1 John

Confidence Towards God

by Ben Zornes · Nov 10, 2022

Introduction

The Apostle John’s teaching here is at once simple and deep. The simplicity isn’t because John was a simpleton; and the depth isn’t a secret knowledge intended only for a scant few. We find here a depth that comes from maturing faith & love. A bride & groom avow their love on their wedding day, but as it is nurtured year upon year, decade upon decade, the depth of that trust & love grows sweeter, truer, lovelier. That, in part, is how Scripture teaches us to understand the doctrine of assurance of grace.

We live in a perpetually insecure culture. This is the result of a desertion of true faith in Jesus Christ alone. This is why there is such widespread seeking after security, whether it be the security of State run programs, or LARPing as very religious people in grand cathedrals. But we must maintain, that security is found in Christ alone.

The Text

19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1 John 3:19-23

Summary of the Text

John’s entire argument has been leading up to this important exhortation as to how the believer can be assured in their heart of their acceptance before God (v19). He gives us an if/then argument as the way to assure our hearts that we are “of the truth.” If your heart condemns you, God is greater than any real or imagined condemnation you face; after all, He knows all things (v20). He knows all the truth about you, and still offers Christ to you to be your dwelling place (2:6), righteousness (2:28), Advocate, and Propitiation (2:1-2).

The “if/then” argument in verse 20 is inverted by the “if/then” of verse 21.

20: If your heart condemns you, then God is greater.

21: If your heart doesn’t condemn you (because God is greater), then you have boldness to come to God.

This boldness is made most evident in our prayers. We ask “whatsoever” sort of prayers (v22). We can ask boldly, trusting God to answer our requests, because we are walking in the light (1:7), and have a clear conscience (v22). The nail in timidity’s coffin is that the command we are to keep is uncomfortably simple to the self-righteous or self-pitying, but is a deep comfort to the feeblest of saints: believe in Jesus, and love one another (v23).

The Accusing Heart

It’s vital to notice that condemnation is a legal term. This “legalese” picks up on the legal language used earlier regarding Christ as our Paraclete (2:1)––the one who comes alongside us to plead our case—and our Propitiate (2:2)––the one who covers us. Your comfort is found in this: your gracious Savior has freed you from and forgiven you for both your sinful state and your sinful actions. But the comfort goes gloriously beyond even this.

The comfort extends forward. If the saint sins in the future, the Lord Jesus remains as your faithful Advocate. The Greek word here means, “one summoned to your side”, implying coming to your legal defense.

Our Accuser is cast down, as John’s apocalyptic vision assures us (Rev. 12:10). Which means you need not heed the Accuser’s voice, when the Advocate’s voice is declaring that the Gospel reckons you forgiven, cleansed, and pardoned. This forms the foundation of Christian assurance. We need not sin, because we’ve been given a new nature; but if we sin, we are no less a saint––for Christ the Righteous is our eternal Advocate before the Father.

Having destroyed Satan’s grounds for accusation (Cf. 3:8), John wants to address the accusations which spring from your own heart. Here in our passage, the heart lays a charge against us. While there’s an emotional component here, the legal terminology should lead us to think not in terms of subjective feelings but objective fact.

Does your heart condemn you? Whose heart doesn’t? After all, we bear the guilt and shame of our sin. Our heart bears witness against us that we are violators of God’s Law. Our heart is deceitful (Jer. 17:9). Our heart is stone (Eze. 36:26). But God is greater. Sweeter words have never been spoken.

God is Greater

How do we know that God is greater? We often want to point to the glories of creation as an argument for God’s greatness. No doubt the heavens declare His glory, DNA strands are amazing testimonies to the wisdom & knowledge of God’s creative power, the beauty of the Swiss Alps leaves us longing for the eternal glory found in God. But if we follow John’s argument accurately, the greatness of God which he has in mind is not to be found in the first place by creational glories. We have to go back to the prologue of 1 John to see what greatness John has in mind.

The Eternal Word has been made manifest in the flesh for your joy (1:1-4). Those born of God believe two things: that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (4:2), and that Jesus is the Christ (5:1). Jesus dwells in you, as you dwell in Him by faith (2:24). Do you believe that? Then be assured that Christ dwells in you, by the Spirit, to tell your condemning heart to hush.

A.A. Hodge, in one place, teaches that, “Full assurance, therefore––which is the fullness of hope resting on the fullness of faith––is a state of mind which it is the office of the Holy Ghost to induce in our minds. […] [The Holy Ghost] gives origin to the grace of full assurance––not as a blind and fortuitous feeling, but as a legitimate and undoubting conclusion from appropriate evidence.”

Assurance isn’t a feeling, it is the conclusion of a legal proceeding. A lost child is not concerned with whether they have been disinherited; they are solely concerned with finding their parents and have a certainty of the welcome which they will receive when they are found. This passage is the crown jewel of God’s evidence to the saints of their assurance of welcome. Christ has not only conquered Satan, but He has quieted your condemning heart by His great love, and now you have boldness to ask the Father for grace & mercy to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

So Say Your Prayers

John’s argument is a flowchart of sorts. Does your heart condemn you? If, yes? God is greater than your heart. Now, in light of that, does your heart condemn you no more? Good, then say your prayers.

To come to God in prayer is to come to Him by the Son, by the Intercessor. Only a fool will try to come before God in order to pull off a heist; as if he could dupe God by coming in any other way than by the Son. When God’s greatness is displayed in Jesus Christ manifested in the flesh, prayer becomes like the no-doubt 3-pointer. We pray “Thy Kingdom come”, and we are certain that near and far, in our heart and in our homes, from shore to shore Christ is King and shall be exalted in all the earth.

Now, curious point is made here. The text asserts a certainty of receiving our requests and it grounds this certainty in the fact that “we keep His commands, and do those things which are pleasing in His sight.” At first this sets us Protestants ill-at-ease. Sounds like works-righteousness. But this is to miss the simple point John is making. He answers this objection immediately. God’s commandment is to believe in Jesus, and love the brethren. Once again, our confidence towards God is on the basis of faith in Christ alone, and this is the key signature of our prayers.

Of course, this boldness in prayer isn’t to be used to glut our lusts (Jas. 4:3). But we also must be careful not to so narrowly limit what Christ & the Apostles’ frequently make broad. The saint is invited to ask for whatsoever (Cf. Jn. 16:23), and as you are walking with the Lord your requests will not be amiss or improper or carnal, but will be the sort of requests that please the Father.

Boldness in prayer is a mark of true evangelical faith. A clear conscience (by walking in the light and keeping His commandments) produces a fearlessness to make your petitions and requests known to your Father.

Instead of getting swallowed in the nets of doubt, and asking yourself if you’re really, really, really saved, John points you to prayer. Every time you pray you are defying an accusing heart. An accusing heart will object to going before God. But prayer forces you to humble yourself and admit in faith God is Greater. Instead of endless seeking for security, either in yourself, or in the State, or in the Cathedral, or in the family, or in your wealth, the Word that was manifested in the flesh, calls you to trust in Him alone, and then get busy.

Look To Christ

Faith looks to Jesus. Assurance of grace flows from looking, it is not the prerequisite of the looking. Looking comes first, the seeing comes after.

1 John 3:19-22 | God is Greater than Our Hearts

by Ben Zornes · Oct 11, 2022

19 And in this we know that we are of the truth, and before Him shall assure our hearts.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
1 John 3:19-22

We come to the rub of John’s argument as to how the believer can be assured in their heart of their acceptance before God. He gives us another if/then argument as the way to assure our hearts that we are “of the truth.” If your heart condemns you, God is greater than any real or imagined condemnation you face; He knows all things after all. He knows all the truth about you, and still offers Christ to you to be your dwelling place (2:6), righteousness (2:28), Advocate, and Propitiation (2:1-2).

The if/then argument in verse 20 is intended to flow into the if/then of verse 21:
-If your heart condemns you, then God is greater.
-If your heart doesn’t condemn you (because God is greater), then you have boldness to come to God.

It is vital to notice that condemnation is a legal term. This picks up on the legal language earlier regarding Christ as our propitiation and Paraclete, the one who comes alongside us to plead our case. Here the heart lays a charge against us. While there is an emotional component here, the legal terminology should lead us to think not in terms of subjective feelings but objective fact.

How do we know that God is greater? It is all founded on the prologue, the Word has been made manifest. This is leading up to the gloriously simple litmus test of salvation in chapter 4 & 5: those born of God believe that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (4:2), and that Jesus is the Christ (5:1). Jesus dwells in you, as you dwell in Him by faith (2:24). He stands there, by the Spirit, to tell your condemning heart to hush. When the believer’s heart is silenced by the indwelling presence of the Great Triune God, it then has boldness, confidence, and courage to ask of God for whatsoever.

Now, as we ask we know we receive what we ask because we are keeping God’s commandments. As we walk in the light as He is in the light we are inclined to ask for the very things which will fortify and equip us to carry out His commandments, to do those things which are pleasing to Him. His love has been lavished upon us (3:1), and so we are compelled to love the brethren, and when we see our brethren in need (3:17-18) we will be compelled to ask God for such things as are necessary to assist our suffering brother.

This boldness in prayer is not to be done to spend on our lusts, as the Apostle James teaches (Jas. 4:3); but we also must be careful not to so narrowly limit what the Apostles’ frequently make broad. The saint is entitled to ask for whatsoever, and as they are walking with the Lord their requests will not be amiss or improper or carnal, but will be the sort of requests that please the Father. Boldness in prayer is a mark of true evangelical faith. A clear conscience (by walking in the light and keeping His commandments) produces a fearlessness to make our petitions and requests known to our Father.

A.A. Hodge, in one places, teaches that, “Full assurance, therefore––which is the fullness of hope resting on the fullness of faith––is a state of mind which it is the office of the Holy Ghost to induce in our minds. […] [The Holy Ghost] gives origin to the grace of full assurance––not as a blind and fortuitous feeling, but as a legitimate and undoubting conclusion from appropriate evidence.”^⁠1 Assurance isn’t a feeling, it is a legal standing. This passage is the crown jewel of God’s evidence to the saints of their assurance of welcome. Christ has quieted their condemning heart by His great love, and now they have boldness to ask their Father for grace & mercy to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

¹Hodge, Archibald Alexander. The Westminster Confession: A Commentary. Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 2002. Pg. 242

1 John 3:13-18 | The World Hates You

by Ben Zornes · Sep 14, 2022

13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not the brother abides in death.
15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murder has eternal life abiding in him
16 In this we perceive the Love (of God), because He for us laid down His life, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso has this world’s good, and sees his brother have need, and closes up his bowels from him, how dwells the love of God in him?
18 My children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:13-18

It can’t be pointed out frequently enough that Jesus told his disciples that their hallmark should be their love for each other. Yet modern Christians have tweaked this and offered up the strange fire of a maxim of their own liking, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, by your niceness.” This had led to an impotent love both for our brethren and for our enemies. John tells his brethren^⁠1 not to be shocked when the world, like their father the devil, hates them with murderous hatred.

But as one expositor points out, “The test is not its [the world’s] hatred but our love.^⁠2” In other words, the world might hate you, not because you’re a righteous man, but because you’re an insufferable pill. The proof of resurrecting grace in the righteous is in their love for the brethren. It shouldn’t escape our notice that love for fellow saints is once more John’s emphasis.

This isn’t a generic, aimless love. This love is tied to covenant obligation. You are joined to your brother in Christ by the “life from the dead” grace which you both share. To neglect that duty of love to the brethren is to deny the grace which won you. John isn’t addressing here how we are to love our enemies, but of course we should show that Christ-like virtue. Rather he is warning the saints that they can’t act like Cain and claim to be like Abel. They must love their fellow saints.

The world only knows the Cainite cycle of hatred which escalates to murder. This is the case because they abide in death. Hatred for your brother indicates that your lineage is satanic (Cf. 3:7-12), and you do not have eternal life abiding in you (v15). But if you have beheld the Love of God (in Christ), you will lay down your life for the brethren, just like Christ did (Jn. 15:13). Thus, someone who will not live sacrificially towards his fellow saints indicates that he hasn’t seen Christ by true faith.

John then makes this abundantly practical. If you have earthly wealth, and see your fellow saint in need and you close up your bowels (a striking phrase if ever there was one), how can you claim that God’s love dwells in you? A poignant question indeed. He follows it up with a succinct moral command. You ought to love your brother, not with just lip service (I.e. “oh, I’ll pray for you”, ”sending good vibes”, “let me know if there’s anything I can do to help”, etc.), but in actuality. The Greek could be rendered here as “in the midst of deed and truth.” Our love is not this ethereal thing, it should show up in our bank statements.

¹This is the only spot in his epistle where he calls his readers “my brethren” instead of his usual “my children”

²Smith, David. The Expositors Greek Testament. Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. Vol. Five. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979. Pg 186

1 John 3:10-12 | Children of God, Children of the Devil

by Ben Zornes · Sep 7, 2022

10 In this are the children of God manifest and the children of the devil: whoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning that we ought to love one another. 12 Not like Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother: and wherefore slew he him? Because his works were evil, but his brother’s righteous.
1 John 3:10-12

John continues this theme of generation. Who are you born of is the prevailing question of this section. He makes it even more explicit by drawing a chasm in the sand so that the contrast between children of God and the children of the devil is too obvious to miss. God’s people are occupied with works of righteousness because they are born of God (vv7-9); but the devil’s children do not do righteously, and this is evident primarily in their lack of love for their brother.

The message, from the beginning (a favorite turn of phrase for John), is that God’s children should have a love for each other. John testified of what Jesus declared in John 13:35: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” This is the chord progression for song of the true Christian community: they love one another.

But the unrighteous are not so. They are like Cain. John gives us some NT insight into that story of the first murder. Cain was of the Wicked One, and thus we see that the devil was indeed murderous from the beginning. The serpent had blood-thirst for man, he wanted only to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan was behind that first murder, and behind all murders ever since.

The word for “slay” here is one of the most violent words John could have used. It literally means slaughter or butcher, often used to described the slitting of a beast’s jugular. Clearly, John isn’t giving any blurred lines between the righteous and wicked. There isn’t gradation between the righteous and the wicked. Cain’s works were evil, while Abel’s were righteous. There is no Venn diagram overlap between the children of God and the children of the devil. As one theologian insightfully noted “In a rage, Cain slew Abel. In his heart of hearts he thought, ‘If God demands a sacrifice, I’ll give Him one!’ Like any sacrifice, the shed blood called to God, but not for mercy. Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance.”^⁠1 Cain sacrificed his brother to cover his failure to bring God an acceptable offering.

While God’s children love one another, the children of the devil murder each other. Human sacrifice is inevitable amongst the children of the devil. Apart from Life which was manifest in Jesus, we all would join in the endless cycle of eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life. Christ puts an end to the rivalry, so that those in Christ might fellowship with each other, though they come from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

¹Jordan, James. Primeval Saints: Studies in the Patriarchs of Genesis . Canon Press. Kindle Edition.

1 John 3:7-9 | To Destroy the Works of the Devil

by Ben Zornes · Aug 24, 2022

7 Little children, do not let any man seduce you; he that does righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous.
8 He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested in order to destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whoever is born of God does not sin; for His seed abides in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 3:7-9

One of the way the false teachers were seducing the early church was in regards to blurring the clear line between righteousness and sin. This same temptation repeatedly presents itself as a continual danger which confronts the church. It is the danger that Paul addresses in Romans 6:1, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” God pronouncing us as righteous in Christ is not permission to continue in sin. The proof of our justification is the resulting works of righteousness. Righteousness is what those who are reckoned as righteous do, for Christ is their righteousness, and He can do no other than produce the fruit of His righteousness.

But the seducers which John is warning about tried to have it both ways. As Calvin points out in commenting on this text: “For many would gladly persuade themselves that they have this righteousness buried in their hearts, while iniquity evidently occupies their feet, and hands, and tongue, and eyes.”^⁠1 Righteous deeds accompany a righteous seed. A righteous seed will not produce an evil fruit. Woe to those who call up down, and down up.

The contrast which John raises here is similar to what he insists upon in John 8:42-44a “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” Those who walk in sin are sons of the devil. They do according to their generation, to their paternity. Their father is the devil. So, they behave like their father. From the beginning of the devil’s rebellion, he has sinned and therefore all he produces is sin.

John follows up this warning with one of the most swagger inducing lines in all of Scripture: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested in order to destroy the works of the devil.” Jesus came to bind the devil, and take his stuff. Jesus came to end his whole evil empire. The dark tower has been toppled, never to be rebuilt. Christ came to bring about a new birth. This new birth has brought about a new category of humanity: those “born of God.” Being born of God means that you are no longer under subjection to the devil’s works.

This doesn’t mean that we aren’t still faced with evil outside and within. Some wrench verse 9 into describing a sinless perfectionism. But if this were the case, what John said earlier would be nonsensical. Why confess sin if you have no more sin? Rather, what is being identified is that those who are born of God cannot endure in their sin. The seed of righteousness will more and more overtake the whole life of the child of God. Once more, we must jump up and down on this verse of assurance. If you are born of God, sin is a grief to you. Those not born of God don’t care about their sin, they redefine their sin, they ignore their sin, so that they might continue in sin. The one born of God, refuses to walk any longer in sin.

¹Calvin, Jean. Calvins Commentaries. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999. Pg. 211

1 John 3:4-6 | Sin is Lawlessness

by Ben Zornes · Jul 29, 2022

4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness; for sin is lawlessness.
5 But you know that He was manifested in order to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.
6 Whoever abides in Him sins not, whoever sins has not seen Him nor known Him.
1 John 3:4-6

This passage turns up the contrast knob for us to see the difference between the workers of iniquity with those born of God who do righteousness (2:29). Again, John’s epistle is one of assurance. The faltering saint should read verses like this, and instead of curling up in a ball of fear, should have all their fears melted by the glory of the Gospel contained here.

John has already established that the saint is delivered from the sin nature, and provision has been made for sin due to remaining corruption. What John brings to view here is the individual who continues in their sin, relishes their sin, won’t leave their sin, won’t fight their sin. True saints have seen & known Jesus, and thus their sin stings them. Transgressors don’t care about their sin, they only love maintaining their appearance as a brother. But their continuation in sin marks them as a false brother.

Verse 4 provides a wonderful shorthand for what sin is. It is lawlessness. It is “anomos”: without law. This goes against the grain of our culture which wants to redefine sin as mental illness, or repressed sexual desires, or the results of social oppression. John makes a simple statement here that sin is the transgressing of the law, or living as if there were no law.

Paul makes a similar point in Rom. 2:14-15. Though the Gentiles were without the Law, they generally follow that which is contained in the Law (e.g. prohibitions against theft, falsehoods, murder). This leaves them judged by the law which God has written on the conscience of all men. This means that there is a Law above us all. Sin isn’t decided by democratic process, or by chemical imbalance, or by social moulding. It is the breaking of God’s holy law.

Thus, we are all left as law-breakers. So, John brings us the sweeping grandeur of the Gospel. Again Christ’s incarnation of the prologue (1:1-4) is brought back to view. Jesus was manifested to take away sins. This is your only comfort. Jesus takes away sins. He takes away big sins, small sins. Sins of all shapes and sizes. The sins of pharisees and the sins of prostitutes and even the sins of politicians. He takes them all away for those who abide in Him. He can do this because He bore the cross in our stead. He took our judgement, because He became a man who could indeed take our place; yet because He was the Christ, He also could remain without sin and thus be a righteous substitute.

In light of this, verse 6 tells us that by abiding in Him, as John has repeatedly admonished, we sin not. In other words, our legal status before God is “not guilty.” One commentator makes a useful observation here about a contrast between 2:1 and here in the second part of verse 6. The verb tense in the latter is aorist, whereas the sin here is in the present tense. This contrast would be evident to John’s audience. The takeaway is “the believer may fall into sin but he will not walk in it.”^⁠1 Sinning is not the same as continuing in sin.

So then, we see that abiding in Christ is our only protection against the wrath that rests on those who continue in sin. John instructs us in the basics of Christian living. Abiding in Christ is to know and see Jesus

¹Smith, David. The Expositors Greek Testament. Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. Vol. Five. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979. Pg 184

1 John 3:1-3 | What Unearthly Love

by Ben Zornes · Jun 13, 2022

1 Behold, what manner of love has the Father bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons of God. Therefore, the world knows us not, because it knew Him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; we know, however, that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure.
1 John 3:1-3

Here is a good example of how our chapter breaks can, at times, get in the way of properly interpreting Scripture. The “behold” here is really a concluding doxology to John’s argument in chapter 2, before moving forward with the other items on John’s agenda. When you abide in the Son (2:20-29), the Father’s other-worldly love is bestowed on you. That love is embodied by the Father calling us His children. The new birth makes us strangers to the old world, because they know not Christ.

There is a series of gifts, which God bestows, that appear in each of the final three chapters.

He’s bestowed His love by naming us as His own children (3:1).
He’s bestowed His Spirit that we might not doubt our union with Him (4:13)
He’s bestowed upon us an understanding that we might know Him that is true (5:20).

It’s also worth mentioning that in older Greek texts, the meaning of the phrase “what manner” would be more akin to “from what place”. In other words, this is other-worldly love, heavenly love that is bestowed upon those in the Son. Through the Son, the Father calls us sons

But this description of our position as sons gives way to our duty as sons. We are brought into God’s house by grace, and continue in grace. But the grace is given that we might walk as Christ walked (2:6). We must be about our Father’s business (Cf. Lk. 2:49). Here we see that generation determines destiny. You are born of God, and thus, though we do not know what great glory awaits us, we know that we shall resemble our Older Brother, Christ. If God owns you as His beloved son or daughter, you know that when Christ appears you will be like Him.

God’s love rests upon you in Christ. So, set your hope on the glory which has been given to Christ, and trust that you shall share in that transfiguring glory. Hoping in Christ is how we grow in holiness, and thus become like He is. Seeing Christ spurs on our sanctification. Indeed, see what great love the Father has bestowed.

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