith being the fruit of His Spirit in us, are "pleasing in God's
sight"; and our prayers being the voice of the same Spirit of God in us,
naturally and necessarily are answered by Him.
23. Summing up of God's commandments under the Gospel dispensation
in one commandment.
this is his commandment--singular: for faith and love are
not separate commandments, but are indissolubly united. We cannot
truly love one another without faith in Christ, nor can we truly
believe in Him without love.
believe--once for all; Greek aorist.
on the name of his Son--on all that is revealed in the Gospel
concerning Him, and on Himself in respect to His person, offices, and
atoning work.
as he--as Jesus gave us commandment.
24. dwelleth in him--The believer dwelleth in Christ.
and he in him--Christ in the believer. Reciprocity. "Thus he returns
to the great keynote of the Epistle, abide in Him, with which the
former part concluded" (@1Jo 2:28).
hereby--herein we (believers) know that he abideth in us, namely,
from (the presence in us of) the Spirit "which He hath given us." Thus
he prepares, by the mention of the true Spirit, for the transition to
the false "spirit," @1Jo 4:1-6; after which he returns again to the
subject of love.