1 john 3

Read 1 John 3 at Bible Gateway.

1 Joh 3:1-17 chiastic structure

1a) 1 Joh 3:1-2, God’s love toward His children/ the world does not know us;

1a) 1 Joh 3:1a, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God;
shim1b) 1 Joh 3:1b, Therefore the world does not know us;
shim2b) 1 Joh 3:1c, Because it did not know Him;
2a) 1 Joh 3:2, 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;

1b) 1 Joh 3:3-8, God’s children practice righteousness just as He is righteous;

1a.1) 1 Joh 3:3-4, And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness;
1a.2) 1 Joh 3:5, And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins + in Him there is no sin;
shim1b) 1 Joh 3:6a, Whoever abides in Him does not sin;
shim2b) 1 Joh 3:6b, Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him;
2a.1) 1 Joh 3:7-8a, Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning;
2a.2) 1 Joh 3:8b, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil;

1c) 1 Joh 3:9a, Whoever has been born of God;

1d) 1 Joh 3:9b, Does not sin;

central axis) 1 Joh 3:9c, For His seed remains in him;

2d) 1 Joh 3:9d, And he cannot sin;

2c) 1 Joh 3:9e, Because he has been born of God;

2b) 1 Joh 3:10a, In this the children of God + children of the devil are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God;

2a) 1 Joh 3:10b-15, Our love toward our brothers/ the world hates us;

1a.1) 1 Joh 3:10b-11, Nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
1a.2) 1 Joh 3:12, Not as Cain who was of the wicked one + murdered his brother/ he murdered him because his works were evil + his brother’s righteous;
central axis) 1 Joh 3:13, Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you;
2a.1) 1 Joh 3:14, We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren/ He who does not love his brother abides in death;
2a.2) 1 Joh 3:15-17, He who hates his brother is a murderer/we ought to lay down our own lives as Yeshua did;

1a) 1 Joh 3:15, Whoever hates his brother is a murderer/ no murderer has eternal life abiding in him;
shim1b) 1 Joh 3:16a, By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us;
shim2b) 1 Joh 3:16b, And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren;
2a) 1 Joh 3:17, But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

The best study I have ever read, which explains the central axis, that Messiah’s seed remains in him so that he does not sin, is laid out in Brad Scott’s book, The Principle of the Seed. This life-changing book should be in everyone’s library.

But what spoke to me this morning was the surrounding bookends. John is not speaking of two topics, love and righteousness. It is one topic, for love produces the fruit of righteousness, and righteousness produces the fruit of love. Just as God’s commandments define for us what love in action looks like in various situations, so that the one who practices righteousness (i.e., obeys God’s commandments, the opposite of lawlessness or Torah-lessness) acts in love, so also the one who truly has the love of God dwelling in his heart will purify himself to a greater and greater degree in accordance with the righteousness of God as expressed by His commandments, over the course of his life. ♥