1 Johnchapter 3
24 verses · John, by tradition · AD 85 to 95 · The general letters
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.
Introduction
John, by tradition, The general letters, 1 John Overview.
John wrote this chapter to believers whom the departing teachers had called less spiritual than themselves. He answers by pointing them to the family they belong to. The chapter turns on the picture of a household, with a Father and children who come to resemble Him. Its one named figure from the Old Testament is a warning, and its measure of love is the cross. Listen for the word practices, and for the two families set side by side. Listen also for the comfort offered to a troubled conscience near the close.
Context
- Who
- Believers accused of not being spiritual enough by people who had left them
- What
- The love that makes believers children of God, the two families known by righteousness and love, Cain as a warning, and the confidence of a heart at peace with God.
- Where
- Ephesus, where the early church places John in his last years, writing to house churches in the Roman province of Asia.
- When
- About AD 85 to 95 on the traditional dating, late in the apostle John's life.
- Why
- To assure believers of their standing as God's children, and to show that the new birth is seen in a life of righteousness and practical love.
Historical context
Being called children of God had legal weight in that world. Adoption in Roman law was a real, permanent transfer, a man adopted into a family took the name, the inheritance, and the standing, and the old debts were wiped. John uses family language in a culture where family determined everything about a person.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Cain and Abel was the natural example because it was the first case in Scripture of religion and murder in the same story. Jewish teachers of the period discussed the episode a great deal, asking what made one offering acceptable, and the letter cuts through it: his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.
'The world's goods' names something concrete. In these congregations, a member with a spare room, a full grain jar, or a working trade was the safety net for a member with none, and refusing to open it was visible to everyone.
The self-accusing heart John addresses was a real experience made worse by the split. People who had been told they lacked the higher knowledge had good reason to condemn themselves, and John answers that God is greater than the heart and knows everything, including what the heart forgets.
Significance
For hearers unsure whether they were the real thing, this chapter gives usable tests: do you love the brothers, and do you open your hand when you see a need.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The promise in the middle would have carried the most weight of all. What we will be has not appeared yet, but when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. That is said to people who had just been told they were second-class.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Behold What Manner of Love: We Shall Be Like Him
what manner of love: John stops to marvel: Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us. The Greek potapen asks what kind of love, and believers are called children of God: that is what we are. The world did not know Him, so it does not know His children.
1 John 3:1
“Behold what manner of love,.... See, take notice, consider, look by faith, with wonder and astonishment, and observe how great a favour, what an instance of matchless love, what a wonderful blessing of grace, the Father hath bestowed upon us: the Father of Christ, and the Father of us in Christ, who hath adopted us into his family, and regenerated us by his grace, and hath freely given us the new name: that we should be called the sons of God.”
4 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 John 3:1
“So far we keep to our Authorized Version. Now read the Revised Version, and note the words added— "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: and such we are." DEAR friends, the most of my text will be found in our Old Version, but for once I shall ask you to look elsewhere for a part of it. A genuine fragment of Inspired Scripture has been dropped by our older translators and it is too precious to be lost.”
1 John 3:1
“Behold, what manner of love - What love, in “kind” and in “degree.” In kind the most tender and the most ennobling, in adopting us into His family, and in permitting us to address Him as our Father; in “degree” the most exalted, since there is no higher love that can be shown than in adopting a poor and friendless orphan, and giving him a parent and a home. Even God could bestow upon us no more valuable token of affection than that we should be adopted into His family, and permitted to regard Him as our Father.”
1 John 3:1
“The immediate effect aimed at in the bestowal of this love is, "that we should be called children of God." should be called--should have received the privilege of such a glorious title (though seeming so imaginary to the world), along with the glorious reality. With God to call is to make really to be.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 John 3:1
“That we should be called - That is, should be, the children of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not - They know not what to make of us. We are a mystery to them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:2-3
we are now children of God: Sonship is present, we are now children of God, and its glory has not yet been revealed. The change comes through sight: we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. The hope works now, since everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself.
1 John 3:2
“What we shall be - It is something ineffable, which will raise the children of God to be, in a manner, as God himself. But we know, in general, that when he, the Son of God, shall appear, we shall be like him - The glory of God penetrating our inmost substance. For we shall see him as he is - Manifestly, without a veil.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:2
“Now are we the sons of God - He speaks of those who are begotten of God, and who work righteousness. See the preceding chapter. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be - Ουπω εφανερωθη· It is not yet manifest; though we know that we are the children of God, we do not know that state of glorious excellence to which, as such, we shall be raised.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 John 3:2
“In like manner John says: "And it doth not yet appear what we shall be: we know, however, that when He shall be manifest, we shall be like Him." We are far indeed from being already what we know not of; we should, of course, be sure to know it if we were already (like Him).”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On the Resurrection of the Fleshpatristic
1 John 3:2
“Their vile bodies shall be made like his glorious body; they shall be filled with life, light, and bliss from him. When he, who is their life, shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory, Col. iii. Their likeness to him is argued from the sight they shall have of him: We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself: The hope of seeing Christ changes how a believer lives now. The one who expects to be like Him at His appearing works to be like Him today. The pattern for that purity is Christ Himself.
1 John 3:3
“And every man that hath this hope in him - This hope of seeing the Saviour, and of being made like him; that is, every true Christian. On the nature and influence of hope, see the notes at Rom 8:24-25. Purifieth himself - Makes himself holy. That is, under the influence of this hope of being like the Saviour, he puts forth those efforts in struggling against sin, and in overcoming his evil propensities, which are necessary to make him pure.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:3
“They know that their Go and Father is the high and holy one, that all the society is pure and holy, that their inheritance is an inheritance of saints in light. It is a contradiction to such hope to indulge sin and impurity. And therefore, as we are sanctified by faith, we must be sanctified by hope.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 3:3
"Thou purifiest thyself, not of thyself, but of Him who comes that He may dwell in thee" [AUGUSTINE]. One's justification through faith is presupposed. as he is pure--unsullied with any uncleanness. The Second Person, by whom both the Law and Gospel were given.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Two Families Made Plain: Righteousness or Sin
1 John 3:4-5
sin is lawlessness: John defines sin by God's law: sin is lawlessness, the Greek anomia, a refusal of God's rule. Against it he sets two facts, Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. The demand for holy living that follows rests on both.
1 John 3:4
“Sin is the transgression of the law - The spirit of the law as well as of the Gospel is, that “we should love God with all our powers, and our neighbor as ourselves.” All disobedience is contrary to love; therefore sin is the transgression of the law, whether the act refers immediately to God or to our neighbor.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 John 3:4
“The Greek having the article to both, implies that they are convertible terms. The Greek "sin" (hamartia) is literally, "a missing of the mark." God's will being that mark to be ever aimed at. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." The crookedness of a line is shown by being brought into juxtaposition with a straight ruler.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Christ appeared to take away sins: John gives two facts about the coming of Christ. He appeared to remove sins, and He had no sin of His own. A believer who keeps on sinning works against the very purpose of His coming.
1 John 3:5
“Additional proof of the incompatibility of sin and sonship; the very object of Christ's manifestation in the flesh was to take away (by one act, and entirely, aorist) all sins, as the scapegoat did typically. and--another proof of the same. in him is no sin--not "was," but "is," as in 1Jo 3:7, "He is righteous," and 1Jo 3:3, "He is pure." Therefore we are to be so.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:5
“Was manifested - That he came into the world for this very purpose. To take away our sins - To destroy them all, root and branch, and leave none remaining. And in him is no sin - So that he could not suffer on his own account, but to make us as himself.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:5
“And ye know that he was manifested - The Lord Jesus, the Son of God. “You know that he became incarnate, or appeared among people, for the very purpose of putting an end to sin,” Mat 1:21. Compare the notes at 1Ti 3:16. This is the “second” argument in this paragraph, 1Jn 3:4-10, by which the apostle would deter us from sin.”
No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning: The present tense of No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning names settled practice, and 1:8 still stands for every believer. The line No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him answers the claim to know God without holiness, as at 2:4.
1 John 3:6
“He sinneth not so long as he abideth in Christ. whosoever sinneth hath not seen him--Greek perfect, "has not seen, and does not see Him." Again the ideal of Christian intuition and knowledge is presented (Mt 7:23). All sin as such is at variance with the notion of one regenerated.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:6
“Whosoever abideth in communion with him, by loving faith, sinneth not - While he so abideth. Whosoever sinneth certainly seeth him not - The loving eye of his soul is not then fixed upon God; neither doth he then experimentally know him - Whatever he did in time past.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:6
“Whosoever abideth in him - By faith, love, and obedience. Sinneth not - Because his heart is purified by faith, and he is a worker together with God, and consequently does not receive the grace of God in vain. See on 1Jn 3:3 (note). Hath not seen him - It is no unusual thing with this apostle, both in his gospel and in his epistles, to put occasionally the past for the present, and the present for the past tense.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 John 3:7-8
let no one deceive you: The warning let no one deceive you answers teachers who held that right belief could stand apart from right living. Practice shows parentage: The one who practices sin is of the devil. The Son came to destroy the works of the devil, the conflict first announced at Genesis 3:15.
1 John 3:7
“Little children - Notes at 1Jn 2:1. Let no man deceive you - That is, in the matter under consideration; to wit, by persuading you that a man may live in sinful practices, and yet be a true child of God. From this it is clear that the apostle supposed there were some who would attempt to do this, and it was to counteract their arts that he made these positive statements in regard to the nature of true religion.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:7
“Let no one deceive you - Let none persuade you that any man is righteous but he that uniformly practices righteousness; he alone is righteous, after the example of his Lord.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:7
“None of these things is hid from you, if ye perfectly possess that faith and love towards Christ Jesus which are the beginning and the end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love. Now these two, being inseparably connected together, are of God, while all other things which are requisite for a holy life follow after them. No man [truly] making a profession of faith sinneth; nor does he that possesses love hate any one.”
Ignatius of Antioch · written before 108 · Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesianspatristic
to destroy the works of the devil: The devil has sinned from the start, and a settled habit of sin shows kinship with him. The Son of God came to undo that work. The verb means to loosen or break apart, as a building is taken down.
1 John 3:8
“He seems to have kept his first estate only a very short time after his creation [BENGEL]. Since the fall of man [at the beginning of our world] the devil is (ever) sinning (this is the force of "sinneth"; he has sinned from the beginning, is the cause of all sins, and still goes on sinning; present).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
4 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:8
“Insofar as we commit sins, we have not yet put off the generation of the devil, even if we are thought to believe in Jesus. Everyone who is not of the devil does not commit sin.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on John 20.103-4patristic
1 John 3:8
“He that committeth sin is a child of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning - That is, was the first sinner in the universe, and has continued to sin ever since.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:8
“He that committeth sin is of the devil - Hear this, also, ye who plead for Baal, and cannot bear the thought of that doctrine that states believers are to be saved from all sin in this life!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 John 3:8
“IN this chapter John makes a sharp and clear division of mankind into two classes—he gives not even the slightest hint that there is, or ever was, or ever can be a third class. He describes men as being the children of God or else the children of the devil and tells us how the two classes are made manifest (see verse 10).”
1 John 3:9-10
God’s seed abides in him: The present tense of he cannot go on sinning names settled practice, which the new birth rules out, because God’s seed abides in him. The provision of 1:9 for sins confessed still stands. Verse 10 tells the two families apart by two marks, practicing righteousness and loving his brother.
1 John 3:9
“Whosoever is born of God - By living faith, whereby God is continually breathing spiritual life into his soul, and his soul is continually breathing out love and prayer to God, doth not commit sin. For the divine seed of loving faith abideth in him; and, so long as it doth, he cannot sin, because he is born of God - Is inwardly and universally changed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:9
“When we are persuaded by the devil to sin, we receive his seed. But when we go on to complete the work which he urged, then he has begotten us, for through sin we are born to him as children.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Sermons on Exodus 8.6patristic
1 John 3:9
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin - This passage must either mean that they who are born of God, that is, who are true Christians, do not sin habitually and characteristically, or that everyone who is a true Christian is absolutely perfect, and never commits any sin. If it can be used as referring to the doctrine of absolute perfection at all, it proves, not that Christians may be perfect, or that a “portion” of them are, but that all are. But who can maintain this? Who can believe that John meant to affirm this?”
1 John 3:9
“Whosoever is born of God--literally, "Everyone that is begotten of God." doth not commit sin--His higher nature, as one born or begotten of God, doth not sin. To be begotten of God and to sin, are states mutually excluding one another.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
By this the children of God are distinguished: The chapter now draws a plain line between the children of God and the children of the devil. Two marks show which family a person belongs to, practicing righteousness and loving a brother. The second mark leads into the teaching on love at verse 11.
1 John 3:10
“There is no middle class between the children of God and the children of the devil. doeth not righteousness--Contrast 1Jo 2:29. he that loveth not his brother-- (1Jo 4:8); a particular instance of that love which is the sum and fulfilment of all righteousness, and the token (not loud professions, or even seemingly good works) that distinguishes God's children from the devil's.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:10
That charity and brotherly affection are to be religiously and stedfastly practised. ...Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "In this appear the children of God and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not righteous is not of God, and he who loveth not his brother. For he who hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."
Cyprian · written before 258 · Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.patristic
1 John 3:10
“Now the seed of the serpent is known by these two signatures:-- 1. By neglect of religion: Whosoever doeth not righteously (omits and disregards the rights and dues of God; for religion is but our righteousness towards God, or giving him his due, and whosoever does not conscientiously do this) is not of God, but, on the contrary, of the devil.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 3:10
“In this the children of God are manifest - Here is a fearful text. Who is a child of the devil? He that commits sin. Who is a child of God? He that works righteousness. By this text we shall stand or fall before God, whatever our particular creed may say to the contrary. Neither he that loveth not his brother - No man is of God who is not ready on all emergencies to do any act of kindness for the comfort, relief, and support of any human being.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Not Like Cain: Love in Deed and Truth
1 John 3:11-12
the message you have heard from the beginning: The oldest command returns: We should love one another. Cain is its counter-example, one who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother, the two families of verse 10 given a face. The motive is given: his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
1 John 3:11
“For this is the message,.... Sent from God by Christ, or what he in his ministry declared, and is the commandment which was so frequently urged by him, Joh 13:34; that ye have heard from the beginning; of the preaching of the Gospel to them, and of their conversion; see 1Jn 2:7; that we should love one another; to which the command of Christ, the reason with which it is enforced, and the early notice of it, should engage.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:11
“For this is the message - Margin, “commandment.” In the received text, this is ἀγγελία angelia - “a message brought;” in several manuscripts, and in later editions, it is ἐπαγγελία epangelia - “annunciation, announcement;” an order given, or a commandment, Act 23:21. It is not very material which reading is followed. The word “command” or “rule” would express the sense with sufficient clearness. The reference is to the law given by the Saviour as a permanent direction to his disciples.”
1 John 3:11
“To dissuade from what is contrary thereto, all ill-will towards the brethren, and that by the example of Cain. His envy and malignity should deter us from harbouring the like passion, and that upon these accounts:-- 1. It showed that he was as the first-born of the serpent's seed; even he, the eldest son of the first man, was of the wicked one.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Do not be like Cain: Cain is the only Old Testament figure named in the letter. Genesis 4 tells how he slew his brother Abel, and John gives the motive, that his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Hatred of what is righteous grew into murder.
1 John 3:12
“We have had the commandment to love one another from the beginning, so that we should not fall into evil as Cain did, who murdered his brother.”
Didymus the Blind · written before 398 · Commentary on 1 Johnpatristic
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:12
“Not as Cain - Men should not act to each other as Cain did to his brother Abel. He murdered him because he was better than himself. But who was Cain? Εκ του πονηρου ην, he was of the devil. And who are they who, through pride, lust of power, ambition, gain, etc., murder each other in wars and political contentions? Εκ του πονηρου εισι. To attempt to justify the principle, and excuse the instigators, authors, abettors, etc., of such wars, is as vain as it is wicked.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 John 3:12
“Sin, indulged, knows no bound. It proceeded so far, and had in it so much of the devil, that he murdered his brother for religion's sake. He was vexed with the superiority of Abel's service, and envied him the favour and acceptance he had with God.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 3:12
“Who was of the wicked one - Who showed he was a child of the devil by killing his brother. And wherefore slew he him - For any fault? No, but just the reverse; for his goodness.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:13-15
do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you: The world's hatred follows Cain's pattern: do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. Love for the brothers shows that we have passed from death to life. The line Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer follows Jesus on anger in the Sermon on the Mount.
1 John 3:13
“If we have passed from death to life by passing from unbelief to faith, let us not be surprised if the world hates us. For no one who has failed to pass from death to life, but has remained in death, can love those who have left the darkened house of death.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Exhortation to Martyrdom 41patristic
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:13
“Marvel not - Do not think it so unusual, or so little to be expected, as to excite astonishment. If the world hate you - The emphasis here is to be placed on the word “you.” The apostle had just adverted to the fact that Cain hated Abel, his brother, without cause, and he says that they were not to deem it strange if the world hated them in like manner. The Saviour Joh 15:17-18 introduced these subjects in the same connection.”
1 John 3:13
“Marvel not--The marvel would be if the world loved you. the world--of whom Cain is the representative (1Jo 3:12). hate you--as Cain hated even his own brother, and that to the extent of murdering him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
we have passed from death to life: Love for fellow believers is evidence that a person has already crossed from death to life. John uses the words Jesus used at John 5:24 of the one who hears and believes. The crossing is God's work, and love is its sign.
1 John 3:14
“We know that we have passed from death unto life - Death and life are represented here as two distinct territories, states, or kingdoms, to either of which the inhabitants of either may be removed. This is implied in the term μεταβεβηκαμεν, from μετα, denoting change of place, and βαινω, I go. It is the same figure which St. Paul uses, Col 1:13: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 John 3:14
“I HAVE heard it said, by those who would be thought philosophers, that in religion we must believe, but cannot know. I am not very clear about the distinction they draw between knowledge and faith, nor do I care to enquire because I assert that, in matters relating to religion, we do know! In the things of God, we both believe and know.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2556: “Life Proved by Love” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer: John follows the teaching of Jesus at Matthew 5:21 to 22, where anger stands under the same judgment as murder. Hatred wishes the brother gone, and murder carries the wish out. Eternal life cannot live in a heart set on another's death.
1 John 3:15
“God regards the inward disposition as tantamount to the outward act which would flow from it. Whomsoever one hates, one wishes to be dead. hath--Such a one still "abideth in death." It is not his future state, but his present, which is referred to. He who hates (that is, loveth not) his brother (1Jo 3:14), cannot in this his present state have eternal life abiding in him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:15
“But how far wider an extent the Lord assigns to those crimes we are sure: when He defines adultery to consist even in concupiscence, "if one shall have cast an eye lustfully on," and stirred his soul with immodest commotion; when He judges murder to consist even in a word of curse or of reproach, and in every impulse of anger, and in the neglect of charity toward a brother just as John teaches, that he who hates his brother is a murderer.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Idolatrypatristic
1 John 3:15
“And no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him - But every loving believer hath. For love is the beginning of eternal life. It is the same, in substance, with glory.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:15
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer ... - That is, he has the spirit of a murderer; he has that which, if it were acted out, would lead him to commit murder, as it did Cain. The private malice, the secret grudge, the envy which is cherished in the heart, is murderous in its tendency, and were it not for the outward restraints of human laws, and the dread of punishment, it would often lead to the act of murder.”
Jesus laid down His life for us: Love is defined by an event, Jesus laid down His life for us. The imitation follows at full cost: we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. The verse stands as this letter's parallel to John 3:16.
1 John 3:16
“Hereby perceive we the love of God - This sixteenth verse of this third chapter of John’s first epistle is, in the main, an exact counterpart of the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of St. John’s gospel: God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, etc. Here the apostle says, We perceive, εγνωκαμεν, we have known, the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:16
“The great God has given his Son to the death for us. But since this apostle has declared that the Word was God, and that he became flesh for us, I see not why we may not interpret this of God the Word. Here is the love of God himself, of him who in his own person is God, though not the Father, that he assumed a life, that he might lay it down for us!”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 3:16
“Hereby perceive we the love of God,.... The phrase "of God" is not in the Oriental versions, nor in the Greek copies, but is in the Complutensian edition, and in the Vulgate Latin version, and is favoured by the Syriac version, which reads, "by this we know his love to us"; and so the Ethiopic version, "by this we know his love".”
1 John 3:16
“What true love to the brethren is, illustrated by the love of Christ to us. Hereby--Greek, "Herein." the love of God--The words "of God" are not in the original.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 John 3:16
“The word God is not in the original. It was omitted by the apostle just as the particular name is omitted by Mary, when she says to the gardener, "Sir, if thou hast born him hence;" and by the church, when she says, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth," So i, 2; in both which places there is a language, a very emphatical language, even in silence.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:17-18
withholds his compassion from him: Verse 17 brings verse 16 down to ordinary need, a man who sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him. John asks how can the love of God abide in him? Love is tested by deeds, not in word and speech, but in action and truth.
1 John 3:17
The "bowels" mean the heart, the seat of compassion. how--How is it possible that "the love of (that is, 'to') God dwelleth (Greek, 'abideth') in him?" Our superfluities should yield to the necessities; our comforts, and even our necessaries in some measure, should yield to the extreme wants of our brethren. "Faith gives Christ to me; love flowing from faith gives me to my neighbor."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:17
“It pleases God that some of the Christian brethren should be poor, for the exercise of the charity and love of those that are rich. And it pleases the same God to give to some of the Christian brethren this world's good, that they may exercise their grace in communicating to the poor saints.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 3:17
“But whoso hath this world’s good - Has property - called “this world’s good,” or a good pertaining to this world, because it is of value to us only as it meets our wants this side of the grave; and perhaps also because it is sought supremely by the people of the world.”
let us love not in word and speech: Love is proved in action. The call follows verse 17, where a brother in need meets a closed heart and exposes an empty claim of love. Love in truth is love that is real, matching its words with its deeds.
1 John 3:18
"Little children, let us not love in word, or in tongue," says John, teaching them to be perfect, "but in deed and in truth; hereby shall we know that we are of the truth." And if "God be love," piety also is love: "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." And again, to him who desires to become a Gnostic, it is written, "But be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in purity."
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 4patristic
1 more voice on this verse
1 John 3:18
“My little children - Τεκνια μου, My beloved children, let us not love in word - in merely allowing the general doctrine of love to God and man to be just and right; Neither in tongue - In making professions of love, and of a charitable and humane disposition, and resting there; but in deed - by humane and merciful acts; And in truth - Feeling the disposition of which we speak. There is a good saying in Yalcut Rubeni, fol.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hearts Assured Before God, and the Spirit He Gave
1 John 3:19-20
we belong to the truth: Love in action gives assurance: by this we will know that we belong to the truth. When the conscience accuses, John sets a greater fact beside it: God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.
1 John 3:19
“And hereby - Greek, “by this;” that is, by the fact that we have true love to others, and that we manifest it by a readiness to make sacrifices to do them good. We know that we are of the truth - That we are not deceived in what we profess to be; that is, that we are true Christians. To be of the truth stands opposed to cherishing false and delusive hopes. And shall assure our hearts before him - Before God, or before the Saviour.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:19
“And hereby we know - We have a further proof by this real, operative love. That we are of the truth - That we have true faith, that we are true children of God. And shall assure our hearts before him - Shall enjoy the assurance of his favour, and the "testimony of a good conscience toward God." The heart, in St. John's language, is the conscience.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 3:19
“Those that are so assured may have holy boldness or confidence towards God; they may appeal to him from the censures and condemnation of the world. The way to arrive at the knowledge of our own truth and uprightness in Christianity, and to secure our inward peace, is to abound in love and in the works of love towards the Christian brethren.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
God is greater than our hearts: Readers divide on this line. John Calvin reads it as a warning, since God knows all things the heart knows and more. Brooke Foss Westcott reads it as comfort, God's knowledge of all things reaching past the heart that condemns to the love that is truly there.
1 John 3:20
“For if we have not this testimony, if in anything our heart, our own conscience, condemn us, much more does God, who is greater than our heart - An infinitely holier and a more impartial Judge. And knoweth all things - So that there is no hope of hiding it from him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:20
“Conscience is God's vicegerent, calls the court in his name, and acts for him. The answer of a good conscience towards God, 1 Pet. iii. God is chief Judge of the court: If our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart, superior to our heart and conscience in power and judgment; hence the act and judgment of the court are the act and judgment of God; as, 1.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 3:20
“For if our heart condemn us,.... Of want of love to the brethren, and of hypocrisy in it, as well as of any other sin; for the conscience, which is meant by the heart here, is accuser, witness and judge; it accuses of the evil of sin, and is as good as a thousand witnesses; and upon its own testimony pronounces guilty, and condemns.”
1 John 3:21-22
we have confidence before God: The settled conscience follows the troubled one: if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, the Greek parresia. Answered prayer goes with obedience, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight, and 5:14 adds according to His will.
1 John 3:21
“Beloved, if our heart condemn us not - If we so live as to have an approving conscience - that is, if we indulge in no secret sin; if we discharge faithfully every known duty; if we submit without complaining to all the allotments of Divine Providence. Then have we confidence toward God - Compare the 1Jn 3:19; 1Jn 2:28 notes; Act 24:16 note.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 John 3:21
“As long as you are in this life (for this life is nothing other than the way which we all take), do not ignore or reject the warnings of your conscience. For if you do so, when you have run your course, your conscience will rise up against you and accuse you before your judge, and thrust you in front of the judge's sentence and turn you over to eternal punishment. You will not have to endure this if along the way you show yourself kind toward this adversary and accept his well-intended rebukes with gratitude.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · CATENApatristic
we will receive from Him whatever we ask: Answered prayer belongs to the life of obedience. The one who keeps God's commandments asks for what pleases God, and receives it. John states the same condition at 5:14, asking according to His will.
1 John 3:22
“Whatsoever we ask - In such a spirit, we receive of him, for he delights to bless the humble, upright, and sincere soul. Because we keep his commandments - Viz., by loving him and loving our neighbor. These are the great commandments both of the old covenant and the new. And whoever is filled with this love to God and man will do those things which are pleasing to him; for love is the very soul and principle of obedience.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:22
“There is a spot that pollutes the uplifted face, when consciousness of its own guilt accuses the mind intent; for it is forthwith dashed from all confidence of hope, if when busied in prayer it be stung with recollection of sin not yet subdued. For it distrusts its being able to obtain what it longs for, in that it bears in mind its still refusing to do what it has heard from God.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book 10, Section 27patristic
1 John 3:22
“Not as though our merits earned a hearing for our prayers, but when we are believers in Christ, all our works of faith being the fruit of His Spirit in us, are "pleasing in God's sight"; and our prayers being the voice of the same Spirit of God in us, naturally and necessarily are answered by Him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 John 3:23-24
believe in the name of His Son: One command joins faith and love: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another. Obedience brings mutual abiding, and assurance comes by the Spirit He has given us. The Spirit leads into the testing of spirits at 4:1.
1 John 3:23
“And this is his commandment - His commandment, by way of eminence; the leading, principal thing which he enjoins on us; the commandment which lies at the foundation of all true obedience. That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ - See the notes at Mar 16:16. Compare Joh 16:1; Act 16:31. And love one another ... - This follows from the other, and hence they are mentioned as together constituting his commandment. Notes, Joh 13:35.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:23
“And this is his commandment,.... Having mentioned the keeping of the commandments of God, the apostle proceeds to show what they are; that they are faith in Christ, and love to one another; which two are reduced to one, because they are inseparable; where the one is, the other is; faith works by love.”
1 John 3:23
“And this is his commandment - All his commandments in one word. That we should believe and love - in the manner and degree which he hath taught. This is the greatest and most important command that ever issued from the throne of glory.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God: Keeping the commandments and abiding in God go together. The assurance that God abides in a believer comes from the Spirit He has given. This first mention of the Spirit in the letter leads into the testing of spirits at 4:1.
1 John 3:24
“And he that keepeth his commandments - That thus believes and loves. Abideth in him, and God in him: and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us - Which witnesses with our spirits that we are his children, and brings forth his fruits of peace, love, holiness. This is the transition to the treating of the Holy Spirit which immediately follows.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 3:24
“Dwelleth in him - i.e. in God; and he - God, in him - the believer. And hereby we know - We know by the Spirit which he hath given us that we dwell in God, and God in us. It was not by conjecture or inference that Christians of old knew they were in the favor of God, it was by the testimony of God’s own Spirit in their hearts; and this testimony was not given in a transient manner, but was constant and abiding while they continued under the influence of that faith that worketh by love.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 John 3:24
"And hereby we know that He dwells in us by His Spirit, which He has given us;" that is, by superintendence and foresight of future events.
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · From the Latin Translation of Cassiodoruspatristic
1 John 3:24
“We dwell in God by a happy relation to him, and spiritual union with him, through his Son, and by a holy converse with him; and God dwells in us by his word, and our faith fixed on him, and by the operations of his Spirit.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: The second cycle of the letter's tests, opened at 2:29, with the new birth as its ground, as Law classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Practices sin, practices righteousness | Practice and practices stand six times in the Berean text of verses 4 to 10. Practicing sin and practicing righteousness are set side by side, and each shows whose child a person is.The chapter's Berean text, counted from the store, translation id 3, 1 John 3:4 to 10. | 1 John 3:4, 1 John 3:7, 1 John 3:8, 1 John 3:10 |
| Two families | Verse 10 names the children of God and the children of the devil, and verses 8 to 12 set each family beside its father, with Cain as the example of the evil one's. The site's published exposition of verses 11 and 12 records Cain as the face of the second family.This site's published exposition of 1 John 3:9 to 12, The exposition_notes rows on 1 John 3:9 to 10 and 3:11 to 12, citing John Wesley, Albert Barnes, Adam Clarke and John Calvin. | 1 John 3:8, 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:12 |
| By this, four times | By this stands at verses 10, 16, 19 and 24 in the Berean text, and each time it names a sign by which something is known: the two families, what love is, belonging to the truth, and God's abiding by the Spirit.The chapter's Berean text, counted from the store, translation id 3, 1 John 3. | 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:16, 1 John 3:19, 1 John 3:24 |
Where the chapter stands
5 more paragraphs on the patterns
Chapter 3 carries the second cycle of the letter's tests, which Robert Law traced from 2:29 to 4:6 (The Tests of Life, 1909). Verses 1 to 10 take the test of righteousness, verses 11 to 18 the test of love, and verses 19 to 24 turn to assurance and hand the Spirit forward to 4:1.
The debated reading: cannot go on sinning
Verse 9 says the one born of God cannot go on sinning. John Wesley preached on the verse and holds that the one born of God, while he keeps himself in faith and love, does not commit sin (The Great Privilege of those that are Born of God, Sermon 19). John Calvin reads it of the Spirit's rule in the regenerate, who still sin yet are kept from sin's reign (Commentary on 1 John, on 3:9). Each position is stated by its holder and the page settles neither.
Where the Old Testament stands behind it
Cain and Abel of Genesis 4 give the chapter its example. The feature page on Cain and Abel tells the account, and verse 12 gives John's reading of the motive.
Keep studying
Studies11
People1
Words12
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The form and classifications
Robert Law, The Tests of Life, 1909.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistles of St. John; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on 1 John; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.