The book of First John

A Verse by Verse Study
Text 1st John 3:3 - 9

 

  1. The Key verse in this passage is verse 5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”
    1. John is saying first of all “he was manifested” the word manifested means to make visible, clear. That is Christ was made visibly clear in His birth, in His human body, in His life, in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection, and in His salvation to man kind.
    2. In manifesting it is made clear that He is the Saviour of mankind and that He is the lamb that takes away the sin of the world.  John 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
    3. “and in him is no sin.” And because He has no sin and we are in Him we have no sins to be judged. Verses 1 – 2 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2.) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
    4. Since we are pure in Christ we are to work to keep ourselves pure in this life. Verse 3 “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

a.       “And every man that hath this hope in him” the hope is Christ and the purification is only in Him, any man who truly believes because of this verse thinks he can make himself pure is a fool and will go to hell. Let’s all remember the scripture must be taken in context and that thought violates verse 5.

b.      However, since we have been made pure by Christ we can keep ourselves pure by living lives that are pure. However we will never live 100% pure lives until we are with Him. However that is still no excuse for our sinning.

c.       “even as he is pure.” Can we live as pure of lives as Christ? No! Therefore He is our example and if we are Christians then this is our Christ-like example.   

    1. Verse 3 and 5 defines verse 4 “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

a.       Since we are made pure in Him and since we are to remain pure in Him we need to understand no sin is tolerated by God.

b.      John here in verse 4 is trying to excite both groups of these little children by making it known that all sin is a violation of God’s law. 

c.       No sin of any kind is tolerated no matter how small or great all sin violates God’s law. James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” 

d.      The less we as Christians sin, the closer we are to God in fellowship, and that should be our ultimate goal in this life.

    1. Verse 6 “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.”

a.       Some people will make an entire doctrine out of this verse however this verse is defined in verse 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.”

b.      The word abideth means we live or stay or stand in Him. If we are in Christ we stand in Him in perfection. We as well as everyone will remain in sin all of our lives anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong. 

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

a.       this reads “little infants, do not allow any man to tell you different, if since you are saved be sure you should be walking in righteous and can walk in righteousness, just as Christ is righteous.

b.      We could also look at it in the next life we will be sinless like Him.  

    1. Verse 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.”

a.       First, sin is of the devil and if we are sinning we are bowing to Satan.

b.      Christ destroys sin, Christ destroys Satan in saving us, however Satan still baits us and sometimes we allow ourselves to take the bait and if we do we serve Satan.

c.       There is never an excuse for sin.