1 John Chapter 3
In this chapter John defines eternal life so that you appreciate how valuable it is, and gives you more information about what eternal life is, and what the experience of one who has eternal life is like. In summary, in this chapter, John says that eternal life is to be like Jesus in nature, and that it is the most wonderful thing to have, and that a person who has eternal life:
- Will purify himself from sin until he becomes like Jesus.
- Will be hated and persecuted by those who don’t have eternal life.
- Will not practice sin.
- Will display love towards his brother by meeting his needs.
- Will see God answering his prayers.
- Will sense the Holy Spirit witness to him from within that he has eternal life.
1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and {such} we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
It is a wonderful thing to know that we are being given the most valuable thing in the universe – the nature of God. That is why we can be called children of God – a chip of the old block, so to speak.
The world cannot understand why we are so fascinated by eternal life because they haven’t seen the value in it. The world (those who are not saved) cannot understand God’s character and so when we exhibit God’s character the world cannot understand us. So don’t expect your unconverted relatives and friends to praise you for behaving like God. Rather, expect them to mock you and persecute you.
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
What exactly will a child of God be like when he gets the full package of eternal life? John does not know. All John knows is that we’ll get the full package when Jesus returns, and that the full package will result in us becoming exactly like Jesus. This will happen because we’ll see all aspects of the nature of God at that time and so we’ll become just like He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope {fixed} on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
If we have hope that we will be like Him then we will purify ourselves just as He is pure. To purify oneself as He is pure is the same thing as to practice righteousness. If you see something in your life that is not like the life of Jesus then you work on it to make it conform to the life of Jesus.
The hope of being like Him is the motivation of working out one’s salvation. We greatly long to be like Him, and look forward to the day when we will be like Him. Therefore, when we see things in us that are not like Him we work on it just like a tidy housewife cannot bear to see dirt in her home. When she sees dirt she immediately gets to work and removes it.
We need to test ourselves to see whether we have a longing to be like Him. If we do not have such a longing then when He appears we will not be like Him because we will not see Him as He is. In other words, we are not saved.
Our standard is not any man, but the man Jesus. Our standard is perfection. This is what it means to purify ourselves ‘as He is pure’. We need to test ourselves to see whether we are satisfied with standards that are good enough for men, or whether we aim for perfection.
Eternal life is defined as becoming like Jesus. Therefore, if you have eternal life you will have this great desire to become like Jesus, and so you will be purifying yourself from all sin.
4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
John’s main point here is that if you are practicing sin you don’t have eternal life.
To practice sin is to want to sin. If there is even one sin, no matter how small, that you don’t want to give up then you don’t have eternal life.
11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
12 not as Cain, {who} was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
A person who has eternal life will love his brother.
If you are jealous of others you can’t have eternal life. Like Cain, those who hate their brother, belong to the world. We shouldn’t be surprised if the world hates us.
16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
How do you know if you really love someone? If you really love someone you make sacrifices for them. You give of your time and money and skill and convenience and pleasure for their benefit.
We must love in deed, not merely in word. That means that if your brother has a need, and you see it, then if you can meet the need you should do it.
19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
A person who has eternal life is pleasing to God and God gives him whatever he asks.
The two things that please God are one, believe in Jesus and two, love your brother.
23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Here is the definition of abiding in Him – to abiding in Him you must keep His commandments. There are two commandments to keep: one, believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and two, love others.
When you have eternal life, God dwells in you. When God dwells in you, He will witness to you from within that you have eternal life.
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