1 John 3
1 That we should be called - That is, should be, the children of God.
Therefore the world knoweth us not - They know not what to make of us.
We are a mystery to them.
2 It doth not yet appear - Even to ourselves. What we shall be - It
is something ineffable, which will raise the children of God to be, in
a manner, as God himself. But we know, in general, that when he, the Son
of God, shall appear, we shall be like him - The glory of God penetrating
our inmost substance. For we shall see him as he is - Manifestly, without
a veil. And that sight will transform us into the same likeness.
3 And every one that hath this hope in him - In God.
4 Whosoever committeth sin - Thereby transgresseth the holy, just, and
good law of God, and so sets his authority at nought; for this is implied
in the very nature of sin.
5 And ye know that he - Christ. Was manifested - That he came into the
world for this very purpose. To take away our sins - To destroy them all,
root and branch, and leave none remaining. And in him is no sin - So that
he could not suffer on his own account, but to make us as himself.
6 Whosoever abideth in communion with him, by loving faith, sinneth
not - While he so abideth. Whosoever sinneth certainly seeth him not -
The loving eye of his soul is not then fixed upon God; neither doth he
then experimentally know him - Whatever he did in time past.
7 Let no one deceive you - Let none persuade you that any man is righteous
but he that uniformly practises righteousness; he alone is righteous, after
the example of his Lord.
8 He that committeth sin is a child of the devil; for the devil sinneth
from the beginning - That is, was the first sinner in the universe, and
has continued to sin ever since. The Son of God was manifested to destroy
the works of the devil - All sin. And will he not perform this in all that
trust in him?
