1 John3
New American Standard
1See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him.
2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
3And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
4Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
5You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
6No one who remains in Him sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or knows Him.
7Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
8the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
9No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God.
10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister.
11For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we are to love one another;
12not as Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.
13Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.
15Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
16We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.
17But whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him?
18Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
19We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before Him,
20that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart, and He knows all things.
21Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
22and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
23This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
24The one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 1 John 3.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The apostle admires the love of God in making believers his children. (1, 2). The purifying influence of the hope of seeing Christ, and the danger of pretending to this, and living in sin. (3–10). Love to the brethren is the character of real Christians. (11–15). That love described by its actings. (16–21). The advantage of faith, love, and obedience. (22–24).
vv1-2
Little does the world know of the happiness of the real followers of Christ. Little does the world think that these poor, humble, despised ones, are favourites of God, and will dwell in heaven. Let the followers of Christ be content with hard fare here, since they are in a land of strangers, where their Lord was so badly treated before them. The sons of God must walk by faith, and live by hope. They may well wait in faith, hope, and earnest desire, for the revelation of the Lord Jesus. The sons of God will be known, and be made manifest by likeness to their Head. They shall be transformed into the same image, by their view of him.
vv3-10
The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that is, in Christ, was no sin. All the sinless weaknesses that were consequences of the fall, he took; that is, all those infirmities of mind or body which subject man to suffering, and expose him to temptation. But our moral infirmities, our proneness to sin, he had not. He that abides in Christ, continues not in the practice of sin. Renouncing sin is the great proof of spiritual union with, continuance in, and saving knowledge of the Lord Christ. Beware of self-deceit. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, and to be a follower of Christ, shows an interest by faith in his obedience and sufferings. But a man cannot act like the devil, and at the same time be a disciple of Christ Jesus. Let us not serve or indulge what the Son of God came to destroy. To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed by the power of the Spirit of God. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not an art, a matter of dexterity and skill, but a new nature. And the regenerate person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do who are not born again. There is that light in his mind, which shows him the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that opposes sinful acts. And there is repentance for sin, if committed. It goes against him to sin with forethought. The children of God and the children of the devil have their distinct characters. The seed of the serpent are known by neglect of religion, and by their hating real Christians. He only is righteous before God, as a justified believer, who is taught and disposed to righteousness by the Holy Spirit. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. May all professors of the gospel lay these truths to heart, and try themselves by them.
vv11-15
We should love the Lord Jesus, value his love, and therefore love all our brethren in Christ. This love is the special fruit of our faith, and a certain sign of our being born again. But none who rightly know the heart of man, can wonder at the contempt and enmity of ungodly people against the children of God. We know that we are passed from death to life: we may know it by the evidences of our faith in Christ, of which love to our brethren is one. It is not zeal for a party in the common religion, or affection for those who are of the same name and sentiments with ourselves. The life of grace in the heart of a regenerate person, is the beginning and first principle of a life of glory, whereof they must be destitute who hate their brother in their hearts.
Key Words
εἴδω (eídō): used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω); properly, to see (literally or figuratively); by implication, (in the perfect tense only) to know
ποταπός (potapós): interrogatively, whatever, i.e. of what possible sort
ἀγάπη (agápē): love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast
πατήρ (patḗr): a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)
δίδωμι (dídōmi): to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figuratively; greatly modified by the connection)
ἡμῖν (hēmîn): to (or for, with, by) us
ἵνα (hína): compare G3588 (ὁ)); in order that (denoting the purpose or the result)
καλέω (kaléō): to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)
τέκνον (téknon): a child (as produced)
θεός (theós): figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very
Cross References
1 John 3Explicit historical allusion to Cain slaying his brother Abel because of his evil deeds.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Old Testament anticipation of being satisfied with God's likeness upon beholding His face.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The spiritual principle that beholding Christ's glory transforms the believer into His image.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Christ's command ('heard from the beginning') to love one another as He loved us.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Believers participating in the divine nature, conforming them to His moral likeness.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jesus identifies the devil as a murderer and sinner from the beginning; compare 'children of the devil'.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
Parallel teaching on being born again of incorruptible, abiding spiritual seed.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The Law's warning against shutting up one's heart from a brother in need.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Paul's description of adoption and the Spirit testifying that we are sons of God.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Those who receive Christ are given the right and power to be called sons of God.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Christ described as holy, harmless, and undefiled, matching 'in him is no sin'.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The protoevangelium: the seed of the woman manifested to bruise the serpent's head and works.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Confirms that God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things, with everything naked and open.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Jesus warns His disciples not to marvel if the world hates them, as it hated Him first.
Supported by Matthew Henry