1 John 3

John marvels at the Father’s love that makes us His children, and shows that this new birth changes how we live. Those born of God turn from sin, as Christ came to destroy the devil’s works, and they love other believers in real, costly ways. The chapter ends with the confidence this gives us before God and the Spirit’s witness that He lives in us.

1 John 3:1

John asks us to look hard at the Father’s love. We are not merely called God’s children; we are His children in fact. The world misjudges believers because it never knew the Father in the first place.

BSA: love (“agape, charity”): This is self-giving love that acts for another’s good, and God has poured it out on us as a gift. given (“bestowed, granted”): Our place in God’s family is a gift we did not earn.

Greek: ποταπὴν (potapēn, G4217) — “of what sort, how remarkable.” John is amazed. It means a love from another realm, of a kind we have never seen before.

See also: John 1:12.

1 John 3:2

Even now we are God’s children, though our full glory is still hidden. When Christ appears, we will be made like Him, because we will see Him as He truly is. Seeing Him will complete the change in us.

BSA: revealed (“made manifest, disclosed”): What we will become is now hidden, but it will one day be shown openly. like Him (“similar in nature, having His character”): The promise is a real likeness to Christ in character, not just a change of place.

See also: Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 13:12.

1 John 3:3

Hope in Christ does not make us careless. Anyone who truly expects to meet Him wants to be clean now. Christ Himself is the pattern of purity we look to, and the hope itself draws us toward it.

BSA: purifies (“makes holy, cleanses”): The word speaks of a continuing effort to keep ourselves clean for Him.

Greek: ἁγνίζει (hagnizei, G48) — “makes pure, cleanses.” It is a present-tense verb, so the purifying is steady and ongoing. It is the daily habit of someone who expects a Guest.

1 John 3:4

John says sin is more than a slip. It is lawlessness, a refusal to live under God’s rule. To keep on practicing sin is to side with rebellion against God, however mild it may seem.

BSA: lawlessness (“rebellion against God’s standards”): Sin is at root a rejection of God’s authority, not only a failure to measure up.

Greek: ἀνομία (anomia, G458) — “lawlessness.” It means living as if there were no law, without regard for God’s will. It describes an attitude as well as an act.

1 John 3:5

Christ came into the world to take away sins, and He has no sin of His own. He alone could deal with sin, being clean Himself. A Savior who removes sin cannot be its friend, and neither can those who follow Him.

BSA: take away (“remove, lift up”): He lifts sin off us and carries it away.

See also: John 1:29; Hebrews 4:15.

1 John 3:6

Staying close to Christ and a life of unbroken sinning do not go together. John is describing a settled habit, not a single failure. Someone who goes on in sin has not truly known Him.

BSA: remains (“abideth, stays”): To remain in Christ is to live in steady closeness with Him, not to visit now and then.

Greek: ἁμαρτάνει (hamartanei, G264) — “keeps on sinning.” The present tense points to a continuing pattern. John is not claiming that believers never sin. He contrasts this with 1 John 1:8-9.

See also: 1 John 1:8-9.

1 John 3:7

John warns his dear children not to be led astray. A person is shown to be righteous by what he does, not by what he claims. Our righteousness comes from Christ and takes on His likeness.

BSA: deceive (“no man, nothing”): John treats it as a real danger that someone may talk us into thinking we can be righteous in name only.

1 John 3:8

Sin has a family likeness. Those who keep on sinning are following the devil, who has sinned from the beginning. But the Son of God appeared for this very purpose: to undo what the devil has done.

BSA: destroy (“loose, break up”): Christ unties and dismantles the devil’s works as one would take apart a structure.

Greek: λύσῃ (lysē, G3089) — “to loosen, undo, break up.” The word means to take apart or set free. Christ undoes the devil’s work and releases those it held.

See also: Hebrews 2:14.

1 John 3:9

God’s own life, like a seed, is placed in the one born of Him. That life resists sin and cannot settle into it as a way of life. John describes the direction of a changed life, not perfection.

BSA: seed (“nature, character”): The new birth plants God’s own nature within us, and it grows. abides (“remains, dwells”): God’s life does not pass through us but stays within us.

Greek: σπέρμα (sperma, G4690) — “seed.” Like a seed it carries the life of its parent. God’s life in us is what gives the new birth its power to change us.

See also: 1 Peter 1:23.

1 John 3:10

There are two families, and their conduct shows which one a person belongs to. John gives two plain marks: practicing righteousness and loving fellow believers. Lacking both shows a person is not yet living as God’s child.

BSA: distinguished (“clearly separated, made manifest”): The two families can be told apart by how their members live.

1 John 3:11

The call to love one another is not new. John’s readers had heard it from the very start of their faith in Christ. It is the heart of the gospel message and not an optional extra.

BSA: love (“show esteem and goodwill”): This love is a steady goodwill toward others, more than a passing feeling.

See also: John 13:34-35.

1 John 3:12

Cain shows where hatred leads. He killed his brother because Abel’s life, being righteous, exposed his own evil. Hatred often grows from resentment of goodness in others.

BSA: murdered (“slew, killed”): The word is strong: Cain cut his brother down in violence.

Greek: ἔσφαξεν (esphaxen, G4969) — “slaughtered.” This is the word for killing violently, as with a sacrificial animal. It shows how brutal Cain’s act was.

See also: Genesis 4:3-8.

1 John 3:13

Believers should not be shocked when the world hates them. Cain hated Abel for his goodness, and the world often reacts the same way to those who belong to Christ. Opposition is not a sign that something has gone wrong.

BSA: world (“orderly arrangement”): Here it means human society organized without God.

See also: John 15:18-19.

1 John 3:14

Love for fellow believers is evidence that we have crossed from death into life. Where there is no love, the person is still in the old condition of death. Love is a sign of life, not the way we earn it.

BSA: passed (“been translated, changed”): It is a real move from one realm into another. remains (“stays, abides”): Without love, a person is still living where he began.

See also: John 5:24.

1 John 3:15

Hatred is murder at the root. Jesus taught that anger in the heart is the seed of the deed. Someone who nurses hatred cannot be said to have the life of God within.

BSA: murderer (“a taker of life, controlled by hatred”): Hatred already has the heart of a killer, even without the act.

See also: Matthew 5:21-22.

1 John 3:16

The cross shows us what love is. Jesus gave up His own life for us. That is the measure for His followers, who are called to give themselves up for fellow believers.

BSA: love (“agape, selfless affection”): Love is defined by sacrifice, not by feeling. laid down (“sacrificed, gave up”): Jesus gave His life freely and deliberately.

See also: John 15:13.

1 John 3:17

Sacrifice may begin with something small. If we have what we need and see a believer in want, yet close our hearts, God’s love is not at work in us. Love shows itself in practical help.

BSA: compassion (“affection, sympathy, pity”): The word speaks of deep, gut-level feeling that should move us to act.

Greek: σπλάγχνα (splanchna, G4698) — “inward parts, deep feelings.” The ancients saw the gut as the seat of strong emotion. John pictures a heart slammed shut against a needy brother.

See also: James 2:15-16.

1 John 3:18

Words are cheap. John calls his children to love in deeds that are real and sincere, not merely talk. True love is shown by what we do.

BSA: action (“deed, work, toil”): Love is shown in work that costs us something. truth (“reality, sincerity”): Genuine love is the real thing, not an imitation.

1 John 3:19-20

Loving in deed gives us reassurance before God. When a troubled conscience accuses us, we can remember that God is greater than our hearts and knows everything, including our sincere desire to love Him and others.

BSA: assure (“persuade, comfort”): God’s knowledge of us can quiet a restless conscience.

Greek: μείζων (meizōn, G3173) — “greater.” God is greater than our hearts. His knowledge and mercy exceed our self-accusation.

See also: Psalm 103:13-14.

1 John 3:21-22

When our conscience is clear, we can come to God boldly. Those who walk in obedience and seek to please Him pray in line with His will, so their requests are received.

BSA: confidence (“boldness, freedom in speaking”): It is the freedom of a child who speaks openly to a father. pleasing (“acceptable, agreeable, delightful”): A life that delights God finds its prayers in harmony with His wishes.

Greek: παρρησίαν (parrēsian, G3954) — “boldness, freedom of speech.” It means speaking freely and openly with nothing to hide. This is how a child approaches a loving parent.

See also: 1 John 5:14-15.

1 John 3:23

God’s commandment comes down to two parts joined together: trust in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. Faith and love belong together as the pattern of the Christian life.

BSA: name (“character, authority”): To believe in His name is to trust all that He is and has done.

See also: John 13:34.

1 John 3:24

Those who obey God live in Him and He in them. The proof that He lives in us is the Spirit He has given. This leads John into the next chapter on testing the spirits.

BSA: remains (“stays, abides”): This is a shared home: we in God and God in us. Spirit (“the Holy Spirit, the divine breath”): The Spirit’s presence is God’s own pledge that He lives within us.

See also: Romans 8:16; John 14:23.