Practicing Righteousness or Sin is a Result of Paternity
3:1 Look at the kind of love the Father has given to us, that we are called God’s children. And we really are! Because of this the world does not know us. And it is no wonder, because it did not know Him.
3:2 Beloved, right now we are God’s children, and exactly what we will be has not yet been revealed. But we know that when ˹Christ˺ is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3:3 And everyone who has such hope fixed on ˹Christ˺, purifies himself, just as He is pure.
3:4 Everyone who practices sin is also rebelling against God. In fact, sin is rebellion against God. 3:5 And you know that ˹Christ˺ was revealed to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. 3:6 Everyone who abides in ˹Christ˺ does not sin. Everyone who sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
3:7 Little children, don’t let anyone deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous just as ˹Christ˺ is righteous. 3:8 The one who practices sin is the Devil’s offspring, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was revealed was to destroy the works of the Devil.
3:9 Everyone who has been born of God does not practice sin because ˹God’s˺ offspring abide in Him, and he is not able to sin because he has been born of God. 3:10 By this it is clear who God’s children are and who the Devil’s children are. Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not God’s offspring, to be specific, the one who does not love his fellow believer.
Translation by the author from the SBL Greek New Testament.
Summary of Verses 3:1-10
In this unit, John explains that practicing righteousness or practicing sin is a result of “paternity”. God’s children purify themselves (3:3). The Devil’s offspring practice sin (3:8). One can identify God’s children and the Devil’s children by their actions.
Click here for a full outline of First John.
Structure of 3:1-10
This unit is not as heavily structured as the previous units. Rather, a number of contrasts are made between God’s children and the Devil’s offspring. This unit can be outlined as follows:
1. God’s Children Purify Themselves (3:1-3)
2. The Devil’s Offspring Practice Sin (3:4-8)
3. How to Identify God’s Children and the Devil’s Children (3:9-10)
Verse 3:1
Look at the kind of love the Father has given to us,
In the theme verse 2:29, John stated that “everyone who practices righteousness has been born of ˹God˺“. This leads him to marvel at the greatness of God’s love.
The phrase “the kind of” is a translation of the Greek pronoun ποταπός / potapos (Strong’s 4217). It is used only seven times in the New Testament. The word focuses on the “strong impression made by something” [DANKER p. 294] and expresses an element of amazement or surprise. In the context of this verse it has the sense of “how great” or “how wonderful” or “how glorious” or “what an amazing thing”. A good paraphrase of the first part of this verse would be: “Look at the amazing love the Father has given us!”
that we are called God’s children.
What is amazing about God’s love is that God calls those who believe in Him His children. The significance and substance of God’s love is that He declares believers to be part of His family.
See John 1:12 for a similar idea about becoming children of God.
And we really are!
With this statement John emphasizes that believers are not simply called God’s children, but in reality have become God’s children. It emphasizes the previous statement.
Greek Note: Textual Variant
The phrase “And we really are!” is a translation of two Greek words: καὶ ἐσμέν / kai esmen. There is a textual variant in several Greek manuscripts of First John that omit καὶ ἐσμέν.
A textual variant is a difference between the wording of two or more manuscripts, due to errors in copying or intentional changes made by a scribe to “correct” what was thought to be an error. The New Testament was written long before the printing press and photocopiers were invented, so copies were made by hand copying. Variants were inevitable. Textural scholars review variants to determine what was originally written and how the variants came about. Scholars estimate that around 2 million copied pages exist for the New Testament, far more pages than for any other ancient writing! On average, there is only one variant for every four pages. Over 99% of these variants are unimportant and do not affect the meaning of the text because they consist of things like spelling differences and word order.
In the case of καὶ ἐσμέν, many manuscripts, including early ones, contain these words, so that support for their inclusion is overwhelming. The phrase was possibly omitted by scribes who thought that it was redundant, or through accidental omission known as homoioteleuton. This copying error occurs when two groups of letters or words are identical and the copyist’s eye skips from one to the other farther down the page, resulting in the omission of the intervening words.
Greek was originally written in uncial (upper-case) letters, with no divisions between words, and no punctuation. The line containing the phrase καὶ ἐσμέν (underlined below) would have looked something like what is shown below. The copyist’s eye could have easily skipped over the short phrase due to the identical MEN (bold) group of letters which are the final letters in the words where they occur.
…ΙΝΑΤΕΚΝΑΘΕΟΥΚΛΗΘΩΜΕΝΚΑΙΕϹΜΕΝΔΙΑΤΟΥΤΟΟΚΟϹΜΟϹ…
Note that this phrase does not appear in the King James Version or New King James Version which are based on the Textus Receptus Greek text which does not include καὶ ἐσμέν / kai esmen.
Because of this the world does not know us. And it is no wonder, because it did not know Him.
“the world” refers to those who do not believe in God.
Because believers are children of God, the world does not know them, i.e., recognize, understand, or accept them. This makes sense because the world does not know the truth, which is only found in God.
See John 1:10 for a similar statement that the world did not know Him.
John will add to this thought by warning believers that the world also hates them in verse 3:13.
It is not clear whether the final word “Him” refers to the Father or to the Son. Commentators are equally divided. It might be best to understand “Him” as referring to God in Christ [per B. F. Westcott] or the Father as revealed in His Son [per SMITH p. 183].
Verse 3:2
Beloved,
John addresses his readers as “beloved” (ἀγαπητοί / agapētoi) six times in this short letter: 2:7, 3:2, 3:21, 4:1, 4:7, and 4:11. The word is significant for the following reasons:
- In each instance, It gets the attention of the reader and signals that what follows is an important statement.
- It highlights the affection John has for the readers.
- It implies that John writes as a mentor who has a true personal interest in the spiritual development of the readers.
“beloved” should probably be understood as not just John’s love for the readers, but also God’s love for the readers – they are beloved by John and God.
right now we are God’s children,
The present dignity of believers is that they are actually God’s children. This is the third time John affirms this fact in verses 3:1 and 3:2. But the emphasis here is on the “right now” which implies that “God’s children are a work in progress” [JOBES p. 141].
and exactly what we will be has not yet been revealed.
The future destiny of believers has not yet been revealed. The revelation lies in the future. But clearly God purpose for His children is not that they remain as they are now.
But we know that when ˹Christ˺ is revealed, we will be like Him,
Although believers must await the future revelation, the one thing that is certain about their future destiny is that they will be like Christ. A little information about this is found in several other New Testament passages:
- Believers will share in Christ’s glory (Romans 8:16-19; Colossians 3:4).
- The believer’s body will be transformed into the likeness of Christ’s glorious body (Philippians 3:20-21).
However, regarding the revelation of Christ and the believer’s future glory, David Smith notes in his commentary that “the New Testament says nothing definite about the nature of our future glory. With our present facilities we cannot conceive it. It must be experienced to be understood.” [SMITH p. 83]
because we will see Him just as He is.
The sight of Christ will transfigure believers and complete the work of redemption. Whatever Christ is, believers will also be.
Colin Kruse explains in his commentary that “as he is” is “not seeing Him as He was in the days of his earthly ministry, nor seeing Him with the eyes of faith, but seeing Him as He now is in heavenly glory.” [KRUSE p. 126]
Verse 3:3
And everyone who has such hope fixed on ˹Christ˺, purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Here are two good comments that capture the substance of this verse:
“The promise of the future is part of John’s admonition to remain steadfast in the present.” [YARBROUGH p. 179]
“Because what we believe about the future influences how we live today, John appeals to the future as the basis for encouraging his readers to purify themselves today.” [JOBES p. 142]
And everyone who has such hope fixed on ˹Christ˺,
In English the word “hope” usually has a sense of uncertainty or something wished for. But, the word “hope” in the context of verse 3:3 does not express any uncertainty, but is a sure expectation based on the certain return of Christ. It is a hope because it is still future. It is certain because it is based “on Christ“.
There is no imperative verb form in verse 3:3, but John’s appeal has a prescriptive force. This is what believers who have their hope fixed on Christ’s revelation should do – purify themselves. As I. Howard Marshall notes in his commentary, “Although John has just told us that seeing Jesus will make us like him, it is also true that the condition for seeing Jesus is that we should be morally fit to come into his presence.” [MARSHALL p. 173]
purifies himself, just as He is pure.
“Purify” means to keep oneself from sin or to practice personal holiness. It is purity that is maintained by personal effort. The standard of purity is Jesus Christ – “just as He is pure“.
Go back to Verses 2:29
Go forward to Verses 3:4-6
Your Personal Study
Read First John 3:4-6 below and answer the questions.
3:4 Everyone who practices sin is also rebelling against God. In fact, sin is rebellion against God. 3:5 And you know that ˹Christ˺ was revealed to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. 3:6 Everyone who abides in ˹Christ˺ does not sin. Everyone who sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
1. How does John define sin in verse 3:4?
2. How would you explain what “rebelling against God” means?
3. Read Mark 7:20-23. In these verses, Jesus is explaining a parable to His disciples. According to Jesus, where does evil come from?
4. Why was Christ revealed?
5. What does it mean that “Christ was revealed“? How was He revealed?
6. How do you think Christ took away sin?
First John Translation.
First John Translation with Outline and Notes.
Bibliography of source information used for this series of posts.
Title Slide Image Credit: First John in Codex Alexandrinus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Unless otherwise noted, English translations of Bible verses are by the author from the Greek text and are not quotations from any copyrighted Bible version or translation.
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