Chapter 10
1 John 3:19-24
1 John 3:19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
There is an ongoing debate within Christendom and sometimes even within ourselves with the question of whether or not we can know that we are saved. Doubts can come up in our minds asking questions like: Why do we continue to sin and disobey God? Am I worthy to be saved? Am I of any value or worth before God? Why do I do things that are contrary to my beliefs? Why am I often overwhelmed with guilt for my past sins? How do I know the Bible is true? Have I been taught the truth? How do I know right from wrong? If I don’t know what is truth and what is not, how can I witness to others? These are only some examples of the struggles a Christian might encounter within our hearts and conscience. John understood that there may be times a Christian might struggle with thoughts like these. Here again John offers us reassurance and some encouragement.
To better understand these verses we need to go back to verse 16 where John says, “By this we know love.” The Greek phrase, “this we know” is “houtos ginosko” telling us that we can define love by what follows, namely that love can be defined by one willing to give their own life to another or by the offering of help to those that may have a physical need. John then reminds his readers that this process to demonstrate love was not some formula or legalistic approach to love, it was to be genuine and offered in truth. Now beginning with verse 19, John uses the same Greek phrase that will define what truth means and how we can know we belong to the truth.
John first tells us that we can be assured. The Greek word translated here as ‘reassure’ is ‘peithō’ which carries a meaning not only to be persuaded to believe but also that of resting in that trust. The NIV translates this verse, “This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:” (1 John 3:19, NIV) We are to be at rest or comfortable (not nervous) when we are before Him, after all God did all of the work! His work is not partially finished leaving something for us to complete, He did it all, the work is complete (see Philippians 1:6). We couldn’t add anything anyway! It might be comforting to some to know that throughout the Old and New Testaments there have been many of God’s people that have expressed and experienced overwhelming uneasiness when in God’s presence (including Moses, Exodus 3:6; Isaiah, Isaiah 6:1-5; Ezekiel, Ezekiel 1:26-28; Peter, Luke 5:8 and even John, Revelation 1:12-18) Here in his first epistle, John is saying that we no longer need to be concerned (read Romans 5:1; Philippians 4:7; 1 John 2:28) since Jesus did everything for us, that’s right, everything! Again, the work is done.
1 John 3:20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
Regardless of any concerns or questions (such as those listed above) that our hearts and minds (our conscience) condemn us for, God is greater! He knows us better than we know ourselves, we cannot hide anything from Him. While that may make us nervous at times, we also need to remember that we cannot disappoint Him, true, we might grieve Him (read Ephesians 4:30-32), but He has always known what you are going to do or what you are going to say, long before you ever do (read Psalm 139; Hebrews 4:11-13; Romans 8:1). John tells us that if our consciences do not condemn us (such as guilt over our actions or unwarranted concern like questioning our salvation) as these things can keep us from doing what God wants us to do, we should instead have confidence (the Greek word here is often translated as ‘boldness’, a word that John uses four times in this epistle, read 1 John 5:13-15, also read Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-25) before God.
1 John 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
In this verse, John gives us some familiar words, “whatever we ask we receive,” echoing Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount (read Matthew 7:7, see also John 8:29). In verses 21 and 22 John is telling us that prayer indeed works. He of course is not implying that everything we ask for will be automatically given, but we do need to ask (read Matthew 6:5-15; 7:7-11 and James 4:2-3). Verse 22 continues with the reason prayer works, “because we keep His commandments.” First we need to understand again that John is not referring to the “Ten Commandments” here (see discussion in Chapter 3). True they would be part of what God has relayed to us, but John is really saying we need to listen and obey Jesus, following what He has instructed us to do. The Greek root word for the English word ‘commandment’ is the same root of the word Jesus used in the “Great Commission” where He said, “obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20, ESV). This again is not to be considered a formula for automatic success, we are not to just follow Jesus and obey every word He spoke out of compulsion or even selfish desires (Jesus is not Santa), we follow because we love Him! Again it is about our hearts.
1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
John then reminds us some of what Jesus taught and commanded us to do, beginning with the need for us to believe in Him. Our walk with Jesus begins with us recognizing Him as our personal Savior. John clarifies four aspects of Jesus that are often debated. The first is that God the Father sent Him, then secondly, John says He is the Son of God (some religions deny that God had a Son), thirdly His name is Jesus, the only way to heaven as there is only one name (see Matthew 1:21; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 10:43; Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Timothy 2:5) that can provide salvation and some might ask, how is this possible? Because the fourth aspect John points out is that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One that was to come, die and rise again as an atonement for our sins, just as the Old Testament predicted. John is quick to include that we are also commanded to love each other just as Jesus demonstrated for us (see Luke 6:27-36; John 13:34-35; 15:12-17; Galatians 5:13-15, 22-23; Philippians 1:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; Hebrews 10:24). Love is an integral part of being a Christian and living as a Christian.
1 John 3:24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
John returns to the theme of God abiding in us and we in Him (see 1 John 2:24, see also John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4-10: 17:25; 1 John 4:15). Here John gives us another test to see if we are actually abiding in Him. By seeing the presence of the Holy Spirit that He gave us (see John 3:5-8; 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; Acts 1:4-8; Luke 11:13; 12:12; Romans 5:5; 8:11; Galatians 4:6; 5:16, 22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Titus 3:5) manifest in our lives. As Christians, we understand that the Holy Spirit is critical for us to not only be Christians but we also need the Holy Spirit to do the things Jesus asked us to do, such as praying (see Ephesians 6:18 and Romans 8:26-27) and knowing what we are to do (see Romans 8:14). If we are doing what God called us to do, we know that we are abiding in Him and He in us. John will expand on how we can know that the Holy Spirit is with us later in the next chapter.
Paul wrote on this subject and mirrored much of the same issues and points in Romans 8:1-11, note the words of encouragement about God’s eternal love that follow in verses 31-39.