FOR THERE IS NO OTHER WAY - 1 JOHN 3:23-24

Verses 23-24: This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

At the outset, John summarizes Our Lord’s commandments into one single directive. It should be noted that he uses this word commandment more than any other writer— 30 times out of 66 occurrences in the New Testament. It is not that he is needlessly preoccupied with Our Lord’s commands, but instead the Holy Spirit intentionally led him to emphasize this essential truth for our benefit, so that we might advance in our spiritual life.

His Commandment

There are two major components that comprise Our Lord’s commandments: believe and love. These two aspects of this commandment are now intricately entwined with faith in Christ and love for one another.

First we are to believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. This we should recall was what Our Lord pronounced: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (John 6:29)

But note that the emphasis here is upon His name, since John’s readers would have been familiar with the ancient beliefs concerning magic which considered there is power and efficacy in names, and that the knowledge of names gives power to the ones using it.1 However, John is referring to Our Lord’s Prayer in John 17:11-12, where He asked that the Father to keep us in His name, “the name which You have given Me,” for the explicit purpose of Christian unity. Dr. Beetham notes:

To say that the disciples are kept in the name of God indicates that they live in the sphere of an effective power, which protects them from ruin and unites them with each other.2

The name of Jesus Christ is the name of eternal power. To believe in His name “is to be firmly persuaded”3 regarding the reality of His deity: His attributes, authority, majesty, power and excellence.4 Scripture declares it is “the name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9; cf. Hebrews 1:4); “no other name under heaven” has the power to save mankind (Acts 4:12); His name is the believers’ power source to receive anything we ask (John 14:13-14; cf. 1 John 3:22). However, we should be very cautious, understanding that there is no magical enchantment obtained by using His name as a sorcerer’s incantation. There is no spiritual efficaciousness in the repetition of His name.

Second, this commandment reiterates the directive to love one another. John is not obsessed with this matter of love. He has expounded upon it in this chapter and will continue so in the following chapters. Suffice it to say, here he provides a very concise reason for emphasizing this command: “just as He commanded us.” Specifically, he desires for us, his readers, to respond rightly to the absolute authority of Our Lord’s commandment that He gave just prior to His death (John 13:34).

This command to love was considered in chapter 2:7 of this epistle with a fine example of what this love entails submitted by the late Chester McCalley (1935-2000): “True love is the mental attitude that demands that we do what is best for another no matter what the cost to us.”5 The Lord Jesus is our extreme example of this type of love when He suffered the death of crucifixion in our place for our sins. The Apostle Paul reminded us of exactly who He died for: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). We must never forget that we were the ungodly ones for whom Christ gave His life.

John’s Divine Observation

It is impossible to study this epistle and not recognize John’s reiteration of the personal teachings he received from the Lord Himself, verse 24 is a clear example of this. For this reason, he is able to maintain that the “one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.” This is the exact teaching of Our Lord’s to the Jews in John 6:53-58. There He equates the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood with that of partaking of Him, “the bread of life” (John 6:48), for eternal life, concluding that the one who partakes, “abides in Me and I in him” (John 6:56). This is a theme that He restated to His disciples prior to His death in John 15:4-7 and then advanced His desire of unity even further:

“That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:21; cf. John 14:23)

The believer who keeps His commandments exhibits consistent and unwavering fellowship with Our Lord and with the Father—an exclusive union that is unparalleled with any other relationship on earth.

What We Know

John attributes the origin of our knowing that “He abides in us” from the ultimate source of the Holy Spirit. This is the first mention of the Spirit in this epistle, although He was alluded to in 2:20, 27 as the Holy One who anointed us and teaches. The fact that we know this vital truth is not derived from emotional feelings or sensations. Instead, we know this by experiencing the Spirit’s effects upon our lives by His teaching (John 14:26; 16:13) that results in the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). This is His enabling power for us, the Word of God imbedded in our heart and mind, so that we respond to every circumstance of life in a manner which coincides with Biblical principles. And by this we are then able “to do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22). The Apostle Paul taught this exact same truth:

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:16–17a)

This is the essence of executing the Christian way of life—led by the Holy Spirit; walking in the Light; having fellowship with our Creator; enjoying His steadfast grace provision for time and eternity—for there is no other way.

Something to Ponder

Where do we stand on this truth? Do we build our relationship with God on His terms, upon the Rock—His Word? Or are we like the unwise, building upon sinking sands (Matthew 7:24-27)?

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[1] Bietenhard, H. (1964–). ὄνομα. In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich, Eds.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 5.250.

[2] Beetham, Christopher A. (Ed.) (2021). The Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, p. 650.

[3] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The Complete Word Study Dictionary. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G4100.

[4] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.425.

[5] McCalley, Chester. http://wordoftruthkc.org/sites/default/files/file/I%20Corinthians%20Commentary.pdf, p. 96. [Retrieved August 14, 2024]

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi 

 

IN HIS PENETRATING GAZE - 1 JOHN 3:21-22

Verses 21-22: Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

John addresses this passage to fellow believers, the beloved. It is a term of endearment, the “object of one’s affection,”1 and the only time he uses it in this epistle. We who are believers in Jesus Christ are part of the beloved members of the Body Of Christ.

Content of Our Heart

The heart does not refer to that vital organ within our body, but as defined in the previous post it refers to the “center and source of the whole inner life, with its thinking, feeling, and volition.”2 This is where the believer does his thinking and meditating upon the Biblical truth he has stored.

Based on this, a conditional statement is now presented: if our heart does not condemn us, then we are assured to have confidence before God. In order to establish that our heart does not condemn us, we must examine ourselves to determine that we are obedient to His commands and are consistently in fellowship—walking in the light, having confessed our sins (1:6-9). However, this is contingent upon an accurate understanding of Biblical truth in order to correctly align God’s divine standards with our practice of His truth (1:6). We cannot afford to deceive ourselves by using false standards (emotions, feelings, public opinion) in examining ourselves—only God’s Word is all-sufficient.

As in 2:28, John again aspires that we attain confidence before God. The Greek word for confidence means courage, boldness, fearlessness.3 This is the character of the mature believer, one who acquires the boldness to live and speak their faith, being in fellowship with his Lord and guided by the Holy Spirit. For John does not want us to be unfaithful in our spiritual lives, resulting in being ashamed of ourselves and hesitant in approaching Him in prayer, as he focuses upon in the next verse.

Whatever We Ask

With the confidence we achieve before God in mind, John now directs our attention to the matter of prayer. The writer of Hebrews explains the significance of confidence in our approach to God in prayer:

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

We approach prayer with confidence when we know that we have a clear conscience, that we have confessed our sins and humbly submitted to His divine specifications of effective prayer requests. This particular verse has been distorted and has misled believers throughout Church history. It has falsely been interpreted that God provides a blank check and all the believer needs to do is fill in whatever he asks and God will impart unconditionally whatever is desired. Also, the following phrase has been misconstrued as an exchange of favors, as if God is saying: “If you keep My commandments and do pleasing things then and I’ll do something (anything) for you.”

However, this perception of prayer is not in harmony with other Scripture passages. A fundamental rule of Biblical interpretation is that “Scripture interprets Scripture.”4 In order to arrive at the correct understanding of a Biblical principle, the Bible student must compare each Scripture passage with others that pertain to the same matter so that God’s intended meaning of a doctrine is clear and unambiguous.

For instance, when our passage is compared with what James wrote, it is apparent that whatever does not include all of our personal cravings:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:3)

And by looking further into John’s epistle we discover the most important prerequisite of prayer: that what we ask must be according to His will (5:14). We have Our Lord as our perfect example of this when He agonized over His coming Passion. He prayed that the Father might remove His time of suffering, but added: “yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42b). This should be our attitude in whatever we request from God, to regard the accomplishment of the will of God to be the utmost important outcome of our prayers.

The logical question now is: How do we know what His will is so that we can pray accordingly? Our Lord provided the answer during His Upper Room Discourse.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7)

There are two important stipulations given here that we must not ignore. First, the certainty that we are abiding in Him is to be factual. To abide in Him is expressed here as a completed activity, characteristic of our position of being in fellowship with Him at the moment we pray.5 If we expect for God to “hear us” (5:14) then we must first confess all known sins to be assured we are on proper prayer foundation, as the Psalmist stated: “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18).

 The second condition is the confirmation that His words abide in us. This implies that our thoughts are to be formatted by His thoughts. The Apostle Paul characterized this as the transforming renovation of our minds (Romans 12:2). Through the prophet Isaiah, God explained the reason for this need:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9)

The Evidence of Abiding

In the final phrase of verse 22, John contemplates the conclusive evidence that we abide in Him and that His words are in us: “because we keep His commandments” and the practice of our Christian life consists of doing “the things that are pleasing in His sight”—His “penetrating gaze.”6 For we can never escape His presence (cf. Psalm 139:7-12).  

Do we have confidence that our prayers are heard or even answered? Only when we truly seek His will for whatever we ask in prayer can we claim the promise of this verse.

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[1] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1.293.

[2] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 403.

[3] Arndt, et.al., p. 630.

[4] Couch, Mal, Gen. Ed. (2000). An Introduction to Classical Evangelical Hermeneutics, Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, p. 166.

[5] Dana, H.E. & Mantey, Julius R. (1957). A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Toronto, Ontario: Macmillan Co., p. 196.

[6] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 13.157.

 © 2025 David M. Rossi

CERTAIN TO BE OF THE TRUTH - 1 JOHN 3:19-20

Verses 19-20: We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

 

Of The Truth

Just as in verse 16, John uses the same word know, meaning a knowledge learned by experience. But this time it is a future tense indicating that we have something to continually know and retain for reference in our days ahead, provided that we love “in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). By this (love that we exhibit in deed and truth) we demonstrate that our absolute state of being and the content of our thinking is derived from the source “of the truth.” This phrase, of the truth, identifies that this specific truth has its source from the Word of God, the embodiment of absolute truth (John 17:17). But we should realize that God’s truth is universal truth and remains absolute truth regardless if fallen mankind refuses and rejects His truth.

Self-Condemnation

What follows is an unfortunate verse division separating verses 19 and 20, interrupting the logical progression of what John is teaching. To retain the unity of thought, we should read the phrase in this manner: “...and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us.” Not only is the verse division disruptive but this passage is very complicated and analyzing it thoroughly is necessary to understand how it pertains to us. The key words that will be considered are assure, heart and condemn.

The word assure means to persuade or to convince and therefore “to be confident.”1 Dr. Marvin Vincent explains the believers’ need for assurance:

John knew the misgivings of the Christian heart; and he knew, moreover, how they would be awakened by the high standard of Christian character which he set up in this chapter.2

Note the “high standard of Christian character” that Dr. Vincent is referring to: “Everyone that has this hope fixed in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (3:3); “No one who abides in Him sins. No one who sins has seen Him or knows Him” (3:6); “The one who practices sin is of the devil” (3:8); “No one who is born of God practices sin” (3:9).

Thus, Dr. Vincent concludes that “It is not difficult to conceive the effect of such statements upon a sensitive conscience,”3 one that needs assurance.

Next is the word heart. John uses this Greek word (kardia) only 4 times in this epistle and all in this passage, 3:19-21. The English word heart in verse 17 comes from a different Greek word (splagchnon) referring to a persons’ “center of loving action”4 pertaining to the core of emotions, ranging from anger to compassion.

Here the word heart John uses refers to the “center and source of the whole inner life, with its thinking, feeling, and volition, in the case of the natural man as well as the redeemed man.”5 Thus, John is asserting that at times believers may need to reassure themselves when conflicted by trying circumstances; when determining by self-examination if they obediently do love in deed and truth. They can obtain that assurance of their faithfulness “before Him” (since we are always in His presence) in order to “satisfy the questionings and doubts of our consciences as to whether we [are] accepted before God or not.”6 Dr. Ryrie provides the reason why the believer’s conscience may create doubts: “We may be either too strict or too lenient in examining our lives.”7

For this reason, the Apostle Paul maintains that there is a place for believers’ self-examination:

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:28, at the communion table; Galatians 6:4, of our own works.)

Now this brings us to the final word to be considered: condemn. This word denotes to blame and to “find fault with”8 or to pass judgment upon oneself. The point that John is attempting to make is that the believer may wrongly develop self-doubts within their thinking and find fault in their walk of faith. They may condemn themselves when examining their thoughts and actions and determine that the content of Divine truth is lacking in their heart and that they are not living up to established high standards of Christian character. This may be a result of over-thinking that the work they do for the Lord is not enough or their outreach of love for other believers is deficient—this is the implication of the word whatever in our passage.

God Is Greater

Not only must we contend with an unfortunate verse division, but now in the middle of verse 20 we have what is known in grammar as an ellipsis: “the omission of a word or phrase”9 needed to complete the writers thoughts and to clarify the meaning of the context   So what word or words is missing that can make sense of the final phrase of verse 20 with the prior phrase, “whatever our heart condemns us”?

Dr. Vincent maintains that the solution hinges on the meaning of greater. 10 Does it indicate that His judgement or His compassion is greater than our condemning heart? Since the chapter begins with the affectionate enthusiastic “how great a love the Father has bestowed on us” (3:1), it follows that John is implying here that God’s compassion and not His condemnation is greater than our condemning heart; for God is our supreme and final evaluator because He knows all things.

This leads to the matter of how we receive His evaluation. Does He speak to us orally or by emotional feelings or sensation? These would be special revelations and there is no Scriptural support for individual disclosures from God. Note what the author of Hebrews wrote:

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. (Hebrews 1:1–2)

God no longer speaks to men as in the past. Personal, special revelation ended with the completion of the Canon of Scripture—the book of Revelation. He does not speak orally, in visions or tiny voices in our head. He communicates to us through His written Word, from which we learn by assistance of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). This is substantiated by the author of Hebrews, which is pertinent to our passage under consideration:

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

It is God’s Word that is the decisive judge of the thoughts and intents of our heart. Therefore, it is imperative for us to know and understand His Word in order to determine whether our self-judgement aligns with His evaluation of our heart, as aptly summarized by Dr. Vincent:

We must look outside of self for the highest tests of self. It is not before ourselves that we are either to assure or to condemn ourselves...We need, not to be self-assured, but to be assured by Him. [his emphasis]11

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[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G3982.

[2] Vincent, Marvin R. (n/d). Word Studies in the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2.381-382.

[3] Vincent, 2.382.

[4] Esser, H.-H. (1986). In The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Brown, Colin, Ed.), Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2.600.

[5] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 403.

[6] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2.533.

[7] Ryrie, C. C. (1995). Ryrie Study Bible. Chicago: Moody Press, p. 1995 note.

[8] Strong, J. (1996). In The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, G2607.

[9] The American Heritage College Dictionary, 4^th Ed. (2007). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., p. 483.

[10] Vincent, 2.380.

[11] Vincent, 2.383.

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi

 

WE ARE DUTY-BOUND TO LOVE - 1 JOHN 3:16-18

Verses 16-18: We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

 John begins verse 16 with the declarative statement that we know love. In each of the previous two verses he stated that we know about death and murder by our learning and understanding of the Biblical doctrines. But now he uses a different Greek word for know that refers to a knowledge gained by experience.

W.E. Vine declared that this means “we have come to know love in its greatest and highest expression,”1 as it was exhibited by Our Lord when He laid down His life on our behalf. We know this love not only by our understanding of the facts surrounding His work of atonement—His suffering and death on the cross—but we continue to know His love being recipients of the eternal salvation that He secured for us. And we continue to experience His perfect love throughout our time on earth and into the eternal state. Just as salvation is provided by grace, the attributes of His love are implemented by His grace provision for every believer. Therefore, Our Lord remains as our ultimate example of how we should express His sacrificial love to others.

Duty-Bound

Next John emphatically states that we ought to be continually motivated to lay down our lives for the brethren. The Greek word ought indicates a moral obligation that we are compelled to carry out. Thus we are duty-bound to demonstrate the same type of love which Our Lord demonstrated, to lay down our lives for other believers. This is not an isolated requirement, for John has previously stated that “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6). By doing so we observe the supreme characteristic of His sacrificial love: “for even Christ did not please Himself” (Romans 15:3a). Even the Apostle Peter proclaimed likewise,

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. (1 Peter 2:21)

It is important that we understand that our life in Christ is not all about ourselves. Yet, we must endeavor to advance in our own relationship with the Lord, just as the Apostle Paul instructed us to be renovating (renewing) our minds with Biblical principles for Spirit-led living and then presenting our bodies for His “service of worship” (Romans 12:1-2). By this, we are to strive to do our part within the Body of Christ, assuring that it will function in order to glorify Christ—even if necessary to lay down our lives for our fellow believers and be able to rejoice as well (cf. Philippians 2:17-18).

Practical Application

In verse 17, John provides a realistic example of how to demonstrate genuine love for the brethren, not merely by words, but by actions. When we have what others are in need of we are not to “close our heart” and lock them out—we are duty-bound to help them. James made issue of this same point:

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? (James 2:15–16)

This would be an absurdity. And as John rightly asks “how does the love of God abide in him?” It would be equally ludicrous to stumble upon a beaten and bloodied believer (similar to the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:30ff) and believe to be showing love and compassion by saying “God bless you, I’ll pray that you find your way to better health,” and then go on your merry way. How would this conform to laying down ones’ life for the brethren? This may be an extreme example, but laying down one’s life refers to practical things also, like the little inconveniences imposed upon us that take time out of our busy day. And if this does not constitute love for my brother, it’s not difficult to conclude that John is correct, that I do not have the same love that God has abiding in me.

Love in Action

Now in verse 18, John urges us not to demonstrate love in word or with tongue. We may question what he means by word and tongue. Word infers to the content of what is spoken which originates from a persons’ thoughts. The effectiveness of words will be determined if they are grounded in Biblical truth (Proverbs 23:7). They may be warm and comforting, but if they are not accompanied by kindhearted and caring actions, then that type of love is irrelevant and obnoxious like “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).  

He indicates the tongue because it is the organ that delivers those thoughts. If the intention behind the words is to shut out compassionate love to the one in need, then what James stated about the tongue fittingly applies: “It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison,” out of which can issue forth blessings and cursing (James 3:8-10; cf. Psalm 140:3). However, James asserts that a perfect man, one who is controlled by the Holy Spirit, is able to control his tongue as well as his whole body (James 1:26; 3:2).

John would be remiss if he neglected to give us the Biblical approach on how we are to love. But he did, instructing us on how we are to love: “in deed and truth.” Here is a case where actions will speak louder than mere words.2 Our actions of compassion are to emanate from genuine truth, not from false, self-serving motivations. Genuine truth can only be learned from the Word of God—the only source of absolute truth (John 17:17).

Those who fail to heed John’s exhortation to actively love the brethren in truth demonstrate what the Apostle Paul accurately stated:

But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus (Ephesians 4:20–21)

To be taught in Him means we have learned His commands:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34–35; cf. Matthew 19:19b)

 Our Challenge

We need to examine ourselves to determine if we are genuinely willing to "lay down our lives for the brethren" and to actively obey His command to love in deed and in truth.

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[1] Vine, W. E. (1996). Collected Writings of W.E. Vine. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1 John 3:15.

[2] Robertson, A.T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1 John 3:18.

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi