Abiding in Christ
2:28-29
Believers are to abide in Christ. “Abide” means to remain or continue. Jesus gave us the same command. (John 15:4) One of the signs that we are saved is that we abide in Christ until the end. John has already told us that those that went out from the church were never really apart of it. (1 John 2:19)
If we abide in Christ, we will greet his appearing with confidence. John is referring to the Second Coming. Those who are in Christ will rejoice when he appears. Those who are not in Christ will shrink from him in shame. (28)
There is a little play on words in the Greek here. The word for “confidence” is “parresia”. The word for “coming” or “appearing” is parousia. So, believers have parresia at the parousia.
Part of abiding in Christ is to practice righteousness. We know that Christ is righteous. (29) If we have been born again (born of him), we will practice righteousness also. We will strive to be like him.
This might be a good time to stop and look at the concept of righteousness. First, we know God is righteous. (Psalm 11:7) He always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right.
Jesus was also righteous. He never sinned. Because he was righteous, his righteousness could be imputed to us. In Christ, the believer can stand before God and accepted as righteous rather than judged as a sinner. That is what verse 28 is talking about. We will have confidence at Christ’s appearing.
No one can stand before God as righteous in his own works. Every person that has lived and that lives today and will ever live has sinned. (Romans 3:23) The only way you could be righteous by works would be to keep every law and commandment. Since the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), we are all in trouble. We are all condemned.
But Jesus did keep all the commandments and was without sin. Those who believe in him receive the benefit of his righteousness. Romans 3:21 says “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
When we believe, God declares us to be righteous. (Romans 4:22-25) We are not righteous because we have lived righteously, free of sin and in complete obedience. Rather, God declares us righteous because of our faith, just as he did with Abraham.
Having received the benefit of Christ’s righteousness, having it imputed to us, we then want to live for him and be like him. We strive to be righteous, to obey all his commands. We do not see salvation as a permit to sin freely and the New Testament is clear that is not the case.
It is this striving for righteousness, the practice of righteousness, that is a sign that a person believes. That person is pictured in Psalm 1, loving the law of the Lord. We will never be perfect this side of heaven, but we will strive to be. John will come back to this topic in a few verses.
Children of God
3:1-3
God lavishes his love on believers, those who are in Christ. In love, he makes us his children. We are the children of God. (1) John previously taught this truth in his gospel. He wrote: “He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13) Romans 8:29 says “for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers”. We are blessed to relate to God as our Father. He treats us as his children.
You may feel differently about God, even when calling him Father. We tend to project our feelings toward our earthly fathers onto God. If our father was strict and demanding, we see God that way. If our father was unloving, we may see God that way. It is important to stop doing this. Scripture tells us the Father made us his children out of great love. He wants the best for us. He protects us and guides us. He loves us.
Those who reject Christ do not understand God’s children. (3:1) They do not know us, or understand us, because they do not know him. So, we should not be surprised to find the world opposing us, ridiculing us, or trying to get rid of us. They did the same to Jesus.
John indicates that, even though we are God’s children now, even more awaits us. He said we do not know what we will be because Jesus has not yet returned. (2) But, when he does appear, we shall be like him as we see him as he is. This implies that we will then be even more like him than we are now. But, as we wait, we must purify ourselves to be like him who is pure. (3)
Children of the Devil
3:4-10
In contrast to the children of God, the children of the Devil practice lawlessness. The law defines God’s moral standards. Sin is the breaking of God’s law and is, therefore, lawlessness.
We were all, before being saved, lawless. We practiced sin. But, once we are in Christ, we do not continue to practice sin. If we do, we are not in Christ. We will certainly sin, but we will not live in continual sin. We will not practice sin. There are some that teach you can sin all you want after being saved, but that is not the teaching of the Bible. The Bible teaches that salvation is a transformation from darkness to light, from sin to righteous living. It is also a continuing transformation. We become more like Christ the longer we abide him. We sin less as we conform to his nature.
There are those that teach you can sin continuously and still be saved. People taught that in John’s time, including some that left the churches John supervised. Some people teach that today as well.
But John clearly says that the one who practices righteousness is righteous, or saved. (7) But the one who makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, who is the ultimate sinner. (8) Since Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil, you cannot be of the Devil and born of God at the same time. You are one or the other. And the one who has been born of God practices righteous living because God’s seed lives in him or her.
In addition to the practice righteousness, we are to love our fellow believers. (10) Those who don’t do that, are the children of the Devil. John is very serious about believers loving their brothers and sisters in Christ. The next passage will discuss this in detail.
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