Names of God; part 37. Being a son in the house of YHVH.

Title: Names of God; part 37. Being a son in the house of YHVH.

 

 

1JO 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us [perfect tense: it is our permanent possession], that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

 

1JO 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

 

1JO 3:3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

 

1JO 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

 

1JO 3:5 And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.

 

1JO 3:6 No one who abides in Him sins [present active indicative of harmatano]; no one who sins [present active participle of harmatano] has seen Him or knows Him.

 

1JO 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;

 

Do not be deceived. The practice of righteousness is only possible by the grace of God. A believer is given righteousness, wisdom, and power and he can choose these grace gifts.  

 

The believer is created a new creature in Christ by God. He is given the truth of the word of God, which reveals clearly to Him the ethics of true righteousness. The Holy Spirit is given to him so that he can clearly understand the Christian life and also the meaning of that life. His destiny in heaven is revealed to him as an absolute reality. All of this is completely provided by God and so the believer is completely fulfilled by God. It also calls for a life that is Christ and of the grace of Christ.

 

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are called to practice righteousness because righteous is what God has made us to be. It's not for the purpose of impressing people or earning points with God. It is simply who we are, who Christ is, and so it is the only life that can be rightly given the term "life."

 

Do not be deceived. There are and have been many who have claimed that living unrighteous as a believer is a manifestation of grace.

 

Forgiveness and discipline are grace, but grace means gifts given without merit or strings and these gifts are given so that we may live like our Lord. It is the only way of the Christian - discipleship.

 

MAT 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' 

 

MAT 5:44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you

 

MAT 5:45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

 

MAT 5:46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same?

 

MAT 5:47 "And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

 

MAT 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

Righteous character expresses itself in righteous conduct. Do not be deceived.  

 

1JO 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;

 

1JO 3:8 the one who practices [present active participle of poieo] sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

We were all born in sin. We did not become sinners when we committed our first sin. We are born in Adam and in Adam all have sinned.

 

That work of the devil, that was formally our master (not the devil but the work which brought about the fallen nature of man), has been destroyed by our Host. He destroyed sin and death. These are no longer our masters.

 

ROM 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned

 

ROM 5:19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

 

ROM 5:20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

 

ROM 5:21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

ROM 6:1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

 

ROM 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

 

ROM 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

 

1JO 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;

 

1JO 3:8 the one who practices [present active participle of poieo] sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

1JO 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin [present active indicative of poieo], because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin [present infinitive], because he is born of God.

 

"is born" - perfect participle = the past completed act of regeneration, the impartation of the divine nature.

 

The entire passage speaks of habitual sin. The divine seed, or the divine nature makes it impossible for the believer to habitually sin. He cannot habitually sin is the present infinitive.

 

The infinitive in the present tense in Greek always speaks of continuous, habitual action, never the mere fact of the action.

 

"No one who is born of God continually practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot continually practice sin, because he is born of God."