That we are children of God is a demonstration, proof of His love. Also: 'How great a love' is sometimes rendered “see what kind of love” – There are all sorts of ways that love can be expressed. We have been moved from enemies, or just creations, to a position most to be envied. We are now children of the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, there is no other. We were created a little lower than angels (Heb. 2:7,9 - and I realize that it is refering to Jesus Christ; that He was lower than angels when He was born of Mary. I extrapolated that since Jesus was human, that perhaps we also are slightly lower than angels. One day, at some time in the future, we will judge angels; implication we will be placed higher than they. All by God's grace of course.) Now we are children of the LORD.
“And such we are.” – That’s exactly what we are, Children of God. Not just called children of God, but we are that in this life, not just the life to come. Go back to 2:29, ‘born of Him’ – you must be born again (John 3:3-8; 1 Pet 3:3, 23; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 2:15, 4:24).
“For this reason” – I think this refers back to the “we are children of God” set-up. The world does not know us, because we are born of Him, and the world is not, so the world cannot know Him nor us. The phrase could be looking forward to the ‘because’, i.e., because the world did not know Christ, it cannot know us. Either way works.
| Children of God Great love for us World does not know |
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Vs. 3:2 – Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
“Beloved” – GNMM (note 1) puts it “My dear friends..”, you know John has been writing close friends, he uses ‘my little children’, ‘beloved’, etc. throughout the letter.
“Now we are children of God” – we are children, right now! Don’t need to wait for later.
“…what we shall be” - However, the job isn’t complete yet. Kind of like, “But wait, there’s more!” See Rom 8:19, 23-25. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
| We have eternal life, but we have not experienced the full effect, yet. We have the Holy Spirit, but we have not seen God face-to-face. There is so much more to come. |
“We know that” – again, be assured. He’s coming again! Jesus himself said he is returning, see John 14:1-3.
“We will be like Him” – this is an overwhelming statement. This is God, the Messiah, the beloved Son of God (with whom he is PLEASED) – and we will be like Him – resembling, corresponding to. Now ‘resembling’ is not the strong word I would be looking for; and ‘corresponding to’ is much closer, giving the idea of being equivalent, or to compare closely.
“We shall see Him just as He is.” – This is how we will know we are like Him – because we will be the same as He is. I don’t think that means we will be God ourselves, pretty sure God is the one and only. We will have been transformed, given a new body, and will begin experiencing the eternal life promised. How is it that being able to see Him ‘as He is’ mean that we are like Him? At this time, we cannot see God and live. He is too glorious. We will, at that time, be able to see Him face-to-face - and live. More than that we will rejoice, sing, praise, even talk with Him - child to parent (and as the bride of Christ, we also will be with Jesus). I am sure that I cannot adequately describe the wonders we will see.
Look at the following verses regarding seeing God as He is:
Isa. 6:1-8 - Isaiah thought he was ruined, destroyed, because he was looking at God on His throne.
Ex 33:18-23 – Moses was protected from seeing God’s face. This is more than a ‘theophony’.
Rev. 1:12-18 – John’s reaction? He fell down as if dead! I’ll bet John thought he was ‘ruined’ also.
Rev. 19:11-16 – If you met Him face-to-face, there would be no bravado, no bluster, no pride, only abject fear. This is not a ‘meek and mild’ savior, this is the warrior king, King of kings, and Lord of lords!
But then, see Rev 21:3-4, God Himself will be among us, the believers, no more pain, no more grief. He personally will wipe away the tears! We will see Him as He is: our God, our Savior, personal and loving. We are His children!
Side note: non-believers will also see Him as he really is, but not with the same reaction as those of us who are saved. Our reaction - joy, elation, rejoicing, maybe even relief. Their reaction - fear,
terrified sadness, dread; they see their 'end', and it isn't good.
In the sermon for 13-Dec-15 Pastor Gene preached on these verses: The following are from my notes on this really good message. Every once in awhile you hear someone ask, "Do you know who I am?" This is a prideful question. We don't even know or understand who we are. The question implies you need to understand this is no ordinary person. There are no 'ordinary' believers. If we could see now what we will be when Christ returns, we would be tempted to fall down and worship that person. We will be revealed as 'glory' - we have more of a sense about it (glory) rather than a definition. We will be the people that God intended for us to be - completed in reality.
Every thing that is part of this fallen world, in terms of sin and weakness and failure, will be stripped away. What is there about your character that is not what you wished it would be? This is glory by subtraction - Are you sharp, angry, bitter, lustful, greedy, bitter, want more and more, jealous, selfish, prideful, apathetic, passive, in depression, worry, stress, bi-polar, fear - most of us can say "yes" to most of those things. Wouldn't it be nice to be done with all that? Imagine the freedom to have none of that.
Glory by addition - this is even more exciting. We will get new bodies, new minds. We do not yet know what we will be! One of the fundamental meanings of the word 'glory' is light, such as the glory of the sun. The 'Transfiguration' is a sample - Jesus' face shown like the sun, and body was pure light. In Revelation, John saw Jesus, and it almost killed him. Light, blazing, molten metal, glory - and we will be like Him! In the mean time, we live between the first advent and the next. Sometimes we ask, "Is this all there is?" Our pet dog does not ask that, nor our cat. That is because there is a deep longing within us, an understanding there is MORE. See Col 3:1-4 'Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.'
| children of God Not yet complete Be like Him |
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Vs. 3:3 - And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
“has this hope in Christ” – the hope is that we will shall see Him just as He is. This translates to eternal life (again see Rev. 21:3-4). Jesus Christ is our hope (1 Th 1:3, 1 Ti 1:1), God is our hope (Rom 15:13), We have hope for salvation (1 Th 5:8), and eternal life (Titus 1:2); We are not to hope in riches (1 Ti 6:17). The hope is that we will be like Him. Our hope is based on the fact that we are children of God.
- “keeps himself pure” – This points out that being saved does not stop at that event. We must live out our salvation. Psalms 119:9 puts it, “how does a young man keep himself pure?” The answer is to live according to His ways. We are to focus on what is pure (Ph 4:8), among other things listed, and the God of Peace will be with us. We know the wisdom from heaven is pure (Jam 3:17). If we live according to God’s word, we can keep ourselves pure. Work out our salvation, or so to speak.
See Col. 1:10 – we need to walk in manner worthy of the Lord. In 2 Pet 1:5-10 and Php 4:8-10, we are supplied with a ‘formula’ for maintaining ‘purity’. I do not mean this can be done by rote, without the power of the Holy Spirit. But the HS does not force me to act as a holy person, the HS appeals, convicts, teaches, leads, but does not make me behave. That it takes effort can be seen in Php 2:12 – that we should ‘work out our salvation’.
“He is pure” – See Revelation! See also 1 Pet 3:18 – Christ is described as the ‘just’ who was given up for the unjust – you and me.
| Purify
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*** note 1: "GNMM" = Good News for Modern Man (aka: New English Translation)
Very well said....Thanks Gary!!
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