3 See 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. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will have not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[ Or when it is made known] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. [Related to justification 3:1]
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The 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. 9 No 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. 10 This 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.
More on Love and Hatred
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do 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 brothers were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men, and women, as part of God’s family; also in verse 16.] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16 This 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. 17 If 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? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:
20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The 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.
NOTES:
3:1–3 The greatest sign of God’s love is the gift of his Son
(Jn 3:16) that has made Christians true children of God. This relationship is a
present reality and also part of the life to come; true knowledge of God will
ultimately be gained, and Christians prepare themselves now by virtuous lives
in imitation of the Son.
3:2 When it is revealed: or “when he is revealed” (the
subject of the verb could be Christ).
3:4 Lawlessness: a reference to the activity of the
antichrist, so it is expressed as hostility toward God and a rejection of
Christ. The author goes on to contrast the states of sin and righteousness.
Christians do not escape sin but realize that when they sin they cease to have
fellowship with God. Virtue and sin distinguish the children of God from the
children of the devil.
3:9 A habitual sinner is a child of the devil, while a child
of God, who by definition is in fellowship with God, cannot sin. Seed: Christ
or the Spirit who shares the nature of God with the Christian.
3:11–18 Love, even to the point of self-sacrifice, is the
point of the commandment. The story of Cain and Abel (1 Jn 3:12–15; Gn 4:1–16)
presents the rivalry of two brothers, in a contrast of evil and righteousness,
where envy led to murder. For Christians, proof of deliverance is love toward
others, after the example of Christ. This includes concrete acts of charity,
out of our material abundance.
3:19–24 Living a life of faith in Jesus and of Christian
love assures us of abiding in God no matter what our feelings may at times tell
us. Our obedience gives us confidence in prayer and trust in God’s judgment.
This obedience includes our belief in Christ and love for one another.
3:19b–20 This difficult passage may also be translated “we
shall be at peace before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for…” or “and
before God we shall convince our hearts, if our hearts condemn us, that God is
greater than our hearts.”
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