1 John 3:1-10 NKJV
3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
The apostle John refers over and over again in his writings to the astounding truth that we who believe in the Lord Jesus have actually been born again as children of God. And every time he says it, he says it with a sense of awe and gratitude to God, who has shown such grace to poor sinners through His Son, Jesus Christ. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” He makes a sharp contrast throughout his epistle between the children of God and the people of the world, who are not the children of God. Understanding this is the key to understanding his repeated use of the word “brothers.” The “brothers” he is talking about are our fellow children of God, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our fellow Christians. As God’s children, we have the promise that we will one day see Him, and that we will be like Him, we will be fully restored to His image of holiness and perfection—like Father, like son and like daughter.
If we have this hope, to see our Father and to be like our Father after this world passes away, then we will keep ourselves pure now, while we still live in this world. Living righteously, living sinlessly, living as holy children of a holy Father will be our daily and constant purpose in this life.
If that’s not a person’s purpose, then he reveals that he is still a child of this world, not a true child of God. We are first made righteous in the sight of God by faith in Christ, who is our righteousness before God. But someone who has true faith cannot go on sinning without repentance. People are fooling themselves when they claim to believe in God while willfully living in sin. Such faith is certainly not saving faith. Wherever there is genuine faith, there will be daily contrition and repentance, growth in righteousness, and the constant effort to abandon sin. If the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil, it makes no sense for us to cling to the works of the devil. If the Son of God came to take away sin, how could we go on living in it?
Let us pray: Gracious Father, thank You for making us Your children. By Your powerful Spirit, make us more and more like You; through Christ our Lord. Amen.