1 John 3:1-7
(NRSV)
1See what love the Father has
given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Beloved, we are God’s
children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is
this: when he is revealed, we will be
like him, for we will see him as he is. 3And all who have this hope
in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 4 Everyone who commits
sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5You know that he was
revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6No one who abides in him
sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. 7Little children, let no one
deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is
righteous.
I am indebted to the works of Barclay and
Price Love for this reflection on the Epistle for next Sunday.
My text is written in 1 John 3.2:
2Beloved, we are God’s
children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is
this: when he is revealed, we will be
like him, for we will see him as he is.
We are not only called God’s children we ‘are’
God’s children. By nature we are not, we are mere creatures of God – created by
Him – but by God’s grace – we are adopted as his children. Barclay makes the
distinction between ‘paternity’ and ‘fatherhood’: paternity refers to our
genes, our physical existence; fatherhood describes an intimate, loving relationship. In the sense of paternity, all
people are children of God, but in the sense of fatherhood we are God’s
children when He ‘… makes his gracious approach to people and they respond …’
We have the great honour of being called children of God which means that
Christians have a unique relationship with God made possible by Jesus. This is
part of the image of being born of God.
This status is possible because the Spirit of God enables Christians to live in
a different way – in the ways of God rather than the ways of the world – and
this is why we often feel like strangers in the world.
It seems so important to stress this in
today’s world: the mere sexual act that leads to conception and physical birth
is just a tiny part of the situation; what is needed for any child are not
parents, but a mother and a father. Some of my students have asked: “When is
one ready for a sexual relationship?” My response is always, when you are ready
to be a mother and father with all the love and commitment that this involves.
Sadly, I believe we live in a world where, in some instances, there are parents
and children but there are not enough mothers and fathers!
One of the ways where we see this is in the
glorious gift of adoption; something sadly frowned upon in today’s world. Most of
the girls I have taught over the years say that they would prefer to have an
abortion than give up a child for adoption. I have to say that I find this very
difficult. There is a waiting list miles long, of couples who would do almost
anything to adopt a child, any child; we even have people going overseas to
adopt a child. Some young people think that they would hate to know that they
were adopted, because they would feel unwanted. Nothing could be further from
the truth – in my view. A mother taking her pregnancy to full term to give life
to her child and then being willing to give the child to another mother and
father who will give the child everything they need, must be both extremely difficult
nut also incredibly loving. Adopted children ought to feel special because of
what their biological mothers have done for them – given them life and the
chance to flourish.
Christians ought also to feel as special because
we are ‘adopted’ children of God.
Previously, the relationship between God and
humanity was one of covenant, sealed by complex laws that need fulfilment. Now
Jesus has given us a new way – a deliberate act of God – inviting us to become
part of a new family.
Christian experience is as much about present
reality as it is about future hope. We are called children of God now because this is real now – we are children of God already. Barclay
explains: “By nature we are creatures
of God, by God’s grace we become children
of God.” We don’t need to wait for the next world to find out what this means,
we know it now. As children feel completely at home with their parents, as
Price Love explains, “... so we feel if we recognise God as truly our Father.
... We are content that we shall see him as he is.” (verse 2b)
But being children has certain
responsibilities. Verse 3 reminds us that we have a
need to purify ourselves. We all know that we are declared right with God by
His grace taking the initiative and doing everything for us. The Reformers
spoke of the wonderful doctrine of “Justification by Faith” apart from the
works of the Law, lest anyone should boast. Being declared right with God is
the most wonderfully liberating understanding. I remember when it first dawned
on me: I was able to accept myself for the first time ever, because I knew I
was forgiven. But for so long, many of us thought that this was it – this is
the Gospel - and it is, but only part of it. God gives us His Spirit so that we
can be made into what we have being declared to be. We do not have to be
satisfied with our lives as they are, we can change, and we do change, when we
allow God to work his miracle of purification within our lives. But, as always,
there is a need for us to take some of the responsibility. We also need to make
a conscious and deliberate decision of the will to “purify ourselves” following
the example of our Lord – we need to abide in Christ.
When we abide in Christ – we do
not sin. John implies that sin is a deliberate breaking of the law and to obey
oneself instead of God. Sin undoes the work of Christ because Jesus came to
take away sin. To sin is to bring back what Jesus came to abolish. Sin results
from failing to abide in Christ. Barclay then makes a wonderful comment:
“… so long as we
remember the continual presence of Jesus, we will not sin; it is when we forget
that presence that we sin …”
These verses have been much debated: some cry
‘impossible!’ others have devoted themselves to perfectionism and separated
themselves to try to achieve it. In order to understand what the author is
saying here, it is important to remember the paradigm he has established when
he introduced the theme way back in chapter 1:8. He cannot be claiming a
sinless perfection because he has clearly stated that to make this claim is
self-deceit and an insult to God (making him out to be a liar). We also need to
look forward to chapter 5:16-17 where he makes a distinction between sins that
are mortal and those that are not (mortal sins are those that are deliberate).
This gives us an important clue to the thinking of the author: there are two
types of children – those of God and those of the devil. Children of the devil
find sin natural.
This is our challenge: How comfortable are we
with our sin? God is able to keep us from mortal sin, so when we don’t sin, it
is because of God’s grace; and so there is no place for pride or feelings of
superiority. When we see others fall where we have not, we should say with the
greatest sincerity and gratitude: “There but for the grace of God go I!”
Being children of God means living in love.
Price Love explains: “To be children of God means to live rightly and to love
truly.”[1] The opposite is the way of
Cain, who failed to love his brother because his own deeds were evil and those
of his brother were good. Lack of love is the consequence of bad living,
because bad living produces the jealousy that grows into the worst sins of hate
and murder. Not to love is to remain in death, but when we love we gain the
assurance that we have already passed
from death to life.
2Beloved, we are God’s
children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is
this: when he is revealed, we will be
like him, for we will see him as he is.
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