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1 John 3 – Text and Notes
1 See [aorist imperative; lit. See you (plural)] how [lit., what kind of love] great [potapos – primarily, from what country, then, of what sort, as in wonderment] a love [“Within this section there are forty-six occurrences of some form of the root word for love.” (J.W. Roberts, The Letters of John, p.76)] the Father has bestowed [perfect active of didomi, “state of completion” (Robertson, v.6, p.220)] upon us, that we would be called [aorist] children [tekna, since it reads “children” instead of “sons” the implied meaning could be on our shared relationship, instead of our position. Therefore the emphasis is on family which is definitely emphasized in chapter 3.] of God; and such we are. For this reason [cf. Jn.15:18ff for the same reason] the world does not know [ginosko – to know through experience; to perceive through the senses; “subjective knowledge” (Green); the knowing comes from “an active relation between the one who knows and the person or thing known” (Vine; effectively coming to know, or the entering into knowing through first-hand or personal interaction; knowledge usually gained through personal acquaintance or some relationship of intimacy or connection] us, because it did not know [ginosko – see above; active aorist] Him [Father or Son? Doesn’t really matter (Jn.16:3)].
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared [aorist passive of phaneroo] as yet what we will be [i.e. in the afterlife]. We know [oida – to know intellectually; to gain knowledge by observation (versus by experience or through the senses); to know something on the basis of an absolute or achieved knowledge; to know about something without necessarily standing in any personal relation or connection with it] that, when He appears [aorist] , we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies [present active] himself, just as He is pure [hagnos – free from moral or spiritual defilement; thoroughly pure from contamination; unadulterated; pure internally as well as externally.].
4 Everyone who practices [present active participles (poion) means the habit of sinning, doing sin.] sins also practices [same] lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that He appeared [implying a preincarnate existence] in order to take [aorist] away sins [harmartias; since the plural is used, the idea is the individual having sins taken away instead of the grander concept of sin itself being removed]; and in Him there is no sin.
6 No one who abides in Him sins [hamartano; present active indicative (i.e. as a habit or lifestyle)]; no one who sins [present active] has seen [horao; perfect active indicative; i.e. spiritually seen] Him or knows [ginosko (cf. v.1); or, has known] Him.
7 Little children, make sure no one [i.e. gnostics] deceives [planao; present active imperative] you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous [In this context, righteousness is not a state of cleansing, but a result of action – our works based on God’s grace.], just as he [Father or Son?] is righteous;
8 the one who practices [cf. v.4] sin is of the devil [Jn.8:44]; for the devil has sinned [present active indicative; lit., sins] from the beginning [Beginning of what? His beginning? World’s beginning? Sin’s beginning? Christianity’s beginning?]. The Son of God [first time in 1 John] appeared for this purpose, to destroy [aorist; lou – lit., dissolve, loosen] the works of the devil.
9 No one who is born [perfect – i.e. and therefore continually born of God] of God practices sin, because His seed [sperma; God’s seed is “the divine principle of life” (Vincent); Extended Notes] abides in him; and he cannot sin [present active (i.e. “he cannot keep on sinning”) and is the same idea of Paul’s in Rom.6:1 which is also present active: “shall we continue in sin”; not aorist which would mean “he cannot commit a sin”], because he is born [perfect] of God.
10 By this [i.e. whether we sin continuously] the children of God and the children of the devil [only time phrase is used in the Bible] are obvious [Christians should be obvious to spot in a world of sinners.]: anyone who does not practice [cf. v.4`] righteousness is not of God, nor [kai] the one who does not love [agapao (noun, agape) – In biblical and ecclesiastical usage agapao and its associated noun, agape, refer to an unselfish, outgoing affection or tenderness for another without necessarily expecting anything in return. It seeks a person’s highest good on the basis of a decision of will and an inclination of heart. This verb “to love” rarely occurs in secular Greek in the B.C. period, although the Greek O.T. uses it often for the Hebrew ‘aheb, which in some other contexts is translated phileo.] his brother.
11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love [present; agapao (cf. v.10)] one another;
12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew [originally “cut the throat;” only John uses this term] his brother. And for what reason did he slay him?” Because his deeds [sacrifice and jealousy?] were evil [evil/poneros – the deliberate defiance of the moral law for personal gain, without regard to the pain or suffering brought to others by it’s selfish greed often with malevolent and criminal intentions; the active outworking of kakos; “kakos is content to perish in its own corruption, but poneros is not content unless he is corrupting others as well” (Trench); used of Satan (cf. Eph.6:16)] and his brother’s were righteous. [The word has an emphatic sense, which its Greek sentence implies or cannot show]
13 Do not be surprised, [negative present imperative] brethren, if the world hates you. [Remember the Beatitudes]
14 We [emphatic] know that we have passed [metabaino; perfect active indicative] out of death into life, because [hoti; is this the proof or the basis? Which is the cause, which is the effect?] we love [agapao (cf. v.10)] the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer [only here and Jn.8:44]; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding [present active] in him.
16 We know [ginosko (cf. v.1); perfect active] love by this, that he laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay [aorist] down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has [present] the world’s goods, and sees [theoreo; present] his brother in need [present active] and closes [aorist] his heart [lit., inward parts] against [lit., from] him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 Little children, let us not love [present] with word or with tongue [i.e. only], but in deed and truth. [Jms.2:]
19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure [or, persuade] our heart before Him, [or, before Him; v.20 because if our heart]
20 in whatever our heart [see v.19] condemns [kataginosko – to find someone at fault or blameworthy on the basis of personal acquaintance or observation; to decide in someone’s disfavor; present] us; for God is greater [in judgment or compassion?] than our heart, and knows [ginosko (cf. v.1)] all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn [kataginosko (cf. v.20)] us, we have confidence before [lit., toward] God;
22 and whatever we ask [present] we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do [poieo – to make, produce, or accomplish; to perform or carry out an act for a definite result] the things that are pleasing in His sight
23 This is His commandment, that we believe [or, believe the name; aorist] in the name [i.e. everything He stands for and represents] of His Son Jesus Christ [also I think it important to notice that name is singular with reference to Him who had a dual nature: Jesus (human); Christ (divine)], and love [present; agapao (cf. v.10)] one another, just as He commanded [or, gave us a commandment] us.
24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know [ginosko (cf. v.1)] by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit [first mention in epistle, but if our interpretation of the annointing and the seed is correct, this is not teaching a direct indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but rather emphasizing His role in communicating the message which was from the beginning.] whom He has given us.
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