1Jo 3:11 | KingComments | STEP | . John speaks about practicing “sin” and “lawlessness”. That forms a great contrast with the hope in Him and the purifying that results from it, which you have read in the previous verses. Due to that contrast you feel the power of his argument. Purifying and practicing sin belong to two different worlds. He is talking about “everyone who practices sin”. That is not someone who once in a while commits a sin, but someone who practices sin as a way of life. He is doing it all the time, practicing sin is the nature of his life. In such a person nothing of God is present. A believer can sin indeed, but as an incident. He does not live in sin; it is not his daily practice. If a person has sin as a life principle, he is lawless. To be lawless means that he doesn’t consider any authority at all. His unbridled will is his only driving force. He does not matter about God at all. On the contrary, he lives in rebellion against Him ( ). Therefore lawlessness goes much further than violation of the law of God. If lawlessness were limited to transgression of the law, sin would be limited to the period of the law. But also before there was the law, there was sin in the world ( ). . There has been one Man, Who has never sinned, because there is no sin in Him. That is the Lord Jesus. He appeared – that is when He came to the earth – in order to take away the sins of others. He took away yours and mine and of all God’s children by taking them on Himself at the cross in the three hours of darkness. He was able to do that, precisely because there was and is no sin in Him. . The result is that you abide in Him now, that is, that you have been made one with Him because you have received Him as your life. That is why you do not sin. This is a strong statement of course. You will immediately say that that’s not true, for you know very well that you still do sin. But the point is that you should see yourself as John presents it here. He says that you abide in Him and that implies that he see the same characteristics with you as he sees with the Lord Jesus. That what is typical for the Lord Jesus is now typical for you too. John sees you in your new nature, regardless of the degree to which your new nature is visible. That is one side of the truth. The other side is that “who sins” has no part in God and Christ at all. No one who sins has seen or known both God and Christ. Such a person has nothing in common with God, how wonderful his confession may be. His confession of a higher knowledge of God and a deep experience with God is a lie. As far as the practice is concerned, it is certain that you do not sin if you remain in fellowship with the Lord in your daily life, whereby you inquire of His will and obey His Word in everything. Nevertheless, that is not the issue here. It is not about two kinds of believers, faithful ones and unfaithful ones, but about two sources out of which they live. The source out of which the believer lives is a totally different one than the source out of which the unbeliever lives. That is what John is talking about. . John is addressing his spiritual “little children” and is warning them for the deceivers. Deceivers want to sow doubt about Christ and His work and even deny it. They seek to make you uncertain about the characteristics of the children of God. Do not let yourself be influenced by them, but hold on to the clear statements of God’s Word. Do not depend on your feelings. Of course they have their place, but they are not a basis for knowing the truth of God. You are a child of God and you have the same nature as God and the Lord Jesus. If He, that is Christ, is righteous, then you too are. Jesus Christ is the Righteous, He has laid down His life for you and you abide in Him. He is the absolute measure. If you see a person who practices righteousness, which means who does what is right according to God, you see someone who does what the Lord Jesus is. Such a person is therefore also righteous. . The opposite of practicing righteousness is practicing sin. In someone who practices sin you recognize the devil. The origin of sin is in the devil. The devil sins from the beginning of his existence as devil. He is the father of sin. He who sins, exposes the characteristics of that father ( ). The devil cannot do anything else than sin; it is his nature and he cannot do anything else but act accordingly. From the beginning he has men under his control through sin. Each man who is under his control, sins as he does. Therefore no man is able to escape from the control of the devil or to liberate another man from his control. But the devil does not have the last word and he is not the victor. The victory belongs to the Son of God. What John says about Him, sounds like a victory call: “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” Every time that somewhere on earth someone comes to conversion, a work of the devil is being destroyed. You who believe are a proof of that. That’s the reason why the Son of God came to earth and finished the work on the cross. . The opposite of ‘being of the devil’ and ‘practicing sin’ is ‘born of God’ and ‘not practicing sin’. “Who is born of God” has life that has its origin in God. That life comes in someone without any contribution of himself. That life has its own characteristics. These characteristics are typical for the seed of God. What comes out of a seed corresponds to that seed (cf. ). Sin is totally alien to the seed of God. From that seed no sin is produced; it does not cause anyone to commit sin and it cannot sin, just as in Him, the Lord Jesus, there is no sin. He could not possibly sin. He is absolutely separated from sin ( ). If you are born of God, it is the work of God’s Word and God’s Spirit ( ). That is the seed John is talking about here ( ). The seed is the new life principle that God has planted in you. To plant that seed, God’s Word was preached and it came to and in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. In that way you were inwardly purified and the new life has come in you, where it develops and grows (cf. ). . Someone belongs to the children of God or to the children of the devil. Here you see two families opposite to each other. These two families make up all of humanity. Both families have their own typical family characteristics. John indicates what is not present with the children of God. If you notice that someone is lacking the practice of righteousness and also brotherly love, then it is obvious that you are not dealing with a child of God but with a child of the devil. Children of the devil have no new life and are therefore in no way able to practice righteousness and to love the brothers. Practicing righteousness and brotherly love are two separate characteristics of the new life, but they belong together. They cannot even do without each other. Here you see the characteristics of the essence of God of Whom John says that He is light and love. Wherever righteousness and brotherly love are not present, nothing of God present, but the devil is manifested. . To this statement John attaches the message “that we should love one another”. You have heard this message from the beginning. Nothing else has ever been told to you. In the Old Testament there was the command to love your neighbor. That raised the question of who then was the neighbor. To the Israelite it was his compatriot. The Gentiles were hated as a whole. The Israelites were not supposed to love them, but they had to eliminate them. In the New Testament you find a new order of things. There you come across the term ‘brothers’. In this term, a special dignity resounds. The Lord Jesus speaks about His own as “My sheep” and “My friends” ( ), but only in John 20 He speaks about “My brothers” for the first time ( ). He does that after He has risen. He calls His disciples like that in His message which He by Mary Magdalene conveyed to them. In that way He puts them on the level before His Father and His God that He Himself has. His Father has become their Father too and His God is now their God. That is something totally new. It is no longer about ‘the neighbor’ of an earthly people, but there is mention of a new, heavenly company: the family of God. . As an example of a lack of brotherly love and what that leads to, John quotes, as an exception, a history from the Old Testament. He refers to Cain. That man had no brotherly love, but “was of the evil one”. He revealed that too by killing his brother. His brother is Abel. John doesn’t mention that name because he wants to fully emphasize that he killed his brother . That deed was one of his evil works, while the works of his brother were righteous. He who is of the evil one, practices evil works. By also mentioning the works of his brother, which were righteous, John shows that Cain was driven by hatred. In the New Testament you read three times about Cain: about the sacrifice of Cain ( ), the works of Cain (here) and the way of Cain ( ): 1. His sacrifice shows his self-willed religiosity, his indifference toward God’s holiness. 2. His works show his anger, the lack of brotherly love. 3. His way shows that he turned his back on God. That is how it went from bad to worse with Cain. That is the result if someone who has no life from God, is confronted with righteous works. That confrontation shows the lack of these works. Now read 1 John 3:4-12 again. Reflection: What characteristics do you see with someone who is of God and what characteristics do you see with someone who is of the devil?

‏ 1 John 3:11

Practice Righteousness and Brotherly Love

1Jn 3:4. John speaks about practicing “sin” and “lawlessness”. That forms a great contrast with the hope in Him and the purifying that results from it, which you have read in the previous verses. Due to that contrast you feel the power of his argument. Purifying and practicing sin belong to two different worlds. He is talking about “everyone who practices sin”. That is not someone who once in a while commits a sin, but someone who practices sin as a way of life. He is doing it all the time, practicing sin is the nature of his life. In such a person nothing of God is present. A believer can sin indeed, but as an incident. He does not live in sin; it is not his daily practice.

If a person has sin as a life principle, he is lawless. To be lawless means that he doesn’t consider any authority at all. His unbridled will is his only driving force. He does not matter about God at all. On the contrary, he lives in rebellion against Him (Job 15:25). Therefore lawlessness goes much further than violation of the law of God. If lawlessness were limited to transgression of the law, sin would be limited to the period of the law. But also before there was the law, there was sin in the world (Rom 5:13a).

1Jn 3:5. There has been one Man, Who has never sinned, because there is no sin in Him. That is the Lord Jesus. He appeared – that is when He came to the earth – in order to take away the sins of others. He took away yours and mine and of all God’s children by taking them on Himself at the cross in the three hours of darkness. He was able to do that, precisely because there was and is no sin in Him.

1Jn 3:6. The result is that you abide in Him now, that is, that you have been made one with Him because you have received Him as your life. That is why you do not sin. This is a strong statement of course. You will immediately say that that’s not true, for you know very well that you still do sin. But the point is that you should see yourself as John presents it here. He says that you abide in Him and that implies that he see the same characteristics with you as he sees with the Lord Jesus. That what is typical for the Lord Jesus is now typical for you too.

John sees you in your new nature, regardless of the degree to which your new nature is visible. That is one side of the truth. The other side is that “who sins” has no part in God and Christ at all. No one who sins has seen or known both God and Christ. Such a person has nothing in common with God, how wonderful his confession may be. His confession of a higher knowledge of God and a deep experience with God is a lie.

As far as the practice is concerned, it is certain that you do not sin if you remain in fellowship with the Lord in your daily life, whereby you inquire of His will and obey His Word in everything. Nevertheless, that is not the issue here. It is not about two kinds of believers, faithful ones and unfaithful ones, but about two sources out of which they live. The source out of which the believer lives is a totally different one than the source out of which the unbeliever lives. That is what John is talking about.

1Jn 3:7. John is addressing his spiritual “little children” and is warning them for the deceivers. Deceivers want to sow doubt about Christ and His work and even deny it. They seek to make you uncertain about the characteristics of the children of God. Do not let yourself be influenced by them, but hold on to the clear statements of God’s Word. Do not depend on your feelings. Of course they have their place, but they are not a basis for knowing the truth of God.

You are a child of God and you have the same nature as God and the Lord Jesus. If He, that is Christ, is righteous, then you too are. Jesus Christ is the Righteous, He has laid down His life for you and you abide in Him. He is the absolute measure. If you see a person who practices righteousness, which means who does what is right according to God, you see someone who does what the Lord Jesus is. Such a person is therefore also righteous.

1Jn 3:8. The opposite of practicing righteousness is practicing sin. In someone who practices sin you recognize the devil. The origin of sin is in the devil. The devil sins from the beginning of his existence as devil. He is the father of sin. He who sins, exposes the characteristics of that father (Jn 8:44). The devil cannot do anything else than sin; it is his nature and he cannot do anything else but act accordingly. From the beginning he has men under his control through sin. Each man who is under his control, sins as he does. Therefore no man is able to escape from the control of the devil or to liberate another man from his control.

But the devil does not have the last word and he is not the victor. The victory belongs to the Son of God. What John says about Him, sounds like a victory call: “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” Every time that somewhere on earth someone comes to conversion, a work of the devil is being destroyed. You who believe are a proof of that. That’s the reason why the Son of God came to earth and finished the work on the cross.

1Jn 3:9. The opposite of ‘being of the devil’ and ‘practicing sin’ is ‘born of God’ and ‘not practicing sin’. “Who is born of God” has life that has its origin in God. That life comes in someone without any contribution of himself. That life has its own characteristics. These characteristics are typical for the seed of God. What comes out of a seed corresponds to that seed (cf. 1Cor 15:38). Sin is totally alien to the seed of God. From that seed no sin is produced; it does not cause anyone to commit sin and it cannot sin, just as in Him, the Lord Jesus, there is no sin. He could not possibly sin. He is absolutely separated from sin (Heb 4:15 ; Heb 7:26).

If you are born of God, it is the work of God’s Word and God’s Spirit (Jn 3:5). That is the seed John is talking about here (1Pet 1:23). The seed is the new life principle that God has planted in you. To plant that seed, God’s Word was preached and it came to and in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. In that way you were inwardly purified and the new life has come in you, where it develops and grows (cf. Jam 1:18 ; 21).

1Jn 3:10. Someone belongs to the children of God or to the children of the devil. Here you see two families opposite to each other. These two families make up all of humanity. Both families have their own typical family characteristics. John indicates what is not present with the children of God. If you notice that someone is lacking the practice of righteousness and also brotherly love, then it is obvious that you are not dealing with a child of God but with a child of the devil. Children of the devil have no new life and are therefore in no way able to practice righteousness and to love the brothers.

Practicing righteousness and brotherly love are two separate characteristics of the new life, but they belong together. They cannot even do without each other. Here you see the characteristics of the essence of God of Whom John says that He is light and love. Wherever righteousness and brotherly love are not present, nothing of God present, but the devil is manifested.

1Jn 3:11. To this statement John attaches the message “that we should love one another”. You have heard this message from the beginning. Nothing else has ever been told to you. In the Old Testament there was the command to love your neighbor. That raised the question of who then was the neighbor. To the Israelite it was his compatriot. The Gentiles were hated as a whole. The Israelites were not supposed to love them, but they had to eliminate them. In the New Testament you find a new order of things. There you come across the term ‘brothers’. In this term, a special dignity resounds.

The Lord Jesus speaks about His own as “My sheep” and “My friends” (Jn 10:27 ; Jn 15:14), but only in John 20 He speaks about “My brothers” for the first time (Jn 20:17). He does that after He has risen. He calls His disciples like that in His message which He by Mary Magdalene conveyed to them. In that way He puts them on the level before His Father and His God that He Himself has. His Father has become their Father too and His God is now their God. That is something totally new. It is no longer about ‘the neighbor’ of an earthly people, but there is mention of a new, heavenly company: the family of God.

1Jn 3:12. As an example of a lack of brotherly love and what that leads to, John quotes, as an exception, a history from the Old Testament. He refers to Cain. That man had no brotherly love, but “was of the evil one”. He revealed that too by killing his brother. His brother is Abel. John doesn’t mention that name because he wants to fully emphasize that he killed his brother. That deed was one of his evil works, while the works of his brother were righteous. He who is of the evil one, practices evil works. By also mentioning the works of his brother, which were righteous, John shows that Cain was driven by hatred.

In the New Testament you read three times about Cain: about the sacrifice of Cain (Heb 11:4), the works of Cain (here) and the way of Cain (Jude 1:11):

1. His sacrifice shows his self-willed religiosity, his indifference toward God’s holiness.

2. His works show his anger, the lack of brotherly love.

3. His way shows that he turned his back on God.

That is how it went from bad to worse with Cain. That is the result if someone who has no life from God, is confronted with righteous works. That confrontation shows the lack of these works.

Now read 1 John 3:4-12 again.

Reflection: What characteristics do you see with someone who is of God and what characteristics do you see with someone who is of the devil?