1 John 3

We are sons of God because the Holy Spirit lives in us. The love the Father has bestowed upon (given to) us is the anointing (grace) we receive of the Holy Spirit. The world does not know God, therefore the world does not know the "sons of God." The Doctrine of being children of God referenced in this and the next verse was also stated in John 1:12.

Even now we are children of God. We ought to have faith that when He (Jesus) appears, we will be "like" Him and we will see Him as He is (The Right and Just Bridegroom). This Doctrine was also stated in John 17:24.

This hope (faith) that we have will cause us to purify ourselves as Jesus is pure. Purifying is a process (grace through faith). If we allow God to direct our actions through our understanding and experience of Him, the result will be God's Righteousness through us. An effect of this Righteousness is purity (cleanness). Purifying ourselves is something we ought to do intentionally because of the faith we have in Jesus.

All sin is lawlessness, however, this did not mean that all lawlessness is sin. This verse is a victim of "causality abuse" all too often. We do not live under the Law. We live under grace. If someone interprets this verse to say that all lawlessness is sin they are contradicting the God-given definition of sin (Romans 14:23) and they are actually contradicting God.

Doctrine: Jesus was manifested (came to earth, became flesh) to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. There is no sin in Him. Jesus' heart was 100%, completely, absolutely pure! There was no sin in His whole Being. In Him there is no darkness at all.

It is impossible to sin during the times we allow God to flow through us. God's grace through us will always be Righteousness. Romans 7 showed that God's grace can encounter sin as it makes its way through our conscious brain with the result being sin. However, if the soul/mind of the believer intended good (allowing God's influence through their actions) and this sin came out, then it wasn't the believer (soul/mind) sinning, but the sin in the believer's body and there would be no condemnation. However, much like we have seen in 1 John 1, the believer would confess and repent when they were confronted with the fact this sin came out of them.

The second half of this verse spoke about those people who "walk in darkness" (people's soul/mind intentionally making progress away from God). Context was extremely important when interpreting this verse. If this verse was interpreted without context, people might put themselves and others into condemnation by saying even sinning once means you do not know God. However, every soul/mind that intentionally chooses to sin is a soul/mind that is choosing not to know God. This mind/soul is choosing not to be led by God via grace.

Deception comes from the enemy saying/doing a right WHAT but with a wrong HOW/WHY. We have to know the WHY and HOW in order to "let no man deceive" us. Knowing HOW and WHY we do Righteousness even as He is Righteous will lead us to intentionally being able to be Righteous through grace and if we know the HOW and WHY we will not be deceived.

Sin was brought into the world through Adam because of the serpent (who was influenced by the devil who sinned from the beginning). (See commentary for Genesis 3:11-12.) This was WHY Jesus came to earth. Jesus came to destroy sin (the works of the devil). This Doctrine concerning the devil was also stated in John 8:44.

This verse was about Jesus. He was begotten of God. We were created by God. The "seed" that remained in Jesus was the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that we (believers) have living in our hearts today. Jesus never sinned because He did nothing of Himself but only and always what pleased God. In order to understand WHY it said Jesus "cannot" sin you must understand the context.

This spoke to the truth that we learned from verse 6: It is impossible to sin during the times we allow God to flow through us. God's grace through us will always be Righteousness. Verses 8 and 9 contained Doctrine that was also stated in John 3:3-5. Also, Jesus has been judged and with His loss of free will His Nature has been established. Ever since Jesus' resurrection, Jesus has lost the ability to sin.

The children of God are known by doing two things:

1. Righteousness (grace) and

2. loving their brother

This was a huge point that was the framework for John's argument. Everything revolved around Righteousness and loving others. Why?

First Command: Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, spirit, and strength. This was the ultimate righteousness. This was a cause.

The effect of the First Command was the Second Command: Love your neighbor as yourself. If a person did the Second Command as a cause, it became a work and would wear the person out. If the person did the First Command, then God would do the Second Command through them.

Said another way, if a person did righteousness towards God the effect would be loving their brother, which would be Righteousness by God through us to others. The children of the devil are known by not doing Righteousness and loving not (hating) their brother.

This Doctrine was also stated in John 13:34.

Cain hated his brother: Genesis 4. Cain did not do Righteousness. Cain was "of the devil." This was proof of verse 10.

Do not be surprised if the world is Cain (hates) towards you. Jesus stated the world would hate us in John 15:20.

We know that we are saved (passed from death unto life) because we love our brothers. Those who hate their brother abide in death (the inability to repair). Those "abiding" in death are those who are making progress away from God.

Verse 16 gave an example of love. We know God's love because He gave us the ultimate value (His life, His Son) and we ought to give our lives for our brothers. Again, this was doing the Second Command as an effect of doing the First Command. Jesus stated this same Doctrine in John 15:13.

Verse 17 was a contrast of verse 16. Someone who has resources, sees a brother who needs, and does not give to this brother is not in fellowship. This is not love. John asked to be shown how it was possible for God's love to dwell in a person who did not love his brother. Again, John stated if there was no evidence of a person doing the Second Command, then how could the person say they were doing the First Command?

This was a huge verse: John said do not SAY you love, instead actually do it (in deed) and the proof was that it would create: love will have fruit. This verse ought to convict people who SAY they love but do not do it or do not bear fruit with their actions.

We ought to know that we are of the truth and our hearts ought to be assured before God. If our own heart condemns (accuses, finds fault with) us, then God will condemn us. If your heart knows that you have sinned then God, who knows all things, will definitely know you have sinned. This verse fits perfectly with the definition of sin from Romans 14:23: anything done apart from faith.

If our heart does not condemn us then we have boldness toward God. John was working backwards with his proof. Look at the verses from 2:27 through 3:2. John set up the point that ultimately everything was proven when God is manifest and we boldly face Him. The rest of 1 John actually continued to work back through all the points John had already made.

How do we have confidence toward God? How do we make sure our heart does not condemn us? We keep His commandments. We do those things pleasing in His sight.

God's commandments: Believe in Jesus Christ (First Command) and love one another (Second Command).

Likewise: Righteousness and loving others.

John introduced the Holy Spirit directly by name. Everything that was written previous to this sentence alluded to the Holy Spirit. It was at this point that John blatantly identified the Holy Spirit. Everything had already been stated, just not with a direct naming of the Person of the Holy Spirit.

If you keep God's commandments you dwell in God and God dwells in you. We know that God abides in us by the Holy Spirit that He gave us. God lives in us by His Spirit. We can only do Righteousness and love others by God (Holy Spirit) doing it through us.

Theme of Chapter 3: John presented a proof that began with stating that we are not afraid to face God because we are children of God and have eternal life. It ended proving the WHY: we do righteousness and love others because the Spirit lives in us.