Names of God; part 40. Conclusion of Yavah and beginning of Elohim.

Title: Names of God; part 40. Conclusion of Yavah and beginning of Elohim.

 

 

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.

 

1JO 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice [present active participle of poieo] righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

 

Added to the practice of the son in the house is the fact that he loves his brother with God's sacrificial love.

 

Righteousness or righteous living can easily become confused in the mind of the believer through the temptation of his own arrogance and become equivalent to self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is manifested by judging and condemning others for real or imagined sin. The greatest destroyer of arrogance is God's love.  

 

Arrogance mixes with the call to righteousness to make self-righteousness. The guard against this error is agape love. Love is not arrogant …

 

1CO 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

 

1CO 13:5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

 

We must remember that this love is the love we are to have towards God as well. The definition in this passage emphasizes our love towards our fellow man. Certainly we do not suffer wrong from God, nor are we provoked by God, but many of these apply in our relationship to Him, especially the fact that love does not seek its own. We have all that we need from God. We are not seeking more favor or rewards for they have all been given by grace. Our love for Him knows that with Christ He has freely given us all things and our love for Him gives Him thanks and obedience and worship.

 

1CO 13:6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

 

1CO 13:7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

1CO 13:8 Love never fails [is eternal]

 

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1JO 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice [present active participle of poieo] righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

 

1JO 3:11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

 

Cain is given as a prime example. He practiced evil by providing a wrong offering and he was clearly warned by God to simply bring the animal sacrifice like his brother had done. The Lord would have made clear that the animal sacrifice was the blood sacrifice required and that it covered the sin of mankind just as the animal skins given by God covered their bodies. Cain refused to do this and rather choose to murder his brother. Abel’s belief caused him to continue to bring animal sacrifices to the altar and so by faith his deeds were righteous. Cain’s lack of faith put him on a path of constant opposition to God, and this is evil.

 

1JO 3:12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.

 

"evil one" - poneros = pernicious. An evil man is willing to perish in his own corruption. But a pernicious person, seeks to drag everyone else down with himself into the corruption and destruction that awaits him. That is Satan