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“We are children of God”
1 Consider how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God![a] The world does not acknowledge us[b] for this reason: it did not acknowledge Him.[c]
2 Dear ones, right now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is[d] 3 —everyone who has this hope upon him purifies himself, even as He is pure.[e]
“Whoever abides in Him does not sin”
4 Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness as well; yes, sin is lawlessness.[f] 5 And you know that He was revealed in order to remove our sins—in Him there is no sin.[g] 6 Whoever is abiding in Him does not sin;[h] indeed, whoever is sinning has neither seen Him nor known Him.[i]
7 Dear children, let no one mislead you; he who keeps doing righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who keeps doing sin is of the devil,[j] because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose: to undo[k] the devil's works. 9 Whoever has been begotten by God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him; actually, he is not able to sin, because he has been begotten by God.[l]
Children of God X children of the devil
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are distinguished: whoever is not doing righteousness is not of God, also whoever is not loving his brother. 11 Because this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another 12 —not like Cain, who was of the evil one[m] and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
13 My brothers, do not be surprised if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have transferred out of the death into the life[n] because we love our brothers; he who does not love his brother[o] remains in the death. 15 Whoever is hating his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding within himself.[p]
Love in deed and truth
16 We know the Love by this: He laid down His life in our behalf; we also are obligated to lay down our lives in behalf of our brothers. 17 Now whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart toward him—how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My dear children, let us not love in word or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth 19 —yes, by this we know that we are of the Truth and may put our hearts at ease in His presence, 20 and that, if our heart should condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all.[q]
Confidence toward God
21 Dear ones, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God, 22 and whatever we may ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.[r] 23 Now this is His commandment, that we believe in the name[s] of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded. 24 He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.[t] This is how we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit whom He gave us.
<- 1 John 21 John 4 ->
- a Some 15% of the Greek manuscripts add ‘and we are’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The addition is out of place here, since John takes up that point in the next verse. The Father took the initiative in bestowing His great love upon us; it is up to us to “consider” and respond. Do please “consider”: for the Father to call you His child is a privilege beyond compare.
- b Although perhaps 64% of the Greek manuscripts read ‘you’, the best line of transmission is with the 36% in reading “us”. John is making a general statement, so it is properly inclusive—first person.
- c John is probably remembering John 15:18-24. He was there.
- d This verse is directly relevant to the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:10-12.
- e We will be completely exposed in His presence, and be fully conscious of it, so to avoid a bad scene we need to get a head start on the purifying.
- f Lawlessness is rebellion against a known standard. It follows that John is not referring to the ‘sins of ignorance’ in the OT
- g An important statement—that is why He can be our Savior.
- h In order to sin one must stop abiding.
- i An uncomfortable statement; again, deliberate sin indicates an inadequate knowledge of God.
- j God demands holiness. Belonging to God involves living a holy life (see verse 10 below).
- k Many versions render ‘destroy’, but I prefer ‘undo’—to undo a work involves undoing its consequences as well. In John 20:21 Sovereign Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you”. So we are here to undo Satan's works—there is certainly no lack of opportunity or challenge! However, Satan does not take kindly to any such attempt, so you need to know who you are in Christ, and be living in submission to the Holy Spirit.
- l This statement appears to be so contrary to our experience that it has given rise to all sorts of evasive action. When explaining this verse in a church I ask all who have been born of God to raise a hand (raising my own)—most do. I then ask, “When were you born of God, from your mother's womb?” “Oh no”, they will say, “it was when I was saved/born again.” I then ask for a volunteer who was saved as an adult—‘John Doe’ offers, saying he was saved when he was 30. So I say, “Tell me, John, for the first 29 years of your life you were John Doe, right? Your family, your friends, everybody knew you.” “That's right.” “So when you were saved at 30 did you stop being John Doe? Nobody knows you any more?” “Everybody still knows me.” “So for 29 years you were John Doe and you continue to be John Doe?” “That's right.” “Okay, so what do you have that was born of God? It can't be anything that was there during the first 29 years.” Well, the answers will vary according to the theological sophistication of the person, but the Bible speaks of a ‘new man’ or ‘new nature’ that the Holy Spirit produces in us. It is that new nature that is God's “seed” within us, and that seed cannot sin. But the old nature still exists, and it does indeed sin—recall the Apostle Paul's struggle (Romans 7:13-25).
- m Satan got Cain.
- n “The death” refers to Satan's kingdom; “the life” refers to Christ's Kingdom.
- o Some 4% of the Greek manuscripts omit “his brother” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).
- p Note the “is hating”—someone who murdered in the past can repent and be saved.
- q Well, the heart is ‘deceitful above all things’ (Jeremiah 17:9), so presumably Satan can use it to accuse us falsely, but the Righteous Judge has all the facts. He knows whether or not we were loving “in deed and truth”.
- r I take the point to be this: if we are doing “the things that are pleasing in His sight”, then we will not ask for something that will displease Him.
- s With reference to salvation the Text always has ‘believe into Jesus/His name’—a change of position is involved, from being outside to being inside, which also involves commitment. Here John is writing to those who are already inside, so it is “believe in the name”. John was with Peter in Acts 3:6, 16 and 4:10, and may be calling on us to make similar use of the Name.
- t Note that the reciprocal abiding depends on our keeping His commandments. When we stop, He stops. If you are not sure that you have the Holy Spirit, there is something wrong.