1 John 3:7

1Jn_3:7

Little children, let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous

The secret of sinlessness

The false teachers of Johns day held that one might reach in some mysterious way a height of serene, inviolable, inward purity and peace, such as no things without, not even his own actions, could stain.

In a less transcendental form, the same sort of notion practically prevails in the world. John meets it by bringing out in marked contrast the two opposite natures, one or other of which we must all share: that of God and that of the devil.

I. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as Christ is righteous. It is clearly moral character that is here in question, not legal standing. The precise lesson taught, the great principle asserted, is that righteousness, moral righteousness, cannot possibly exist in a quiescent or inactive state; that it never can be a latent power or undeveloped quality; that wherever it is it must be operative. It must be working, and working according to its own essential nature. Moreover, it must be working, not partially, but universally; working everywhere and always; working in and upon whatever it comes in contact with, in the mind within and the world without. Otherwise, it is not righteousness at all; certainly not such as we see in Jesus; it is not being righteous as He is righteous.

II. As doing righteousness, through its being thus associated or identified with being righteous as the Son is righteous, proves our being born of God; so doing sin proves a very different relationship, a very different paternity. He that committeth or doeth sin is of the devil; for, by doing sin, he shows his identity of nature with him who is a sinner from the beginning. And it is upon identity of nature, proved practically, that the question of moral and spiritual parentage must ultimately turn. This phrase, being of the devil, as used here and elsewhere in Scripture, does not imply what in human opinion would be accounted great criminality or gross immorality. The sin which lost Satan heaven was neither lust nor murder. It was not carnal at all, but merely spiritual. It was not even lying--at least, not at first--though he is a liar, and the father of it. It was pure and simple insubordination and rebellion; the setting of his will against Gods; the proud refusal, at the Fathers bidding, to worship the Son. So the devil sinneth from the beginning. And when you so sin, you are of your father the devil. In order, then, to enter into the full meaning of Johns solemn testimony, it is not needful to wait till some horrid access of diabolic fury or frenzy seizes us. It is enough if the tongue speaketh proud things, or the heart conceives them. Our lips are our own; who is lord over us? Or, why are they not our own? May they not at least occasionally be our own--this once; for singing one vain song, or uttering one idle word, or joining in an hours not very profitable, but not yet very objectionable, talk? Is there any rising up in us of such a feeling as this, as if it were hard that we may not occasionally take our own way and be our own masters? It is the devils seed abiding in us; the seed of the devils sin, and of his sinful nature.

III. But for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)

On imitation of the obedience of Christ

I. What we are to understand by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

1. He was preeminently righteous in His moral sentiments. His mind was entirely free from pollution, and no unrighteous or unholy affection ever harboured there. He had the law of God in His heart, and it was His meal and His drink to do the will of His heavenly Father. By the original constitution of His nature, and the plenary inspiration of the Spirit, He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. His love to God was intense, rational, and pure, and His benevolence to man was without the slightest ingredient that could sully the purity and heavenliness of His motives.

2. He was righteous, not only in His moral sentiments, but also preeminently righteous as it regarded His moral actions. From the perfection of His knowledge He knew intuitively both what was good and what was evil; but His heart never consented to what was evil, and His will led him invariably to choose the good and reject the evil. He endured a severer series of temptation than any other human being that ever appeared in the world. He had no other motive to direct His moral conduct but the glory of God, and the desire of advantage to the bodies and the souls of men. The only ambition by which He was actuated was the noble, the generous, the Godlike ambition of doing good.

II. We can only lay claim to that designation in so far as our sentiments and actions correspond with his. In one very important respect there is certainly a vast difference between even the holiest of men and our Lord Jesus Christ. From the native rectitude of His will He could do nothing that was evil; but, alas! we are naturally prone to evil; and how, then, it may be asked, can we be righteous, even as He was righteous? But we ought ever to recollect theft this is not a natural, but a moral inability; it is not so much the want of power as the want of inclination, and this will never excuse us before the tribunal of Almighty God. We know what is good, and what the Lord requires of us; but we too often voluntarily follow after, and do that which is evil. (D. Stevenson.)

The importance of works

The words he that doeth righteousness, instruct us that there is a righteousness which we can do. We are elsewhere taught that there is a righteousness which we cannot do (Psa_14:1; Psa_14:3; Rom_3:10). The righteousness, in the sense of which none are righteous, is either a natural righteousness, we all, by nature, being inclined to evil, or it is an independent righteousness, or it is a meritorious righteousness, or else it is the legal righteousness, the righteousness of perfect obedience, and in many things we offend all. But the righteousness which we can do is very extensive and precious. We can be so far righteous as to render to God, according to the best of our poor abilities, the honour and worship due to Him; we can believe in Him, fear Him, pray to Him, give Him thanks, honour Him with our substance, delight in His ordinances and commandments; we can avoid the wilful commission of sin, we can cause our light so to shine before men that seeing it they may be led to glorify our heavenly Father. Now our text affirms of those who practise such righteousness--first, that they are righteous; and, secondly, that they are righteous as Christ is righteous.

I. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. Some would object to the use of this language in reference to any human being. They think that human nature is so inevitably depraved that no terms except those of the most debasing import are applicable to any works which proceed from it, even in its regenerate state. But however partial some may be to such distressing views of human nature, the Scriptures do not authorise them. They unequivocally state the fact of mans depravity, but they confine themselves to general declarations of the same, such as the whole world lieth in wickedness, the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, without attempting to fix the degree of our common corruption--a forbearance which it would be wise in all to imitate.

II. He is righteous even as Christ is righteous. The apostle appears to mean that, as Christs righteousness was His own personal righteousness, and not by imputation, so that righteousness which is by faith shall be accounted the believers personal, which, through the meritorious obedience of Christ, shall avail to final justification. (A. Williams, M. A.)

Sin and its destruction

I. He that committeth sin is of the devil. The word rendered committeth, implies continued action. It is expressive of a habit rather than of an act. It assumes that the sinner is under the influence of Satan. His power over the body and the physical faculties of the mind is fearfully exposed in the history of demoniacal possessions in the gospel narrative. There is evidence no less clear and irresistible of his influence over moral principles. The lusts of your father ye will do, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience. There is, more, however, in the expression of the text. It implies that not only are sinners subject to Satan, but that they are employed by him to aid him in influencing others to evil.

II. The devil sinneth from the beginning. From the beginning must be explained of a limited period, and refers probably to the commencement of the present dispensation. His conduct toward our first parents is the model of what he has ever done toward their descendants. And it is deserving of notice how those whom he does succeed to influence are made to resemble him. As he does to them, so do they to others. They are seduced by Satan and they become seducers. They are deceived by him, and they try to deceive others. Such is the progress of sin. It knows no limit. Once set in motion, it continues with accelerated pace to pursue its course. At the same time we are reminded by the view of sin and Satan now before us, that there is no effectual restraint put upon iniquity, nor any reformation produced by all the sorrow and suffering which it entails. True, the opportunity of indulgence may be withdrawn, and then the sin is not committed, or a partial and temporary change may be produced. But mere suffering can effect no more. The Spirit of God alone can heal the malady.

III. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. The work of Christ is a full counterpart to that of Satan. (J. Morgan, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn 3:7-10. Little, or beloved children, let no man deceive you — In this important matter, by vain words, however serious and plausible they may seem to be. For a being, himself immutably holy, can never dispense with the want of holiness in his intelligent creatures. The apostle’s words imply, that some pretenders to inspiration had endeavoured to deceive the brethren, by teaching what the apostle here condemns. And as it is a solemn address of the apostle to the disciples, it shows the importance of the matter which it introduces. He that uniformly doeth, or practiseth, righteousness, in all the known branches of it, is righteous, even as, or because, he, Christ, is righteous — He is righteous after Christ’s example. The apostle speaks of that practical righteousness which is consequent on justification and regeneration, when, being created anew in Christ Jesus, (Eph 2:10,) we have both inclination and power to maintain an unblameable conduct, and all good works. He that committeth sin — That knowingly transgresses God’s law, is a child, not of God, but of the devil; for the devil sinneth — That is, hath sinned; from the beginning — Was the first sinner in the universe, and has continued to sin ever since. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested — In our flesh, lived, and died, and rose again for us; that he might destroy the works of the devil — Namely, all error, sin, and misery. And will he not perform this for, and in, all that trust in him? The word; λυση, rendered destroy, properly means to dissolve, or demolish, and implies the demolition of that horrible fabric of sin and misery which Satan, with such art, industry, and malice, hath reared in this our world. Whosoever is born of God — Is truly regenerated by divine grace, through living faith, and received into the number of God’s children; doth not — Knowingly and voluntarily; commit sin; for his seed — The incorruptible seed of the word of God, (1Pe 1:23; Jas 1:18,) accompanied with his Spirit, (Joh 3:6,) or a divine principle of living, loving, and obedient faith; remaineth in him — Implanted in his inmost soul; and he cannot sin — It would be contrary to the nature of that divine principle which is implanted in him, that he should sin; that principle having not only manifested to him the infinite evil and destructive consequences of sin, but produced in him a fixed hatred to it, and given him power over it; because he is born of God — Is inwardly and universally changed. In this — Or by this mark; the children of God are manifest, &c. — It manifestly appears, to all who have understanding to judge in spiritual matters, who are the children of God and who are not, namely, by their committing or not committing known sin. Whosoever doeth not righteousness — Does not live a holy and righteous life; is not of God — Is not one of his true children; neither he that loveth not his brother — With such a love as the apostle proceeds to describe and insist upon. Here the apostle passes from the general proposition respecting universal holiness, to a particular branch of it, namely, brotherly love.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

1Jn_3:7. Little children.—τεκνία; not infants, but young and immature disciples. Doeth righteousness.—Emphasis lies on “doeth”; habitually does. Doing is opposed to mere profession, mere sentiment, and the moral licence of false doctrine. “There is only one way of proving our enlightenment, of proving our parentage from Him who is the light, and that is by doing the righteousness which is characteristic of Him and His Son.”

1Jn_3:8. Of the devil.—Compare Joh_8:44-49. Dr. Plummer quotes the following suggestive note from St. Augustine: “The devil made no man, begat no man, created no man; but whoso imitates the devil becomes a child of the devil, as if begotten of him. In what sense art thou a child of Abraham? Not that Abraham begat thee. In the same sense as that in which the Jews, the children of Abraham, by not imitating the faith of Abraham, are become children of the devil.” The demonology of the Jews must be taken into due account in explaining the New Testament references to the devil. From the beginning.—A way of saying “always sins.” It is just the one thing he does, and always has been doing. His specific sin is bringing accusations against God, and trying to make men doubt and distrust Him. When there is neither love nor fear of God, sinning becomes easy work. Destroy the works.—This is done by perfecting the reasons for trusting God.

1Jn_3:9. Seed remaineth in him.—The germ of new life from God. “Every one that has been made, and that remains, a child of God.” For “born” R.V. reads “begotten” (Joh_1:13). “The whole analogy refers to human generation.” Cannot sin.—Not if the new life is alive in him. The new life wants submission and obedience; it never wants wilfulness.

1Jn_3:10. Loveth not his brother.—The new life in Christ as naturally finds expression in service to the brethren as it does in obedience to the Father. The new birth is birth into a family, and a family life and duty.

1Jn_3:11. Message.—Commandment (Joh_15:12).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Jn_3:7-12

Doing Righteousness.—This appears to be the expression of a sudden thought that came to St. John. We have often to notice how the apostolic writers are turned aside from their main line of argument by some sudden thought which seizes them. This indeed is a common peculiarity of what we properly call “uneducated,” “untrained” writers and preachers. Some of their best things come as “asides.” St. John has been dealing with high sentiment. Perhaps he feared that what he had said belonged to too high a range, and therefore might be misconceived, misrepresented, and misused. Religion has both its mystical and its practical side. The mystical may be most pleasing and satisfying to ourselves; the practical is the most important, and the most honouring, to Christ. Emotions do not glorify our Divine Lord as righteousness does. Sometimes the religion of Christ is represented as being doctrinal and sentimental. And so it is. But it is also, and even yet more truly, ethical, and practical, and social. Its key-note no one need misapprehend: “He that doeth righteousness is righteous.” Christ’s own teachings were distinctly ethical. Apostolic teachings were very largely practical. In the dark ages Christianity was the humanising force. The gospel of Christ is civilising heathendom. Back of literature, and philanthropy, and sociology, to-day, lie the great Christian truths and principles. What God provides for the redemption of the world is—

(1) the salt of Christian character;

(2) the leaven of Christian principle;

(3) the inspiration of the Christian motive. Christ has a sociology, but it is a set of living principles, not an elaborated system. Each age must make its own elaboration.

I. A mistake often made by the early Christian disciples.—It concerned righteousness. This surprises us, because Christ’s teachings about righteousness seem to us so clear. Trace the rise of the Antinomian spirit in—

(1) the misuse of the doctrine of election;

(2) of present salvation;

(3) of the new life. The truth is that the Church has always to guard against this evil. There is ever creeping in a subtle idea of a difference between a Christian’s sins and other people’s sins. To live up to the full expression of Christian principle in their old heathen surroundings must have been difficult for the early Christians, and we may pity them. We need not wonder that some of them said, “Why should we try?” or that some of them easily found reasons why they should not try. It was easy to urge that the new life was a spiritual thing, and therefore entirely independent of its material surroundings. Even nowaday—

(1) feeling is regarded as more satisfying than righteousness;

(2) knowledge is regarded as more important than righteousness;

(3) morality is confused with righteousness;

(4) ceremonial is put instead of righteousness. Indeed, the mistake is wont to take such subtle forms that it may have found out how to master even us. We may be sure of this: righteousness is rightness, in view of—

(1) God’s claims;

(2) Christ’s example;

(3) the possibilities of service to our fellows.

II. The apostolic correction of the mistake.—It was the aged apostle’s most anxious fear that the religion of his disciples might evaporate in sentiment. Therefore he lays so much stress on doing righteousness. Righteousness is the expression of right feeling. And right feeling can never exist without wanting to get expression. Quickened germs in the soil are sure to show blades above the soil. Righteousness toward God is doing. Righteousness toward man is doing. Good feeling wants expression. Knowledge wants service. Resolve wants sphere of operation. And none of these are righteousness so long as they stand alone. Does then the Divine acceptance rest upon the doing? No; let us never make that mistake. It rests on the righteousness which finds expression in the doing. Understand what righteousness is. It is the objective of faith; it is the operative of the new life; it is its activity in its relations. Everything that lives does something. Life escapes you. You can see what life does. A Christian lives: then he does righteousness. Where then is the place for Christian sentiment and feeling? It is the inspiration, and the tone, of the doing.

III. The basis on which the apostolic correction rests.—God the Father, or Christ the Song of Solomon 1. Essential to the thought of God is activity. God’s righteousness is doing. Conceive of God as non-operating goodness, and He is but a silent, mysterious Brahm—nothing really, nothing helpfully, to you.

2. Christ’s righteousness is doing. Conceive Christ as only cherishing good sentiments, never “going about doing good,” and He becomes nothing helpfully to you—only, in some sense, a hermit Antony, or a St. Simeon Stylites. Our models of righteousness are distinctly practical.

Apply in our several spheres:

(1) Righteousness as our personal characteristic;

(2) as the life of our home relations;

(3) as the life of our business scenes;

(4) as the life of our Church fellowships;

(5) as the life of our social intercourse. Everywhere we want “righteousness”; and everywhere, “he that doeth righteousness is righteous,” even as God is righteous, even as Christ is righteous.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

1Jn_3:7. The Practical Character of Righteousness.—“He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.” It is clear that emphasis is to be placed on doing, as contrasted with professing, or with talking. A man is according to what he does, because in a genuine man the doing is the natural sign and expression of himself. William Jay used to say, “Do not tell me what a man said when he lay on his dying-bed: tell me how he lived.” And it is equally clear that fearless appeal can be made to the practical character of the human righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no possibility of imagining that Christ’s righteousness was mere sentimentality or profession. Nor can a righteousness of talk gain any support from our Lord’s teachings, the key-note of which is this, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” And there is another point suggested by the form of the original word translated “doeth.” It means, “he who habitually does righteousness.” And precisely in that we have the inspiring example of Christ.

1Jn_3:8. Christ’s Work on the Devil’s Works.—“That He might destroy the works of the devil.” The works of the devil are here described as “doing sin.” The work of the devil in man is making him do sin. The “devil sinneth”—that is his characteristic work. “He that doeth sin is of the devil,” belongs to the same class, has the same characteristic. The contrast is with the “doing righteousness” of 1Jn_3:7. To put the distinction in language more familiar to us, we may say: He that pleases himself, and serves his own ends, is of the devil; he belongs to the devil-class. He that denies himself, and serves his conviction of what is right, is of God, and belongs to the Christ-class of obedient, and loyal, and loving sons. Then we can readily perceive how Christ’s work must destroy the devil’s work. Let Christ bring us into obedient sonship, and we shall only want to do righteousness.

1Jn_3:9. The Divine Seed in Man.—The Greek father, Justin Martyr, seems to have found the figure in this text specially suggestive, and his elaboration of it may help our apprehension. He says that “the truths in the utterances of heathen philosophy and poetry are due, to the fact that a seed of the Word is implanted, or rather, inborn, ἔμφυτον, in every race of men. Those who grasped the truth lived according to “a part of the seminal Word,” even as Christians live “according to the knowledge and contemplation of the whole Word, that is Christ.” They “nobly uttered what they saw akin to the part of the Divine seminal Word which they had received.”

“His seed remaineth in him.”—The following Bible writers suggest explanations of this very difficult expression:—Bengel: “In eo, qui genitus est ex Deo, manet semen Dei, i.e. verbum, cum sua virtute (1Pe_1:23; Jas_1:18). Quamvis peccatum sæpe furioso impetu conetur prosternere renatum. Vel potius sic: Semen Dei, i.e. is, qui natus est ex Deo, manet in Deo.” Webster and Wilkinson: “σπέρμα is understood to be the Word of God (1Pe_1:23; Jas_1:18), or the Holy Spirit (Joh_3:8). We may explain it of the principle of Divine life implanted in the soul, which renders us θείας κοινωνοὺς φύσεως (2Pe_1:4). That which originates also maintains (μένει) his filial relation to God; and he who is in this relation to God cannot lead a sinful life.” Alford: “Because that new principle of life from which his new life has unfolded, which was God’s seed deposited in him, abides growing there, and precludes the development of the old sinful nature.” By the seed Alford understands the word, the utterance of God, dropped into the soul of man. Matthew Henry calls the seed the “spiritual seminal principle remaining in him.” Fausset calls the seed “the living word of God, made by the Holy Spirit the seed in us of a new life.” Sinclair says: “The seed is the Holy Spirit—that influence proceeding from God, imbued with Divine vitality, regenerating, renewing, refreshing, causing the nature of holiness to spring, to grow, to bloom, to bear fruit.”

“Ver.

12. Cain, the Unloving Brother.—The reference to Cain is singularly appropriate, because the controlling thought in St. John’s mind is, that if a man really loves God, he will be sure to love his brother also; and if a man is found not to be loving his brother, we may be confidently sure that he does not love God. There are two distinct phases of conduct manifest in the record concerning Cain. We see what he was toward God, and find no sign of any inspiration of personal love to God. We see what he was toward his brother, and find no sign of that self-denying brotherly love which alone sanctifies family life, and expresses the common love of the father. That the unrighteousness of Cain is here exhibited as the ground of his hatred to his brother is altogether in harmony with the Old Testament record. For there we see that the motive of his hatred to Abel was his envy, because Abel was more acceptable to God, but this latter was founded in the “good work” of Abel, which was wanting in Cain. St. John does not speak of the μισεῖν of Cain, but of the σφάζειν in which that hatred found expression; for he is treating generally of the outward evidence of the internal disposition, through which outward evidence the internal disposition appears manifestly and uncontrovertibly to the man himself. But St. John does not present the fratricide of Cain only as one individual result of the general unrighteousness of his works, but rather as specifically evoked by the opposite character of the works of Abel. As everywhere, so here also evil is brought to its full maturity by means of juxtaposition with the light, which reveals its character, and makes it truly dark. The wicked man, who feels himself miserable at heart, grudges the good man the blessedness he has in his righteousness, and therefore has the disposition to rob him of it by annihilating the good himself. As it is in the nature of the devil, so it is in the nature of the child of the devil; they are alike ἀνθρωποκτόνοι. And the mention here of envy as the cause of the murder accords with the record of Genesis: Cain was urged to his sinful act by knowing that his offering was not acceptable to God, while his brother’s was acceptable.—Eric Haupt.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3

1Jn_3:7. Christian Righteousness.—Do not fancy that Christian righteousness is different from ordinary “goodness,” except as being broader and deeper, more thorough-going, more imperative. The precepts of the one, like some rock-hewn inscriptions by forgotten kings, are weathered and indistinct, often illegible, often misread, often neglected. The other is written in living characters in a perfect life.—A. Maclaren, D.D.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 John

PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS

1Jn 3:7.

The popular idea of the Apostle John is strangely unlike the real man. He is supposed to be the gentle Apostle of Love, the mystic amongst the Twelve. He is that, but he was the ‘son of thunder’ before he was the Apostle of Love, and he did not drop the first character when he attained the second. No doubt his central thought was, ‘God is Love’; no doubt that thought had refined and assimilated his character, but the love which he believed and the love which he exercised were neither of them facile feebleness, but strong and radiant with an awful purity. None of the New Testament writers proclaims a more austere morality than does John. And just because he loved the Love and the Light, he hated and loathed the darkness. He can thunder and lighten when needful, and he shows us that the true divine love in a man recoils from its opposite as passionately as it cleaves to God and good.

Again, John is, par excellence, the mystic of the New Testament, always insisting on the direct communion which every soul may have with God, which is the essence of wholesome mysticism. Now that type of thinking has often in its raptures forgotten plain, pedestrian morality; but John never commits that error. He never soars so high as to lose sight of the flat earth below; and whilst he is always inviting us and enjoining us to dwell in God and abide in Christ, with equal persistence and force he is preaching to us the plainest duties of elementary morality.

He illustrates this moral earnestness in my text. The ‘little children’ for whom he was so affectionately solicitous were in danger, either from teachers or from the tendencies native in us all, to substitute something else for plain, righteous conduct; and the Apostle lovingly appeals to them with his urgent declaration, that the only thing which shows a man to be righteous--that is to say, a disciple of Christ--is his daily life, in conformity with Christ’s commands. The errors of these ancient Asiatics live to-day in new forms, but still substantially the same. And they are as hard to kill amongst English Nonconformists like us as they were amongst Asiatic Christians nineteen centuries ago.

I. So let me try just to insist, first of all, on that thought that doing righteousness is the one test of being a Christian.

Now that word ‘righteousness’ is a theological word, and by much usage the lettering has got to be all but obliterated upon it; and it is worn smooth like sixpences that go from pocket to pocket. Therefore I want, before I go further, to make this one distinct point, that the New Testament righteousness is no theological, cloistered, peculiar kind of excellence, but embraces within its scope, ‘whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are fair, whatsoever things are of good report’; all that the world calls virtue, all which the world has combined to praise. There are countries on the earth which are known by different names to their inhabitants and to foreigners. The ‘righteousness’ of the New Testament, though it embraces a great deal more, includes within its map all the territories which belong to morality or to virtue. The three words cover the same ground, though one of them covers more than the other two. The New Testament ‘righteousness’ differs from the moralist’s morality, or the world’s virtue, in its scope, inasmuch as it includes our relations to God as well as to men; it differs in its perspective, inasmuch as it exalts some types of excellence that the world pooh-poohs, and pulls down some that the world hallelujahs and adulates; it strips the fine feathers of approving words off some vices which masquerade as virtues. It casts round the notion of duty, of morality, of virtue, a halo, and it touches it with emotion. Christianity does with the dictates of the natural conscience what we might figure as being the leading out of some captive virgin in white, from the darkness into the sunshine, and the turning of her face up to heaven, which illuminates it with a new splendour, and invests her with a new attractiveness. But all that any man rightly includes in his notion of the things that are ‘of good report’ is included in this theological word, righteousness, which to some of you seems so wrapped in mists, and so far away from daily life.

I freely confess that in very many instances the morality of the moralist has outshone the righteousness of the Christian. Yes! and I have seen canoe-paddles carved by South Sea Islanders with no better tools than an oyster-shell and a sharp fish-bone, which in the minuteness and delicacy of their work, as well as in the truth and taste of their pattern, might put to shame the work of carvers with better tools. But that is not the fault of the tools; it is the fault of the carvers. And so, whilst we acknowledge that Christian people have but poorly represented to the world what Christ and Christ’s apostles meant by righteousness, I reiterate that the righteousness of the gospel is the morality of the world plus a great deal more.

That being understood, let me remind you of two or three ways in which this great truth of the text is obscured to us, and in some respects contradicted, in the practice of many professing Christians. First, let me say my text insists upon this, that the conduct, not the creed, makes the Christian. There is a continual tendency on our part, as there was with these believers in Asia Minor long ago, to substitute the mere acceptance, especially the orthodox acceptance, of certain great fundamental Christian truths for Christianity. A man may believe thirty-nine or thirty-nine thousand Articles without the smallest intellectual drawback, and not be one whit nearer being a Christian than if he did not believe one of them. For faith, which is the thing that makes a man a Christian to begin with, is not assent, but trust. And there is a whole gulf, wide enough to drown a world in, between the two attitudes of mind. On the one side of the gulf is salvation, on the other side of the gulf there may be loss. Of course, I know that it is hard, though I do not believe it is impossible, to erect the structure of a saving faith on a very, very imperfect intellectual apprehension of Scripture truth. That has nothing to do with my present point. What I am saying is that, unless you erect that structure of a faith which is an act of your will and of your whole nature, and not the mere assent of your understanding, upon your belief, your belief is impotent, and is of no use at all, and you might as well not have it.

What is the office of our creed in regard to our conduct? To give us principles, to give us motives, to give us guidance, to give us weapons. If it does these things then it does its work. If it lies in our heads a mere acceptance of certain propositions, it is just as useless and as dead as the withered seeds that rattle inside a dried poppy-head in the autumn winds. You are meant to begin with accepting truth, and then you are meant to take that truth as being a power in your lives that shall shape your conduct. To know, and there an end, is enough in matters of mere science, but in matters of religion and in matters of morality or righteousness knowing is only the first step in the process, and we are made to know in order that, knowing, we may do.

But some professing Christians seem to have their natures built, like ocean-going steamers, with water-tight compartments, on the one side of which they keep their creed, and there is no kind of communication between that and the other side where their conduct is originated. ‘Little children, let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous.’

Again, my text suggests conduct and not emotion.

Now there is a type of Christian life which is more attractive in appearance than that of the hard, fossilised, orthodox believer--viz., the warmly emotional and fervent Christian. But that type, all experience shows, has a pit dug close beside it into which it is apt to fall. For there is a strange connection between emotional Christianity and a want of straightforwardness in daily business life, and of self-control and government of the appetites and the senses. That has been sadly shown, over and again, and if we had time one could easily point to the reasons in human nature, and its strange contexture, why it should be so. Now I am not disparaging emotion--God forbid--for I believe that to a very large extent the peculiarity of Christian teaching is just this, that it does bring emotion to bear upon the hard grind of daily duty. But for all that, I am bound to say that this is a danger which, in this day, by reason of certain tendencies in our popular Christianity, is a very real one, and that you will find people gushing in religious enthusiasm, and then going away to live very questionable, and sometimes very mean, and sometimes even very gross and sensual lives. The emotion is meant to spring from the creed, and it is meant to be the middle term between the creed and the conduct. Why, we have learnt to harness electricity to our tramcars, and to make it run our messages, and light our homes, and that is like what we have to do with the emotion without which a man’s Christianity will be a poor, scraggy thing. It is a good servant; it is a bad master. You do not show yourselves to be Christians because you gush. You do not show yourselves to be Christians because you can talk fervidly and feel deeply. Raptures are all very well, but what we want is the grind of daily righteousness, and doing little things because of the fear and the love of the Lord.

May I say again, my text suggests conduct, and not verbal worship. You and I, in our adherence to a simpler, less ornate and æsthetic form of devotion than prevails in the great Episcopal churches, are by no means free from the danger which, in a more acute form, besets them, of substituting participation in external acts of worship for daily righteousness of life Laborare est orare--to work is to pray. That is true with explanations, commentaries, and limitations. But I wonder how many people there are who sing hymns which breathe aspirations and wishes that their whole daily life contradicts. And I wonder how many of us there are who seem to be joining in prayers that we never expect to have answered, and would be very much astonished if the answers came, and should not know what to do with if they did come. We live in one line, and worship in exactly the opposite. Brethren, creed is necessary; emotion is necessary; worship is necessary! But that on which these three all converge, and for which they are, is daily life, plain, practical righteousness.

II. Now let me say, secondly, that being righteous is the way to do righteousness.

One of the great characteristics of New Testament teaching of morality, or rather let me say of Christ’s teaching of morality, is that it shifts, if I may so put it, the centre of gravity from acts to being, that instead of repeating the parrot-cry, ‘Do, do, do’ or ‘Do not, do not, do not,’ it says, ‘Be, and the doing will take care of itself. Be; do not trouble so much about outward acts, look after the inward nature.’ Character makes conduct, though, of course, conduct reacts upon character. ‘As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,’ and the way to set actions right is to set the heart right.

Some of us are trying to purify the stream by putting in disinfectants half-way down, instead of going up to the source and dealing with the fountain. And the weakness of all the ordinary, commonplace morality of the world is that it puts its stress upon the deeds, and leaves comparatively uncared for the condition of the person, the inward self, from whom the deeds come. And so it is all superficial, and of small account.

If that be so, then we are met by this experience: that when we honestly try to make the tree good that its fruit may be good we come full front up to this, that there is a streak in us, a stain, a twist--call it anything you like--like a black vein through a piece of Parian marble, or a scratch upon a mirror, which streak or twist baffles our effort to make ourselves righteous. I am not going, if I can help it, to exaggerate the facts of the case. The Christian teaching of what is unfortunately called total depravity is not that there is no good in anybody, but that there is a diffused evil in everybody which affects in different degrees and in different ways all a man’s nature. And that is no mere doctrine of the New Testament, but it is a transcript from the experience of every one of us.

What then? If I must be righteous in order that I may do righteousness, and if, as I have found out by experience {for the only way to know myself is to reflect upon what I have done}--if I have found out that I am not righteous, what then? You may say to me, ‘Have you led me into a blind alley, out of which I cannot get? Here you are, insisting on an imperative necessity, and in the same breath saying that it is impossible. What is left for me?’ I go on to tell you what is left.

III. Union with Jesus Christ by faith makes us ‘righteous even as He is righteous.’

There is the pledge, there is the prophecy, there is the pattern; and there is the power to redeem the pledge, to fulfil the prophecy, to make the pattern copyable and copied by every one of us. Brethren, this is the very heart of John’s teaching, that if we will, not by the mere assent of our intellect, but by the casting of ourselves on Jesus Christ, trust in Him, there comes about a union between us and Him so real, so deep, so vital, so energetic, that by the touch of His life we live, and by His righteousness breathed into us, we, too, may become righteous. The great vessel and the tiny pot by its side may have a connecting pipe, and from the great one there shall flow over into the little one as much as will fill it brim full. In Him we too may be righteous.

My friend, there are men and women who are ready to set to their seals that that is true, and who can say, ‘I have found it so. By union with Jesus Christ in faith, I have received new tastes, new inclinations, a new set to my whole life, and I have been able to overcome unrighteousnesses which were too many and too mighty for myself.’ It is so; and some of us to our own consciences and consciousness are witnesses to it, however imperfectly. God forgive us! We may have manifested the renewing power of union with Christ in our daily lives.

‘Even as He is righteous’--the water in the great vessel and the little one are the same, but the vase is not the cistern. The beam comes from the sun, but the beam is not the sun. ‘Even as’ does not mean equality, but it does mean similarity. Christ is righteous, eternally, essentially, completely; we may be ‘even as He is’ derivatively, partially, and if we put our trust in Him we shall be so, and that growingly through our daily lives. And then, after earth is done with, ‘we know that, when He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’

May we each, dear brethren, ‘be found in Him, not having our own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn 3:7. Μηδεὶς πλανάτω, let no man lead you astray) He deceives, who thinks that he can be accounted righteous without the deeds of righteousness.—[δίκαιός ἐστι, is righteous) Deu 6:25.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn_3:7. While the apostle would reduce the specified antithesis to the last cause, and thereby bring it out in all its sharpness, he begins the new train of thought, connected, however, with the preceding, after the impressive address τεκνία (or παιδία), with the warning directed against moral indifferentism: μηδεὶς πλανάτω ὑμᾶς, which, as Düsterdieck rightly observes, is not necessarily founded on a polemic against false teachers (Antinomians, for instance); comp. chap. 1Jn_1:8.

ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην, δίκαιός ἐστι καθὼς κ.τ.λ.] with ποιεῖν τὴν δικ., comp. chap. 1Jn_2:29. From the connection with the foregoing we would expect as predicate either: ἑώρακεν αὐτὸν κ.τ.λ. (1Jn_3:6), or ἐν αὐτῷ μένει (1Jn_3:5); but it is peculiar to John to introduce new thoughts and references in antithetical sentences. By the subordinate clause καθὼς ἐκεῖνος (i.e. Χριστὸς) δίκαιός ἐστι he puts the idea δίκαιος in direct reference to Christ, so that the thought of this verse includes in it this, that only he who practises δικαιοσύνη has known Christ and abides in Him; for he only can be exactly καθὼς Χριστός (i.e. in a way corresponding to the pattern of Christ) who stands in a real fellowship of life with Him. It is incorrect, both to interpret, with Baumgarten-Crusius: he who is righteous follows the example of Christ, and also to take δίκαιος = justified, and to define the meaning of the verse thus: only he who has been justified by Christ does righteousness.[209]

There is this difference between the two ideas: ΠΟΙΕῖΝ ΤῊΝ ΔΙΚ. and ΔΊΚΑΙΟΝ ΕἾΝΑΙ, that the first signifies the action, the second the state. The reality of the latter is proved in the former. He who does not do righteousness shows thereby that he is not righteous.[210]

[209] As there is no reference here at all to justification, there is no ground whatever for the assertion of a Lapide, that the thought of this verse forms a contradiction to the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith.The interpretation of Lorinus, that ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικ. is = qui habet in se justitiam i. e. opus gratiae, videlicet virtutem infusam, is also plainly erroneous.

[210] Braune rightly proves, against Roman Catholics and Rationalists, that the predicate is not first attained after what is expressed in the subjective clause has taken place, and that rather the predicate is immanent in the subject.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn 3:7 . An affectionate warning against Nicolaitan Antinomianism ( cf. note on 1Jn 1:6-7 ). The Apostle cuts away vain pretences by a sharp principle: a righteous character expresses itself in righteous conduct. Christ ( ἐκεῖνος ) is the type. He was “the Son of God,” and if we are “children of God,” we must be like Him.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Another argument of things coupled together: He that liveth justly, is just, and resembleth Christ that is just, and by that is known to be the son of God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The same truth stated, with the addition that he who sins is, so far as he sins, "of the devil."

let no man deceive you--as Antinomians try to mislead men.

righteousness--Greek, "the righteousness," namely, of Christ or God.

he that doeth . . . is righteous--Not his doing makes him righteous, but his being righteous (justified by the righteousness of God in Christ, Rom 10:3-10) makes him to do righteousness: an inversion common in familiar language, logical in reality, though not in form, as in Luk 7:47; Joh 8:47. Works do not justify, but the justified man works. We infer from his doing righteousness that he is already righteous (that is, has the true and only principle of doing righteousness, namely, faith), and is therefore born of God (Jo1 3:9); just as we might say, The tree that bears good fruit is a good tree, and has a living root; not that the fruit makes the tree and its root to be good, but it shows that they are so.

he--Christ.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Let no man deceive you] Either by asserting that "you cannot be saved from sin in this life," or "that sin will do you no harm and cannot alter your state, if you are adopted into the family of God; for sin cannot annul this adoption." Hear God, ye deceivers! He that doeth righteousness is righteous, according to his state, nature, and the extent of his moral powers.

Even as he is righteous.] Allowing for the disparity that must necessarily exist between that which is bounded, and that which is without limits. As God, in the infinitude of his nature, is righteous; so they, being filled with him, are in their limited nature righteous.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. He that doeth righteousness The Apostle shews here that newness of life is testified by good works; nor does that likeness of which he has spoken, that is between Christ and his members, appear, except by the fruits they bring forth; as though he had said, “Since it behooves us to be conformed to Christ, the truth and evidence of this must appear in our life.” The exhortation is the same with that of Paul in Galatians

“If ye live in the Spirit, walk also in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

For many would gladly persuade themselves that they have this righteousness buried in their hearts, while iniquity evidently occupies their feet, and hands, and tongue, and eyes.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

7. Little children] From the point of view of the present section, viz. the Divine parentage, the Apostle again warns his readers against the ruinous doctrine that religion and conduct can be separated, that to the spiritual man all conduct is alike. The renewed address, ‘Little children’, adds solemnity and tenderness to the warning.

let no man deceive you] Better, as R. V., let no man lead you astray: see on 1Jn_1:8. The word implies seduction into error of a grave kind.

he that doeth righteousness] As in 1Jn_3:6, we have the present participle; he who habitually does righteousness, not merely one who does a righteous act. If faith without works is dead (Jas_2:17; Jas_2:20), much more is knowledge without works dead. There is only one way of proving our enlightenment, of proving our parentage from Him who is Light; and that is by doing the righteousness which is characteristic of Him and His Son. This is the sure test, the test which Gnostic self-exaltation pretended to despise. Anyone can say that he possesses a superior knowledge of Divine truth; but does he act accordingly? Does he do divine things?

even as he is righteous] As in 1Jn_3:3, we are in doubt whether ‘He’ means the Father or Christ. It is the same pronoun (ἐκεῖνος) as in 1Jn_3:3, but there is not here any abrupt change of pronoun. Here also it seems better to interpret ‘He’ as Christ (1Jn_2:2), rather than God (1Jn_1:9).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Little children, let no man deceive you,.... Neither by these doctrines, nor by wicked practices, drawing into the belief of the one, or into the performance of the other; suggesting, as the Gnostics did, that knowledge without practice was enough, and that it was no matter how a man lived, provided his notions of the Gospel were right:

he that doeth righteousness, is righteous; not that any man is made righteous by the works of the law, or by his obedience to the law of works, for this is contrary to the express word of God; and besides, the best righteousness of man is imperfect, and can never constitute or denominate him righteous before God; and was he justified by it; it would not only lay a foundation for boasting in him, which ought not to be, but would make the death, the sacrifice, and righteousness of Christ, to be in vain; men are only made righteous by the righteousness of Christ, which be has wrought out which is revealed in the Gospel, and received by faith, and which God imputes without works; so that he that doeth righteousness is he that being convinced of the insufficiency of his own righteousness, and of the excellency and suitableness of Christ's righteousness, renounces his own, and submits to his; who lays hold upon it, receives it, and exercises faith on it, as his justifying righteousness; and, in consequence of this, lives in a course of holiness and righteousness, in opposition to, and distinction from one that commits sin, or lives a sinful course of life; which, though it does not make him righteous in the sight of God, yet it shows him to be righteous in the sight of men, and proves that faith to be right which lays hold on the righteousness of Christ, by which he is truly righteous:

even as he is righteous; as Christ himself is righteous; and so the Syriac version reads; not as personal, or as he is personally and essentially righteous as God; but as mystical, every member of his body being clothed with the same robe of righteousness the whole body of Christ is, and indeed justified by the same righteousness that he as Mediator was, when he rose from the dead, as the representative of his people: moreover, as Christ showed himself to be righteous as man, by doing good, so believers in him, by imitating him, and walking as he walked, show themselves to be good and righteous, like, though not equal to him; for as a tree is known by its fruits, so is a good man by his good works, and a righteous man by doing righteousness; and as good fruit does not make a good tree, but shows it to be good, so good works do not make a good man, nor a man's own righteousness make him a righteous man, but show him to be so.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

Ver. 7. Let no man deceive you] As if you might pass e coeno in coelum; fly to heaven with dragon’s wings; dance with the devil all day, and sup with Christ at night; live all your lives long in Delilah’s lap, and then go to Abraham’s bosom when you die. These are the devil’s dirt daubers that teach such doctrine, his upholsterers that sew such pillows, Eze 13:18.

He that doth righteousness is righteous] Provided that he do it from a right principle. For otherwise men may naturally perform the outward act of righteousness, and yet not be righteous persons; as Ahab humbled himself. Alexander the Great, when he had killed Clitus, was troubled in conscience, and sent to all kinds of philosophers (as it were to so many ministers) to know what he might do to appease his conscience and satisfy for that sin. Uriah, that brought in the altar of Damascus, is called "a faithful witness," Isa 8:2, true to his word; yet no man looketh upon him as righteous. It is not, saith a reverend man, in divinity as in moral philosophy, where iusta et iuste agendo simus iusti, by doing righteous things and righteously we are made righteous; but we have esse to be first, and then the operari, &c., the work, the habit, and then the act.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Little children - Notes at 1Jo 2:1.

Let no man deceive you - That is, in the matter under consideration; to wit, by persuading you that a man may live in sinful practices, and yet be a true child of God. From this it is clear that the apostle supposed there were some who would attempt to do this, and it was to counteract their arts that he made these positive statements in regard to the nature of true religion.

He that doeth righteousness is righteous - This is laid down as a great and undeniable principle in religion - a maxim which none could dispute, and as important as it is plain. And it is worthy of all the emphasis which the apostle lays on it. The man who does righteousness, or leads an upright life, is a righteous man, and no other one is. No matter how any one may claim that he is justified by faith; no matter how he may conform to the external duties and rites of religion; no matter how zealous he may be for orthodoxy, or for the order of the church; no matter what visions and raptures he may have, or of what peace and joy in his soul he may boast; no matter how little he may fear death, or hope for heaven - unless he is in fact a righteous man, in the proper sense of the term, he cannot be a child of God. Compare Mat 7:16-23. If he is, in the proper sense of the word, a man who keeps the law of God, and leads a holy life, he is righteous, for that is religion. Such a man, however, will always feel that his claim to be regarded as a righteous man is not to be traced to what he is in himself, but to what he owes to the grace of God.

Even as he is righteous - See the notes at 1Jo 3:3. Not necessarily in this world to the same degree, but with the same kind of righteousness. Hereafter he will become wholly free from all sin, like his God and Saviour, 1Jo 3:2.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This caution implies the zealous endeavour of the seducers of that time, to instil their poisonous doctrine and principles of licentiousness; and his own solicitude, lest these Christians should receive them, and be mischiefed by them. Whereas therefore they were wont to suggest, that a merely notional knowledge was enough to recommend men, and make them acceptable to God, though they lived never so impure lives; he inculcates, that only they that did righteousness, viz. in a continued course, living comformably to the rules of the gospel, were righteous; and that they must aim to be so,

even as he is righteous; not only making the righteousness and holy life of Christ the object of their trust, but the pattern of their walking and practice.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Let no man deceive you—An earnest warning against the Nicolaitan doctrinaries who taught that holiness is consistent with licentious deeds and open wicked life.

Doeth—The continuous present. Not he that merely once doeth, but who permanently practiseth righteousness is righteous.

There is no righteousness in the man that doeth not righteousness. By their fruits shall ye know them.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

St. John repeats his declaration with emphasis and fresh considerations; hence the repetition of the tender address, (1Jn_2:1) "Little children, let no one ever seduce you into the belief that character and practice can be separated. He that doeth righteousness is righteous; for a righteous man inevitably practices righteousness." There are always persons who endeavour to reconcile religion with moral laxity, and in St. John"s day some Gnostics definitely taught that conduct was immaterial to the spiritual man, for no external acts could defile such. "The external acts," says St. John, "prove the man"s spiritual character and origin. He that doeth righteousness is righteous and is of God: he that doeth sin is of the devil." Note the difference between "even as" in verses 3 and 7. There kaqwv introduces a pattern as a fresh motive for self-purification; here it introduces a comparison. Christ is righteous, and his character produces nothing but righteousness; so also is it with the righteous Christian.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let no one deceive you - Let none persuade you that any man is righteous but he that uniformly practices righteousness; he alone is righteous, after the example of his Lord.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

righteousness

"Righteousness" here, and in the passages having marginal references to this, means the righteous life which is the result of salvation through Christ. The righteous man under law became righteous by doing righteously; under grace he does righteously because he has been made righteous Rom 3:22.

(See Scofield "Rom 10:3")

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Doing righteousness:

v. 7. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth. righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.

v. 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth. from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

v. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in Him; and he cannot sin because he is born of God.

v. 10. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

v. 11. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

v. 12. Not as Cain, who was of that Wicked One and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

So much depends upon the genuineness of Christian conduct that the apostle warns against every form of deceit: Little children, let no one deceive you: he that practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; he that commits sin is of the devil, for from the beginning the devil sins. This clear statement is intended to remove all misunderstandings and prevent every form of deception. The righteous disposition of the heart, the Christian character as it is molded by faith, is bound to express itself in righteous conduct. Christ the Lord is the type, the example, the pattern of righteousness, of a life of perfect holiness. A spiritual child of God will have His character, a disciple of Christ will follow the Master. On the other hand, a person that deliberately commits sin, that is a servant of sin, thereby shows himself an apt pupil, a very child of the devil, a workshop of Satan, for he works in the children of disobedience, uses them as his tools for committing every form of trespass, Eph 2:2; Joh 8:44. For the devil sins from the beginning. The very first sin which is recorded was caused by him, since he had even before that rebelled against God; and he has, from that time, induced men to sin, made them his slaves, the servants of unrighteousness and damnation. It is a terrible picture which the apostle paints, one from which a Christian may well turn with shuddering.

All the greater, then, is the comfort in the next words: For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. This glorious object was achieved as one of the aims of Christ’s salvation. He was manifested, He came into the world. He assumed true humanity, in order that as our Substitute He might altogether dissolve and thus destroy every work by which the devil exerted his power, loose the bonds of sin in which men were held captive, take away the power and influence of the devil by which he tried to drag us down forever into his kingdom, deliver us from his sovereignty by virtue of which all the unconverted perform the works of darkness.

And there is another glorious truth: Every one that is born of God does not commit sin, for His offspring remain in Him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. The birth out of God takes place through the Gospel and through the power of the Holy Ghost in the Gospel. When this regeneration, this new birth, has been achieved, then it is true that such a child of God, according to the new, divine nature which he has in himself, cannot sin, cannot be forced back into the slavery of sin. It is natural for the children, the offspring, of God to remain in Him, and thus to do only that which is pleasing to Him. Moreover, the seed of the Word of God, which wrought regeneration in the Christian in the first place, continues in him, has its home in his heart, makes his heart fruitful in all good works. The new birth in God is the reason why such a person cannot sin; for by becoming a servant of sin, he would be guilty of deeds which would deny and destroy the new birth. Thus the attitude of every person with regard to sin and righteousness reveals his offspring: In this are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil: every one that does not practice righteousness is not of God, and he that does not love his brother. Every one that does not make righteousness his goal, does not strive after perfection with all the power at his command, does not make the will of God the sphere of his activity, thereby offers unmistakable evidence of not being born of God, of still being a child of the devil—a terrible condition!

And the same test may be applied with regard to the practice of brotherly love: For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. The apostle reverts to this topic time and again, To him brotherly love is the very essence and substance of the Christian life. The tree is known by its fruit, and the faith of the Christian must be revealed in love. That, according to the Word of God, according to the last instructions of Jesus, is the outstanding trait and characteristic of the believer: he must show his appreciation of the wonderful blessings of Christ of which he has become a partaker in his love toward his fellow-Christians and toward all men. The very antithesis of such unselfish love is shown in the example of Cain: Not like Cain, who was of the Evil One and slew his brother; and for what reason slew he him? Because his works were wicked, but those of his brother just. Cain, the first murderer, received the inspiration for his evil deed from the devil himself, who is a murderer from the beginning, Joh 8:44. Having rejected that which was good, he became a servant of selfishness and sin. At the same time, he was jealous of the pure character of his brother Abel, just as the unbelievers in our days resent the fact that the Christians refuse to join them in their blasphemy of God and in their various transgressions of the holy will of God, 1Pe 4:4. That was the reason why he slew his brother, because he could not bear the comparison in favor of Abel, because it angered him that God accepted Abel’s sacrifice rather than his own.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As if the apostle had said, "Let no man deceive you by making you believe that a right faith may consist with an unrighteous life, for only he that doeth righteousness is righteous."

Note here, 1. That there is a twofold doing of righteousness.

1. In a legal sense, which stands in an exact obeying and fulfilling the law; and thus there is none righteous, no not one.

2. In an evangelical sense, a walking uprightly, according to the rule of the gospel, conscientiously avoiding all known sin, and performing every commanded duty; it is not a single action, but a constant course of holy actions, that denominates a person holy; a righteous man makes righteousness the business of his life; his daily care is how to please God in all he does.

Note, 2. That it is the duty of every Christian, that would not be deceived as to his spiritual state and condition, to try himself by this infallible mark and rule of trial: He that doth righteousness is righteous; he that doth not righteousness is not of God.

Christian, enquire not so much what thy affections are, what thy desires are, what thy joys and comforts are, as what thy actions are; not what thy peace is, but what thy paths are: For God doth not measure men’s sincerity by the tides of their affections, but by the constant bent of their resolutions, and the general course and tenor of their conversation; He that doth righteousness, is righteous, and only he.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 7

THE GRANDEUR OF REGENERATION

7. “Little children, let no one deceive you.” John solemnly warns young converts and all other Christians against these Antichrists who teach a sinning religion, lest they deceive them to their eternal ruin. Oh, how pertinent this warning today, when the world is flooded with sinning religion.

8. “He that committeth sin is of the devil; because the devil sinneth from the beginning.” This needs no comment; a simpleton can understand it. Your preacher, standing in the pulpit, says, “ I sin every day.” Dare to believe God. Your preacher belongs to the devil, preaches his gospel, and will lead you to hell if you follow him. “For this the Son of God was made manifest, that He may destroy the works of the devil.” You see how these Antichrists do their utmost to defeat the work of Christ, i.e., the destruction of sin. Oh, how grossly they falsify Christ by telling the people they can not get rid of sin, when Christ came into the world for this very achievement, i.e., the extermination of our sins.

9. “Every one who has been born of God doth not sin because His seed remaineth in him; and he is not able to sin because he has been born of God.” The advocates of sinning religion wage an exterminating war against sanctification on the hypothesis that none can live without committing sin. See how blindly they utterly unchristianize themselves, because it does not take sanctification to stop all sinning, but you see from this verse that regeneration settles the question of committing sin. So long as you have the divine seed, i.e., the life of God, the holy agapee, in your heart, you can not sin. The seed is planted in regeneration, the ground purified from all indigenous filth in sanctification, and the golden harvest reaped by the angels in glorification.

10. “In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil,” i.e., the latter commit sin and the former do not. Oh, how easy to draw the line between God’s people, who live a holy life and commit no sin, and Satan’s people, who commit sin, whether church members or worldlings!

11. John constantly pours his burning emphasis on this divine love, the heavenly exotic from the heart of God, poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost in regeneration and delivered from all carnal antagonisms in sanctification; meanwhile it not only extends up to God whence it came, but reaches forth its Briarean arms, encircling the world in its loving embrace, regardless of race, sect or color.

12. Cain was the great antediluvian patriarch of a bloodless, sinning religion. Cain’s religion was so popular that it finally crowded out Abel’s bloody experience, perpetuated by Seth and his followers, and filled the world, thus provoking the indignation of Heaven and bringing on the flood.

13, 14. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren with divine love: he that loveth not with divine love abideth in death.” What a deplorable pity the English Scripture does not bring out the difference between the divine agapee, the nature of God, and philia, the carnal love, peculiar to fallen humanity. For ages churches have been filled up with people joining on a profession of love to God and the brethren, which in millions of cases has proved by their lives to be nothing but their own natural carnal love, which never did have anything to do with salvation, only to be purified by it. How can I discriminate between the human and divine love? This heavenly agapee, i.e., divine love, is identical in the heart of God, angels and human beings, reaching out indiscriminately to all created intelligences, pouring floods of sympathy on the entire animate creation. So when you have it, you love the black Hottentot, the tawny Mongolian and the beautiful Caucasian all alike, no longer discriminating between your enemies and your friends, but like God, who loves his enemies enough to die for them, you speed to make reconciliation with every foe and girdle the world in your arms. This is regeneration.

Sanctification has plenty still left to do in the complete expurgation of the spiritual organism from all hereditary ailment.

15. This verse is confirmatory of the preceding, affirming the dismal turpitude of unregenerated nature, pronouncing every misanthropist a guilty murderer in the sight of God. “Man looks at the outside, but God looks on the heart.” Hatred is the spirit of murder, involving actual guilt. This divine agapee, the essence of regeneration, supersedes all hatred in the heart of the recipient, inundating him with love for his vilest enemy.

16. This divine love brought Jesus from the glorified throne to die on Calvary for a world who hated Him. The effect of it in our hearts is to make us love not only our friends but even our enemies, sufficient to die for them.

17. While human love, which is natural in the fallen heart, goes out and belts the globe with its philanthropic enterprises, of course divine love, its tremendous superior, can not be delinquent in needed benefactions. While the unregenerated will discriminate in this philanthropy, actuated only by human love, the regenerated recipient of this heavenly agapee will overflow with philanthropy in behalf of the suffering, whether friends or foes.

18. We are here warned that profession and possession are different words.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Let no man deceive you. Do not be deluded into the belief that any one can be righteous unless he practices righteousness.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Dear children

John was an elderly man and their leader. He used this expression to show his love for them. See how you translated this in 1 John 2:1. AT: "My dear children in Christ" or "You who are as dear to me as my own children" (See: Metaphor)

do not let anyone lead you astray

Here "lead you astray" is a metaphor for persuading someone to believe something that is not true. AT: "do not let anyone fool you" or "do not let anyone deceive you" (See: Metaphor)

The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous

"He who does what is right is pleasing to God just as Christ is pleasing to God."

is from the devil

"belongs to the devil" or "is like the devil"

from the beginning

This refers to the very earliest time of creation before humans first sinned. AT: "since the earliest time of creation" (See: Metonymy)

the Son of God was revealed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "God revealed his Son" (See: Active or Passive)

Son of God

This is an important title for Jesus that describes his relationship to God. (See: Translating Son and Father)

translationWords

children

astray

righteous

Christ

sin

Satan

Son of God

reveal

works

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

7. [605][606] have παιδία for τεκνία ([607][608][609][610]).

[605] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.

[606] 5th century. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it. In the National Library at Paris. Part of the First and Third Epistles; 1Jn 1:1 to 1Jn 4:2; 3Jn 1:3-14. Of the whole N.T. the only Books entirely missing are 2 John and 2 Thessalonians.

[607] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.

[608] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

[609] 9th century. All three Epistles.

[610] 9th century. All three Epistles.

7. τεκνία. The renewed address adds solemnity and tenderness to the warning. From the point of view of the present subject, viz. the Divine parentage, he again warns them against the ruinous doctrine that religion and conduct are separable; that to the spiritual man no action is defiling, but all conduct is alike. The language implies that the error set before them is of a very grave kind: let no man lead you astray: see on 1Jn 1:8.

ὁ ποιῶν. Not ὁ ποιήσας, any more than ὁ ἁμαρτήσας (1Jn 3:6). It is he who habitually does righteousness, not he who simply does a righteous act. If faith without works is dead (Jas 2:17; Jas 2:20), much more is knowledge without works dead. There is only one way of proving our enlightenment, of proving our parentage from Him who is Light; and that is by doing the righteousness which is characteristic of Him and His Son. This is the sure test, the test which Gnostic self-exaltation pretended to despise. Anyone can say that he possesses a superior knowledge of Divine truth; but does he act accordingly? Does he do divine things, after the example of the Divine Son? S. John speaks of both the Father (1Jn 1:9) and the Son (1Jn 2:2) as δίκαιος; but here as elsewhere in this Epistle, it is best to take ἐκεῖνος as meaning Christ: see on 1Jn 2:6 and 1Jn 3:3.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7.] Little children, let no one deceive you (it does not seem that any particular false teacher is here in St. John’s view; but he alludes to all who would sever ethical likeness to God from the Christian life): he that doeth righteousness (τὴν δ., perhaps as being abstract, but more probably because the righteousness spoken of is but one, and that God’s: the righteousness which is His) is righteous, even as He (here apparently, God, notwithstanding the apparent parallel of Ἰησοῦν χριστὸν δίκαιον in ch. 2:2: for we are by this saying, as by that in verse 3,—where see note,—referred back to the great Source of our spiritual birth, ch. 2:29, and our likeness to Him insisted on: ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἔγνωκεν τὸν δίκαιον, καὶ δίκαιός ἐστιν ὡς καὶ ἐκεῖνος δίκαιός ἐστιν, τουτέστιν ὁ θεός) is righteous.

This verse has absolutely nothing to do with the sense which the R.-Cath. expositors have endeavoured to extract from it, “adversus hæreticos hodiernos, simili ratione populum seducentes, cum negant per bona opera quemquam justum esse coram Deo,” Est., and so Lyra, Corn.-a-lap., and Tirinus. But this is altogether to invert the proposition of the Apostle, who is reasoning, not from the fact of doing good works to the conclusion that a man is righteous, but from the hypothesis of a man’s being a child of God, born of Him and like Him, to the necessity of his purifying himself and doing righteousness. And in doing this, he ascribes the ποιεῖν τὴν δικαιοσύνην to its source, and the ποιεῖν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν to its source: the one man is of God, the other is of the devil. As Luther well says (in Düsterd. h. l.), “good works of piety do not make a good pious man, but a good pious man does good pious works.… Fruits grow from the tree, not the tree from fruits”).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. The views of the false teachers were plausible, and there was imminent danger of some of the faithful being seduced. But the facts were clear. He, and he only, who shows the fruits of righteousness in what he does, is righteous. Righteousness is always known by its fruits. There are no heights of knowledge, or superior kinds of nature, for which action is a matter of indifference.

τεκνία] If this is the true reading, the appeal is again made to their common (spiritual) nature. There is some authority for the reading παιδία, which would be equally suitable. The danger would have been less imminent, if they had used their own powers, and shown themselves less dependent on the moral guidance of others.

μηδεὶς πλανάτω] Cf. 2:26. They must yield to the seductions of no one, however prominent his position or plausible his arguments. It is, of course, possible that the writer is thinking of some particular opponent.

ὁ ποιῶν] Cf. 1:6, 3:4, etc. If the character is true, the whole life will be an expression of it, even as the whole of Christ’s life was a continuous expression of the character and person in whom God could be well pleased.

ἐκεῖνος] Cf. vv. 3, 4 (notes). Righteousness was fully realized in Him who set the Christian standard. No lower ideal would prove a sufficient incentive to holiness, i.e. the highest self-realization of which the nature of man is capable, who was created in order to grow into the likeness of God.

τεκνια א B K L al. pler. cat. Thphyl. Oec. m vg. syr. Tert. Aug.] παιδια A C P 5. 13. 27. 29 arm. (uid.) cop. syrp mg Lcif.: + μου 15. 26. 36. 68 cat. sah. syrsch aeth.

μηδεις] μη τις A.

ποιων δικαιοσυνην (? ? cf. v. Soden, p. 1856)] δικαιος ων H δ86 (Ψ).

δικαιος (? 2o)] om. H δ48 (33.)

την 2o om. א*.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Little children. See on 2 1.

Deceive [πλανατω] . Rev., better, lead astray. See on 1 8.

Doeth righteousness. See on ver. 4, and compare 1Jo 2:29. Note the article thn, the righteousness, in its completeness and unity. Not merely doing righteous acts. "In his relation to other men he will do what is just; and in his relation to the gods he will do what is holy; and he who does what is just and holy cannot be other than just and holy" (Plato, "Gorgias," 507).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.