The First Epistle of John chapter 3
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:
I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is my sincere Prayer that you are being Blessed even as you read this email.
Today, we study the First Epistle of John chapter 3.
3:1 Bestowed in the perfect tense, suggesting the enduring effect of the love of God had given. Believers are children of God by virtue of being born of Him (2:29). Jesus stressed a connection between how the world related to God and how it would turn relate to Christ's true followers (John 15:18). After God the phrase "And we are" should be added, according to many ancient manuscripts.
3:2 At Jesus' coming (2:28) we shall be somehow transformed into His likeness. This process has already begun in the believer's life (2 Corinthians 3:18).
3:3 At Christ's coming His followers will be transformed, but in the meantime they need to be diligent in growth in holiness--he is pure, and it is the "pure in heart" who shall see God (Matthew 5:8).
3:4 John turns from the stress on Christ's and Christian purity to the need for believers to abstain from sin. The verse means: "Everyone who sins is indulging in unlawful behavior; sin is in fact lawlessness."
3:5 He was manifested: Christ came to take away sin; this is another reason why Christians should not practice sin.
3:6 To abide in Christ is to be dead to sin (Romans 6). The one who habitually lives in sin has never been transformed by Christ's life-changing power and purity.
3:7, 8 There could well be a temptation to water down God's Word at this point. John resists such a move. Sin is of the Devil. Christ came to destroy the Devil's deeds. To do the Devil's deeds is to declare allegiance to him, not to Christ. Thus sin and being a Christian are mutually exclusive.
3:9 John is not teaching sinless perfection (see 1:8, 10; 2:2). He speaks here of habitual practice of known sinful acts. The true believer's actions will confirm to the character of his true father, either God or Satan. The person born of God will reflect this in his behavior.
3:10 For John a mere "profession of faith" in Christ was insufficient if not accompanied by the outward marks of divine parentage. Further, he links love for other Christians closely with righteous living (see John 13:35).
Yours in Jesus Christ,
Bishop William B. Caractor
