The First Letter of John – Chapter 3
Children of God, the Practice of Righteousness, and Love in Truth
1. Behold What Love Has Given
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)
St John begins with wonder, not argument. The Christian life is not first a moral programme, but a gifted identity. We are not merely forgiven servants; we are made children.
St Augustine lingers over the word see:
“He does not say, ‘Consider,’ but ‘Behold’—for this love is not grasped by reasoning, but by contemplation.”
The world does not recognise this dignity because it did not recognise Christ. Divine sonship is hidden now, revealed later.
2. What We Shall Be Has Not Yet Appeared
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be…” (v. 2)
Christian hope is realistic. We truly possess divine life already, yet its full splendour remains veiled.
“We know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
St Gregory of Nyssa explains:
“The vision of God transforms the soul into what it beholds.”
Hope is not passive. John immediately draws a moral conclusion:
“Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (v. 3)
Hope purifies because it reorients desire.
3. Sin Is Lawlessness
“Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” (v. 4)
John strips away euphemism. Sin is not merely weakness or failure; it is a refusal of God’s ordering wisdom.
St Bede the Venerable comments:
“Sin is lawlessness because it departs from the rule of divine justice.”
Christ did not come to manage sin, but to remove it:
“You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” (v. 5)
4. Abiding in Christ and the Practice of Righteousness
“No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.” (v. 6)
John is not claiming that Christians never fall. He is distinguishing habitual sin from abiding communion.
St Augustine clarifies:
“He does not say that a man cannot sin, but that sin cannot reign.”
To abide in Christ is to live under a new lordship.
5. Children of God and Children of the Devil
“He who does right is righteous, as he is righteous.” (v. 7)
John refuses moral ambiguity. There are not many spiritual lineages.
“He who commits sin is of the devil.” (v. 8)
St Irenaeus of Lyons frames this starkly:
“Man becomes what he obeys.”
Christ came precisely to destroy the works of the devil, not merely to counterbalance them.
“No one born of God commits sin; for God’s seed abides in him.” (v. 9)
The “seed” is divine life itself—grace that reshapes desire from within.
6. Love Reveals True Sonship
“By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil.” (v. 10)
John gives a concrete criterion:
Failure to practise righteousness
Failure to love one’s brother
Both reveal a false claim to divine sonship.
7. Cain and the Hatred That Kills
“We should love one another, and not be like Cain…” (vv. 11–12)
Cain represents resentment that refuses correction. Hatred begins in comparison and ends in violence.
St John Chrysostom observes:
“Envy was the mother of Cain’s murder.”
John adds a sober realism:
“Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you.” (v. 13)
The world resists the light because the light judges its deeds.
8. Passing from Death to Life
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.” (v. 14)
Love is not merely a virtue; it is evidence of resurrection already begun.
“He who does not love remains in death.”
St Augustine states:
“Love is the life of the soul; without it, even the living are dead.”
9. Murder of the Heart
“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” (v. 15)
John presses beyond external acts to interior reality. Hatred corrodes the soul long before it harms the body.
Eternal life cannot dwell where hatred is cultivated.
10. The Measure of Love: The Cross
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.” (v. 16)
Love is defined, not by sentiment, but by self-gift.
St Cyril of Alexandria writes:
“The Cross teaches us what love truly is.”
John draws the unavoidable conclusion:
“We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Christian love is costly, practical, and concrete.
11. Love in Deed and in Truth
“If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need…” (v. 17)
Love that refuses action is exposed as illusion.
“Let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth.” (v. 18)
St Gregory the Great remarks:
“The proof of love is the work it performs.”
12. Confidence Before God
“By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him.” (v. 19)
John acknowledges interior struggle:
“For whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts.” (v. 20)
St Augustine consoles:
“God judges more mercifully than we judge ourselves.”
Peace before God is grounded not in self-perfection, but in truthful love.
13. Keeping the Commandment That Is One
“And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another.” (v. 23)
Faith and love are not separable. Right belief births right love; true love safeguards true belief.
14. Abiding by the Spirit
“All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them.” (v. 24)
The Christian life is mutual indwelling: God in us, and we in God.
“By this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.”
St Basil the Great teaches:
“The Spirit makes us God’s dwelling place.”
Theological Summary
| Theme | Revelation in 1 John 3 |
| Divine Sonship | We are truly children of God (v. 1) |
| Hope | Seeing God will transform us (v. 2) |
| Sin | Lawlessness opposed to divine life (vv. 4–6) |
| Righteousness | Reveals true spiritual lineage (vv. 7–10) |
| Love | The sign of passing from death to life (vv. 14–18) |
| The Cross | The measure and meaning of love (v. 16) |
| Assurance | God is greater than our hearts (vv. 19–20) |
| The Spirit | God’s abiding presence within us (v. 24) |
Closing Prayer
Father of infinite love,
You have called us Your children and made us so in truth.
Purify our hope, strengthen our obedience,
and teach us to love not in word but in deed.
By Your Spirit abiding in us,
keep us in the way of righteousness,
until we see You as You are
and are made like Your Son,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 