Epistles of John

In contrast to the one who is pure, the one who makes a practice of sinning is practicing lawlessness (3:4). The word lawless evokes memories of the old west, people living without restraint and making their own rules. The old west bad guy might “make it a habit to be bad.”

In the Greek Old Testament, the word ἀνομία meant far more than breaking the Mosaic Law. It has the sense of disdain for the Law. In classical Greek the noun had the connotation of the denial of a law (Brill DAG). Those who are lawless believe they are not under the authority of the law.  For example, when the state of Michigan passed the seatbelt law, many people simply ignored it and lived as if that law did not apply to them. They lived in denial of the clear command of the state government (until the police started writing tickets for not wearing your seatbelt).

Applied to a theological idea like Jesus is the Messiah, the opponents certainly know this is what John has said in his Gospel, but they deny that it is valid and they reject that teaching as having any impact for their lives. I might read an essay on the importance of going to confession and doing penance in the Catholic tradition. I can hear the words and understand what they are saying, but I will deny that it has anything to do with me as a Protestant.

The opponents seem to say that since Jesus has died on the cross and fulfilled God’s Law, God’s Law no longer any authority over them. If (as Paul says) we are free from the Law, then what the Law said was sin is no longer sin. If a kid who is a day short of his twenty-first birthday buys cigarettes and alcohol, then they are breaking the law. But if they wait a day and buy it after their birthday, that law no longer has any authority over them and they are free to drink and smoke legally. The opponents are simply saying if the Law is fulfilled in Jesus, then the old laws do not apply anymore. They can “drink and smoke” all they want since they are not under those old laws.

Karen Jobes points to Leviticus 26:43 as an example of the use of the world in the Septuagint. To be lawless is to have disdain for the Law of God, to knowingly suppress the clear revelation of God and do what he has said “ought not be done” (1, 2, & 3 John, 143). This is not far from Paul’s description of the human race in Romans 1:18-32.

In the context of eschatological judgment, it is possible John knew the teaching of Jesus in the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:21). When the many who did miracles in the name of Jesus come before the Son of Man at the judgement at the time of the second coming, Jesus will send them away into the darkness where there is gnashing of teeth, saying “I never knew you, away from men you evildoers (ἀνομία).

Is this a reference to the opponents who have gone out from John’s churches? Likely, they are denying the clear revelation of God’s word through the witness, the last of the Apostles, John. They know what John has said about Jesus and they are simply denying it as valid for them.

Since Jesus has dealt with sin, the one who remains in Jesus does not make a practice of sinning (3:5-6). This is the second “appearing” of Jesus in this section of 1 John. In 2:28, the word refers to the future appearing of Jesus in judgment. Here the word refers to the incarnation, he appeared to take away sin.

Since Jesus has no sin, the one who is abiding in him should not keep on sinning. In the context of these verses, John is making a contrast with the ones who are lawless, who deny that God’s clear revelation has any authority over their lives. For the one who is remaining in Christ, it is impossible to think God’s revelation has no authority over them!

The grammar is once again very important for understanding the practical theology of this verse. The Greek phrase καὶ οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν can be understood as “he is not able to sin,” of “and he cannot sin” (KJV). This sounds like the opponents as I suggested above. But the present tense verbs are usually taken here as continuous, so that most modern translations say no one who abides/remains in Jesus will “keep on sinning” (as in the NIV, ESV).

The argument John makes is also based on the nature of Jesus: he took sin away and he himself had no sin, so those who are so closely associated with Jesus that they can be called the children of God (as he is the son of God) ought to live a life without sin.

Because we are the dearly loved children of God, God gives us the gift of his love. A son might expect to receive something from his father, the wealthier the father, the more extravagant the gift. If we have been born again then God is our father and God has access to all of the wealth of the universe, so his gifts to us can be lavish indeed!

Because we are children of God and have received the love of God in this way, the world does not know us (3:1b). The world did not understand Jesus in the Gospel of John, there are many examples of Jesus stating something which was misunderstood (Nicodemus thinking he needed to be literally reborn, for example).

If a person is in Christ they are a new thing, a new category which the world does not fully grasp. In the Roman world, it was very hard to understand why these Christians were willing to give up their lives for a belief in a crucified God. They did not understand why faith in Jesus brought men and women, slaves and free together as a new family, and they certainly could not understand why Christians would help the poor, care for the needs of the orphan or widow, help people who were sick with dangerous diseases, etc.

Even though we are children of God, we have cannot fully understand what this means (3:2). Continuing the metaphor of a parent and child, it is possible a child has no idea the exact wealth of their parent. Imagine a child who has a famous and wealthy father, but they do not realize who wealthy until they are an adult. As Karen Jobes says, “the full effect of being a child of the Father with eternal life is not something anyone can comprehend now” (1, 2, & 3 John, 142).

The one who has this hope purifies themselves because God himself is pure (3:3). This “hope” refers to the love god has lavished on us, but possibly as far back as the hope of confidence on the day of judgment.

To be pure has the sense of both ritual and moral purity. The verb (ἁγνίζω) is used for Judeans who purify themselves as they go up to Jerusalem to worship at Passover (John 11:55). In Acts 21:24 Paul goes up to the Temple to assist some men who were completing a Nazarite vow, they “purify themselves.” The verb is used as a metaphor in the New Testament, James 4:8 refers to purifying one’s heart and 1 Peter 1:22 refers to purifying one’s soul.

It may be a coincidence, but Paul does not use this language when describing sanctification, possibly because it is a very Jewish metaphor; the one who is purifying themselves is getting ready to worship God at the Temple. They are drawing near to the presence of God and therefore take the necessary steps to be ceremonially clean.

The child of God purifies themselves. Being born of God was passive, we do nothing to be born again, but John says there is some responsibility on the part of the believers to purify themselves.

Developing the Father and child metaphor just a bit more, if the Father is has some characteristic, then his child likely has the same attribute but the child will needs to make some effort to develop that attribute be more like the father. In this case, God is perfect purity, the child will not reach that same kind of purity, but that is what the goal ought to be.

First, we have confidence at the final judgment (2:28). Remaining in Christ will make the believer confident at the judgment when Christ appears.

John uses two different words for the Second Coming, judgment of Jesus. In the first case, he uses φανερόω, usually translated “appears.” In the Gospel of John the verb is regularly used for the incarnation In 1 John 1:2, the life “was manifest” (ESV); in 1 John 3:5, 8 Jesus “appeared to take away sin.”

In the second case, the word παρουσία (parousia) is a common word used for the second coming of the Lord. It is associated with the arrival and presence of a person (as opposed to absence). In the New Testament it most often refers to the Second Coming of Jesus as the Messiah. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8 Paul refers to the both the appearing (ἐπιφάνεια) and coming (παρουσία) of the Lord.

John is has in mind the second coming of the Messiah, when he judges the nations as he is establishing his kingdom This is different than the judgement seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10), when the members of the church, the body of Christ stand before Christ to receive our reward.

If the believer is abiding in Christ, then they will have confidence when they face this future judgment before the Messiah. Confidence (παρρησία) is boldness to speak in a public venue. Luke used this word to describe the Gospel in the last verse of Acts, Paul continued to speak boldly and without hindrance (Acts 28:31). To “not shrink back” translates αἰσχύνω, to be ashamed. In early Greek the verb was associated with a hideous deformity or injury (Iliad 18.24, a disfigured face), but came to be used for anything that brought shame (or should bring shame, in the sense of “are you to ashamed to say this?)

John’s point here is we know we are a true child of God because we have that unusual confidence at the final judgment that we will be found worthy of eternal life based on the work of Jesus on the Cross.

Second, we practice righteousness (2:29). God defines righteousness (v. 29a) and the believer does that righteousness in daily life.

The verb is “doing” (ποιέω), a common word in 1 John. Once again John reflects the Jewish view that one “does righteousness” In Micah 6:8, for example, God has shown humanity what he wants: to act justly, or “do justice.” The noun (מִשְׁפָּט) is the common word in the Hebrew Bible for legal decisions. The judge is to render justice, make the correct decision. But more than this, to do justice is to treat all people right, so not giving favors to the wealthy or mistreating the poor.

In the context of 1 John doing righteousness begins with loving one’s brother and sister in Christ and not hating them (1 John 2:9-11). The one who is practicing righteousness has (already) been born of God (v. 29b).

The idea of being born of God is an important theme in the Gospel of John. For example, in John 3:3-8 Jesus explains that no one can enter the kingdom of God without first being “born again.” This causes some difficulty for Nicodemus who does not understand the metaphor. In John 1:13 those who believe in the Word are born, not of natural descent but from God.

The grammar is important, John says the one doing righteousness was born of God in the past and is still in the state of “born of God” at the present time (over interpreting the perfect tense verb here). In addition, the verb is passive, one does not birth themselves. We became the children of God when we accepted Jesus savior.

So a person does righteousness not to make themselves worthy to be children of God, but because they are the children of God. “A person’s righteousness is thus the evidence of his new birth, not the cause or condition of it” (Stott, Letters of John, 122).

This might be a different way of looking at righteousness. Righteousness is not the result of some pious ritual or spiritual discipline, but it is the natural result of being born of God.  In essence, Christian ethics can be summarized as, “be what you are, a child of God.” And when we are living a life that pleases our Father in heaven, we will not lack confidence when he calls us into account at a future judgment.