There is an organic relationship between one’s faith and one’s life style. This fact becomes clear from a statement from the Apostle John. He tells us, “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of him.” (1 John 2:29 ASV)
In the very beginning of chapter two John reminded every reader that Jesus is “Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1) If he is righteous, then everyone into whom he infuses new life, that is everyone who “is begotten of him,” will also be one who “doeth righteousness.” This obvious truth helps us evaluate the validity of the message of those who teach about Christ. Every doctrinal deviation is reflected in a consequent life style. The person into whom The Righteous One has infused life will reflect that new life in righteous living.
God’s gift of new life results in new relationships on two levels. First there we have a new relationship with God. As Christ’s apostle John tells us, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1 ASV)
If we who are followers of Christ are children of God, it is because we have been born a second time. Our physical birth, gave us the characteristics of our physical father. Our second birth, our birth from above (John 3:1-5), has similarly given us the characteristics of our heavenly Father. Thus, understandably, if we are children of God we share in the heavenly Father’s nature.
If anyone claims to be a child of God, that claim may be substantiated by two very practical tests. First, the test of righteous living. God’s children should have God’s character. That character will manifest a hatred for sin. “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness in not of God,” (1 John 3:10a ASV). Also, no one can legitimately claim to be a child of God who, “loveth not his brother.” (1 John 3:10b ASV)
Secondly, the new life which God grants through Christ results in a new, and often dangerous, social relationship. This means that anyone who has a godly character must live with the consequences. “For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1 ASV)
Evil hates righteousness. For example, Jesus said to his half-brothers before they became believers in him, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it that its works are evil.” (John 7:7 ASV) This enmity has been operating in human relationships from the dawn of man’s history. The reason Cain murdered Abel was, “Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” (1 John 3:12 ASV) As David observed, “The wicked watcheth the righteous, And seeketh to slay him.” (Psalms 37:32 ASV)
The new life which God has given to those who believe in Christ not only results in new relationships with God and with society, but it results in a new expectation and anticipation. Christ’s Apostle John tells us, “Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.” (1 John 3:2 ASV)
To be a child of God is a high honor! Let none of us who holds this status ever minimize the prestige which God has thus bestowed upon us. This is part of “the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14) This is part of the “high estate” which we have been granted (James 1:9). This is one of those blessings which has come from him, “who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3 ASV) This status grants us access to the throne of our Father! It grants us protection and sustenance. It bestows upon us the status of heirs, “heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him.” (James 2:5 ASV)
However, our ultimate future has not yet [been] made manifest. But, it has been made clear that we shall be like him, that is, like Christ. That is the cornerstone of our hope.
When “he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.” (1 John 3:2 ASV) In our present state our eyes are incapable of seeing God. For this reason John writes, “No man hath beheld God at any time:” (1 John 4:12 ASV) However, since we shall, “see him even as he is,” this clearly implies we shall undergo a radical change. The change shall be so radical that, “we shall be like him!” John, at the time he wrote these words, like the recipients of the epistle to whom the Apostle John wrote, had not seen Christ in all his glory. Only after our having been raised from the dead and having been changed into his image shall we then triumphantly see him even as he is!
The anticipation of that change in our being, a change so radical that subsequent to it we will be able to actually see God produces an additional benefit. That is, “every one that hath this hope set on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (1 John 3:3 ASV) What is that extra benefit? It is hope! “everyone that hath this hope set on him” Which hope? It is the hope of that radical transformation which shall make us like him. (Verse 2)
That hope has moral and ethical consequences in the life of everyone who is a follower of Jesus because he, “purifieth himself even as he is pure.” If we claim to be children of God we can compare ourselves with Christ, the Son of God, to see if those same family characteristics appear in us which so powerfully appeared in him. In this epistle, Jesus is called, “Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1) This character trait is stressed again in 3:5 which says, “in him is no sin.” So, if we have a common paternity with Jesus, that powerful and dominant family characteristic will certainly manifest itself in us.
A child of God will not habitually ignore and violate his Father’s law. But, “Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4 ASV) The follower of Christ wants to be obedient to God because each follower knows “…he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin.” (1 John 3:5 ASV)
Our desire to ‘be like him’ cannot be very profound unless we seek to live without sin which he came to take away. “We should not indulge in that from which he came to deliver us.” (Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament, (Baker Book House, Michigan, 1951), p. 315) We should be holy because he is holy. (See 1 Peter 1:16)
“in him is no sin.” Because of his total triumph over sin he is called in this epistle, “Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1) It was only because of his utter sinlessness that he was able to become “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2 ASV)