1 John3
New International Version
1See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
11For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
13Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
15Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
17If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
18Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:
20If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God
22and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
24The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave 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