“For” is a
crucial word in the Bible. Sometimes translated as “because”, “since”,
and “that”, the Greek word behind all of these is “hoti”. It is a word of cause and effect, of meaning
and implication, of relation and consequence.
“Hoti” gives us the rationale behind the doctrine. God is not a master who expects His creations
to blindly follow His every whim. To be
sure, there is an undeniable and necessary element of faith and trust implicit
in the text of Scripture. But at the
same time, there is logic and reason.
There are clauses and arguments and rebuttals and points and
counterpoints. God expects us to use the
minds He gave us with the mental faculties humans alone of all creation possess
in order to process the information He reveals and extrapolate conclusions from
it.
Consider the
words of Christ to the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 16. These men came to Him with duplicity in their
hearts and asked for a sign from heaven.
Beginning in verse 2 we find: He
replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for
the sky is red.’ And in the morning,
‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of
the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” The point was this. The Jews were possessed of great powers of
inference and deduction. They were
capable of assessing evidence and arriving at a rational hypothesis. And far from decrying this Jesus applauded
them for it. His concern was not with reading
the sky and determining whether a storm was on the horizon. Rather, He was upset with them because they
refused to apply those same mental faculties to spiritual matters.
So it is
with us today. God desires for us to
understand the why behind the what. So
He provides us with passages of Scripture like the one before us in verses 11
to 24 of 1st John chapter 3.
God’s messenger, John the apostle, closed his last sentence by
explaining the clear and obvious distinction between children of God and
children of the devil. Those who do not
practice righteousness or love their brother are of the devil, whereas those
who do practice righteousness and do love their brother are of God. And then he begins the very next sentence
with the “hoti” conjunction, translated in most English Bibles as “for”. This is the hinge on which this chapter
swings. The next 14 verses are John’s
explanation for why love is equal to righteousness. It is a rich and detailed description of how
to live out the love of God on a daily basis.
It is, if you like, a guide to love for the believer in Christ.
Without such
a detailed description we would be left to simply take God at His word and
blindly obey. This is of course not a
bad thing and in fact is sometimes necessary as a Christian. But how often do we consider the richness of
the blessing that God gives us by explaining the rationale behind our
actions. He delights in us so much that
He wants us to understand why we should love, then proceed to do it, and
consequently produce a far richer sacrifice of worship and praise as joyfully
willing participants than if we were mindless puppets dancing and shaking on
the ends of a string.
So, let us
begin with verses 11 to 13: For this is
the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one
another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his
brother’s were righteous. Do not be
surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
It was God’s
mandate from the very beginning of creation that mankind would live in harmony
with one another. His design for man and
woman was intimacy and companionship.
God clearly broadcast His intent to Adam by literally forming Eve out of
him, as Genesis 2:21-22 tells us: So the
Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took
one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib
which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Now, we don’t know how much of this Adam
understood at that time. But it is very
clear that he received God’s message loud and clear, judging by his response in
the very next verse: The man said, “This
is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.” Adam had just finished viewing all the animals on earth, naming them,
and exercising authority over them. Sadly,
he had felt a kinship with none of them.
But then he beheld his wife, and oh how his outlook changed. He immediately responded with an intimate
affection and abiding love for this special person the Lord had brought
him. It is this image of the original
marriage that defined and described the high water mark for all marriages to
come, in verse 24: For this reason a man
shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they
shall become one flesh. Adam’s union
with Eve was literally born out of a sharing of flesh. And although spouses no longer have that
special privilege the same unity and oneness is nonetheless the goal our
marriages should aspire to.
This model
of love was a microcosm of the intended relationship of every human being
afterward. To be sure, only the marriage
relationship was set up for such a deep level of intimacy. But the bond of love that man and woman
shared was to be the foundation upon which all other relationships were
built. The parents were to instruct
their children after them through both spoken word and witnessed deed. But then sin entered the picture. And with the presence of this hateful,
rebellious, and unnatural perversion of God’s design, it didn’t matter how good
Adam and Eve’s instruction was, their children bore the brunt of their terrible
disobedience.
Rather than
seeking the best for his brother, Cain looked out only for himself. John tells us exactly what Cain’s motivation
for murder was; petty jealousy. Cain
didn’t like it that Abel had a righteous testimony before God. He was furious that God looked with favor
upon Abel’s loving and selfless sacrifice of the very best he had. Abel took to heart the lessons of his parents
by placing the fullness of his affection upon the Lord God who had created him.
This was
something Cain, in his debased and unregenerate state, simply could not
allow. Proverbs 29:27 tells us the ugly
truth: An unjust man is abominable to
the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked. There can never ever be peace between the
children of God and the children of the devil.
This is an unreasoning and unrelenting opposition and antagonism that
will break all bonds and rupture all agreements. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 10:34-36: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on
the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.” What is it that causes such division? Is it the Lord that forcibly severs family
ties? No, it is the fact that “his deeds
were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”
So honestly
it should come as no surprise whatsoever that we face opposition from the
world. The righteous and the unrighteous
do not and can never mix. If you live a
righteous life you are guaranteed the hatred and antipathy of those around you
who are guilty of suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. In fact, the testimony of the Scriptures
before us make it very clear that it is impossible for you to have peace with
the world. This raises what should be an
alarming realization. Namely, if you are
not facing the hostility described by John and Christ then the world does not
perceive your deeds as any more righteous than theirs. Therefore, they have nothing to fear from or
be jealous over you. Be mindful of the
instructions of Paul to the church at Corinth in 2nd Corinthians
6:14: Do not be bound together with
unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what
fellowship has light with darkness?
The second
point that John makes in this passage is found in verses 14 and 15: We know that we have passed out of death
into life, because we love the brethren.
He who does not love abides in death.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no
murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
John uses
the perfect tense of the verb “eido”, or know in English. This is a knowledge and understanding that
resonates inside our minds and ripples across the pools of our thought. It continually informs, strengthens,
delights, and captivates a Christian. It
is not a lifeless clinical book knowledge that is gained from reading a lot of
Bible verses. It is an experiential
wonderment and fascination that is gained from gazing long upon and drinking
deeply of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God in the Scriptures (Rom.
11:33).
In verse 14
this worshipful knowledge based adoration of God takes the form of an
understanding of our freedom from death.
Jesus said in John 8:51: “Truly,
truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” What was the word of which He was
speaking? John has already told us in
verse 11; it is to love one another. He
states it again here in verse 14. And
he’s going to tell us again in verse 24 just to make sure we get the
point. It is love for one another that
gives us the knowledge of our life in Christ.
Conversely,
those who hate each other are, in God’s eyes, murderers. Our fickle little human minds, so easily
distracted and so quickly confused, would seek to deny this truth. After all, hatred of one another does not
always lead directly to physical death, right?
Ahh, but consider the deeper issue of the heart.
God looks
not merely upon the surface of what we do.
He considers the thoughts and intentions of our minds as well (1st
Sam. 16:7). And what exactly is the
heart issue at stake here? Jesus
explains in Luke 16:13 that hatred is synonymous with derision and
disgust. If we despise someone, for any
reason, we are guilty of hate. Jesus
clarifies in Matthew 5:21-22 that such attitudes are worthy of the fiery pits
of hell itself. Why? Because it is the same issue of the heart
that led Cain to physically murder his brother.
Abel’s blood cried out to God from the ground and so does our hatred of
our brother. Be exceedingly careful of
how you consider another human being.
This is a very serious matter to the Lord and He expects His children to
place a profound level of significance upon that which is important to Him.
As a
demonstration of the importance of this issue John says at the end of verse 15
that the murderer, or the hater, lacks eternal life right now. We have looked at the Greek word “meno”
several times in this series. It means
to abide or remain in a place, or to be held or kept continually. John uses the present active form of “meno”
here to convey the idea that this state of being, death, is a current reality
for those who fail to love. It is not
some far distant eventuality they will have to face one day. They are caught up in death this very
hour. They are quite literally walking
corpses and know it not.
In direct
and stark contrast to the profane image of murderous hatred leading to eternal
spiritual death, John now gives us a sacred picture of sacrificial love that
leads to temporary physical death.
Verses 16 to 18 read: We know
love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. But whoever has
the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against
him, how does the love of god abide in him?
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed
and truth.
I have been
saying over and over that “agape” is a sacrificial love. But if you were to look it up in a Greek
dictionary you would find the following definition: brotherly love, affection,
good will, love, benevolence. Nowhere in
there is necessarily dictated the idea of sacrifice. So why have I been pounding on the concept of
“agape” as requiring sacrifice? It is
because of passages such as this one. It
is Christ’s surrender of His divine prerogatives, His submission to shame and
infamy, and ultimately His freely willing acceptance of death that John says
gives us our understanding of what love is.
It is not a lexical definition but a contextual one. God defines our expectation of love in how He
demonstrates it for us.
What is
particularly instructive about this verse is the word that John chose to use
here that we translate into life. It is
“psuche” in Greek and it means literally the breath of life. In Genesis 2:7 we read the following: The Lord God formed man of dust from the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living being. It is nothing less
than the very essence of God that infused man with life. There is nothing more sacred. There is nothing more precious. There is nothing more spectacular than God’s
own being. He passed a part of that into
man. And it is that which Christ
surrendered on our behalf. For God to
taste death, which is a visibly galling and irksome reminder of all He is not,
is shameful.
Furthermore,
notice the latter half of the verse.
Every English translation renders the word “ought” here, as in “we ought
to also lay down our lives”. I find this
to be incredibly unfortunate. When I
read the English word ought I interpret it as a good suggestion. This course of action would be best for me to
pursue. It is the superior choice among
several options. But that is not at all
what John intended to convey. The Greek word
that he used is “opheilo”. It means to
owe money or to be in debt.
Our expected
response of sacrificial love, up to and including death, is far more than a
good suggestion. It is an
obligation. It is a debt that we
owe. Paul says this well in Romans 13:8:
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one
another. He goes on to say in the
following verses that by having love for one another we automatically fulfill
the entirety of the rest of the law.
Love for a Christian is not optional or extra credit. It is a baseline requirement.
Then in
verse 17 John addresses a question that has not been asked. He is anticipating objections from his
audience and countering their arguments before they even have a chance to
coalesce. Paul does this extensively in
his writings, particularly in Romans.
Here, John is responding to a Christian who says they do not have any
opportunities to surrender their life for someone else and therefore the
preceding verse doesn’t apply to them.
So John clarifies that even in the mundane routine of everyday life
there is love to be lived out practically.
As we looked
at several weeks ago, the word “bios” in Greek means life. But here in verse 17 it is translated as
“goods”. The reason is that what John is
talking about is the necessities that are required to sustain life. He is describing a situation in which a
Christian has those things (e.g. food, water, shelter, clothing, etc.) and then
sees another who lacks those items. Even
in this relatively tame situation we are required to display the “agape” love
of God to the one who is in need. If we
fail at this task of giving temporal aid, then we certainly are not likely to
be surrendering up our lives. And John’s
assessment of such a person is that they do not have the love of God abiding in
them. Furthermore, and most damning of
all, going back to verse 14 we know that if love is absent from us then so is
eternal life.
Concluding
the point in verse 18 John exhorts us to refrain from a love that exists merely
in the spoken word. It is completely
insufficient to just say that we love someone while failing to demonstrate that
love with visible and concrete evidence.
In fact, John says that we are to love in deed and in truth. The implication is that the love of word or
tongue that he just mentioned is not of the truth and is therefore a lie.
This is exactly
the same point that James makes in chapter 2, verses 14-17 of his letter: What use is it, my brethren, if someone
says he has faith but he has no works?
Can that faith save him? If a
brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you
says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give
them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead,
being by itself. Words spoken in
this way are hollow and empty. They are
useless. Paul calls them a clanging
gong. In other words, they are nothing
more than an irritant and a nuisance.
And they are proof of an empty spirit devoid of life and abiding in
death.
Before we
move on I want to address a question. Namely,
who is John talking about in this passage; believers or unbelievers? In other words, is it only other Christians
we are supposed to be willing to lay down our lives for and is it only those
within the church who are to be recipients of our goods for the sustenance of
their lives?
This is
actually a tricky question to answer.
The reason is because the word John uses, “adelphos”, can mean anything
from a biological brother to a fellow countryman to a brother in Christ. In some contexts, it can even refer to a work
associate. So to pin down exactly what
each biblical author means when he uses “adelphos” is challenging. That being said, my answer to the question is
both yes and no. I believe John is
making both a general reference to all mankind as well as specific points
relating to fellow Christians in this chapter.
First of
all, love for all men is a baseline foundation of Christianity. Consider the following three points. One, by explicitly calling our attention to
the very beginning of human relations in verse 11 and 12 I think John is
defining a universal umbrella truth that applies to all men equally regardless
of station, rank, or level of faith.
It’s true that John uses the example of Cain and Abel who were literal
brothers. But I believe just as Adam and
Eve serve as surrogate examples for the rest of humanity in how to positively
relate to each other, so Cain and Abel serve as surrogates of how not to
negatively relate to each other.
Besides, if
someone desired to be so technical as to make the claim that the example of
Cain and Abel dictates love only toward other Christians, then we have to
acknowledge that in point of fact they were biological brothers rather than
spiritual brothers. So on those grounds
then wouldn’t John really only be talking about brothers by blood rather than
other Christians? That is clearly not at
all the spirit of what John is communicating here.
My second
reason for thinking that Christians should have love as a default mode of
relation to all men is the teachings of Jesus in Luke chapter 10. A lawyer put him to the test by asking what
he needed to do to inherit eternal life.
Christ answered his question with a question of His own; namely, what
does the Law say? The lawyer correctly
responded with the first and second greatest commandment of love for God and
love for neighbor. Jesus approved of this
answer. But the man didn’t particularly
like being nailed down to the requirement of displaying love for all
mankind. So, wishing to justify himself,
he asked Jesus who his neighbor was. And
from verses 30 to 37 the Lord tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, the
point of which was that any other human being is our neighbor in the context of
who to show love toward. John was almost
certainly there when Jesus delivered this teaching. It would have deeply informed his
understanding of the concept of love later in life. And I think this was exactly what he has in
mind here in chapter 3 of his letter.
My third
reason is found once again in James. It
is a short and simple point, but no less powerful for its brevity. Chapter 1 verse 27 states: pure and undefiled religion in the sight of
our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and
to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Clearly in the mind of James a visible and demonstrable love that
targets those in need wherever they may be found is a requirement of true
Christianity. Clearly in the mind of
Christ showing love to our neighbor means showing love to anyone, no matter
where they come from. And I believe just
as clearly in the mind of John we are meant to understand this mandate of love
as being applicable to both Christian and non-Christian.
However, and
this is an important point, while love for all men is clearly a mandate for
every Christian John is making some specific references to fellow believers
here. If we took the time to examine
John’s usage pattern for the word “adelphos” throughout his other New Testament
writings we would find that every time he uses the word with a clear contextual
definition, he is referring to brothers either by blood or by spirit. He never uses “adelphos” in the more general
senses of countrymen, neighbors, or associates.
This pattern
seems to be borne out in the passage we are looking at today. In verse 13, “adelphos”, or brethren, clearly
refers to other Christians. It wouldn’t
make any logical sense to think otherwise because he is describing hostility
from the world toward Christians. Having
set this tone it seems likely that John would continue his example of love in
the context of the church in verses 14, 15, 16, and 17. So the specific example he gives of proof of
eternal life is love for other Christians.
The illustrations of laying down one’s life and providing goods to the
poor are given with other believers in view.
All of this
leads me to the previous “yes and no” answer to the question of whether
“brother” means Christian or non-Christian.
Anything John writes in this letter does not alter or contradict the
umbrella concept of love for all mankind that is a hallmark of
Christianity. That commitment to a
universal love clearly applies no matter what the situation is. Yet at the same time, John seems to be
indicating a special love that goes above and beyond all other expressions of
love. This is a love directed toward
brothers and sisters in Christ. If we
are not willing to die for a fellow Christian, we surely are not going to get
anywhere near death’s door for an unbeliever.
And if we withhold the necessities of life from those less fortunate
within the church I think it less than credible to think that we would turn
around and be generous to the world. Our
starting point of love ought to be those within the church. And then once established, that love should
flow outward into the streets and alleys and byways of the world we live in.
This brings
us to the fourth point of John’s guide to Christian love. It is found in verses 19 and 20, as follow: We will know by this that we are of the
truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us;
for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
The “this”
that John is referring to is the exhortation in the previous verse to quantifiable
love rather than ephemeral love existing in word only. Not only should we love truly to avoid being
caught up in a lie. Not only should we
understand that a lack of love indicates the presence of death. But a genuine attitude of love in imitation
of Christ’s own is the best possible medicine for the inevitable human doubt
that will at times creep into our minds.
You may be
familiar with how this goes from your own life.
You have a season of sin. Perhaps
it is overt and tangibly horrible, such as adultery. Or perhaps it is more subtle than that. Maybe you are guilty of preferring the world
more than Christ. It comes out in your
time management, your entertainment choices, or even your church attendance. And immediately the great slanderer comes and
begins to prey upon your already unstable mental faculties. He slides questions into your consciousness
such as “did God really say He would never leave you or forsake you?” “But what about that passage in James about
faith without works being dead? Doesn’t
that apply to you?”
Understand
that Satan knows the Bible better than you do.
And He is exceptionally skilled at taking the truth of God’s word and
twisting it into a cruel sham and mockery of what it really is. When these times come in your life, and they
will come believe me, what are you going to draw on to sustain you? How are you going to resist the flaming darts
of the devil? There are perhaps a number
of different answers to that question.
But John’s answer here in chapter 3 is, your love. It is the visible pattern of love for others
that must exist in the life of a Christian which will sustain them through the
darkest periods of self-doubt and fear.
Such a body
of loving evidence not only nourishes our own internal courage. It also strengthens our external reliance
upon God. Because as we contemplate the
acts of love in our life we should be reminded that God sees all and knows
all. Yes, He saw the horrible depravity
you just entered into last week. But He
also saw the tender acts of mercy you performed. He sees both the good and the bad. And He is faithful and just to both forgive
us our sins when we come to Him in repentance (1st John 1:9) and
reward us for our love with gracious love gifts of His own.
This is a
wonderful self-feeding cycle of love for God resulting in love for man leading
to love from God fueling love for God.
Perhaps a simple graphic will make this clearer…
It is
precisely this loving relationship that enables us to approach Him with
confidence, as John points out in verses 21 and 22: Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before
God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments
and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
John is not
teaching a first century version of the prosperity gospel. He is not promising us health, wealth, and
happiness here on earth. The whole
reason we can have confidence of having our requests granted is because we
begin from the premise of obedience. We
keep His commandments John says. We do
the things that are pleasing to our Lord.
We approach Him with humble sacrifices of praise and offerings of
love. Of course He will take pleasure in
us and shower us with blessings. Whether
those blessings take the form of temporal or eternal rewards is entirely up to
the Lord. But the blessings are ours
just the same.
Do you ever
stop to think of how absurd it is that we have the capacity to please God? We, of simple minds and limited abilities,
have the power, through obedience and love, to provide joy to the
incomprehensible God of the universe.
Daniel calls Him the Ancient of Days.
Paul describes Him as dwelling in unapproachable light. Moses, a man who enjoyed one of the most
intimate relationships with God in all of history, could not even look upon Him
fully lest he die. David regarded Him as
the rock of his salvation. Jeremiah
considered Him as his portion of hope.
Isaiah felt sure he would be unmade in the presence of Him.
This God of
all comfort and provider of all hope and giver of all good things is possessed
of ways as much higher than ours as the heavens are above the earth, meaning
infinitely. This is the One whom we are
able to please with simple, humble, quiet, thoughtful acts of loving
obedience. When you are kind to your
family members do you take time to consider that you are bringing pleasure to
God (and conversely, displeasing Him when you are unkind)? When you graciously mow an elderly neighbor’s
lawn for them do you consider that God is delighted with you? When you give of your time to work at a
homeless shelter to provide care for the downtrodden of this world do you
remember that your actions are a sweet aroma to God?
It is purely
a function of His grace and His love that He even gives us the opportunity to
enter into such a joyful relationship with Him.
No, this is not a prosperity gospel of endless riches and luxury on
earth. But neither is it a gospel of
terror and consternation before a vengeful deity who will strike us down at the
first mistake. Rather, it is a
worshipful delight in a loving Father who takes great pleasure and satisfaction
in His loving children.
Because this
concept of obedience is of such critical importance, John wants to be
absolutely crystal clear about it. So in
verses 23 and 24 he repeats a similar refrain to what he has already told us several
times throughout this letter: This is
His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love
one another, just as He commanded us.
The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the
Spirit whom He has given us.
The lexical
definition for the Greek “pisteuo”, translated here as believe, is “to think to
be true, to be persuaded of, or to place confidence in.” This is a fully reliant and rock solid
assurance of the truth. It is not a
casual or lackadaisical acknowledgement of facts. To believe in the name of Christ, as
commanded by God, is to throw all your effort into a total body life altering
change of direction.
When we do
this and it is accompanied by the love John has described to us then we can be
assured that we are abiding in God.
God’s Spirit, provided to us for help and enablement, confirms the truth
of our divine residency, and we are guaranteed an eternal existence in the
presence of our savior.
So to
summarize this passage, Christians should expect hostility from the world
because righteousness has no accord with unrighteousness. Those who are born of God have passed out of
death into life while those who have not abide in death. This sets up an unavoidable conflict of
purpose and position that cannot be resolved by human means. Nevertheless, we are commanded to love
sacrificially. God takes first place in
our affections, and then all of mankind should follow suit. This is the evidence that we have in fact
received new life. It assures us of our
standing when our sin burdened and susceptible minds fall prey to the
accusations of the great slanderer Satan.
The love that we practice gives us confidence before God because we have
concrete evidence to prove our innocence.
And because our relationship with Him is one of kind and gracious parent
to adoring child we know that He will provide all that we ever ask or think
when we do so according to the guidelines of His righteous character. The indwelling Spirit of God Himself takes
the proof of our love and forges it into a steel hard understanding that will
stand the test of time until we come physically into the presence of our Lord.
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