The lesson continues in 1 John and begins the transition from chapter 2 into chapter 3, reviewing the close of chapter 2 and the opening verses of chapter 3. The reading runs from 1 John 2:18 through 3:3. It is the last time. As the audience has heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists, whereby it is known that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. They went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. The audience has an anointing from the Holy One and knows all things. The letter is written not because they do not know the truth, but because they know it, and that no lie is of the truth. The liar is the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. What was heard from the beginning is to abide. If what was heard from the beginning abides, the hearer also abides in the Son and in the Father. The promise is eternal life. These things are written concerning those who deceive. The anointing received from Him abides, and no man needs to teach, because the same anointing teaches of all things, is truth, and is no lie, and as it has taught, they abide in Him. Little children are to abide in Him, so that when He appears there is confidence and no shame before Him at His coming. If He is known to be righteous, everyone who does righteousness is known to be born of Him. The manner of love the Father has bestowed is that we should be called the children of God. The world does not know us because it did not know Him. Now we are the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but when He appears we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure. The emphasis marked at 2:29 is that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
The focus of the last verses read is that we are born of God, a point John repeats, together with the future mentioned at the beginning of chapter 3, so that past salvation is set beside future finished salvation.
In John 3, Jesus introduces to Nicodemus the concept of being born again, or born from above. The word is anōthen, from above. Unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom. Nicodemus, called the teacher of Israel, does not know these things. The concept is new. Nicodemus asks how a man can be born when he is old, and whether he can enter a second time into his mother’s womb. Jesus answers that except a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The wind blows where it wishes; its sound is heard, but its coming and going are not told. So is everyone born of the Spirit. Being born again is necessary in order to enter the kingdom of God, the realm of salvation. Christians are born, and John says born of God. First John 2:29 already gave practicing righteousness as an indication that someone is born of God.
Love is another indication. In 1 John 4:6–8, we are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. By this the spirit of truth and the spirit of error are known. Beloved are to love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. The preposition ek marks source. Love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God: the source is in view. The love to be shown to one another is the agape love of the new commandment. Its source is God. That kind of love is not conjured on one’s own. Love is part of the fruit of the Spirit. A carnal person is not manifesting the fruit of the Spirit at that moment. Verse 7 says everyone loving is born of God and is knowing God. Verse 8 says he who does not love does not know God. It does not say he who is not loving is not born of God. A person does not stop being born of God in a moment of carnality, and salvation is not lost. The love in view is specific: love one another as I have loved you.
First John 5:1 says whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begat loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. The one who overcomes the world is he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Christ is Greek for Messiah. Both mean anointed one. The belief is that this is the promised Messiah, the one anointed to do these things, not merely that Jesus was a man who happened to be crucified. Three indications have now been given by which it is known that one is born of God, because these are things of God. People do not show God’s quality of love or God’s righteousness purely from their own ability.
These statements stand in the context of antichrists and those trying to deceive the audience. John does not only state a thing; he also shows how it is known to be the case. The things that mark being born of God are the opposite of an antichrist. First John 4:3 says every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of antichrist. First John 2:22 says the liar is he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. The opposite appears in 5:1: whoever believes Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
Another effect is in 1 John 3:7–9. Little children, let no man deceive you. The one practicing righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. The one practicing sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God does not practice sin, for His seed abides in him, and he is not able to sin because he is born of God. The verb is poieō, rendered practice. John is not saying that anyone who sins even once is not born of God. The sense is habitual return to the same conduct. His seed abides in him and works against that continuance. First John 1 already states that denying that one has sinned is itself the problem. God does not save a person by belief in the gospel and then leave him to his own devices until the rapture.
One consequence of being born of God is eternal life. First John 2:25 says this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life. Titus 1:2 speaks of the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began, and manifested in due time through preaching. Biblical hope based on the promise of God is not an uncertain wish that God might come through. The confidence is that what is hoped for will be received, because God who cannot lie promised it. Titus 3:3–7 recalls the former foolishness, disobedience, deception, lusts, malice, envy, and hatred, and then the kindness and love of God our Savior. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Regeneration is the rebirthing. The past guarantees the future. The moment the gospel is believed, the future is guaranteed.
First Corinthians 15 answers the claim among the Corinthians that there is no resurrection of the dead. If Christ is preached as raised from the dead, the denial of resurrection is empty, and if Christ is not raised, preaching and faith are empty. Verses 3 and 4 repeat the gospel: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. Belief in that past event guaranteed the future. When a person believes, the spirit is saved and regeneration is perfect; he is born of God. The body is not yet saved. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Not all will sleep, but all will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The dead will be raised incorruptible, and the living will be changed. This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Then the saying is brought to pass: death is swallowed up in victory. First John 3:2 says it does not yet appear what we shall be, but when He appears we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. There is a change of the physical body.
First Peter 1:3–9 gives the remaining side. Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for those kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The trial of faith, more precious than gold that perishes, is found unto praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Though not seeing Him, they love Him and believe, rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls. The salvation of the soul is the completion of faith.
The point in the passage is that there are signs now, enough to know that one is born of Him, in contrast to those who went out earlier in chapter 2. Chapter 3 begins to press how these things are known, and what the difference is between someone who is of God and someone who is not.
