1 John Chapter 03
3:1 (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children – and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.
God the Father loved the believers so much that He adopted them as His own little children. The satanic world system does not know God's little children, because they do not know Christ. They are not His sheep.
3:2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.
The believers are presently and continually God's little children as of now in the present time. One day, God's little children will be all grown up. They will be like their Father. The little children will see their Father just as He is.
3:3 And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).
The Greek word for "hope" is ἐλπίς (Helpis), meaning to expect what is sure to come. Those who are waiting for what is sure to come should be living pure lives until He gets here.
3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness.
Much of the world is living in continual sin and boasting about it. Those who continually live in sin are practicing lawlessness. They are making their own law. They are living as though God does not exist.
3:5 And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
John the Baptist introduced Jesus not as the Messiah, not as God in the flesh, and not as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He introduced Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world". Jesus is the only one who can take away a man's sins. Those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will "die in their own sins".
3:6 Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.
Everyone who lives in Christ will not live in continual sin. It will make him uncomfortable. God will spank him or bring him home. Everyone who continues in sin does not know Christ.
3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous.
John is not talking to the world. He is talking to the little children of God the Father. He is telling the little children that they need to imitate their Father.
3:8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.
Those who continually sin have a different father. Their father is the devil.
3:9 Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.
One who is born from above will be fathered by God. Since the Holy Spirit lives inside the believer, then he will not be able to live in continual sin. The reason is that he has a loving Father who will not allow him to do so. He will bring all of the forces against His children if need be, including bringing him home.
3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness – the one who does not love his fellow Christian – is not of God.
There is no such thing in the world as the universal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. There are two families in the world. There are those who are children of God and others who are children of the devil. They cannot co-exist with one another. Whenever the family intermingles in marriage, then the believing spouse is going to have the devil as his father-in-law. One spouse will want to do the things of God while the other spouse wants to live it up in the satanic world system. There will be conflict in this type of marriage. There is also conflict in marriage when one spouse is a mature believer, and the other is not. They will want to go on different spiritual paths. One will desire the godly path, while the other will pursue the carnal path.
God Is Love, So We Must Love One Another
3:11 For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another,
This is nothing new. Jesus taught from the beginning that believers were "to love one another".
3:12 not like Cain who was of the evil one and brutally murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.
Cain is a picture of the unbeliever. The unbeliever would kill every believer if the Romans 13 government did not stop him. Cain killed him by jealousy. One of the biggest problems in the church is jealousy among members. Jealousy gets the individual looking at himself instead of the body of Christ.
3:13 Therefore do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
The child of God who is mature in Bible doctrine must realize that the world will hate them. The more Bible doctrine that he possesses and the more that he applies, the more he will be hated.
3:14 We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death.
If believers love other believers, then they are on the correct road to eternal life. They are not on the broad road, but the narrow road.
3:15 Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
Taken literally, unbelievers would murder believers if the Romans 13 government was not instituted to protect the believer.
3:16 We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians.
Believers are to imitate Jesus. Jesus laid down His life for the saints, so the saints should be willing to lay down their lives for other saints. This is agape love.
3:17 But whoever has the world’s possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person?
When a believer needs help, he should not only receive prayers, but action.
3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth.
The true test of love is not one's profession, but one's action.
3:19 And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence,
The job of the believer is to get the Word of God out to the world. Those who are of the truth will seek this goal.
3:20 that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things.
If a man sins and does not think that God will answer his prayers, then he needs to remember that God is greater than the conscience that is condemning him.
3:21 Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God,
Believers are to pray with confidence, even if the conscience is condemning the believer of sin.
3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him.
God answers the prayers of His children. Sometimes, the answer is no, because He does not want to give His children a snake.
3:23 Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He gave us the commandment.
A believer is not to say that he loves Jesus and then not love his brother.
3:24 And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.
Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." His commandments are Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is found in the entire counsel of the Word of God. One cannot keep Bible doctrine unless they study the entire Bible. One who loves Christ will want to study the entire Bible at the deepest level. Those who do not will profess to love Jesus, but they will not study, because they do not love him.