1 John 2:28-3:9

3:1 | The statement Behold what manner of love could be translated: “Behold, what peculiar, out-of-this-world kind of love the Father has bestowed upon us!” This agape love – which gives with nothing expected in return – seems strange to the world because it is so pure and holy (John 3:16; Eph. 2:4-7).

3:2-3 | Remembering that one day every one of God’s children will be with Jesus and be like Him – resurrected and without sin (Rom. 8:23-29; 1 Cor. 15:49) – gives Christians hope. These truths also help believers to live as their Father desires.

3:4 | Many people sin in ignorance, unaware of God’s Word and will. And while they are accountable for their sin because their conscience holds them accountable (Rom. 2:12-16), John is not speaking of them here. Instead, he focuses on conscious, intentional violations of the will of God as revealed in His Word; this is lawlessness – a consistent lifestyle of sin that shows contempt for God’s commands.

3:5-9 | This is one of the more difficult sections of Scripture, primarily because every Christian struggles with sin daily. John knows that too – he explains the process early in the letter (1:8-2:2). But here John discusses the practice of sin, not the struggle with sin. John is combatting the false teachers (the Gnostics) because they did not believe sin was a problem.

3:5-6 | Jesus does more than save a person from punishment for sin. He came to conquer sin at every level. He conquered it personally by His sinlessness (Heb. 4:15); He conquered the effects of sin and death through His death and resurrection (Heb. 2:14); and He conquers the power of sin in a believer’s life through the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:16). One must not claim to be a Christian and then live a life of sin.

3:7 | Children are vulnerable to being led astray. If John’s readers are not careful, these false teachers might fool them into advocating wrong thinking – convinced that sin is not an important concern and that “goodness” is equivalent to Christ’s righteousness.

3:8 | People who embrace sin are not simply misguided; they are unwitting tools of the devil who uses them to sow destruction in this world (John 8:44). But Christ has intervened to not only stop the devil’s work but to save people, making them members of His family.

3:9 | How can John say that God’s children do not and cannot sin? The verb does not sin is in the present tense, denoting a continuous action. It means that a Christian does not make a practice of sin. A person who is born of God will not knowingly and continuously violate His law (2 Cor. 5:21). Christians cannot practice sin because God is in them. He gives each Christian a new nature, planting a seed that the Holy Spirit causes to grow and produce fruit (Eph. 4:17-24; Col. 3:10).