First John 3

The doctrine of adoption (3:1-3)

We come now to a new section in 1 John, dealing with the doctrine of adoption or sonship. The connection with ch. 2 is as follows: the discussion of the false teachers as the antichrists is contrasted with the Christians in Asia Minor who have not left the church but remained the apostolic fellowship.

They, however, are different, because they have the anointing of the Spirit. This then is the natural opportunity to explain to them that they are not only anointed with the Spirit but they are also children of God.

3:1

The mention of being born of God in 2:29 prompts John to consider the wonder of our status as God's beloved children.

"How great a love" John expresses wonder and astonishment that God would bestow such an honor upon us. Reasons for such amazement: First, because we do not deserve such a great privilege. We were by nature "children of wrath" not children of God. Second, because the privilege itself is so lofty. To be a child of God places us in a relationship of intimacy and favor with God that is surpassed only by the relationship that Jesus has as God's eternal Son. The sonship of Jesus is from eternity. His sonship is ontological – that is, he is God's Son by nature. Our sonship, by contrast, is not from eternity but began when we were united to Christ by faith, not by nature but by grace. Nevertheless, in spite of these significant differences, to be called children of God is to be brought into a special position of favor and privilege with God. From a legal point of view, God loves us just as he loves his Son and wishes to bestow upon us the same favor and privilege that he bestowed on Christ.

The privilege of sonship in Scripture has three aspects. Or, there are three benefits of being sons of God:

First, intimacy - John 16:26-27; 17:23, 26. The Father's deep love for the Son and the Son's deep love for the Father is not something they alone share, but their love overflows to include the redeemed. We are brought into the very heart of God

Second, inheritance - Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:7; Rev. 21:7. The inheritance is the land, the new heavens and new earth. Jesus was the firstborn of all creation (i.e., the one with the right of primogeniture). We are also firstborn sons in him. We inherit "all things"

Third, image - Matt. 5:43-45; Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2. To be a son, is to be like one's father. Thus, we shall be like Christ, and because Christ is like his Father, "the exact representation of his nature" (Heb. 1:3), we shall also be made in the Father's image.

All three of these aspects originally belonged to Adam, "the son of God" (Luke 3:38), but are now restored only in Christ.

The false teachers have claimed to be the true children of God. How do we know if we who remain are really children of God?

The reference in v. 1 to the world not knowing us, that is, not acknowledging that we are really God's children, is to the false teachers who belong to the world. The world, that is unbelievers who reject Christ, do not acknowledge that we are children of God. But that is no surprise because they didn't acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God either. Although they don't see our true identity in Christ as children of God, that is in fact who we are.

3:2

So John then goes on to say, "It has not yet appeared … " but when Christ appears it will be made clear. Our status as children of God is something that can be apprehended only by faith. Externally we may not look any different from the world, but what we are spiritually will be made evident when we are given glorified bodies at the appearing of Christ.

"Beloved, NOW we are the children of God." It isn't just a future hope but a present reality. Compare with Col. 3:1-4. The second coming of Christ will not be the time when we are made into the children of God, but when our status as God's children will be made public and visible.

The thing that will bring about this transformation is our direct vision of Jesus Christ himself. "We will be like him, because we will see him as he is" (cp. Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thess. 4:13-17).

3:3

"Everyone who has this hope in him." Not "this hope within himself" but "this hope fixed on Christ" (NAS). The return of Christ should be our only hope (Titus 2:11-13; 1 Peter 1:13). Our hope is not that things will improve in this present age but that Christ will come and transform bodily us into his image thus confirming that we are God's children.

Christians who thus fix their hope on the appearing of Christ and our being made like him at that moment will "purify themselves even as he is pure." It may sound strange to our ears to speak of "purifying ourselves" but John isn't denying that it is only the blood of Christ which purifies us (something he clearly taught in 1:7). John is merely saying that if our hope is the resurrection and the public manifestation of our sonship, then we ought to make every effort to live now as we will live then.

Once our bodies are transformed there will be no sin, only perfect purity. If that is our hope, the thing that we are longing for with all our hearts, then to be consistent we ought to be striving even now to see the evidence of our future moral purity (cp. 1 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 2:12).

It is a moral striving that flows from the assurance that we are now God's children and that our future resurrection will merely be the public unveiling of our status as God's beloved. This is very different from a moral striving in the hope that we will one day be good enough to obtain the future resurrection and the status of God's beloved.

Hope in the NT never means a speculative possibility but an assured eschatological reward. Our assured eschatological reward must be the basis of our moral striving not the result. If the arrow is striving 🡪 hope, that is works righteousness. But if the arrow is hope 🡪 striving, that is evangelical obedience.

"Just as he is pure." The purity of Christ is the standard and goal of our purity. When our bodies are raised we will be perfectly and totally conformed to Christ in his ethical uprightness, moral purity, and total consecration to God. And so we will forever be with the Lord.

Does John teach perfectionism? (3:4-10)

In vv. 1-3 John urged moral purity on the basis of the eschatological hope of Christ's second coming when we will see him and be made like him in moral perfection forever. Now in vv. 4-10 he urges it on the basis of the purpose of Christ's first coming, which was to destroy the works of the Devil specifically his works of rebellion.

Structure of 3:4-10. The passage is divided into two sections, which repeat the same basic argument (vv. 4-6; vv. 7-9):

1. Introduction of the theme of practicing sin/righteousness - vv. 4, 7
2. The purpose of Christ’s first coming is stated - vv. 5, 8
3. The logical conclusion from the above is drawn - vv. 6, 9
4. A concluding statement wrapping up both segments - v. 10

3:4

Lawlessness in Greek in anomia. It can also be translated rebellion, which is more suitable to the context with its focus on the devil's own sin (v. 8). The problem with the devil wasn't that he broke the ten commandments but that he rebelled against God and sought to place himself in a position of autonomy rather than submitting himself to God and seeking God's glory.

Does this verse provide a definition of sin? No, the focus of the verse is not to give an abstract definition of what sin is, but to highlight the fact that sin is rebellion. John isn't saying that sin is defined as any violation of the law of God but that the nature of sin at its very core and essence is rebellion against the authority and claims of God over our lives.

When we sin we must repent but repentance isn't simply admitting that what we did was wrong in a general way. We must also admit that it was wrong, because we have sinned against God himself. Every time we engage in sinful behavior we are pitting our will against the will of Jesus Christ for our lives. This dimension of sin as a personal affront to Christ is ultimately the most important and it is the one that must break our hearts in godly sorrow.

3:5

"Jesus Christ appeared for this purpose: to take away sins." The entire purpose of the incarnation was to deal with sin. Recall that one of the key theological errors of the heretics is that they denied the reality of the incarnation. It is for this reason that John emphasizes it again here, although not merely in abstract theological terms but to draw out the ethical implications of the incarnation.

"To take away sins." This refers back to the scapegoat on the day of atonement upon whose head all the sins of Israel were placed when the high priest confessed their corporate guilt. The scapegoat then carried the sins of the people away into the wilderness, far from the camp where God dwelled in the midst of his people.

When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, John said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

"And in him there is no sin." The sinlessness of Jesus was necessary in order that he might be the sin-bearer. If he were not without sin he would have to bear his own sins and would not have been able to take our place as our substitute.

Another aspect of this statement is made clear in light of the context of verse 4. If sin is rebellion and there is no sin in Christ then there is no rebellion in him either. Jesus was perfectly righteous in both the positive and negative sense. Negatively, he was morally pure, without sin. Positively, he was not rebellious, in other words, he fully submitted to God in every way.

The submissive spirit of Christ can be seen in many ways. He submitted to being sent by God into the world. He submitted by becoming a man for us. He submitted to the law and its curse. He submitted to the shameful death of the cross, saying "Not my will by thy will be done." Thus this verse points us to both the active and passive aspects of Christ's obedience. Passive - his role as the sin-bearer. Active - his submission to God in all things.

3:6

"No one who abides in him sins" (cp. verse 9). This verse is a notorious theological chestnut. John seems to teach sinless perfection. However, it is clear that this cannot be the case, since John has already rejected this claim (1:8-10), and he reminds us of the provision Christians have when they sin (2:1).

So what is John referring to in this passage? Various attempted solutions:

First, the occasional vs. habitual sin interpretation. Although believers do occasionally sin, they cannot sin habitually (the present tense of the verb "to sin" is thought to support this interpretation). This view is pastorally impossible, since it would consign Christians who struggle with habitual sins to the status of being lost. It places too much theological weight on a grammatical fine point.

Second, the tension of the already and the not-yet. 3:6-9 describes the absolute perfection of our status as those in Christ – we are without sin (the already); whereas 1:8-10 describes the actual realities of sin in the Christian life (the not-yet). John says in 2:1 that he writes this so that we will not sin … but, if anyone does sin, there is provision for sin through Christ.

Third, the sin that John is referring to in 3:6-9 which believers cannot commit is the sin of apostasy. This third interpretation is the one I favor. It interprets the Greek word anomia in verse 4 as rebellion, not lawlessness (as we said).

This interpretation is confirmed by the following considerations from the context:

• Verse 8 defines sin as the sin of the Devil himself, which was rebellion. Notice how John contrasts the devil's rebellion with the obedience of Christ in the previous verse (v. 7): Jesus is righteous, because he perfectly submitted himself to the will of his Father. The devil rejected God's authority and rebelled in apostasy.

• Anomia is the ultimate iniquity of that will characterize the end-time, and which finds expression in the Antichrist principle, namely, total opposition to Christ's gospel. The preceding context deals with the Antichrist. The verses immediately following deal with the Cain-Abel incident, which takes us back to Gen. 3:15 and the conflict between the two seeds.

• The apostasy interpretation is strongly supported by comparison with 1 John 5:16-21, especially verse 18 which uses the same language ("no one who is born of God sins"). See notes below.

3:7-8a

We come now to the second cycle (vv. 7-9)

"Little children, make sure no one deceives you." The pastoral tenderness of John's exhortation suggests that the readers of his epistle were in a very real danger of being deceived by the false teachers. It would seem that there is also a subtle reference here to Adam and Eve's falling into deception when they listened to the lies of the serpent, who as the agent of the devil succeeded in seducing our first parents to join him in his scheme of rebellion against God.

"The one who practices righteousness is righteous … the one who practices sin is of the devil." The false teachers were acting as the tools of the devil himself; they were the devil's instruments to attempt to deceive the sheep and cause them to turn aside from the gospel.

The heretics appear to have taught that a person could be righteous without practicing righteousness. This is suggested by the emphasis on the word "practice" in these verses. In the context of our discussion about the sin of apostasy it would appear that terms sin and righteousness are being used as catchwords for apostasy and its opposite, namely, continuing in the truth of the apostolic gospel, along with the moral implications of that, in particular, love for our fellow brothers in Christ.

It is not enough for someone to claim that they are righteous; they must demonstrate it by their actions as they live in accordance with Christ, becoming like him. A person who makes these lofty claims of righteousness but who actually practices rebellion and commits the sin of apostasy has demonstrated where their true allegiance lies. They demonstrate a devilish nature and are therefore of the devil. The one who practices righteousness is righteous even as Jesus is righteous; the one who practices sin is rebellious even as the devil is rebellious.

"The devil sinned from the beginning." The apostasy of Satan is not described but presupposed in Genesis 3. However, Isaiah 14:12-15 does give us some additional insight. Satan is called "the star of the morning" or Lucifer, because of his great glory as originally created. He was a glorious angel of light who reflected the glory and light of God himself. But in his pride he attempted to ascend to the heights of God's throne and to usurp God's sole authority and majesty as the only uncreated Lord of glory. As a result he was cast out of heaven and many other fallen angels with him.

3:8b

Compare with v. 5. The Son of God appeared to take away our sins. Another way of putting this is to say that he appeared to destroy the works of the devil. It was Adam's task in the garden to execute God's just judgment against the serpent in the garden, but he missed his opportunity and instead allowed himself to be taken in by the serpent's wiles. Christ as the Last Adam has come in the fulness of time to finally destroy the works of the devil that have resulted in such devastation for mankind.

What are the works of the devil? His own apostasy is of course included, but more specifically, I think this term refers to his seduction of humanity to follow him in his apostasy. Christ destroyed the works of the devil by canceling Satan's rebellion with his own perfect obedience and by redeeming the elect from the power and guilt of sin.

Another work of the devil is that by means of sin Satan holds the power of death. Therefore, another work of the devil that Jesus destroyed is death - Hebrews 2:14-15. Jesus destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through his resurrection from the dead.

3:9

Logical implication of the above. If Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, then those who are born of God will demonstrate it by not practicing the devil's apostasy and rebellion. Specifically John is referring to the rebellion of rejecting the apostolic gospel and leaving the fellowship of the apostolic church (which is an act that negates the law of love).

"Because God's seed abides in him." The seed of God is a reference to the new birth mentioned in the first part of the verse. The metaphor here is as follows: just as a human father begets a child by means of the seed of his loins, so the heavenly Father has begotten us by means of his own divine seed.

The idea is that if we are born of God, the very nature of God has been implanted within us. We are fundamentally different people now in Christ. We are not of the devil - we do not possess his rebellious nature. Rather we have been made partakers of the divine nature which cannot be suppressed.

Ultimately the seed of God is the Holy Spirit who dwells in all believers. True believers can grieve the Holy Spirit, fall into many temptations and sins, and may even for a time appear to be apostate. But if they are regenerate, they can never ultimately die in a state of rebellion and unbelief. The Spirit who dwells within us will never let us go on in our sin but will always bring the elect back to Christ. The wandering sheep may for a time look like a goat, but if it is a true sheep redeemed by Christ's blood the Good Shepherd will go out and bring him back.

This is what John means by the last phrase: "he cannot sin, because he is born of God." A child of God cannot ultimately be apostate. It simply cannot happen, for he is born of God, has God's divine seed within him, he has been permanently and irrevocably changed.

When you sin you are denying who you really are. Remember that you are born of God and that means you have been reborn and given the divine nature from God himself. Do not continue in sin as if you were nothing more than a son of Adam. Repent, turn away from sin, and act in accordance with your true nature.

3:10

This verse simply summarizes and repeats what has already been said. One new thought, however, is introduced at the end, namely, the fact that practicing righteousness includes love for one's fellow Christians in the church.

This is a direct assault on the heretics whose schismatic behavior in departing from the church demonstrated that they had no love for the brethren. Thus John is convinced that the heretics have demonstrated for all to see the truth of their character as children of the devil. It is obvious, John says. You can tell the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil by their actions. Actions speak louder than words. Claims to a superior knowledge of God and intimacy with God are empty unless backed up with one's life.

Again, as we have said, John is not intending to teach sinless perfection but to encourage the believers who remain in the church that they, not the heretics, are the true children of God and that this is clearly evident by the fact that they practice righteousness and love the brethren.

Since Christ has defeated Satan and destroyed his works, why would you want to continue living in sin and rebellion? You are not a child of the devil. You are a child of Christ the King. Therefore live as a child of the King and renounce the works of his defeated foe!

Love, the evidence of life (3:11-18)

1 John has a very simple message which is summarized succinctly in 3:23. This verse covers the two main points that John belabors throughout this epistle: the necessity of belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the necessity of love for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Both points must be understood in light of the context of the false teachers who had left the apostolic fellowship and had rejected the true teaching concerning Christ.

First, John emphasizes the necessity of right belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God in contrast with the false confession of Christ by the false teachers. Because they denied the reality of the incarnation of the Son of God they confessed a different Christ. The could not affirm that the man Jesus is the eternal Son of God.

Second, John emphasizes the necessity of love for the brethren in contrast with the false teachers who had committed the sin of schism by separating themselves from the true church of Jesus Christ in order to form their own sect. The sin of schism flowed from their doctrinal error. But it was more than that: the sin of schism was a rending of the body of Christ and thus a rejection of the most cardinal commandment of Jesus himself - to love one another.

These two issues – belief in Christ and love for the brethren – are inseparably intertwined in John's theology. You cannot have one without the other. If you claim to believe in Christ it is an empty claim unless backed up by visible expressions of love for the brethren.

By the same token, if you love one another, that is evidence that your faith in Jesus Christ is genuine faith. Thus, the fact that the false teachers left the church in such a manner as to undercut Jesus' new commandment of love demonstrates quite clearly the total bankruptcy and invalidity of their profession of faith in Christ.

However, John's purpose isn't only to undercut the claims of the false teachers. As a wise and loving pastor John is fully aware of the need to also encourage and assure those who remain in the church that their faith is genuine. They need to be built up in their faith, not torn down with doubt. John's repeated attacks on the false faith of the heretics is not intended to call the faith of Jesus' little lambs into question.

Thus John spends an equal amount of time explaining to his sheep that they may have assurance that their faith is real if they accept the apostolic witness by confessing that Jesus is the Son of God, and if they manifest the necessary fruit of that confession – namely, love for the brethren.

This paragraph (3:11-18) is the second time that John addresses the issue of love. The first time was in 2:7-11, where he spoke of love as the new commandment of Jesus.

Structure of the passage

1. Verse 11 - thesis statement: the command to love is integral to the gospel
2. Verses 12-15 - it so integral, that love is the evidence of spiritual life; lack of love is the evidence of spiritual death
3. Verses 16-18 - So, then, what does it mean to love?

3:11

Thesis statement: the command to love is integral to the gospel. Compare 2:7, 24.

"from the beginning" refers to the teaching of Jesus. The original message of the Gospel which was conveyed by Jesus to the apostles and from the apostles to the first generation of Christians. The new commandment of love goes all the way back to Jesus himself - John 13:34. It is not an ethical implication of the gospel worked out logically by the apostles but an integral part of the gospel itself.

Why is this? Because the new commandment is grounded in the sacrificial self-giving of Jesus himself. Thus the message of the cross and the command of love are inseparable. Love is essential to the gospel. Doctrine and ethics are inseparable. Sound ethics flows from sound doctrine.

3:12

Love is so integral to the gospel, that love is the evidence of spiritual life; lack of love is the evidence of spiritual death.

However, John now reaches even farther back than the ministry of Jesus to the very dawn of time itself. The story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4). This episode is an outworking of the gospel promise in Gen. 3:15. God has created enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

This enmity is characterized by the hatred that the reprobate line has for the godly seed who worship God in true faith and submit to his revealed will. Cain offered the wrong sacrifice. We can presume that God had revealed his will to mankind after the fall that he desires to be approached with blood sacrifice on account of man's sinful condition.

Cain's hatred of his brother Abel is contrasted with the love that we should have for our brothers in Christ. By the same token, Cain's hatred of his brother is a paradigm for the false teachers' schismatic behavior which is really nothing less than murderous hatred.

"And for what reason …?" Because of the antithesis between Cain's wicked deeds and Abel's righteous deeds. What were Cain's wicked deeds? The heinous sin of pride. He thought he could approach a holy God with the sacrifice from the vegetable kingdom – the product of his own sweat. Abel's deeds, on the other hand, were righteous because he came in humility before God submitting to the appointed way of access to God's presence by means of the subsitutionary sacrifice not by his own works.

In sum, it was envy and resentment that provoked Cain to murder. He resented Abel's faith which made Abel's sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God. He resented the fact that God rejected his offering, an offering that he had labored so hard to produce with his own hands.

3:13

Cain's envy and murderous hatred of the true seed is a paradigm for the world, which continues to manifest the same quality that was displayed so vividly in Cain. More specifically, the world here is being applied to the false teachers who have committed the heinous sin of schism and departed from their fellowship over their heretical doctrines.

Don't be surprised by all of this! It isn't some new or unexpected thing. It goes all the way back to the beginning when Cain slew his brother because of Abel's righteousness (1 Peter 4:12-14). Don't let the pain and trial caused by this church split to alarm you and upset you. Take it all in stride, knowing that it is part of the cosmic conflict of the ages. All true servants of God must suffer the hatred and envy of the spite-filled sons of the evil one. It is exactly what you would expect from the world who hates the community of Christ's followers, because they resent your righteousness.

John takes the painful departure of the false teachers and turns it into a sign assuring the genuine believers who remain that they are NOT of the seed of the serpent but of the seed of the woman, they are the children of God.

3:14-15

Love is so integral to the gospel its presence or absence is evidence of whether you really believe in the gospel.

Verse 14a: If we love the brethren, that is evidence that we have passed out of death into life.

Verse 14b-15: If we do not love our brethren, that is evidence that we do not possess eternal life.

John now draws upon the image of Cain killing his brother and connects the presence or absence of love with the presence or absence of life. To love is to have eternal life. To hate is to abide in spiritual death.

Spiritual life cannot be hidden. It always manifests itself in good deeds, especially in love. The authentic followers of Jesus Christ, those who have passed from death to life, are characterized by a deep desire for fellowship with other Christians.

Christian fellowship is a two-way street. We both give and receive mutual encouragement as we share our faith with one another. A true Christian cannot stand to be alone. He craves fellowship with those who love Jesus Christ.

John thus reminds us of the importance of not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25). If we are born again, we naturally delight to worship together with fellow believers, to say the creed together, to pray and sing hymns together, to receive the sacrament of communion together, to talk with one another about spiritual topics, to care for one another and bear each other's burdens.

3:16-18

So, then, what does it mean to love? Having shown that love is the evidence of life, John now explains what love is. The essence of love is self-sacrifice modeled after the sacrificial self-giving of Jesus himself. Hate is negative; it seeks the other person's harm. Love is positive; it seeks the other person's good. This is the ultimate contrast: Cain's hatred, leading to murder, in antithetical contrast with Christ's love, leading to his self-sacrifice.

All this talk of love can sound theoretical. So John gets very specific by giving us an example of what this self-sacrificial love is like.

C. S. Lewis said it well: "It is easier to be enthusiastic about Humanity with a capital H than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular."

Love is the willingness to surrender that which is valuable to me in order to enrich the life of another. God's love is not theoretical or abstract. He revealed his love very concretely when he gave up his only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins.

"… how does the love of God abide in him?" But this divine love, all loves excelling, should not merely be looked back upon as a historical example for us to follow. If we have entrusted ourselves to Jesus Christ and have been united to him by his Spirit, then the love of God as manifested in the cross ought to abide in us. The love of God acting through his Son is not an event of the past but a living and creative force dwelling within us and acting through us, in the present.

"Let us not love with word or with tongue …" Love is far more than a sentimental feeling. It is not enough to say that you love. Love must be manifested in our actions.

This passage is about the contrast between hatred and love. Hatred characterizes the world, whose prototype is Cain. Hatred originated in the devil himself and is being reproduced in his offspring, resulting in the persecution and murder of the children of God.

Love, on the other hand, characterizes the church, whose prototype is Jesus Christ. Love originated in God himself, who provided the ultimate revelation of his love in the sacrifice of his only Son for our redemption. And that divine love is being reproduced in God's offspring, the elect, who evidence their possession of the divine life by laying down their lives for the brethren even as Jesus Christ did for us.

The problem of the condemning conscience (3:19-24)

The scene is a courtroom, and there are three actors in the court. It is a kind of trial, with our heart or conscience as the accuser, ourselves as the defendant, and God himself as the presiding Judge. The conscience stands in the position of a subordinate judge. God created us with an inbuilt judge that either condemns or approves of our deeds. The conscience is divine in a sense, because it speaks on behalf of God and his claims. When the conscience accuses us, it feels much as if God himself were accusing us.

But even though our conscience is divine, it is not infallible. A guilty conscience may accurately reflect objective guilt before God or it may reflect false guilt. For example, if a child was repeated punished from infancy every time he sneezed, he would probably grow up thinking that it is a sin to sneeze. Thus our conscience is malleable. It can be trained to accurately reflect God's judgment and it can be trained to make distorted judgments and to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The Bible speaks of the latter when it refers to men who have seared their conscience as with a hot iron.

John's readers are apparently dealing with the problem of a conscience that wrongly accuses them of sin. The reason for this seems to be that they have been terribly shaken by the departure of the false teachers. Who is right with God? Maybe those who departed are in the right and we who remain are not true children of God. They seem to have an impressive spirituality and piety - remember their claims "to know God."

John tells them they can know they are of the truth by the evidence of their love for one another, thus quieting the nagging inner voice that would call the reality of their confession of Christ into question and falsely accuse them of being hypocrites.

"We will know by this that we are of the truth" refers back to verse 18 - concrete expressions of love for the brethren.

"for God is greater than our heart and knows all things." The disciples of John in the churches of Asia Minor need to be reminded that they are not alone with their conscience. The courtroom is not only a two-person dialogue: the accuser vs. the defendant. There is a third party involved here – it is none other than God himself, the great all-knowing, all-seeing Judge.

John is appealing here to the frequent Scriptural theme that God is the searcher of the hearts and motives of men

1 Chronicles 28:9 "The LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts"

Jeremiah 17:10 "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds"

1 Corinthians 4:5 "When the Lord comes he will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts"

This knowledge is both a terror and a comfort. Here John applies it to the comfort of his sheep. Their condemning conscience cannot ultimately accuse them and win its case before the tribunal of God. For whatever the accuser may say, God is the final Arbiter and Judge. He will dispense justice righteously and will overrule the conscience in their case.

What comfort and encouragement it is to know that God will judge our hearts. Even we cannot judge ourselves rightly. But the all-seeing, all-knowing God will bring out the inner motives of our hearts. He will recognize the sincerity of our faith in his Son.

Our heart is anxious, looking for internal, subjective evidence of our relationship with God. We cannot ultimately find peace in anything inside of ourselves. Let us simply rest in the knowledge that God knows all things, especially our heart.

3:21-22

The blessedness of a clear conscience. "We have confidence before God." Refers to confidence to approach God in prayer. The term "confidence" is literally "freedom of speech." It is the same term used in Hebrews. If our conscience does not accuse us, we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

Paul speaks of the objective side: Boldness of access to God through Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:12). John here speaks of the subjective side of such boldness. Our conscience having been quieted, we may now step forth to make our requests known to God.

"Whatever we ask we receive from Him." The promise of prayer repeated many times in Scripture. E.g., Mark 11:24: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Jesus commands us to have faith in God, to ask in faith, believing that we will receive what we ask for in prayer. He solemnly grants us the most incredible assurance that if we pray the prayer of faith, he will give us our desires.

How can this be? Because all prayer is, "Thy will be done." If our wills are attuned to the will of God we will ask only that which God has willed to begin with. The problem is created only because we think that Jesus is promising to answer all our earthly desires. In reality Jesus is exhorting us to pray for heavenly benefits of an increase in our faith and love and especially for the advancement of Christ's kingdom through the preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

"Because we keep his commandments …" There is an implicit condition. Such obedience is evidence that our will is in harmony with the will of God. Our prayers will be heard if we are living obediently to his commands. If we are living in rebellion against God, we have no assurance that God will hear us.

3:23-24

Divine provisions for the condemning conscience. God condescends to our anxious hearts by giving us two things: his commandment (v. 23-24a), and his Spirit (v. 24b).

First, God has given us his commandment (vv. 23-24a). Note the singular "commandment." These not two separate commandments but one commandment. If we keep this commandment we can have assurance that we abide in God and God abides in us (v. 24a). For no one who believes in Jesus and loves his brother can be a child of the devil.

It seems strange, doesn't it, that God would give us a commandment to aid us in our assurance. But it isn't strange when you consider what the commandment is that he has given us. This commandment is not burdensome. It is not one that we cannot keep.

There is another point that I see in the text. The twofold commandment of faith in Christ and love for the brethren is a commandment that defines the very essence of a credible profession of faith in Christ.

"Believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ." In Scripture, the name of God refers to God's self-revelation through his Word. Therefore Calvin correctly states that the name of Christ refers to preaching. Faith embraces Christ as he is set forth in the gospel.

Obviously faith is essential, but love for the brethren is also necessary, because a person who claims to be believe in Christ and yet who has no interest in being part of the fellowship of the visible body of Christ does not have a credible profession of faith in Christ.

The elders of the church have the responsibility of evaluating your profession of faith. Thus membership in the visible church is really what John has in view here. In effect, he is saying to his flock, If you believe in the Jesus who has been proclaimed to you by the apostles, and if you possess love for the brethren in the sense that, unlike the false teachers, you have a high regard for the visible church since you remain in the fellowship of the body of Christ, then you may have assurance that you are not hypocrites but true children of God.

Those who struggle with assurance often make the mistake of supposing that their membership in the church is meaningless. After, aren't the churches filled with hypocrites and unbelievers? So why should my being a member in good standing mean anything? But if you are a member of a church that exercises biblical church discipline it is no small thing to be in good standing. To not be excluded from communion, to be one who is invited by the church, and through the church, by Christ himself, to partake of the body and the blood, the holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace. The keys of the kingdom have been entrusted to the ministers and elders of Christ's church. They have exercised those keys. They have evaluated your profession of faith and they continually do so through their pastoral oversight of you. They see your confession of faith in Jesus. They see your love for the brethren as evidenced by the fact that you regularly assemble with God's people.

Fulfillment of the twofold commandment of faith and love is recognizable - it is concrete, tangible, empirical. No, the judgment of the church is not infallible. But the judgment of the church is not meaningless either. Therefore let the judgment of Christ's ordained servants be to you as the voice of Christ himself speaking peace to your soul.

Second, God has given us the Holy Spirit as confirmation (v. 24b). The first gift of God providing assurance is the external, objective gift of the church. The second gift is the corresponding Spirit within us who confirms to our conscience that we do indeed believe in Jesus Christ and that we do indeed love the brethren. The Spirit reassures us that our belief and our love are real, thus providing additional confirmation that we are in Christ.

By giving us his commandment and his Spirit, God demonstrates that he is indeed greater than our heart. You cannot arrive at assurance on your own, just you and your Bible and God. You need the church and the Spirit, and the two work together in harmony.