3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
Love One Another
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (ESV)
13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
Just like this verse says, we shouldnt be surprised if we are hated for reppin the Lord’s name everywhere we go and spreading His Word. When we face persecutions however, we need to keep on going and be bold!
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
It’s easy to say that you love God, or that you love others. But living it out is much harder. True love, the self-sacrificing, unconditional love that Jesus Christ displayed for us, is so much harder to put into practice than the superficial love that the world displays. But this verse is clear: if we really love others, we will do more than just say it; we will live it out. And if we love God, we will obey His commands. This is the love that Christ showed for us, and it is the love that we as Christians need to show others.
Wow, I feel like commenting on every verse. This book is just SO SOLID!! I settled with two…
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
This is pretty scary. John is making the point that if we are continually, habitually sinning over and over, we really aren’t Christians. This is a scary thought for “Christians” who claim “well im human that’s why I sin in this area.” NO! We can overcome sin through Christ and we need to make sure that we are not continuing to sin. Instead, we need to live in him because the flip side of the first part of this verse is that “everyone who lives in him stops their sinning.”
13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
I was in my religious truth class (mind you, at a secular school) and the question of “Is there one true religion or many?” came up. I was the only person to have a NON-RELATIVE view of religion, and believe me, I felt the heat for it. I let everyone in the room know “There is only one true religion, which makes all others wrong.” Even though these students needed to hear it, it doesn’t make it any easier and we just have to be willing to take the heat. Remember, they persecuted Christ and as Philippians 3:10 says “I want to know…the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” Let’s not be surprised when we take heat for Christ but instead rejoice in it!
23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
I realized that this is a verse that I could show to someone while I am evangelizing to them. I need to let them know that it truly says in the Bible that He commanded us to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, and to also love one another. If someone does not do this command, they definitely do not have the truth in them. They will definitely not be going to the Kingdom of Heaven.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
As we learned from verse 23 one of the primary commands that Christians are to follow is to love one another. However, Christian love should look much different than worldly love which is rooted in selfishness. Real love is active (verse 18) and sacraficial (verse 16). It is more than mere sentiment. It means looking for ways you can help or benefit someone else especially when it costs you something to do it (ex. effort, time, $). Let’s all love the people in our lives in the way that Christ commanded us.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Once we are in God, we need to continue to live in Him. This means that we must stop sinning and completely rid every bad thing from our lives. I need to stop using the “harsh” language when I’m upset or frustrated. I know that it’s a sin in my life and is not glorifying God.
11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
I love this commandment! It can be hard sometimes, but we are told by God to love EVERYONE. This means showing love to not just those who show us love, but those who show hatred to us also. And I know it’s REALLY hard sometimes, but we could all probably work on this one!
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Here’s another main theme in the book of 1 John: loving one another. This is something that every Christian will show in their life, a genuine care and concern for the spiritual well being of others.
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
It is easy to say we love others or to even feel like we do. But if we really love one another we will show it by tangible actions. A good question to ask ourselves is: What have I done for someone else today? This will help us evaluate if we are acting in love that is true.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
I love this verse! The people who always use the excuse that “we are human, we all make mistakes and sin” this shows them that, yes we do sin, but we should learn from each sin and not do it anymore. We should strive to be Holy because God is Holy.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
Whenever we see a friend or relative in need, we shouldnt just say “aw hope you get better”……we should actually do something about it!!
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
These days, at least it seems like it to me, words mean nothing from people because so many people lie about things…..Especially when they use the word LOVE. Jesus used actions to show his love for us by dying on the cross, now we in this worlld need to use our own actions to show love.
Great job Matt! God has answered my prayers for you; and I will continue to pray for you as long as you need it.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Love is sacraficial, that is what Bobby taught us last weekend. If we are not giving of ourselves than how can we say that we love people? It makes sense too, if we realy love someone then we will begin to elevate their needs above our own because we care about them so much.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Christ set the ultimate example for us in how we are to love others…to give all of ourselves to them. Christ sacrificed His life for us, and most of us will not be asked to do that. The way we sacrifice for our brothers and sisters in Christ is by putting them before ourselves. We should always be loving others the way Christ did and to do that is not an easy thing. It will stretch us and cause us to sacrifice things that are important to us like time, money, and resources. Our obedience to this command of Christ will give glory to God and grow us in our sanctification process. Let’s take it to the next level and love others like Christ loves us!
17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
this verse reminded me of the verses James 2:16-17 which talks about seeing the person with no clothes and then saying “peace be with you” and giving them anything else. it talks about how works without faith is dead. like this verse in 1 John 3 says, if we do not care for a brother in need of things we have, how can we say that the love of God is in us. the love of God should compel us because we have been reborn, and we should care for the damned, and have that sacrificial love for others that Christ had for us.
wow, what a great passage.i feel like matt, i want to comment on every single verse!i think its amazing how we can take one verse and learn so much from it.
13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
persecution!i was talking to my stepmom the other day, and i was telling her how i feel like aliso is so depressing when it comes to the non-christians.i went to registration last week, and the words and the things coming out of peoples’ mouths were horrible, even when the parents were around!! i told her that i wont fall into that, and that the aliso group from church will definatley shine. but i know that as we stand up for what we belive, we will be persecuted.and praise God for it!we need to have a right attitude towards it.so already, we need to be praying for the christians who will be bright lights at the schools we attend, because we have a lot of defeating to do!and we cant do it without God…and if it comes to persecution, let us all have a right attitude….just as jesus christ did on the cross!
maranatha
14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers
In verse 16 it shows that an exsample of love is laying our life down for each other and caring for the person more than ourselves. If we are not willing to lay our life down for each other than, it is saying that we are not born of God because that is not love.
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
This is just amazing to think about. We were once enemies of God but He still loved us. He reconciled us to Him calling us His children. God has given us something that we really do not deserve. Therefore we should live our lives more and more to serve Him. Lets take it to the next level!
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Like Spencer said in relation to verse 1, we didn’t deserve any of the grace God gave us, yet Christ sacrificed Himself for us. In response, we need to show the same love to others as Christ has commanded of us. This includes everyday practical things like verse 17 and also means we should have a willingness to even sacrifice our own lives for our brothers like in verse 16. We need to always remember that we are no longer living for ourselves but for God and His commands such as loving others. And when we do this we know we are truly saved and experience true joy because that is how God has made things to work.
Verse 18….ya….It is so easy to say that you love someone but saying it is one thing and loving them is another. Just like this verse says we need to love people in actioin not just in words.
1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Wow, God actually calls us His children if we are Christians. Now that is a huge blessing and a huge responsibility. If continue to go on sinning we are children of the devil because if we do we don’t know God but as followers of Christ we must kill sin and live for the glory of God not our flesh.
Great comment Mike!
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Like Jenae said, people use the excuse, “I’m only human,” all the time when they sin. Once a Christian, we are sanctified. That is a process that lasts our whole lives. We are made more and more like Christ, meaning we will sin less and less. So we can’t keep on sinning the same sins over and over. That doesn’t show fruit of being a Christian.
6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother
I loved these three verses. This is one way that Christians and unbelievers are radically different. As children of God we will not continue to sin! This was so encouraging to me to know that as a child of God i can stop any sin in my life! And going into high school this is how we are going to represent God, stopping sin in our lives will really stand out!
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
THis is another way that we are able to be lights at our school. To not only love one another with words but with and actions and in truth as well. Going back to high school people will see a difference in the way that we act toward one another, our love for one another should be overflowing, if we have this then we are going to stick out in the crowd!!!
Matt, way to rep at your school!!!
16.) This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Jesus Christ is the best example we have to follow, He laid down His life for us in love, and we should have the same attitude for our brothers and sisters. And as Hunter said, we should be elevating others needs above our own, that is what will make this attitude show in our lives.
Wow… we are already in 1 John!? I missed alot! :(
anyways…
7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
I like this verse because its such an encouragement and exhortation to be careful of who you hang out with. The truth is, we become like those who we hang with….. so that means we should surround ourselves with like minded christians who are living the way that God calls us all to live! Once we start following others who are of different mindset, we will start to take on that way of life. So watch who you follow, and make sure that those following you have a Godly and righteous example to mimic!!
Oh man! This is like a love chapter haha.
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
All these verses talk about love. Verse 18 was super convicting to me. And what Mike said totally got to me. So many people say that they love God but don’t live it out or that they love others but show no acts of love.. Like Mike said if we love God we will obey His commandments, and love others the way the Christ loves us! <3
7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
This verse really stood out to me because the people who can lead us astray can sometimes be our non-christian friends. When i am with these people, i need to take advantage of the oppurtunity to witness to them and try to not conform to the ways of the world. (:
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
I totally agree with Bre and Mike! Like the saying “actions speak louder than words” our love needs to not only be evident with what we say but also in the random acts of kindness we show to others daily.
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
I also love this verse!! It just reminded me of when i’m dealing with my siblings!! It’s soo easy to just provide lip service when you’re “apologizing” or just talking to them!! Actions do speak louder than words, and i know i need to work on showing love for my siblings by ACTING like I love them, and putting my whole heart into it!! >.<
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Seriously i love this verse. Think about it. How grear is the love? It is by far greater than any love that we can have for one another. It is the true unconditional love. Nothing can penetrate it. He would do whatever it takes to ensure that we are safe and taken care of. And its not a term the we have come up with it is what we are called by Him. He calls us His children. He is our father. Not because he has to be, but be cause HE CHOSES TO BE.
Wow! This chapter is full of meat! But there were two verses in particular that stuck out to me the most, verses 14 & 16
14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
I love verse 14 because it is so straight forward. “Anyone who does not love remains in death” wow so we know that if we are in sin, and have a constant struggle with sin then we are not in God and do not know God!
And I like verse 16 too because these to verses are like a tag team wrestling match verses the heart! Verse 14 says if we do not love then we are not Christians and verse 16 goes on to define what love truely is! That God would come down in the appearance of a man and die for our sins, now this is one awesome chapter!
Wow this verse really popped out to me!!
16.) This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
I loved this verse because its similar to my favorite verse
John 15: 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
I think that no matter what or who it is we should show love to everyone especially those kids at are schools that have no friends and sit in the corners i love reaching out to those kids. But we need to show love to everyone like Jesus showed us and really put down are lives and as Hunter said really put others above us and think about their situation. Love this verse!!!
God Bless Beka
13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
I really like this verse cause it tells us that as Christians we will be hated and persecuted and that when this happens we should not be surprised. But when this happens we should be happy cause we see that Gods word is coming true in our lives…..
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Loving one another sometimes can be a struggle for many people. We may get angry, mad, or upset with others, and act it out in the wrong manner. As Christians, we should encourage and build up people, and reach out to them with the love of Christ! And to be good examples!