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1 John 3:1. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be children of God. Having spoken about the appearance of the Antichrists, and that all their teaching is corrupt, and having sufficiently convinced the believers to immutably maintain the teaching that they were proclaimed, the apostle then mentions the reward assigned for this, so that by the grace of the reward they would be strengthened even more, and says: “abide in Him.” For what? So that when He appears, we may have confidence in Him. For what could be more glorious or desirable than boldness, that is, that when we reveal our labors in this life, we can do it with boldness, without being at all ashamed, at His coming? And as others might ask what to do in order to become pleasing to Him, the Apostle teaches this too, saying: if you have known that He is righteous, then, without a doubt, you also know that he who does righteousness is born of Him; for the righteous beget the righteous. And how great an honor and boldness this brings, each of you knows, as well as what kind of love and goodness He gives you. For you know that He has given you the right to be and be considered His children. If those who belong to the world do not know this, that is, that you are children of God, do not be surprised at this; for they do not know you because they did not know Him who adopted you as sons. The world calls vicious people. Then, since he has proven his sonship, he speaks more clearly about the glory that is set before him and the boldness of those adopted: “Beloved! We are now children of God." The world does not know us because it has not known Him. The world is made up of vicious and unclean people, attached to only one passionate life, like a pig to dirt. 1 John 3:2. Beloved! we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. 1 John 3:3. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. The Apostle seems to say this: from the previous, you, without a doubt, learned that we are accepted by God as children. Although it has not yet been revealed, however, do not be embarrassed. For what is now unknown will be made manifest when He is revealed. And we, having turned out to be like Him, will clearly demonstrate our adoption; for children are certainly like the Father. Having boldness before Him, like children, we will see Him as He is, however, not by nature, for this is impossible for a created being, but in such a way that the pure will see the Pure, the righteous the Righteous; for like will stick to like. That is why, before this, I only said that we would be like Him, and not of the same nature with Him; for then I would not say “similar,” but exactly the same; but since this will not happen, then I said: “similar,” that is, according to the quality of glory. It is also necessary to note that the apostle did not say above: everyone who has done or will do the truth, but he who does it; for virtues are active and have existence only during their accomplishment, and when they cease or remain only in intention, they have no existence. 1 John 3:4. Everyone who commits sin also commits iniquity; and sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:5. And you know that He appeared to take away our sins, and that in Him there is no sin. Having confirmed the speech about truth with the benefits of truth, the apostle now wants to show the same from the opposite and what is in it, and says: “everyone who commits sin.” He says something like this: you adopted, do the truth and do not show yourselves idle from it. For just as in regard to sin it is not the sinner or the lawless who has committed or will commit sin, but the one who holds on to evil and does evil, so the righteous is not the one who does not act, but the one who does righteousness. Sin has no place even in you; for Christ appeared for the destruction of sin, and just as He Himself was not involved in sin, so you, united with Him and confirmed by faith in Him, no longer have any room left to sin. This is what the words mean: “No one who abides in Him sins” (1 John 3:6). You also need to know that sin is a falling away from goodness, and lawlessness is a violation of a positive law. Both have their beginning: one is a falling away from goodness, and the other is a transgression of the positive law; but in essence both agree: the sinner deviated from the goal assigned by nature and in nature (for the goal of human nature is to live according to reason, having far removed unreason); in the same way, the lawless person, uncontrollably striving for evil, violates the law embedded in nature. 1 John 3:6. No one who abides in Him sins. That is, someone who relentlessly follows virtues and never ceases to perform them. Everyone who sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 1 John 3:7. Children! Let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. Having said that the Son of God appeared and that He appeared in order, without having committed His sin, to take away, that is, to destroy our sin, he adds: “whoever sins has not seen Him.” If, he says, when He appeared, you saw Him, and as a result of seeing Him received the strength not to yield to sin, as being completely established in Him, then it is obvious that those who sin did not see Him, and therefore did not know Him. By seeing Him we do not mean seeing with a simple touch of the eye or lightly reproducing something known in one’s imagination, but a reluctance to discuss and find out the matter in any way and to join Him, as we said above. Having said this, he affirmatively commands: “Let no one deceive you.” The meaning is this: whoever does righteousness has known the Righteous One and is righteous, like Him, that is, God. On the contrary, whoever commits a sin is from a sinner, that is, from the devil, since he sins from the beginning. Therefore, God, who cares for His creation, Himself, being truth and holiness, revealed itself, that is, appeared into the world to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. Whoever commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sinned first. For this reason the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil. Since the devil constantly turns to sin, everyone who sins becomes a supporter of the devil; for the devil initiates sin in man, instilling in him evil thoughts, like Judas (John 13:2). Another will say: how is the devil among those who sin, when they have already sinned before him by giving him a place? Such a person must be told that committing a sin and giving place to the devil are the same thing; for he gives place to him who sins by submitting to lust, and by accepting it he already commits a sin, for this means “to commit a sin.” It is well said: “who does”, not “he who did”, and in the sense that he who has repented is no longer of the devil, but only the one who commits sin is of him. So the slave of sin is the one who does it, and not the one who committed the sin; for “everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). 1 John 3:9. Whoever is born of God commits no sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 1 John 3:10. The children of God and the children of the devil are recognized this way: everyone who does not do righteousness is not from God, and neither does he who does not love his brother. Anyone who commits sin because he sins is of the devil and is called the son of the devil, as the Apostle Paul said to Elimas: “son of the devil! Will you stop turning aside from the straight paths of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10). Obviously, the one who is born of God, being the son of God, does not sin; because his seed is God’s, that is, either the Spirit, whom we received through the gift of which we were worthy, and who, dwelling in us, makes our mind not allowing sin, or Christ Himself, who, dwelling in believers, makes them sons of God, just as Christ Himself in the seed of Abraham is the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1). And in the seed of Abraham, it is said, that is, in Christ, the nations will be blessed (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:16). Explanation of Chrysostom. Every time we sin, we are born of the devil; and every time we practice virtue, we are born of God, because “His seed abides in him” (1 John 3:9). He calls the Seed the Spirit, whom we receive through baptism, and who, abiding in us, makes our mind not allowing sin. If anyone is not born of God, he does not receive the Holy Spirit. Another explanation. The seed of God is Christ, who, dwelling in believers, makes them sons of God. Thus in the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, all nations are blessed. Otherwise, the first generation of the ancestor, distinguished by virtues, is called a seed. The ancestor, as it were, irrigates his tribe with his virtues, and with what he himself acquired glory, he gives his successors the opportunity to be in glory, especially if they keep the virtues of their ancestor unclouded, for they do not bring glory to everyone indiscriminately. Why did the Jews, although in vain, say to Christ: “We are Abraham’s seed” (John 8:33). 1 John 3:11. For this is the gospel which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 1 John 3:12. not like Cain, who was of the evil one and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s deeds were righteous. 1 John 3:13. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 1 John 3:14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers; He who does not love his brother remains in death. The apostle confirms by example how great an evil it is to hate a brother. Look, he says, Cain hated his brother and killed him, despite the fact that he was his own brother. Cain did the evil deeds of his father the devil, but Abel, doing the truth, was a son in relation to God. Here the devil is contrasted with God, and evil deeds are contrasted with good. That is why Cain, the opposite of his brother, killed him. This is the explanation as it goes. But the Apostle John changed this order, having a special motivation. For he, after he mentioned the devil and the fact that those who do evil become his children, it was natural for him to set up as an example the one who at the beginning of the world hastened to become the son of the devil through evil deeds. Having said what is necessary about Cain and the fate that those who imitate him will inherit, he again turns to love. 1 John 3:15. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:16. We have come to know love in the fact that He laid down His life for us: and we must lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:17. And whoever has wealth in the world, but, seeing his brother in need, closes his heart from him - how does the love of God abide in him?: 1 John 3:18. My children! Let us begin to love not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth. Having finished about Cain and about evil deeds similar to his, he again turns to love, and says that love inclined the Lord to lay down His life for us, and that, following His example, we should lay down our souls for our brothers. But as this is done rarely and by a few, the apostle, as if shaming the faithful, starting with a little, convinces them to brotherly love. He says something like this: what can we say about the state of the soul for a brother, when we see that we do not satisfy our brothers in the necessities of life, and, moreover, not those who are poor in the means of life - I am not talking about these - but those who own the wealth of the whole world? Therefore let them be ashamed! For if they closed their hearts in this little thing and showed themselves unworthy of God’s love, then what would they show when they needed something more - to die for their brother? Then he continues to denounce those who limit love to words and reveal it only in the tongue. “Let us begin,” he says, “to love not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth.” 1 John 3:19. And this is how we know that we are of the truth, and we calm our hearts before Him; Because we love our brother not in word, but in deed and truth. How will we know? So, someone who says one thing and does another, who does not agree between the deeds and the word, is a liar and not true. 1 John 3:20. for if our heart condemns us, how much more does God, because God is greater than our heart and knows everything. 1 John 3:21. Beloved! if our heart does not condemn us, then we have boldness towards God, 1 John 3:22. and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. This means: through truth (and truth will be in us when deeds correspond to our words) we will calm our conscience. For by the word “heart” he calls conscience. How can we calm it down? Having placed ourselves in such a position as to speak our words before God the Witness; for this is what the words mean: “before Him.” If, he says, we do not do this, and our conscience or heart condemns us, then, obviously, we sin. If during sin we cannot hide from our conscience, which is limited, just as man is a limited being, then even more so we cannot hide from God, who is limitless and omnipresent. The meaning of this saying is: children! Let us not be liars to each other, loving only with our tongue, but let us prove our love in deed. Therefore, we learn that we are from the truth, that is, from God. And what we say, we will speak as if before God; and who, even if he were more shameless than demons, would allow himself to lie before God as a witness? If we do not do this, but then, even as we say that we love, our heart condemns us in lies, then we sin. How so? Because we think to hide from the omnipresent God. Therefore, beloved, let us set ourselves up so that we are not condemned before ourselves, let us walk in truth before each other, and then we will receive boldness before God, and with this boldness we will undoubtedly receive everything that we ask of Him. Why? Because we keep His commandments. For whoever is asked is very much inclined to listen by the obedience of the petitioners, as long as they ask without hesitation. And as we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing to Him, then let us hope that our prayers will not be in vain; because when there is a sincere mutual disposition between two people, one usually acts immediately for the benefit of the other. What commandment of His have we kept? The one who commands us to “love one another” (John 13:34). 1 John 3:23. And His commandment is that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. The word “that” should be understood in the meaning of reason, exactly like this: “because” His commandment is to believe. Since we have a commandment to believe in the name of Jesus Christ His Son and to love one another, and we did this, then from here we know that the grace of His Spirit, which He gave us, was established in us. You need to know that the expression “believe in the name” of our Lord is used in many places of Scripture. What does “name” mean? Of course, nothing other than His will, glory, honor. For example, in the words “Great is Your name in all the earth” (Psalm 8:2) it means glory and honor, and in the words “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38) it means His will. What is the will of the Lord Jesus? Baptize all nations “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). And we loved one another, as He commanded us. 1 John 3:24. And whoever keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know that He abides in us by the spirit that He gave us. The Lord commanded us to love one another with true affection. When? When he said: “Whatever you want people to do to you, do so to them” (Luke 6:31). If we love that our neighbors have a true and simple disposition towards us, then we ourselves must have exactly the same disposition towards them. And since this is the commandment of the Lord, when we abide in Him, much more does He give Himself to us. For He cannot deny Himself, that is, it cannot be assumed that He gives us His commandments in vain, and He will not justify them first of all Himself. If so, then when we fulfill what He commanded, without a doubt, He will listen to us in our petitions, and His gift will be firmly in us. The whole idea is this: we must believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another truly, as He commanded. For he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know that He abides in us by the spirit or gift that He gave us. And if it abides in us inviolably, then, without any contradiction, His giving will be inalienable. When is it inviolable? When we do not violate anything of what He commanded us about love through our negligence. You might be interested in: