1 JOHN chapter three

jack

Summary verse 1

  1. John proceeds to bring the ideas of the new birth and the Parousia together.
  2. He describes the wonder of the present status of believers as God's own children.
  3. God's love is amazing considering the objects of His grace.
  4. This love, which makes possible salvation for us, is great.
  5. As in John 3 where Jesus teaches Nichodemus about the new birth, there follows a declaration of God's love (JOHN 3:16).
  6. John appeals to us to consider the greatness of God's love.
  7. He speaks of salvation as a gift using the verb “to bestow.”
  8. This salvation package (love package) contains our title to be children of God.
  9. Whereas before we were sinful sons of men, hostile to God.
  10. Jesus said that all who make peace will be called sons of God

(MATTHEW 5:9).

  1. This is no fiction and lest any think we are less than sons of God, John says that we really are.
  2. The new birth is a reality and by it you become one of His children.
  3. John points out that the cosmos does not so recognize us as God's children.
  4. The reason that we are not recognized as His children is that the cosmos does not know Him.
  5. In fact, the cosmos hates us (3:13) as it hated Him (JOHN 15:18ff).
  6. This is proof that we are His children.
  7. The way the world treats us by persecution and refusal to acknowledge us as God's own should reassure us.

Summary verses 2,3

  1. Once again John repeats the fact that we are children of God.
  2. Not merely in a prospective sense, but right now!
  3. John's purpose is to contrast our present state as children of God with our Ph3 (i.e. hope) state.
  4. The contrast is between the known and the unknown.
  5. We know now that we are His children based on:
  1. Love for believers (3:14).
  2. Cosmic antagonism (compare ROMANS 8:35ff).
  3. Keeping His commandments (2:3).
  1. As sons a higher state awaits us, one which has an unknown factor.
  2. In Ph2 we do “not yet” have a frame of reference for ultimate sanctification.
  3. There has been no revelation given us as to what it will be like to be in resurrection glory with the Lord and believers forever.
  4. Other Scriptures support this unknown element concerning Ph3 (compare

1 CORINTHIANS 2:9; 13:12).

  1. We do know that we shall be like Jesus and share in His glory at the rapture (2:28).
  2. Jesus prayed that Church Age believers would share His glory

(JOHN 17:1,5,24).

  1. The hope of sharing in His glory is expressed by Paul (ROMANS 8:17-19; PHILIPPIANS 3:21; COLOSSIANS 3:4) and Peter (1 PETER 1:3-9).
  2. Since God's plan calls for making us like His Son, we shall, in the third stage in the process, see Him as He is.
  3. Three steps are involved:
  1. Ph1 Son of God (Holy Spirit).
  2. Ph2 MAJG (Holy Spirit).
  3. Ph3 resurrection body  SG3 (compare 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18)(Holy Spirit).
  1. Our eternal body is described in 1 Corinthians 15:35ff (compare

2 CORINTHIANS 5:1-10).

  1. The fact that we are to see Him means that we shall be like Him.
  2. Since being like Him is the condition for seeing Him (unstated premise).

(Points 16 and 17 are the first view of 2b.)

  1. This is the thought of Matthew 5:8.
  2. The effect of seeing Jesus is to make us like Him.

(Points 18 and 19 are the second view of 2b.)

  1. An exhortation to experiential holiness follows.
  2. Hope (the only reference to evlpij[elpis] in John) refers to the blessings associated with the rapture.
  3. Positive believers who are occupied with Christ are constantly keeping the BEMA before them.
  4. This preoccupation motivates the believer to purify self.
  5. Experiential sanctification comes from:
  1. Rebound.
  2. GAP.
  1. Since He is righteous and pure, so should we be.

Summary verses 4,5

  1. In the preceding section (2:28-3:3) John stressed the importance of abiding in Christ (in anticipation of His coming).
  2. Now he deals with the negative side of this as it concerns personal sinning.
  3. The cosmos is characterized by human viewpoint and sinning; the believer (ideally) is to characterized by its absence (righteousness).
  4. Abruptly, he defines sin as sinners as antinomianism.
  5. The reason that John describes sin in such severe terms has to do with a tendency to regard it as a matter of indifference in some quarters.
  6. Like those who denied its presence in the believer, there were those who contended that it was no big deal in the believer.
  7. Believers who slip into a sin is not an issue in the Christian life because of rebound are grossly mistaken.
  8. So John paints us the true picture of sin as it concerns God.
  9. Sin is to be in violation of God's word (law) and to place oneself in the enemy’s camp.
  10. All sin is antinomianism and is an act of rebellion against God.
  11. So with this fresh definition we are to view personal sins as God does and strive to avoid these acts of rebellion.
  12. The seriousness of sins is seen in the primary objective of the first advent, namely the cross.
  13. Among believers, it is universally recognized that this is why He appeared.
  14. Jesus took away sins by bearing them in His own body.
  15. This shows that God takes sins seriously as there would be no salvation apart from the cross.
  16. So God stands opposed to sin.
  17. God's righteous abhorrence to sin is further seen by the fact that Jesus was free of sin. (Righteous (2:1,29 and Pure (3:3) a doctrine amply confirmed elsewhere in Scripture.)
  18. It follows that we should look upon sin as the affront to God that it is.

Summary verse 6

  1. No one who is in fellowship (who abides in Him) engages in personal sins and remains in fellowship.
  2. John cannot be saying that Christians are sinless; to do so would be to contradict statements that he made in 1:8,10; 2:1; and 5:16, as well as the rest of the Bible.
  3. He, along with others, exhorts believers not to sin, but to practice righteousness (2:1,15,29; 3:12,18; 5:21).
  4. We must take the present tense of menw(meno) in a continuous sense. (It is a progressive present.)
  5. The believer can and does sin while in fellowship, but does not remain in Him is the sense.
  6. Attempts to interpret this are these:
  1. A select group of super-sinless believers (directed at everyone).
  2. He refers to a particular kind of sin, namely willful sin versus sins of ignorance. (This was John Wesley’s view. But he had to admit that believers like David and Peter committed deliberate sins.)
  3. John depicts the ideal Christian state; but this does not exist, and this is a strange way to depict what ought to be. He makes a dogmatic assertion that those abiding in Him don’t sin.
  1. The view that satisfies the doctrine of the STA is that the believer is to view the present tense as continuous. (One does not sin when the STA is isolated.)
  2. The second half of the verse, following the same interpretative procedure, says that those who have a history of continuous STA activity with no interruption, are not saved.
  3. The verbs “have seen” and “have known” are both perfects and with the negative, indicate the absence of the SAJG.
  4. The verb “have seen” refers to seeing with the eyes of the soul as in

3 JOHN 11.

Summary verses 7,8

  1. There were those who were trying to deceive them (compare 2:26) that personal sins (unrighteousness) were of no consequence.
  2. So John repeats and amplifies his fatherly counsel concerning the Christian way of life.
  3. Doing righteousness is to apply the teachings of Scripture in fellowship.
  4. When we do this, the STA is isolated and we are righteous experientially, just as He is.
  5. Paul calls it imitating God.
  6. When under the filling of the Holy Spirit, you think, speak, and act in accord with Bible doctrine and you are as He is.
  7. He is not stating an ideal that no one can attain, but a state that all who are in fellowship enjoy.
  8. In verse 8a, he restates 6b in terms of the original sinner, Satan.
  9. Satan has an uninterrupted history of sinning since his fall (from the beginning).
  10. And those who, like him, have an unbroken history of STA activity are of him, and are, therefore, unbelievers.
  11. John repeats the thought of verse five in 8b.
  12. Jesus appeared the first time for the express purpose of neutralizing Satan's works.
  13. This fact is stated in John 12:31.
  14. The actual word translated “destroy” is somewhat unusual in that it means to undo what Satan achieved.
  15. Satan's works include his rulership over man from the fall, including:
  1. Spiritual death.
  2. The rulership of the STA.
  3. Physical death.
  4. Evil and human viewpoint.
  1. The cross removed the barrier of sins between God and man so that God could provide:
  1. Eternal life.
  2. The promise of resurrection.
  3. Victory over the STA.
  4. Divine viewpoint of life.
  5. Ultimate defeat of Satan.
  1. The cross broke Satan's back strategically; the second advent breaks it tactically.
  2. The enemy has lost his absolute claim over the souls of men.

Summary verse 9

  1. Verse nine follows the same pattern as verse six.
  2. But here John speaks of being born of God, whereas in verse six, he speaks of abiding in Him.
  3. The idea of being born of God was introduced in 2:29.
  4. Where it was said positively that born again types demonstrate that they are such by doing righteous deeds.
  5. They word translated practice (NASB) means “to do” and John does not say that one Holy Spirit to do so much to demonstrate his identity.
  6. In fact, the very first thing we do that conforms to God's +R and adjusts us to God is saving faith (JOHN 6:29).
  7. Salvation is called the will and work of God (JOHN 6:40,29); also called a commandment (1 JOHN 3:23).
  8. Now John makes the point negatively; namely that those who have an unbroken history of sinning have not been born again (positively in 2:29; negatively in 3:6,9).
  9. We must take the present tense as absolute linear action.
  10. Otherwise, John contradicts himself and the rest of the Word of God, like

1 KINGS 8:46 and ECCLESIASTES 7:20).

  1. There is nothing to suggest that John means only certain sins or willful versus sins of ignorance.
  2. The new birth and the “work” of saving faith that led to it interrupts life under the STA.
  3. There is a break in the chain of sinning or the reign of the STA.
  4. At the point that a person believes that he does not sin, but does the righteous thing versus unbelief.
  5. The reason he does not or cannot continue to sin is because the Word of God (called “seed”) abides in Him.
  6. We saw earlier that if the truth continues to abide in a believer, the believer continues in fellowship.
  7. The seed is the Word of God; i.e. the salvation message, the first doctrine that can be said to abide in the new believer (compare LUKE 8:11;

JAMES 1:18,21; 1 PETER 1:23,25).

  1. John uses menw(meno) of resident Bible doctrine and the indwelling Holy Spirit, but seed refers to the Word of God living in us.
  2. Of course, the Holy Spirit is inside also and produces the new birth.
  3. The Holy Spirit plants the gospel in the soil of positive volition at salvation.
  4. The presence of that seed or gospel in the believer’s heart means that he cannot sin at the point of saving faith.
  5. So the new birth arrests the continual rule of the STA.
  6. The unbeliever, apart from salvation, cannot break its rulership.
  7. So when this new man, created out of Bible doctrine (starting with the gospel) is put on and the old man (the STA) is put off (for the first time at salvation), you do not sin.
  8. The new man cannot sin, only the old man.

Summary verses 10,11

  1. The conclusion to this section is now drawn.
  2. In light of what as been said, it is possible to distinguish those who are children of God and those who are children of the devil.
  3. Both manifest themselves in the Angelic Conflict by what they do or don’t do.
  4. Stated negatively, those who do not do righteousness are not of God.
  5. Righteousness refers to the righteous demands of God within His plan.
  6. The first commandment in order is to believe in God's Son for +R and salvation (compare 3:23).
  7. Any establishment or moral righteousness that precedes salvation does not manifest men as God's children.
  8. As the believer grows and applies Divine viewpoint, he manifests to the Angelic Conflict that he is a child of God.
  9. Again, the cosmos will not so acknowledge you, but you manifest yourself to God, angels, and believers.
  10. When a person believes, he not only, for the first time, satisfies a righteous requirement of God, he for the first time demonstrates love for believers.
  11. For the first time, his STA with hatred, etc. is isolated and he is in mental attitude harmony with all who have the name of Jesus.
  12. He no longer rejects the Person of Christ and no longer has antagonism towards those God has accepted.
  13. Paul, at salvation, ceased hating and persecuting believers.
  14. Cain, on the other hand, continued to hate his brother Abel, being antagonistic to the spiritual values Abel stood for.
  15. From the beginning of their Christian history, they had been instructed to love the royal family. (That demands special instruction.)
  16. This message is based on the premise that God is light (1:5 compare 2:10).
  17. It is no new message as shown by John's use of Cain as an implicit negative example of disobedience to the command.
  18. Also compare 2:7.
  19. It is also “new” in that it takes on a fresh significance in the Church Age (2:8).
  20. John's opponents had abandoned this tradition for a new version of Christian life. (The command to love one another (3:23; 4:7,11,12; 2 JOHN 5) and the phrase to love one's brother (2:10; 3:10,14; 4:20ff).
  21. Believers who apply the godliness code, walk in the light and those who don’t are in darkness until now (2:9-11).
  22. The command to love one another lies at the heart of Christian teaching and should be among the very first things a pastor teaches.
  23. Jesus taught it in His farewell discourses (JOHN 13:34ff; 15:12).
  24. Cain, an unbeliever, is used by John to show the opposite tact.
  25. Cain followed his father the devil who was a murderer from the fall

(JOHN 8:46).

  1. Satan was a mental attitude murderer, hating all who are of God.
  2. Throughout his history he has inspired all STA hatred, murder, and persecution.
  3. That is why he is the red dragon of great wrath in Revelation 12.
  4. We are not to be like Cain; but we can be if we refuse to forgive, etc.
  5. People who hate are people who ultimately prove themselves to be negative.
  6. The story of Cain show what failure to be positive can lead to—sheer murder.
  7. All hatred is embryonic murder (MATTHEW 5:21-28).
  8. Cain’s hatred and murder of his brother was based on negative volition which refused to perform the acceptable sacrifice.
  9. Which was to be the evidence of his salvation.
  10. Abel's deeds, including especially the bringing of an offering portraying salvation by blood, aroused Cain's ire.
  11. Can saw God accept Abel's offering by fire; but God refused to accept his “vegetable” offering.
  12. This really kicked his STA into overdrive.
  13. Even when he saw God's favor on his younger brother, he refused to repent.
  14. God even spoke to him and told him that he would be accepted if he brought the right offering.
  15. Instead he cut his brother’s throat with a sacrificial knife.
  16. And so began the enmity between the positive and the negative spoken of in Genesis 3:15.
  17. The righteous will be persecuted by the negative believer and unbeliever alike.
  18. Abel's righteous deeds won the approval from God that he was righteous (HEBREWS 11:4).
  19. Most go the way of Cain, which is a religion that rejects God's way of salvation for man-made systems of works (JUDE 11).

Summary verses 13,14

  1. In the cosmos the same situation exists for us as in the case of Cain and Abel.
  2. Cosmic antagonism based on negative volition is an inevitable fact of life.
  3. We are not to be surprised when we experience the opprobrium of negative volition.
  4. While hatred is the norm for the cosmos, we are to have love for each other.
  5. In fact, love on our part provides assurance that we are saved.
  6. We have passed from a state of spiritual death to life, and our love for one another is evidence of that fact.
  7. The believer who does not love his fellow believer is under temporal death and walks in darkness (2:9-11).

Summary verse 15

  1. Hatred for a believer is tantamount to murder (mental attitude murder).
  2. When an unbeliever hates a believer it is due to his own unwillingness to believe.
  3. The unbeliever who hates is antagonistic to the other’s positive volition and application. (So with a believer.)
  4. Such hatred characterizes the devil and those who are of the devil.
  5. And those who are unremittant in their hatred for believers are not even saved.
  6. A believer has at least loved once, when he accepted Christ.
  7. Verse fifteen is to be understood, as verses six and nine, for a continuous, unbroken, mental attitude condition.
  8. Saul hated David to the sin unto death but was a believer.
  9. But those like Cain who never believed and who hated even from day one to death, do not possess eternal life.
  10. In verse ten the one who does not love his brother (fellow man) is not of God and does not practice righteousness.
  11. Salvation breaks the chain of unremitting hatred and unrighteousness.
  12. Long enough to be well disposed toward God and His Son.

Summary verses 16,17

  1. John gives the supreme and highest example of love.
  2. That of Jesus for His brethren when He became their substitute on the cross.
  3. By so doing, John demonstrates that love is evidenced by actions.
  4. In fact, the highest example of love is when a person dies that another might live (JOHN 15:13).
  5. Love means readiness to do for others what Bible doctrine demands.
  6. John makes an application from Jesus’ example; it is that we should do likewise if the situation warrants.
  7. Who knows, maybe you might be called upon to die so that others might live.
  8. And by so doing, we would fulfill, in the highest way possible, Jesus command to love one another as He did us (JOHN 15:12).
  9. For Christ as our example see JOHN 13:12-15; 1 CORINTHIANS 11:1; ROMANS 15:2ff; 2 CORINTHIANS 8:9; 10:1; PHILIPPIANS 2:2-8;

1 TIMOTHY 6:13; HEBREWS 12:13ff; 1 PETER 1:21, et al.