The First Epistle of John

1. The First Epistle of John Children of God and Children of the Devil - I John 3:7-10 • I John 3:7 – “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” • let no one deceive you – present active imperative • let no one continue leading you astray • How would this deception take place do you think? • Let’s take a look at Gal 1:6-9. • ‘Not his doing makes him righteous, but his being righteous makes him to do righteousness’ – JFB • Justified by the righteousness of God in Christ, Rom 10:3-10 • 1 Peter 2:24 ‘who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed.’ • 1 John 2:29 ‘If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.’ 1 May 29, 2011 Bob Eckel

2. The First Epistle of John Children of God and Children of the Devil - I John 3:7-10 • So how do we do righteous? • The same way we became righteous – by faith • Do we believe God for what He’s revealed? • I John 3:8 –“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” • He who sinsis an active present participle • ILG translates this as ‘the one practicing’ • Yet the present tense represents a simple statement of fact or reality viewed as occurring in actual time. • So what does it means when it says ‘He who sins is of the devil’, of course noting that ‘from the beginning the devil has sinned’? • We must be well founded in the Pauline epistles to interpret this verse correctly! 2 May 29, 2011 Bob Eckel

3. The First Epistle of John Children of God and Children of the Devil - I John 3:7-10 • Is Rom 6:3-4 true? Then what about Rom 6:11-13? • What is the source of this sin in all of us including the body of Christ? • Is not I John 3:8 entirely supportive of two natures in the believer? • Does the old man ever change? • So have the works of the devil been destroyed? • The text says might be destroyed – aorist active subjunctive. • The subjunctive mood is the mood of possibility and potentiality. The action described may or may not occur, depending upon circumstances. • Why might? • In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ said "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” – John 12:31 • Heb 2:14,15 – ‘Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.’ • Will Christ come down and die again? Is His work incomplete? • It says here that for this purpose, or this cause, theSon of God was manifested’ – a done deal. 3 May 29, 2011 Bob Eckel

4. The First Epistle of John Children of God and Children of the Devil - I John 3:7-10 • I John 2:1,2 – “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.’ • I John 3:8 speaks to the failure and total inability of the Adamic nature to do righteous as we are righteous. • Our position is never threatened but our condition depends on our life sourced entirely from above. • I John 3:9 – “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” • Here also the ILG translates this ‘not practicing sin’. • Again, the verb tense is present active indicative. • If we use the ILG interpretation here and earlier, can you define ‘practicing’? • How’s that for a legal metric!!!!! • Simply put and as verse 9 says, we cannot sin because we have been born of God. • Rom 7:20 ‘Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.’ 4 May 29, 2011 Bob Eckel

5. The First Epistle of John Children of God and Children of the Devil - I John 3:7-10 • Two natures, two natures, two natures!!!! • Rom 6:6 ‘Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.’ • Rom 6:1 ‘What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?’ • Eph 4:22 ‘That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,’ • I John 3:10 – “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor [is] he who does not love his brother.” • does not practicerighteousness – present active participle • Which kind of child are you? • And how are you doing here? • Are you practicing hard enough? • The Greek tern here is poieō and can be translated as abide, appoint, band, bear, bring, cause, commit, deal with, do, execute, exercise, give, keep, make, observe, perform, purpose, put, show, suspend, wrought, or yield. • Do you see practice on this list? 5 May 29, 2011 Bob Eckel

6. The First Epistle of John Children of God and Children of the Devil - I John 3:7-10 • not loving his brother reminds us of what we covered a few months ago and will cover in much more detail in the weeks to come. • I John 2:9-11 – “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.’ • 1 John 3:14 ‘We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.’ • So let’s sum up here: • Despite the fact that sin shows up, we are the Children of God. • Not children of the devil. . • His righteousness is our righteousness • We are new creations in Christ Jesus. • Quit trying to perform but believe. • It’s not what we do but who we are, and once we know who we are what we do is in evidence of who we are. 6 May 29, 2011 Bob Eckel