John Gill Commentary 1 John 3

Behold what manner of love
See, take notice, consider, look by faith, with wonder and astonishment, and observe how great a favour, what an instance of matchless love, what a wonderful blessing of grace,

the Father has bestowed upon us :
the Father of Christ, and the Father of us in Christ, who has adopted us into his family, and regenerated us by his grace, and has freely given us the new name:

that we should be called the sons of God .
The Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version, add, "and we are", or "be"; and the Ethiopic version, "and have been"; for it is not a mere name that is bestowed, but the thing itself in reality; and in the Hebrew language, "to be called", and "to be", are terms synonymous; see (Isaiah 9:6) (Hosea 1:10) ; in what sense the saints are the sons of God; (See Gill on Galatians 4:6);

this blessing comes not by nature, nor by merit, but by grace, the grace of adoption; which is of persons unto an inheritance they have no legal right unto; the spring of it is the everlasting and unchangeable love of God, for there was no need on the adopter's side, he having an only begotten and beloved Son, and no worth and loveliness in the adopted, they being by nature children of wrath;

it is a privilege that exceeds all others, and is attended with many; so that it is no wonder the apostle breaks out in this pathetic manner, and calls upon the saints to view it with admiration and thankfulness:

therefore the world knows us not ;
that is, the greater part of the world, the world that lies in wickedness, the men of the world, who have their portion in this life, whom the god of this world has blinded, and who only mind the things of the world, and are as when they came into it, and have their conversation according to the course of it;

these do not know the saints are the sons of God; the new name of sons is what no man knows but he that receiveth it; they do not own the saints as theirs, as belonging to them, but reckon them as the faith of the world, and the offscouring of all things; nor do they love them, and that because they are not their own, but hate them and persecute them: the reason is,

because it knew him not ;
neither the Father, whose sons they are, and who has bestowed the grace upon them; wherefore they know not, and disown and persecute his children; see (John 17:25) (15:21) (16:3) ; nor the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, the firstborn among many brethren; who, though he made the world, and was in it, was not known by it, but was hated, abused, and persecuted; and therefore it need not seem strange that the saints, who are the sons of God by adoption, should be treated in like manner.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God
By adoption, secretly in God's predestination, and in the covenant of grace; and openly in regeneration,through faith in Christ, and by the testimony of the Spirit:

and it does not yet appear what we shall be ;
though they are sons, they do not appear now as such, as they will do, when they shall be introduced intotheir Father's house, and into the many mansions there prepared for them; when Christ shall publicly own themas the children given unto him, and when they shall be put into the possession of the inheritance they areheirs of;

besides, they will appear then not only to be kings' sons, but kings themselves, as they now are;they will then inherit the kingdom prepared for them, and will sit down on a throne of glory, and have acrown of righteousness, life, and glory, put upon them;

and will appear not only perfectly justified, their sins being not to be found; and the sentence of justification afresh pronounced, and they placed out of thereach of all condemnation; but they will be perfectly holy and free from all sin, and perfectly knowing andglorious;

they have a right to glory now, and glory is preparing for them, and they for that: and they arenow representatively glorified in Christ, but then they will be personally glorified:

now, though all this shall certainly be, yet it does not now manifestly appear; it appears to God, who calls things that are notas though they were and to Christ, whose delights were with the sons men, these children of God, before theworld was, and saw them in all the glory they were to be brought to; but not even to angels, until they areowned and confessed before them;

much less to the world, who do not know what they are now, and still lesswhat they will be, seeing them now in poverty, meanness, under many reproaches, afflictions, andpersecutions; and even this does not appear to the saints themselves, whose life is a hidden life; and thatby reason of darkness, desertion, and diffidence, for want of more knowledge, and from the nature of thehappiness itself, which is at present unseen:

but we know that when he shall appear ;
that is, Jesus Christ, who is now in heaven, and out of sight, but will appear a second time: the time whenis not known, but the thing itself is certain:

we shall be like him ;
in body, fashioned like to his glorious body, in immortality and incorruption, in power, in glory, andspirituality, in a freedom from all imperfections, sorrows, afflictions, and death; and in soul, whichlikeness will lie in perfect knowledge of divine things, and in complete holiness;

for we shall see him as he is ;
in his human nature, with the eyes of the body, and in his glorious person, with the eyes of theunderstanding; not by faith, as now, but by sight; not through ordinances, as in the present state, butthrough those beams of light and glory darting from him, with which the saints will be irradiated; and thissight, as it is now exceeding desirable, will be unspeakably glorious, delightful, and ravishing, soulsatisfying, free from all darkness and error, and interruption; will assimilate and transform into his imageand likeness, and be for ever. Philo the Jew observes ^F11 , that Israel may be interpreted onethat sees God; but adds, (ouc oiov estin o yeov) , "not what God is", for thisis impossible: it is indeed impossible to see him essentially as he is, or so as to comprehend his nature,being, and perfections; but then the saints in heaven will see God and Christ as they are, and as much asthey are to be seen by creatures; God will be seen as he is in Christ; and Christ will be seen as he is inhimself, both in his divine and human natures, as much as can be, or can be desired to be seen and known ofhim.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: De Praemiis. & Paenis, p. 917.

And every man that has this hope in him
Or on him, Jesus Christ; for a true hope of that eternal happiness, which lies in likeness to Christ, and in the vision of him, is only founded on his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice: and this hope every man has not, only he who is born again; for this grace is implanted in regeneration, when men are of abundant mercy begotten unto it, and have it bestowed upon them as a free grace gift; and which is of great service to them both in life and in death; and among the rest it has this influence and effect upon them, that every such person that has it,

purifieth himself even as he is pure ;
not that any man can purify or cleanse himself from sin, this is only owing to the grace of God and blood of Christ; nor that any man can be so pure and holy as Christ is, who is free from all sin, both original and actual;

but this must be understood either of a man that has faith and hope in Christ, dealing by these with the blood of Christ for purity and cleansing, with whom and which these graces are conversant for such purposes; or of such a person's imitating of Christ in the holiness of his life and conversation, making him his pattern and example, studying to walk as he walked; to which he is the more excited and stimulated by the hope he has of being a Son of God, a dear child of his, and therefore ought to be a follower of him, and walk as Christ walked, in humility; love, patience, and in other acts of holiness; and by the hope he has of being like unto him, and with him in the other world to all eternity:

but then this "as" is only expressive of some degree of likeness and similitude, and not perfect equality, which is not to be expected in this, or in the world to come; believers indeed, who have faith and hope in the justifying righteousness of Christ, may, and should consider themselves pure and righteous, and free from sin, as Christ is; being clothed upon with his robe of righteousness, in which they stand without fault before the throne, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but this does not seem to be the sense of the place here, the argument being to engage the saints to purity and holiness of life and conversation, from the consideration of the great love of God bestowed upon them in their adoption, and from their hope of eternal happiness, as the context shows; see (2 Corinthians 7:1) ; other arguments follow.

Whosoever committeth sin
This, in connection with what follows, is true of any sin, great or small, but here designs a course of sinning, a wilful, obstinate, persisting in sin:

transgresseth also the law ;
not of man, unless the law of men is founded on, and agrees with the law of God, for sometimes to transgress the laws of men is no sin, and to obey them would be criminal; but the law of God, and that not the ceremonial law, which was now abolished, and therefore to neglect it, or go contrary to it, was not sinful; but the moral law, and every precept of it, which regards love to God or to our neighbour, and which may be transgressed in thought, word, and deed; and he that committeth sin transgresses it in one or all of these ways, of which the law accuses and convicts, and for it pronounces guilty before God, and curses and condemns; and this therefore is an argument against sinning, because it is against the law of God, which is holy, just, and good, and contains the good and acceptable, and perfect will of God, which is agreeable to his nature and perfections; so that sin is ultimately against God himself:

for sin is a transgression of the law ;
and whatever is a transgression of the law is sin; the law requires a conformity of nature and actions to it, and where there is a want of either, it is a breach of it; it is concerned with the will and affections, the inclinations and desires of the mind, as well as the outward actions of life; concupiscence or lust is a violation of the law, as well as actual sin; and especially a course of sinning both in heart, lip, and life, is a continued transgression of it, and exposes to its curse and condemnation, and to the wrath of God; and is inconsistent with a true hope of being the sons and heirs of God: but then the transgression of what is not the law of God, whether the traditions of the elders among the Jews, or the ordinances of men among Papists, Pagans, and Turks, or any other, is no sin, nor should affect the consciences of men.

And you know that he was manifested
This is a truth of the Gospel the saints were well instructed in and acquainted with; that Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of God, who is here meant, who was with the Father, and lay in his bosom from all eternity, was in the fulness of time made manifest in the flesh, or human nature, by assuming it into union with his divine person; in which he came and dwelt among men, and became visible to them: the end of which manifestation was,

to take away our sins ;
as the antitype of the scape goat, making reconciliation and satisfaction for them, through the sacrifice of himself; which was doing what the blood of bulls and goats, or any legal sacrifices or moral performances, could never do: and this he did by taking the sins of his people upon himself, by carrying them up to the cross, and there bearing them, with all the punishment due unto them, in his body; by removing them quite away, and utterly destroying them, finishing and making an end of them: and by causing them to pass away from them, from off their consciences, through the application of his blood by his Spirit:

and in him is no sin ;
neither original, nor actual; no sin inherent; there was sin imputed to him, but none in him, nor done by him; and hence he became a fit person to be a sacrifice for the sins of others, and by his unblemished sacrifice to take the away; and answered the typical sacrifices under the law, which were to be without spot and blemish: and this shows that he did not offer himself for any sins of his own, for there were none in him, but for the sins of others; and which consideration, therefore, is a strong dissuasive from sinning, and as such is mentioned by the apostle; for, since sin is of such a nature that nothing could atone for it but the blood and sacrifice of Christ, an innocent, as well as a divine person, it should be abhorred by us; and since Christ has taken it away by the sacrifice of himself, it should not be continued and encouraged by us; and since in him is no sin, we ought to imitate him in purity of life and conversation; the end of Christ's bearing our sins was, that we might live unto righteousness, and to purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and his love herein should constrain us to obedience to him:

so the Jews ^F12 speak of a man after the image of God, and who is the mystery, of the name Jehovah; and in that man, they say, there is no sin, neither shall death rule over him; and this is that which is said, (Psalms 5:4) ; neither shall evil dwell with thee.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: Sepher Tikkunim, fol. 112. 1. apud Rittangel, de ver. Rel. Christ, p. 68.