1See 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. 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 no sin is in him. 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; 22so 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.
Chapter 3 1Behold 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. 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. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
John begins with a statement of thanksgiving and truth: God loves us so much that He not only saved us but also called us to be His own sons and daughters. That is an amazing thing. He brings us into His family and gives us a place at His table. We are not mere creations, rather we are family with Him. We have moved from being creations to being children. I think of my own children and just think of the privileges they received at birth, in being my children. At birth, they received an identity as a McMullen. They also had the unique privilege of having Sandy as their mother and me as their father throughout their upbringing. As children, they were assured that we would give them guidance, teaching, comfort, direction, correction, instruction, support, and a spiritual and financial inheritance. At birth, all three of my children were loved by us from the start.
I remember after my first son Faber 4 was born, he was in the hospital under a bilirubin light. He was a bit jaundiced. I would leave the hospital, go off to work, and at the end of my workday, I would race back to Park Plaza Hospital to see this little boy who now bore my name. He was now identified with me. I had an instantaneous love for him the moment he was born. All the way to the hospital, I would say out loud in the car, “I’m going to see my son.” “I’m going to see my little baby boy”. My love and devotion for him were all-encompassing and full, even though he had just been born a day before. I loved him when he was still in Sandy’s womb, but it paled in comparison to what I felt after he had been born. He was my namesake. He was my pride. He was my joy. He was my child. He received ALL of the privileges of being called my child the moment (or even before) that he first breathed.
I suppose that’s something like God feels for us. He loves us and cares for us before we even knew Him. John says that His love was BESTOWED on you and me. That means He just gave it to us. He showers us with His love. That word actually means that he “gave it to us as a gift or an honor”. This is a total picture of grace. We did not earn this right, nor did we deserve this right, but He, in fact, bestowed it on us. So how is it that we “become the children of God?” I often hear people say, “We’re all God’s children”. This is not true. We are all God’s creations, but we are not all His children. Scripture tells us that there is a path to becoming His child. In John’s gospel, he writes,
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:10-12 KJV)
It’s not a human birth coming from the passion between two people; it is because we are born into God by His love. John says that this sonship, this becoming a child, is dependent on our receiving Him. That act of faith gives us the right, a legal right, and ability to become the very sons and daughters of Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe.