Christ Helps Us Homework: Specific Examples of what a righteous person looks like. 1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. The thought of being born of God arrests John with wonder, and he calls on his readers to take a look at the wonderful love that brought us into the family of God. Love could have saved us without making us children of God. But the manner of God’s love is shown in that he brought us into His family as children. “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” Now as we walk about from day to day, the world does not recognize us as children of God. The people of the world do not understand us nor the way we behave. Indeed, the world did not understand the Lord Jesus when He was here on earth. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Since we have the same characteristics as the Lord Jesus, we cannot expect the world to understand us, either. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. However, understood or not, now we are children of God, and this is the guarantee of future glory. It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we do know that when Christ is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. This does not mean that we will be physically like Jesus in heaven. The Lord Jesus will have His own definite appearance, and will bear the scars of Calvary throughout eternity. Each of us, we believe, will have his own distinct features and will be recognizable as such. The Bible does not teach that everyone will look alike in heaven. However, we will be morally like the Lord Jesus Christ. We will be free from the possibility of defilement, sin, sickness, sorrow, and death. And how will this marvelous transformation be accomplished? The answer is that one look at Christ will bring it to pass. For we shall see Him as He is. Here in life, the process of becoming like Christ is going on, as we behold Him by faith in the word of God. But then the process will be absolutely complete when we see Him as He is: for to see Him is to be like Him. 1 John 3:3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who has this hope of seeing Christ and of being like Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure. It has long been recognized by Christians that the hope of the imminent return of Christ has a sanctifying influence in the life of the believer. He does not want to be doing anything that he would not want to be doing when Christ returns. Notice that it says “purifies himself, just as He (Christ) is pure.” It does not say “just as He (Christ) purifies Himself.” The Lord Jesus never had to purify Himself; He is pure. With us, it is a gradual process; with Him, it is a fact. How are we gradually purified? 1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. The opposite of purifying oneself is found in verse four: The word commits is literally does (Gk., poieō). It is a matter of continual behavior, expressed by the present, continuous tense. It is possible to have sin even if there is no law. Sin was in the world between the time of Adam and Moses, but this was before God’s law had been given. SIN is insubordination to God, wanting one’s own way, and refusing to acknowledge the Lord as rightful Sovereign. In essence it is placing one’s own will above the will of God. It is opposition to a Living Person who has the right to be obeyed. 1 John 3:5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. A Christian cannot go on practicing sin, because that would be a complete denial of the purpose for which the Lord Jesus came into the world. He was manifested to take away our sins. To go on in sin, therefore, is to live in utter disregard of the reason for His Incarnation. Again, a Christian cannot go on in sin because that would be a denial of the One whose name he bears. In Him there is no sin. This is one of the three key passages in the NT dealing with the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter tells us that “He did no sin.” Paul tells us that “He knew no sin.” Now John, the disciple who knew the Lord in an especially intimate way, adds his testimony, “In Him is no sin.” *** MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) . Nashville: Thomas Nelson.***