വ്യാഖ്യാനം നിലവിൽ ഇംഗ്ലീഷിൽ മാത്രമേ ലഭ്യമാകൂ. മലയാള പരിഭാഷ പുരോഗമിക്കുകയാണ്.
1 John 3 — Now Are We the Sons of God
John exclaims at the sheer grandeur of the believer's standing — now are we the sons of God. The chapter contrasts the children of God and the children of the devil by the deepest possible test: whether one practices righteousness or sin, whether one loves the brother or hates him. It points to the cross as the definition of love — he laid down his life for us — and warns that love which never costs is not real love. The chapter ends with the assurance that comes from a heart kept honest before God.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”
— 1 John 3:1
- v.1-3 Sons of God — and what we shall be
- v.4-10 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin
- v.11-15 Love your brother — Cain's opposite
- v.16-18 Hereby know we love — He laid down His life
- v.19-24 Assurance: a heart at rest before God
Now — present possession, not future hope alone. Sonship is settled today.
Yet a future awaits us we cannot yet picture. The one thing we do know is the climax: we shall see him as he is, and that seeing will conform us to Him.
The future shapes the present. The expectation of being like Him does not leave the soul lazy; it sets a course.
Hope in the New Testament is never escapist; it is sanctifying.
A definition. Sin is not just personal failure or social harm; it is breach of God's law. The vertical dimension is primary.
A society can think it has redefined right and wrong; God's law has not moved.
Christ's mission stated with magnificent simplicity. He came to undo what the devil did.
Destroy — Greek luō, to loosen, untie. Sin is being unmade; the devil's knots are being untied one by one in every regenerated life and will be finally undone at His coming.
A verse that has troubled many. John's present tense Greek (hamartanei) means does not go on practicing sin. The verse is not claiming sinlessness; it is denying ongoing settled rebellion as the believer's pattern.
His seed — the new nature implanted by the Spirit. The believer cannot indefinitely rest in sin because something inside has changed.
A subjective test of objective standing. We know by we love.
The verse cuts against any version of Christianity that is comfortable with hatred toward fellow saints.
The cross is the dictionary entry for love. Any other definition is sentimentality.
The conclusion is hard: as He did for us, we ought for one another. Love that costs nothing has not yet read this verse.
A test built into ordinary life. Most of us will not face dramatic martyrdom; nearly all of us face a brother in need we have means to help.
Shutteth up his bowels — Hebrew idiom for closed compassion. The visible response is the visible love.
Two pairs: word and tongue (the surface), deed and truth (the depth). John refuses to count verbal sentiment as love until it shows up in action.
One of the most pastoral verses in the Bible. The conscience often accuses where God has forgiven. The verse does not silence the conscience by appeal to feelings; it points past the conscience to the One who is bigger than it.
God is greater than our heart — He knows what we have done and also knows what Christ has done. Both ledgers are before Him; only one stands.
Answered prayer is connected to obedient living — not as merit but as alignment. The asking will look more like His asking when the heart is aligned with His.
When the conscience accuses you, do not silence it and do not bow to it; take it past itself to verse 20. God is greater than our heart. Then act on verse 18 today by some concrete deed of love that you would have allowed word to substitute for last week.
The Son of God was manifested to destroy the devil's works (v.8); He laid down His life for us (v.16). Every assurance in the chapter — sonship, future likeness, present cleansing, answered prayer — rests on Him. The dictionary definition of love in verse 16 has only ever had one entry: the cross.
Behold — John pauses the argument to call attention. Stop and look.
What manner of love — Greek potapēn, "from what country?" The love is so foreign it is as if from another planet. We were rebels; He has called us sons.