For an explanation of this layout and the key to the books referenced, read here.
Chapter 3 (ESV–the verses in this chapter were taken from this version. Each chapter will be from a different version to avoid copyright issues.)
The Children of God, 3:1-3 NKJV (cont. from 2:28)
v. 1, See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) We are to see how great is God’s love because we are called His children. The world doesn’t see us that way. “This kind of perception about others [the world not knowing us] is a distinctively Christian perception.” (Life) “As believers, our self-worth is based on the fact that God loves us and calls us his children.” This “should encourage us to live as Jesus lived.”
(ESV) “the world does not know us. There is a built-n friction between those who know and serve Christ and those who do not.”
(Wiersbe) “3:1-3 … And since we have experienced the love of the Father, we have no desire to live in sin.”
(Recovery) “Because we are the children of God by a mysterious birth with the divine life, the world does not know us. … It [the world] was ignorant of God, so it is also ignorant of our divine birth.”
(Apologetics) “3:1-3 The Christian hope is rooted in the resurrection. … We will be raised with Christ and will be granted a resurrected, glorified body just like His (see 1 Co 15).”
v. 2, Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
(Bible Knowl Comm NT) “3:2-3. One who sets his hope by faith on the Son of God experiences an inward purification that is as complete as Christ’s own purity (“just as He is pure”). John thus prepared the ground for the assertions he would soon make (John 3:6, 9). New birth involved a perfect purification from sin.”
(Moody) “3:2-3. similar to Him in the glorified resurrection body, as well as purity. … believers will be fully and perfectly sanctified, completely free from the sin nature and the sinful deeds that flow from it.” If someone has this hope of being like Him, he “progressively though imperfectly, purifies himself now.”
(Life) “The rest of the chapter tells us what we have as we grow to resemble God: (1) victory over sin (3:4-9); (2) love for others (3:10-18); and (3) confidence before God (3:19-24).”
(ESV) Eternally, the believer will be “morally without sin, intellectually without falsehood or error, physically without weakness or imperfections, and filled continually with the Holy Spirit.”
v. 3, And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
(Vincent’s II) “Purified. … In the moral sense.”
(Expository) “CLEAN hagnizo … The word has a general moral, spiritual emphasis.”
(Prophecy) “John challenges his readers to purify their lives in the meantime in anticipation of Jesus’ coming.”
(Life) “To purify means to keep morally straight, free from the corruption of sin.”
FIRST JOHN 3 MEDITATION vv. 1-3.
Formerly we, as unbelieving and rebellious sinners, were separated from the covenants and promises God gave for His people. Now we are His own, in His family. Because we have received Christ by faith, we have become the children of God. The Scriptures teach this and the Holy Spirit confirms it, so we call Him our Father.
The rest of the unbelieving world generally doesn’t see anything different about us. We still look human. We catch colds. We do stupid things we regret. But they don’t understand our connection to the divine, our link to the Father and the Son. (Even we don’t, for the most part). There will be unity between the true children of God: we love one another, seek the things of the kingdom together, encourage one another to trust the Lord. But the world, not knowing God, cannot participate in this interplay of unity.
God’s desire is that we become like Him in moral purity and holiness, with His righteousness and relationship. Awaking to this purpose, grasping this expectation of us, we humbly submit to Him so we line up with His values and purposes. We are transformed by the Word that cleanses us from the values of the world as we apply it to our lives. Romans teaches us about this purpose and process of obedience of faith. We say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit. No to the law and yes to grace. No to trusting self and yes to faith in Christ. As these teachings take root, we are growing into His likeness. In all this, we are purifying ourselves, partnering with God in His sanctifying work. Throughout 1 John we’ll see other principles: of light, life, and love; anointing and abiding. This epistle gives us every reason to keep following the principles on this narrow path, and several strong instructions that help us see the difference between light and darkness, between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
