Page 539 - Demo

 JOHN 
31* See what love the Father has bestowed on
us that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are. The reason the world does not
know us is that it did not know him.a 2Beloved,
we are God’s children now; what we shall be has
not yet been revealed. We do know that when
it is revealed* we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is.b 3Everyone who has this hope
based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.c
Avoiding Sin. 4Everyone who commits sin
commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.*
5You know that he was revealed to take away
sins, and in him there is no sin.d 6No one who
remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen
him or known him. 7Children, let no one deceive
you. The person who acts in righteousness is
righteous, just as he is righteous. 8Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.e 9No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God.* 10In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.
III. LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER
11* For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another,f 12unlike Cain who belonged to the evil one and slaughtered his brother. Why did he slaughter him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous.g 13Do not be amazed, [then,] brothers, if the world hates you.h 14We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death.i 15Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.j 16The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.k 17If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him?l 18Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.m
The sacri ces of Cain and Abel, detail from the polyptych, The Mystic Lamb, by the van Eyck brothers (15th century)
3:2
This wonderful passage expresses the “in-between” nature of the life of faith. We do not know what eternal life will be like. All we know is that we are God’s children and that we will one day be like God. This is enough.
3:14
The test of whether we are truly God’s children is our mutual love. If we hate our brother or sister, that is, if we hate any other human being, we are like murderers.
We cannot claim to be Christian if we refuse compassion to another.
a. [3:1] Jn 1:12; Eph 1:5 / Jn 15:21; 17:25.
b. [3:2] Phil 3:21.
c. [3:3] 2:6.
d. [3:5] Is 53:9; Jn 1:29; 8:46; 1 Pt 2:22.
e. [3:8] Jn 8:44; 12:31–32.
f. [3:11] 2:7; Jn 13:34; 15:12, 17.
g. [3:12] Gn 4:8; Jude 11.
h. [3:13] Mt 24:9; Jn 15:18; 17:14.
i. [3:14] Lv 19:17; Jn 5:24.
j. [3:15] Jn 8:44.
k. [3:16] Mt 20:28; Jn 10:11; 15:13.
l. [3:17] Dt 15:7, 11; Jas 2:15–16.
m. [3:18] Jas 1:22.
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* [3:1–3] The greatest sign of God’s love is the gift of his Son (Jn 3:16) that has made Christians true children of God. This relationship is a present reality and also part of the life to come; true knowledge of God will ultimately be gained, and Christians prepare themselves now by virtuous lives in imitation of the Son.
* [3:2] When it is revealed: or “when he is revealed” (the subject of the verb could be Christ).
* [3:4] Lawlessness: a reference to the activity of the antichrist, so it is expressed as hostility toward God and a rejection of Christ. The author goes on to contrast the states of sin and righteousness. Christians do not escape sin but realize that when they sin they cease to have fellowship with God. Virtue and sin distinguish the children of God from the children of the
devil.
* [3:9] A habitual sinner is a child of the devil, while a child of God, who by de nition is in
fellowship with God, cannot sin. Seed: Christ or the Spirit who shares the nature of God with
the Christian.
* [3:11–18] Love, even to the point of self-sacri ce, is the point of the commandment. The story
of Cain and Abel (1 Jn 3:12–15; Gn 4:1–16) presents the rivalry of two brothers, in a contrast of evil and righteousness, where envy led to murder. For Christians, proof of deliverance is love toward others, after the example of Christ. This includes concrete acts of charity, out of our material abundance.