31/01/21 – 1 John 3:10-17
John compares those who love their Christian brethren with those who say they do but actually don’t and therefore cannot be Christian brethren.
1 John 3:10 – In this the
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth (present participle – continuous
tense) not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
In this – referring to the previous verse 1 John 3:9 – Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Anyone who is truly born again of God cannot commit sin because his new birth is genuine. Of course, he can sin, but should not as a matter of habit or continually. Those who are genuinely born again should demonstrate this by a commitment to avoid the influence of their old sin natures, to the extent that others should notice this as visible evidence of their new birth in Christ. Thus, the changed nature of the genuine Christian should be manifest (revealed; made visible) to others around them. A Christian does not become perfected overnight, though, but there should be some visible change which continues in that person.
the children of the devil – Those who (continually) do not do righteousness and therefore are not born again of God. Note what Jesus said about the pharisees in John 8:44, that they were of their father the devil.
This is another dichotomy: the children of God (who do not regularly commit sin because they are born of God) and the children of the devil (who cannot do righteousness because they are not of God). That is, your lives will demonstrate whether you are children of God or children of the devil.
1 John 2:6 – He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Romans 6:16-18 – 16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Romans 8:5 – For they
that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are
after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
his brother – adelphos. Here it would refer to fellow-believers, those brethren who claimed to be of one mind with one another. Those to whom John is writing would have considered themselves to be brethren. But John has set up a checklist by which they may tick the boxes to see where they really belong. If they are truly brothers (fellow-Christians), then the checklist should define them as Christians. However, it seems that there were those who said they were Christians but walked in darkness instead (1 John 1:5-7).
neither he that loveth not his brother – John has already stated clearly that those who hate their brothers were not of the light but of the darkness instead (1 John 2:9-11).
1 John 2:9 – He that
saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is
in darkness even until now.
Therefore those who did not love their brethren were demonstrating that they
were not born again of God. This is just another checklist item that John wants
ticked off: those who are truly born again of God will live according to their
new spiritual nature and not the old sin nature. In particular, John notes
again his requirement for Christians to love their fellow-Christians. Children
of God do righteousness and love their brothers in Christ. Those who tick the “unrighteousness”
and “hating brother” boxes are instead children of the devil. Note though that
“doeth” (“doeth
not righteousness”) is a present participle, indicating an ongoing or
continuous action. Thus, “whosoever doeth not
righteousness” can read as “whosoever who does unrighteousness as an
ongoing matter of habit or nature”.
1 John 3:11 – For this is the
message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
the message – aggelia (message;
announcement; news) aggelia is used only once in the NT –
here – and is derived from aggelos (angel;
messenger; one who is sent) (aggelos is
translated “angel” 179 times out of 186 NT occurrences and “messenger” the
other 7 times. Angels are literally “messengers”.)
The message is that they should demonstrate their Christian status by
their love one for another.
John 13:34-35 – 34A
new commandment I give unto you, That ye love (agapao) one
another; as I have loved (agapao) you, that ye also love (agapao) one
another. 35By this shall all [men] know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love (agape) one
to another.
John reminds them that this commandment is not a new message.
1 John 2:7 – Brethren,
I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from
the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the
beginning.
2 John 1:5-6 – 5And
now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee,
but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6And
this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment,
That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
For this is why you should love one another (love
your Christian brethren; should love one another): because it is an
announcement that was made from the beginning. (“from the
beginning” would refer to the giving of the law to the
Hebrews as per Leviticus 19:18.
1 John 3:12 – Not as Cain, [who]
was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him?
Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
the wicked one – poneros, referring to the devil here as per the context.
You should love your brother (Christian brethren), not like Cain did when he killed his own brother. Cain was of the devil (and therefore not of God – see Vs 10 above) and thus acted unrighteously and slew his brother (instead of loving him as he should have).
And why did Cain kill Abel? Because his works were evil; he was a child of the devil and therefore wicked (he did wicked things). He was obeying his sin nature which he (along with all mankind) inherited from Adam and had apparently done nothing to change it. Not so with Abel who seemingly had a new-man spiritual nature that was of God and therefore he was able to carry out acts of righteousness.
John is declaring the Cain and Abel situation as a dichotomy: one who was of the wicked one (the devil) and therefore did not have the righteousness of God and didn’t love his brother, and the other who was of God and therefore did righteous acts and, we may assume, loved his brother.
Those to whom John is writing are being told that they may be sorted out into one group or the other depending on how they “walk” their lives. Those to whom John is writing may be seen as either “Cains” or “Abels”, a bit like sorting out the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) where the sheep are those who showed love for others by their care for them, and the goats are those who didn’t have the same love for others.
John is continuing to categorise his readers (and those with whom they interact) as either genuine Christians or pseudo-Christians.
1 John 3:13 – Marvel not, my
brethren, if the world (kosmos) hate you.
Marvel not – or “Do not wonder” or “Do not be surprised”
the world – kosmos. In 1 John, John always uses kosmos to describe either the whole world of mankind, or the evil world that is opposed to Christians. In fact, even in the gospel of John, Jesus always uses kosmos (the world) as either all mankind who have sinned and need saving, or the world of wickedness that opposed God’s people. On the one occasion in John where kosmos doesn’t refer to the whole world in total (John 12:19) the pharisees are noted as having said that “the world is gone after him.” Even here, they are simply using a saying that means everyone is there, or that it looks like everyone is there, going after Jesus.
Here in 1John 3:13, it is clear that kosmos refers to the world of the devil, the world of sin, the world that stands in opposition to God’s people.
In a way, John here is repeating what he had already written in John 15:17-19 where kosmos is translated “the world” 6 times – 17These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you. 19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Jesus came into this world in order to die for it (kosmos) so that those who believed in Him would be able to obtain eternal life. kosmos is used 4 times in the following:
John 3:16-17 – 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John says that we shouldn’t be surprised if the kosmos hates us; in fact, he teaches that it is only to be expected that the kosmos should hate us. This is that same kosmos that we are not to love, nor the things that are in the kosmos (1 John 2:15), because loving the kosmos denies any love we can also have for God. Of course, it is the kosmos for whom Jesus died (“the whole world” – holos kosmos – 1 John 2:2) but most of that kosmos for whom He died will love the kosmos too much to want to love God instead. Therefore, those who have chosen to love the kosmos will be opposed to those who have chosen to love God instead. It really is a choice between one or the other, and each side will be an enmity to the other.
James 4:4 – Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
You cannot serve both God and mammon (the world).
1 John 3:14 – We know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not [his] brother abideth in death.
know – oida Therefore an understanding is involved here. Perfect tense.
have passed – metabaino (to
pass over from one place to another; to remove; depart) Perfect tense,
therefore an action accomplished already in the past.
from – or “out of”
Thus “We (genuine Christians) should have already
understood that we have already passed over out of death into life ….” This is
an already accomplished action in our past. We have already “passed from death unto life” when we were born again.
John 5:24 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed (metabaino – perfect tense) from death unto life.
We have been translated (methistemi – removed from one place to another).
Colossians 1:13 – Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:
It is like moving from one house to another; we no
longer dwell in the old house and now dwell in a new house. We are new
creatures and therefore have a new dwelling place to match.
2 Corinthians
5:17
– Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Our new house is now the dwelling place and temple
of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 – Know ye not
that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you?
It is because we love (agapao)
the brethren that we should already know and understand that we have passed
from death into life. That is, our love for our brethren demonstrates that we
have already been born again.
Back in Vs 10 above (also see 1 John 2:9-11),
John has taught that if we do not love the brethren, we are not of God but
instead children of the devil. So we should know, if
we love the brethren, that we must therefore be the children of God. Our love
for our brethren manifests (reveals) this (makes this evident).
But (and here’s that other side of the coin again,
the other part of this dichotomy), if you do not love your brother (as a
Christian should love another Christian), then you have not yet passed
over out of death into life; you remain (abide) in death. John’s checklist
clearly defines which box should be ticked!
1 John 3:15 – Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
hateth – miseo (hate; detest; can be a comparative
term meaning to love less than someone or something else)
know – oida
(Perfect tense) Thus “should already know and understand”
eternal life – aionios
+ zoe
abiding – meno
(abide; remain; dwell; continue)
Anyone who hates his brother (more specifically, his
Christian brother) is a murderer. Jesus touched on this when He said that being
angry with your brother without a cause (assume that hate is involved
here) was in danger of judgment.
Matthew 5:21-22 – 21Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
In John 8:44 Jesus called the pharisees liars and the children of the devil who was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies.
He also declared the pharisees to be murderers of the righteous.
Matthew 23:34-35 – 34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and [some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from city to city: 35That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
But, King David was a murderer; he ordered a man to be killed to hide his sin with Bathsheba. Yet it is expected that he will have eternal life in heaven. And, while the pharisees were called murderers and condemned to hell by Jesus, some of them may not have actually had anyone killed. So what defines a murderer here? John has already said that “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8) yet if a Christian sins it doesn’t mean he is of the devil. It has to do with his nature: if it is his nature to sin (because he has no new spiritual nature), then he can only act according to that old sin nature, therefore he sins. A genuine Christian has a new spiritual nature and while he walks according to that new nature, he will not sin. However, if he then obeys his old sin nature and sins, he should know that he has done wrong; his conscience should make him aware of it, and the need to repent and confess his sin before God.
Titus 1:15 – Unto the pure all things [are] pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
So John here is talking about a murderer (either actual or in his heart) who lacks the spiritual nature to be able to repent and confess, but instead delights in his sin, for he knows of nothing better in which to delight. Such are not born again of God and therefore are acting according to their nature when they sin.
Psalm 1:1, 2, 4 – 1Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2But his delight [is] in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. ….. 4The ungodly [are] not so:
1 John 3:16 – Hereby perceive
we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought
to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.
perceive – ginosko
(to know) Perfect tense, therefore have already perceived.
hereby – literally (in; by; with) + (this; this one) This is translated “In this” in 1 John 3:10 and refers to the discussion in previous verses.
In 1 John 3:16, it refers to the need for Christians
to love one another (the brethren). John is relating our need to love the
brethren according to the ultimate example of love shown to us by Christ.
John 15:12-13 – 12This is my commandment, That ye
love one another, as I have loved you. 13Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Romans 5:6-8 – 6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
In this way
we (should) have known (or have experienced) the love (of Christ) because He
laid down His life for us, setting us an example that we should follow: to (be
prepared to; be ready to) lay down our lives for our brethren.
We must live
our lives as He has shown us.
1 John 2:5-6 – 5But whoso keepeth his word, in
him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6He
that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to
walk, even as he walked.
We have been
called to suffer for others as Christ suffered for us.
1 Peter 2:21 – For even hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should
follow his steps:
1 John 3:17 – But whoso hath
this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his
bowels [of compassion] from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
good – bios (life; that by which life is
sustained; resources; wealth; goods)
It refers to our property and assets in this world, notably here those things which we consider necessary for life, such as food, clothing and shelter.
Translated “of life” in 1 John 2:16 (“the pride of life”).
shutteth up –
kleio (shut; shut up; shut up so that a
thing is inaccessible to one)
bowels – the bowels were regarded as the seat of the more violent
passions, such as anger and love; but by the Hebrews as the seat of the
tenderer affections, esp. kindness, benevolence, compassion; hence our heart
(tender mercies, affections, etc.) To shut up our bowels would mean a lack of
compassion for the needs of others, to have the necessities of life (possibly
in abundance) and yet refuse to share them with our Christian brethren.
dwelleth – meno
(abide; remain; dwell; continue)
John has taught that we are to abide in Christ. Here it instead refers to God’s
love abiding in us. If we cannot love the brethren with our worldly goods, then
how can we claim that God’s love abides in us? John says that denying our brother’s
needs denies our love for him and is evidence that God’s love does not abide in
us. Thus hating our brother means we are walking in
darkness (1 John 2:9) and not abiding in the light (1 John 2:10-11).
Also note 1 John 4:20 – If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
We are to do good to all especially our Christian
brethren (Galatians 6:10; Romans 12:13).
So, if we truly love our Christian brethren, especially those who are in need of the necessities of life, then we should demonstrate God’s love in us by sharing our worldly goods (necessities of life) with them. Whether or not we love our Christian brethren may say a lot about our personal standing with God.
To Messages and Teachings page
List of all my posts on this site
Hoppers Crossing Christian Church homepage