1 John

Overcoming Evil by Listening to the Apostle. The beginning of this section (3:11, “this is the message”) and its summary (4:6, “Whoever knows God listens to us”) mark these verses as describing how to avoid the “practice of sinning” and “lawlessness” (3:4).

The Christian “hope” is rooted in the resurrection. Christianity is not a dualism, viewing the spirit as good and the body as evil. We will be raised with Christ and will be granted resurrected, glorified bodies like his (see 1Co 15).

the world does not know us. There is built-in friction between those who know and serve Christ and those who do not.

What we will be means having glorified bodies that will never be sick or grow old or die, and being completely without sin. No one like that has yet appeared on earth (except Christ himself after his resurrection). we shall be like him. In eternity, Christians will be morally without sin, intellectually without falsehood or error, physically without weakness or imperfections, and filled continually with the Holy Spirit. But “like” does not mean “identical to,” and believers will never be (e.g.) omniscient or omnipotent as Christ is, since he is both man and God.

Children of God and the Forsaking of Sin. To confess the Son and to have the Father (2:23) profoundly alters daily living.

Lawlessness (Gk. anomia) is activity bereft of God’s guidance and in violation of his law. sin is lawlessness. Even Christians sin (1:9; 2:1), so it may seem like a trivial matter. But to disregard sin’s grave implications is disastrous.

Jesus appeared in order to take away sins, not only so that sin might be forgiven (1:9) but also so that it might cease to exercise its tyrannical bondage. in him there is no sin. A reminder that “God is light” (1:5), and his Son embodies his sinlessness.

No one who abides … keeps on sinning. True followers of Christ do not recklessly and habitually violate what their anointing (2:20, 27) has planted within them (see note on 3:9–10). Those who do habitually sin have neither seen him nor known him. They are not genuine Christians. On “abides,” see also notes on John 8:31; 15:4.

The reason the Son of God appeared restates v. 5 but here specifies the connection of sin to the devil. Knowing Christ means becoming involved in an all-out war against the works of the devil, that is, the practice of sinning.

born of God. See John 3:3–8. God’s seed. Some take this to be the Word of God that brings about the new birth (cf. James 1:18, 22; 1 Pet. 1:23, 25). Others see it as a way of speaking of the Holy Spirit in his regenerating and transforming presence within the believer. Since the Holy Spirit works through the Word in regeneration, both of these ideas are likely intended here. In other words, because the Word is present in the believer’s heart through the work of the Spirit, the believer cannot keep on sinning. Thus the hearts of genuine Christians (those who are truly children of God) have been so transformed that they cannot live in a pattern of continual sin—though this does not mean that Christians are ever completely free from sin in this life (see 1 John 1:8–10). By this it is evident. Or, as Jesus said of false prophets, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16). does not love his brother. John returns to the ethical dimension, the true barometer of what people really believe, whatever they may say.

Overcoming Cain’s Malice. In John 8:44 Jesus points to the devil as the arch liar and murderer. Here John uses Cain (Gen. 4:1–16) to introduce discussion of what Christians must both avoid and pursue.

Do not be surprised. Abel did the right thing and was bitterly opposed (v. 12). John knows this dynamic is at work in every age (see John 16:2–3, 33).

We know … because we love. An assurance of salvation is the inner drive that leads one to care for fellow believers (see note on 2:3).

is a murderer. John agrees with the teaching of Jesus (Matt. 5:22, 28) that outward conformity to God’s command (“You shall not murder,” Ex. 20:13) is not enough, for even a heartfelt desire to break the command violates it (note the command about inward desires in Ex. 20:17).

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. Jesus’ path to the cross marks the selfless, self-giving way of life to which his followers are called.

whenever our heart condemns us. Whenever one has an inward conviction of sin. It is vital in such times to have a living faith; the proposition that God is greater than our heart grants us assurance that he has forgiven us through the atoning work of Christ.

A clear conscience before God leads to boldness and confidence before God in prayer.

whatever we ask we receive. Cf. note on 5:15. Because we keep his commandments implies a direct connection between obeying God and receiving answers to prayer. Do what pleases him implies it is possible to do things each day that actually “please” God.

his commandment, that we believe. Personal trust in Christ is just as important as the ethical behavior stressed in vv. 11–22.

the Spirit. This is the letter’s first explicit mention of the third person of the Trinity (see also 4:2, 6, 13; 5:6, 8). But as author of the Fourth Gospel, John would have presupposed from the start of this letter the existence and importance of the “Helper,” “the Spirit of truth,” whom Jesus promised to send (see John 14:16–18, 26; 15:26; 16:7–14; 20:22).