1 JOHN
Chapter 3
The apostle admires the love of God in making believers his children.
(1,2) The purifying influence of the hope of seeing Christ, and the danger
of pretending to this, and living in sin. (3-10)
Verses 1-2
Little does the world know of the happiness of the real followers of
Christ. Little does the world think that these poor, humble, despised ones,
are favourites of God, and will dwell in heaven. Let the followers of Christ
be content with hard fare here, since they are in a land of strangers,
where their Lord was so badly treated before them. The sons of God must
walk by faith, and live by hope. They may well wait in faith, hope, and
earnest desire, for the revelation of the Lord Jesus. The sons of God will
be known, and be made manifest by likeness to their Head. They shall be
transformed into the same image, by their view of him.
Verses 3-10
The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow
any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites,
not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires
and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our
sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble
mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that
is, in Christ, was no sin. All the sinless weaknesses that were consequences
of the fall, he took; that is, all those infirmities of mind or body which
subject man to suffering, and expose him to temptation. But our moral infirmities,
our proneness to sin, he had not. He that abides in Christ, continues not
in the practice of sin. Renouncing sin is the great proof of spiritual
union with, continuance in, and saving knowledge of the Lord Christ. Beware
of self-deceit. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, and to be a follower
of Christ, shows an interest by faith in his obedience and sufferings.
But a man cannot act like the devil, and at the same time be a disciple
of Christ Jesus. Let us not serve or indulge what the Son of God came to
destroy. To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed by the power of the
Spirit of God. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not
an art, a matter of dexterity and skill, but a new nature. And the regenerate
person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do
who are not born again. There is that light in his mind, which shows him
the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which
disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that
opposes sinful acts. And there is repentance for sin, if committed. It
goes against him to sin with forethought. The children of God and the children
of the devil have their distinct characters. The seed of the serpent are
known by neglect of religion, and by their hating real Christians. He only
is righteous before God, as a justified believer, who is taught and disposed
to righteousness by the Holy Spirit. In this the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil. May all professors of the gospel lay these
truths to heart, and try themselves by them.
