1 John 3 · WEB
Children of God and the Love That Lays Down Its Life
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Behold, how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn't know us, because it didn't know him.
2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
3Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.
5You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and in him is no sin.
6Whoever remains in him doesn't sin. Whoever sins hasn't seen him and doesn't know him.
7Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can't sin, because he is born of God.
10In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother.
11For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
12unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's righteous.
13Don't be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
14We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn't love his brother remains in death.
15Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
16By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
17But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God's love remain in him?
18My little children, let's not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
19And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him,
20because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
21Beloved, if our hearts don't condemn us, we have boldness toward God;
22and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
23This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
24He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
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Summary
John marvels that God has called his people his own children, with a future likeness to Christ that fuels present purity. Those born of God leave the practice of sin behind because the Son was revealed to destroy the devil's works, and the family resemblance shows up in love. Christ's self-giving death is the definition of love, calling believers to active, sacrificial generosity rather than mere words, with confident access to God in prayer.
Themes
- Children of God and future likeness to Christ
- Hope that purifies
- Sin as lawlessness destroyed by the Son
- Love defined by Christ's self-sacrifice
- Confidence before God in prayer
Key verses
- 1 John 3:1 — “Behold, how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!”
- 1 John 3:16 — “By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
- 1 John 3:18 — “let's not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.”
- 1 John 3:3 — “Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.”
Context & background
Written c. AD 85-95, likely from Ephesus (modern western Turkey, near Selçuk) to believers in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). John echoes the Cain and Abel story from Genesis 4 to illustrate that hatred of a righteous brother is murderous at heart, a teaching also drawn from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The false teachers John opposes likely separated belief from conduct, so John insists that genuine spiritual birth produces visible righteousness and tangible love.
Cross-references
- Genesis 4:8 — Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
- James 2:15-16 — Faith without works for a needy brother is dead.
- John 15:13 — "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
- John 1:12 — To those who received him, he gave the right to become children of God.
- Romans 8:29 — Predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.