Practicing Righteousness Provides Assurance of Fellowship
3:19 So this is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will be able to persuade our heart in ˹God’s˺ presence, 3:20 because if our heart condemns us, we know that God is greater than our heart and He knows all things.
3:21 Beloved, when our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God 3:22 so that whatever we request we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that please Him. 3:23 And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we love one another, just as ˹Jesus Christ˺ gave the commandment to us. 3:24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in ˹God˺ and ˹God˺ in him. And this is how we know that ˹God˺ abides in us, from the Spirit whom He gave to us.
Translation by the author from the SBL Greek New Testament.
Summary of Verses 3:19-24
In this unit, John gives assurance to the readers. Living a life of righteousness (keeping God’s commandment to believe in Jesus Christ and love one another) increases one’s assurance that they belong to the truth and that they abide in God and God in them. Even when their consciences accuse them in regards to failure to fully love fellow believers, they can have confidence to approach God in prayer because God knows the intention of their hearts.
The Holy Spirit provides inward assurance as they continue to believe in Jesus Christ and love one another. Thus, assurance requires right belief accompanied by deeds of love.
Click here for a full outline of First John.
Verses 3:19-20
So this is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will be able to persuade our heart in ˹God’s˺ presence, because if our heart condemns us, we know that God is greater than our heart and He knows all things.
The opening phrase, “so this is how we will know“, looks back to the content covered in the previous unit (3:11-18). The line of argument is that if we “lay down our lives for fellow believers” (verse 3:16), in a practical manner so that we “love through actions consistent with the truth” (verse 3:18), then “we will know that we belong to the truth“, and also “will be able to persuade our heart in ˹God’s˺ presence“. Stated simply, our loving actions show that we belong to the truth.
Obedience to the command to love one another is the basis for knowing that “we belong to the truth“. However, we all fail in our love for others, whether by neglecting to do good things, or by doing things that harm others. And our conscience, rightly or wrongly, accuses us even when we try to live righteously by expressing love in actions. The conscience is not always a reliable indicator that we belong to the truth. However, God knows the intentions of our hearts and can silence the accusing inner voice. He overrules our doubts and gives us assurance.
Verses 3:19-20, then, present two bases for assurance. “First, there is the objective test of moral behavior – whether our love expresses itself in action. Second, there is the faith that God alone is the arbiter in this matter… and he is in a position to overrule our doubts and give us the reassurance we seek.” [HOULDEN pp. 101-102]
However, if someone is experiencing doubts they should examine themselves to see whether they are living righteously by loving others. Though the conscious is not always reliable, God has provided it as a “warning indicator” that something may be wrong in how we are living. If the self-examination reveals that the person is walking in the light by loving others, then their heart can be assured or persuaded in spite of their conscience.
That “God is greater than our hearts” suggests that He assures and comforts our hearts. So “if the the heart is weighed down with the conviction of wrongdoing, the place to turn is not farther inward but outward and upward toward God”. [YARBROUGH p. 211]
“He knows all things” means that God has full knowledge of us on which to base a just verdict.
The immediate application of these verses about assurance is in relation to prayer (verses 3:21-22). John addresses the question, “Can we have confidence before God when we request things from Him if we feel guilty before Him?”
Verse 3:21
Beloved, when our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God…
When our hearts are at ease we have confidence to approach God to intercede for others. Confidence allows us to approach God with boldness when making requests.
“confidence” is the translation of the Greek word παρρησία / parrēsia. It is used four times in First John to refer to the confidence that believers have before God:
2:28: At the return of Christ.
3:21: When making requests of God.
4:17: On the day of judgment.
5:14: When asking according to His will.
Verse 3:22
…so that whatever we request we receive from Him,
As the believer approaches God in a confident manner, God responds in a positive manner to their requests.
because we keep His commandments and do the things that please Him.
However, there are ethical qualifications involved in prayer. As I. Howard Marshall explains in his commentary: “Later in the Epistle John makes it clear that ‘if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us’ [5:14], thus emphasizing that our prayers must be in accordance with God’s will… rather than for those things which arise from selfish motives. And this is brought out in the present context by the qualification that we are people who ‘obey his commands and do what pleases him’”. [MARSHALL p. 200]
The final phrase echoes the words of Jesus when He said, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him”. (John 8:29)
Remember that the context of this verse is a section that focuses on those who are born of God – God’s children. So it is assumed that prayer grows out of a close father/child relation with God – abiding in Him. The closer a person draws into a relationship with God, the more they understand and love God, and their prayers will be more aligned to God’s will.
The answer to our prayer may not be in the form we desire, but it is always better than what we expect. God is pleased to answer the prayers of His children and does not withhold any good thing when they ask.
Verse 3:23
And this is His commandment,
John now summarizes the commandments as one commandment with two parts: belief and love. Right belief is the basis of love, but outward deeds of love are the only expression of true belief. Believers must live out what they believe through deeds of love. This connection between belief and love is the same as that of James, when he writes: Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:17)
that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
The phrase means to believe the good news about Jesus – “that he is God’s Son, that he came to save men and women from their sins, and that believing in him they can have eternal life”. [BARKER p. 338] The phrase probably implies an on-going belief rather than just a one-time belief, such as when one accepts Christ.
In Biblical cultures, a person’s name was not simply a label to identify a person, but represented the character and very identity of the person. So to “believe in the name” means to believe in the person, all they represent, and all the power their name signifies. Rather than simply writing “that we believe in Jesus“, John adds that we believe “in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ“. As “His Son” and “Christ“, He is the one sent by God as the solution for sin; the one with power to deal with sin; and the one with authority to grant eternal life. John is stressing not just belief, but right belief, because there were disruptors who are spreading false teachings about Jesus.
and we love one another,
In the context of First John, “love one another” specifically means to love fellow believers. Of course when John writes about love, he means love as expressed through actions and deeds.
just as ˹Jesus Christ˺ gave the commandment to us.
This probably refers to Jesus’s teaching about the two great commandments as recorded in Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, and Luke 10:25-28. Jesus summarized all the Old Testament commandments as simply to love God and to love one’s neighbor. In the context of First John, to love God is to believe in Jesus Christ, and to love one’s neighbor is specifically applied as loving fellow believers.
Verse 3:24
Verse 3:24 closes this unit but also acts as a transition to the next unit where John will address the topic of testing the spirits of truth and falsehood. The word “Spirit” at the end of the verse provides the segue.
The one who keeps His commandments abides in ˹God˺ and ˹God˺ in him.
This is the first time in the letter that John mentions the mutual reciprocity of abiding – the believer in God and God in the believer. The believer enters this relationship through Jesus Christ.
Keeping God’s commandments is an expression of the believer’s spiritual life and evidence that the believer abides in God.
In verse 3:23, John used the singular word “commandment”, which he typically uses to refer to the love commandment to love God and love one another. Here in verse 3:24 he uses the plural form “commandments” which he typically uses to refer to the Ten Commandments and other commandments of the law which provide the framework to express “the commandment” of love – all the detailed requirements through which love is expressed.
And this is how we know that ˹God˺ abides in us, from the Spirit whom He gave to us.
The Holy Spirit is a further source of confidence. As believers keep His commandments, they know from the Spirit that God gave them when they first believed, that they abide in God and God abides in them.
Go back to Verses 3:16-18
Go forward to Verses 4:1-3
Your Personal Study
Read First John 4:1-6 below and answer the questions which focus on verses 1 to 3.
4:1 Beloved, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits to determine whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 4:2 This is how you know God’s Spirit: Every spirit that acknowledges, “Jesus is the Christ who has come in the flesh,” is from God. 4:3 And without exception, every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus in this way is not from God. Indeed, this is a spirit from the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and even now is already in the world.
4:4 But you are God’s offspring, little children, and have overcome ˹the false prophets˺ because greater is the one who is in you than the one who is in the world. 4:5 They, on the other hand, are the world’s offspring. Because of this, they speak from the world’s mindset and the world listens to them. 4:6 But we are God’s offspring. The one who knows God listens to us. Whoever is not God’s offspring does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1. Reread verses 3:19-24 at the top of this post from the previous unit. How are verses 4:1-6 connected to the previous unit?
2. Who are the “spirits” that are not to be trusted and are to be tested (angels, demons, people, prophets, the disruptors)?
3. Can we trust everyone who says they speak for God? Why?
4. Are false prophets a big problem? Why?
5. What test does John give to know God’s Spirit?
6. What does the phrase “has come in the flesh” refer to in relation to Jesus Christ?
7. What do you think the danger is to believers and unbelievers because false prophets and the spirit of Antichrist are in the world?
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.
How you can have eternal life.
© Copyright 2022-2024 by Matthew Jones
koinefoundations@gmail.com
Koine Foundations 
Leave a comment