READINGS IN JOHN'S FIRST EPISTLE - 1 JOHN 3
READINGS IN JOHN’S FIRST EPISTLE - 1 JOHN 3
What we had on the last occasion might be recalled with profit in connection with this scripture, namely, that the children learn from the parent; the parental idea being expressed in Christ. “Even as he is righteous” 1 John 3:7 refers to the Lord Jesus viewed in a parental way. This chapter presents the children of God. There are only two generations: “the children of God”, and “the children of the devil”; one practises righteousness, the other lawlessness. “He that practises sin” is a course of evil rather than an act. The Christian might sin, but when you see a person practising sin, you would say that such an one was not of God.
In verse 7 it is “children” in relation to the apostle, but in verse 10 it says, “In this are manifest the children of God” 1 John 3:10. They are manifested in their love towards the brethren. Children are subjects of care, and in them are seen the features of God the Father; as in Ephesians 5:1, “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children”. That would be parallel with this passage. Ephesians usually gives the fulness of thought so that “beloved children” brings in their endearment to God.
The idea of children implies that such are under the Father’s care and are to be representative of Him, and this is what is worked out here. So that one would emphasise the parental side as seen in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It is what He was to them when here. You get this idea in John’s gospel; it is alluded to in chapter 21, “Children, have ye any meat?” John 21:5. Also in Luke 8:48, “Daughter, be of good comfort”. We get many similar expressions in the other gospels showing how extensively the Lord expressed this parental feature; and it must be so, for He made God known; and one of the features of the revelation is that God is known, not merely in terms, but in this practical expression of parental love and sympathy. It magnifies the personal greatness of the Lord when you view Him thus: everything of God was perfectly set forth in Him. Nothing is more interesting and touching than the parental feature coming to light in the Lord’s care for His [p. 125] own, and in the love He expressed for them. When it says, “He that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous”, 1 John 3:7, it refers to what the Lord was here; what the Parent was, so to speak, is worked out in the children. Your feeling towards the Lord in that connection is akin to that which you have towards the Father Himself. The idea of “children” does not run into eternity. Strictly, it is a relationship which belongs to us as in this world. Sonship refers to the counsels of God, and to glory, but “children” covers our position here in a contrary scene, hence it is that we come under His care. That is why in verse 2 it says, “Now are we the children of God”. 1 John 3:2. What we shall be has reference to the counsels of God.
You would not address the Lord as Father; still in Isaiah 9:6 He is called “everlasting Father” and the disciples when He was here would so regard Him. The more spiritual they were, the more they would recognise Him as the Head of the house, the “House-father”. He took that place in the family (Luke 24: 30), and when the last passover Supper was being partaken of He was in the position of Parent. That was in the Lord’s mind when He said to Philip, “He that has seen me has seen the Father” John 14:9; in Him the Father was expressed.
It greatly helps if we bear in mind that the term “children” is a provisional one; it may not appear to be so when you think of its ordinary use among men, but it is so spiritually. The term covers our sojourn here. There was the parental expression of the Lord Jesus towards the disciples, and the more you look into it, the more you will see that it must be so, for every movement of the heart of God towards us is of necessity expressed by Him. So that He could say to the Father “that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”, John 17:28.
[p. 126] As remarked already, a practice is a course, it is not an isolated occurrence; but as stated earlier in our consideration of this epistle, we have to look at things abstractly. This chapter deals with the children of God abstractly, hence it says, “he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God”. 1 John 3:9. 1 John 2 indicates a very mixed condition, so that the possibility of sin in us is recognised, but in this chapter it is not. “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin” 1 John 3:9 is an abstract thought; that is to say, the believer is taken account of entirely in relation to what is born of God; he is looked at from that point of view, and such an one does not practise sin.
Life comes to light in Genesis 1 on the third day. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth” Genesis 1:11. God puts down at the very outset of the Bible a denial of evolution and it is denied right through. Things are to be “after their kind”, no admixture, so that the seed is in itself, and that seed cannot be altered. You cannot develop it into something else. And so, here it is, “His seed abides in him” 1 John 3:9; the divine seed is there, and is true to its kind. Those of the wicked one are also true to their kind; they practise sin, for Satan sinned from the beginning.
“Born again” in John 3 is born anew. It is the necessity of it that is emphasised, but when you have the character of the thing as here, the full thought, it is “born of God” and it is seen in those who practise righteousness. New birth is necessary because of what the flesh is, but you have to wait for the idea of being born of God until you get the character of God. It is “begotten again to a living hope” in 1 Peter 1:3; then in verse 23 of that chapter, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever”, 1 Peter 1:23. The living and abiding word of God is more than the initial, sovereign act, as in John 3. “Born of the Spirit” and the seed abiding, refer to the effect of the word on your soul. Born of God implies the indwelling of the Spirit, so that the character of God shines out through you, and gives the fulness of the thought, you are like Him in righteousness and in love.
In this chapter you get a fully developed family who reflect the character of God. So, too, the children of the devil manifest the devil’s characteristics. The “seed” is the divine nature, which involves the indwelling Spirit. It is helpful to look back to the beginning of Genesis; John synchronises with Genesis more than any of the evangelists, because he deals with the beginning of things, as Genesis does, and he refers to the seed. The divine seed remains in the believer, and is of its own kind; that is what God is working out today, and it cannot be set aside. We have all sorts of theories advanced based on evolution, but those who hold them cannot get over this: “his seed abides in him”. The evolutionist cannot deal with this, the children of God are here living and abiding in Him. This wonderful thing exists and nothing can overthrow it.
In Genesis we get, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1 and in the gospel of John you have, “In the beginning was the Word”. John 1:1. John goes further back, but it is the same line of thought.
1 Chronicles is a book written by a lover of the testimony. It bears the marks of a writer who had the testimony in his heart (like David who had the ark in his heart) and he begins with Adam, as much as to say, Not one iota of the mind of God from the very outset must be lost in this record; nothing must be left out.
[p. 128] Chronicles has to do with David and David is reached in chapter 2, which shows that the Spirit had His mind on David, because he took Zion and brought in the ark. Luke corresponds with this in the New Testament; he is a writer who also loved the testimony. The Lord took him up to write from that point of view, so that he links on with 1 Chronicles. In his gospel you have the whole testimony of God linked up from Adam to Christ; Luke loved the testimony, that is the thing. John is dealing with the beginning; he is an abstract writer, and had to meet subtle and spiritual opposition to the truth; that is what had to be dealt with. He gets at the foundation of the evil and saps the ground from under the enemy’s feet.
John sees only two classes: the children of God, and the children of the devil — no intermediate class. If he were present to deal with the opposition to the truth today, you would see how he would deal with it; he would put all who oppose in one class. They pretend to differentiate and bring in development, but he dismisses them at once; they all belong to one class, and are not entitled even to be heard.
“To this end the Son of God has been manifested that he might undo the works of the devil”. 1 John 3:8. The manifestation comes out in certain features. In Romans 1:4 He is “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”. The devil sinned from the beginning, and his works are manifest but now the Son of God is manifested, and enters the lists with Satan. He takes up this tremendous conflict which began in the wilderness and ended in His resurrection. The children of God would be no match for the devil, but the Son of God is; He undoes the works of the devil. The Lord proclaimed His mission to destroy the works of the devil when He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” Luke 4: 18. He proclaims that He is [p. 129] going to release souls from all the bondage they have been brought under by the enemy. It was a wonderful moment in the history of the world when the Son of God was manifested, entering the lists with Satan, not only to bind him, which He did, but to defeat him, that He might undo all his works. What patience is needed in undoing; taking account of souls and of Satan’s works in them; the undoing of his works in a soul requires time. Things have to be undone one by one. The Lord in referring to the woman in Luke 13:16 said, “Whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years”. He singled her out, and undid that work.
If we revert to the beginning of our histories we recognise the many things that were undone from day to day. It is all the patient work of the Lord; every item is to be undone, and a moral process is going on even now, with a view to putting that which is of God in its place. We need to be subject to the Lord lest we hinder this work of undoing in ourselves.
In our scripture this manifestation is looked at as having taken place; it “has been manifested” 1 John 3:8; it was there morally; but Colossians treats of a future manifestation that shall be public, and we shall be manifested with Him, as in verse 2 of this chapter.
Then we come to the message (verse 11), which is evidently very important. “For this is the message which ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another”. 1 John 3:11. The message is the conveyance of the present mind of God as meeting the need that exists. This would really show how the works of the devil were undone by a company here in love one to another. The devil sinned from the beginning and injected his ways into Adam and Eve, but the working out of Satan’s character was in Cain, just as the working out of Ham’s character was in Canaan. Cain was the one who came under God’s judgment in a peculiar way as a murderer; that is what Satan is.
[p. 130] Doubtless the reason for the message here was that love was waning.
Then he says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”. 1 John 3:14. It is a great thing to pass from death to life. The enemy would be content to have the Lord in glory, but to have a people kept so that they manifest the traits of the Lord here is what excites his animosity. He would sweep the saints from the earth if he could. It is an immense thing to know your company and to know that, as loving them, you have passed from death unto life. One has often referred to the principle of “dead reckoning”. Sometimes you raise the question as to how you are getting on, and you say, “Well, I am making progress, through grace things are different from what they used to be, I find more interest in divine things than I did”. That is what one would call in nautical language, “dead reckoning”. Of course, if you go too far on that line you may become self-occupied and confused; but it is a great comfort to know that these things which you observe in yourself are the fruit of the divine nature, and are not of the world, or according to the flesh.
John treats of the brethren on the ground of profession. It is abnormal not to love your brother, but Cain was literally Abel’s brother and you will find that God repeatedly uses the word ‘brother’ in raising the whole question with him, as if to force upon Cain the awful fact that the one whom he slew was his brother: “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground” Genesis 4: 10. In Hebrews 12:24 we have”the blood of Abel”; but when Cain is addressed by God it is, “thy brother”. That is the serious thing.
You love your brother, but he is responsible to love you too. That is the way you know your brethren, they “love one another”; in this way they [p. 131] are manifest, and you know them. It is a great point at the present time that you know your brother, because there are imitations The word ‘brethren’ has gained a place in the world-system on this account, for Satan has taken it up, and hence there are classes of brethren. All this is the subtle work of the devil to becloud this great thought of the brother. The children of God are to be manifest, and are recognised by the features of righteousness and love. The four gospels, if you analyse them, will enable you to determine who the brethren are. They “hear the word of God, and do it”, Luke 8: 21. This us how they are brought to light. It is a question of bringing forth “fruit after his kind”. John knows of only one kind, those who have the divine seed in them, and who can say, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”. 1 John 3:14. There are many of the Lord’s dear people who are entangled in systems not according to His mind. He loves them and we love them; for we can discern what they are by their walk, even though we can love them only in the abstract. It may be we are walking with persons who are not manifesting much, if any, of these traits of which we are speaking. That is a very solemn matter also.
Hatred soon manifests itself; Abel did not have long to wait to discern that Cain hated him. The Lord says of His enemies that they hated Him without a cause, and it is so often of a Christian. John recognised his brethren. He says, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” 1 John 3:13; and then goes on to say, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”. 1 John 3:14. You have different feelings towards the brethren, you are more at home with them than with anyone else.
Then he shows how love is known: “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”. 1 John 3:16. You say, My feelings towards the Lord’s [p. 132] people are different from what they are towards those outside, So far so good. Verse 14 answers to that, but then you must not be content with that, you must learn to love. There is a divine standard for it, it is not an indefinable thing that you cannot express. If you look at the Lord Jesus, you see what love is in all its fulness, in that He laid down His life for us. That is the lesson of the whole period of His life down here, as we have it in verse 16, “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”. 1 John 3:16. It is only as we meditate upon that, and are exercised about it, that the truth of it would be manifest in our lives. Verse 16 is objective; verse 14 is subjective. Look at the perfect picture in Christ: ponder over it. It covers the whole period of His life here, and to lay down our lives for the brethren is the great answer in us to the love expressed.
Verse 17 would indicate that this was not being carried out, so that John goes on to say: “Children, let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth”, 1 John 3:18. The apostle Paul was marked by this love, he “died daily” for the saints, and that is what John would have in the Christian company. Then he adds, “Hereby we shall know that we are of the truth and shall persuade our hearts before him” 1 John 3: 19. These are comforting things in the light of verse 16. And then he says, “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God”. 1 John 3:20,21. That is what is to be aimed at, establishment in love, and being quite restful about everything. In the main we realise how little we come up to loving in deed and in truth. In our heart we feel our best sacrifice is feeble in the light of Christ’s. In 1 Chronicles when David was spiritually at his highest he calls God’s attention to the vast wealth that had been gathered together for [p. 133] the house. But after all, it was of God Himself: “Of thine own have we given thee” 1 Chronicles 29:14. It is a man knowing God and feeling his own littleness in His presence. God is greater than the heart and knoweth all things. We are led on here to reconciliation. If our heart does not condemn us, it is a perfect state practically before God, and we are doing the things that are pleasing in His sight.
It is very helpful and comforting to know that God is greater than our hearts, so that we have no reservations with God. It is like Paul; on the one hand, he deprecated what he did because it was so small, but on the other hand he says, “I have fully preached the gospel of Christ”, Romans 15:19. His heart was not condemning him, and he could turn to God with the sense that he was pleasing to Him. “And whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and practise the things which are pleasing in his sight”. 1 John 3:22. There is perfect agreement between our hearts and God. It is reconciliation from the subjective side; whereas in 2 Corinthians 5:18 it is “God ... has reconciled us”. In doing the things that are pleasing in His sight, we are pleasurable to God practically.
It brings us back to what God indicated in Genesis 1:12 “The herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed was in itself”. Then, in order that all that should be regulated, you have the great light in the heavens on the fourth day and on the fifth day, a multitude of moving creatures having life, and on the sixth day, crowning all, man is created, after the image and likeness of God. John’s epistle brings us up to the sixth day, where we have understanding. It is life expressed in intelligence. The subjective corresponds to the objective. In verse 23 we have, “And this is his commandment, That we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another”. 1 John 3:23.
[p. 134] That is the full divine thought: to believe on Him and love one another. “And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given to us”. 1 John 3:24. This is a perfect state of things, and one that is brought about entirely by Himself. The commandment is that you believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. There is the idea of renown in this full title: “His Son Jesus Christ”.