Light Brings Salt
Volume 2, Issue 25 June 27, 2004
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
The Gift of God's Love
In First John 3:1 John details the dynamic reality of the
new life of the believer in Christ.
The chapter break is unfortunate since John's statements here flow from
John calls upon his readers here to contemplate the
amazing reality of their present membership in God's family (v. 1a). He also
reminds them that this relationship they have with Him explains the reaction of
the world toward them (v. 1b). And he stresses that this new life as God's
children also has future implications.
First we need to examine the amazing gift of God's
love in the first phrase of 3:1. John's excitement at
the implications of what he says about the awesomeness of being born again,
being a part of God’s family; being born one's. This wonder and excitement is evident as he
says to his readers, See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be
called children of God.
The plural of the aorist imperative, "See," or "Behold" [ei=don] calls upon the readers to take a more
thorough look at the amazing love which gave them membership in God's family.
The strong force of See/Behold is that we need to
take time to contemplate this love and allow its reality to sink down into the
depths of our thinking. The very core of our new self, the
new creation in Christ. The
exhortation to them is to carefully note "how great a love "
the Father has bestowed on them. Need to focus on the unique nature of God’s
love.
The adjective rendered "how great "
occurs only seven times in the New Testament “how great” (potapo,j) has 2 threads of
meaning. First it is used of anything foreign, the idea of that meaning in context is that the
love of God/F is foreign to this world and its thinking. If your looking for
a unique illustration of God’s love, you won’t find it in the world, its unique
its foreign to any experience in this world.
Paul says in Eph.
This word potapo,j
also carries the idea of anything that astonishes or amazes or causes
admiration. The more that we understand
the love of God that flows to us from His Grace as a result of faith in Christ
we should be amazed and it should cause us to be occupied with Him and His
great provision for us.
So John is saying take a careful look, focus on the kind of love that God has which
is foreign to this world, that you can’t
find an illustration for in this world and secondly look at the amazing love of
God and notice the admiration that it provokes.
The expression conveys both a qualitative and quantitative force, the
idea being "what glorious, measureless love!" This love, originating with God, ever seeks
the true welfare of those
loved.
It is amazing indeed when we remember our personal
status before Him before we believed in Christ, before salvation. [We were
ungodly, sinners, enemies, dead] God's
love is a love that works visible, transforming results in the lives of its
recipients, those who become children of God, as we are responsive to His grace
provision for our life. The
perfect-tense verb "has bestowed"
(di,dwmi) declares that this love is a permanent gift.
Not talking about
the believers future at this point, he is talking
about the present reality of the believer, experiencing the love of God, that
flows from a past act, the point of salvation.
Being the recipient
of God’s great love cannot be earned or purchased but is a gift one that will
not be withdrawn. Can never be lost. John's adds "bestowed on us"
indicates that he explicitly includes himself among the recipients of this
amazing love.
that we should be called children of God;
This clause explains how this love is revealed. Its through us, our
lives. The force of the clause is
factual, an
unfolding of the nature of God's gift of love - that we are “called children of God."
The aorist passive verb
"be called" speaks
of our status as born ones, passive says that God Himself acted to make this a
reality, we are
now members of His family.
Since it is used without
the article, "children of God"
calls attention to our character, our nature, as members of the family,
"God-children-a divine progeny." [spiritually] The KJV rendering "sons" does not
adequately render the force of the Greek term. The word for children is te,knon and speaks of the natural
relationship of children as members of the family. [born
ones]
It becomes a
technical term John uses referring to this special relationship. John uses ui`o,j, 'son,' in 1 John only for Jesus in
relationship to God." The added
comment "and (such) we are"
says its a true statement but doesn’t appear in some
texts, KJV. The phrase certainly adds to the force to the statement. John emphatically declares that we are not
merely God's children in name, children is not just a
title, but is a reality. Therefore this should give us assurance, encouraging
and strengthening us. Its an expression of a
fact, we’re children of God, the objects of His love, facts which should impact all of our thoughts
and actions. ??How is this great love
manifested to the world? Through the lives of believers, the ones who practice
righteousness, that is know what is right and do it.
John next focuses on the world's failure to
understand believers. This amazing fact that we are now
members of God's family, His children, explains the world's attitude toward
believers:
For this
reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Question to answer here is this, Does "For this reason " (literally "because of this") look forward
to the concluding clause "because
it knew him not," or does it look backward to the fact John has
just stated that we are now "children
of God."
If we look forward the meaning is that the world
does not recognize or understand believers because it never recognized
Him. If we take the backward view, then
John explains that the world does not recognize us because we are children of
God. The backward view I believe seems more natural in the flow of the context.
Basis then of the worlds
attitude towards believers is that we're God's children, and our life manifests
that reality! Because believers are
members of God's family, and when they are reflecting that family relationship,
i.e. walking in the light, they are radically different from the world,
therefore "the world," [kosmoj] the organized mass of lost humanity in its
estrangement from God, "keeps on
not knowing us".
For the world there is no true understanding or appreciation of those who are born-again
believers, they haven’t a clue.
The fact of regeneration is foolishness in its eyes, those who are
children of God, having believed in Christ, the world considers deluded. By its very nature the world, which "lies in the power of the evil one" (
God's children understand why the world does not
understand them: because it did not know Him. The aorist tense, "did not know" records the historical fact of the
world's failure to know and understand reality of God.
The precise failure
in view is determined by the accepted identity of "Him." If
"Him" is understood as a reference to God the Father, John summarily
notes that "the world's whole course is one great act of non-recognition
of God." Repeatedly history has demonstrated that "the world through its wisdom did not come
to know God" (1 Cor.
More probable is
the view that the aorist tense points to a particular point in past time when
the world did not know Him. It would be most natural to see here a reference to
Christ's reception at His first coming.
The world failed to
understand or receive God's supreme revelation of Himself in His Son (John
John reminds his
readers of this fact, that Christ was rejected, not known, which should help them/us to
understand the world's reaction to His spiritual children, that is us. So the
fact of their rejection by "the
world," which includes all unregenerate individuals, attests that
they are indeed members of God's family as it does for each of us.
Therefore, one
commentator, Glenn W. Barker notes, “The author wants his readers to know that
approval by the world is to be feared, not desired. To be hated by the world
may be unpleasant, but ultimately it should reassure the members of the
community of faith that they are loved by God, which is far more important than
the world's hatred.”