Verses 1-3
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12 . The Characteristics of God’ s Children.
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 3:3 . Because God, made known to us in Christ, is righteous, those who claim to be His children must be like Him, with a goodness which the world does not understand and which at Christ’ s manifestation will be perfected.
1 John 2:29 . (read mg.) connects most naturally with the argument that follows. “ He” in “ he is righteous” ought, in view of 1 John 2:28, to refer to Christ, whilst “ begotten of him,” according to general NT usage, should mean “ begotten of God.” The somewhat loose use of the pronoun is an illustration of the ease with which John’ s thought passed from God to Christ and vice versa, the identity between them being regarded as so complete.
1 John 3:1 . knew him not: an echo of John 17:25.*
1 John 3:2 b . We shall be changed by beholding ( cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18); seeing Christ we shall pass into His likeness. Christ is the type after which all God’ s children are to be fashioned.
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