1 John 3:1 - Exposition

Behold what manner of love! ποταπός ; literally, "of what country," in the New Testament always implies amazement; but, as the original meaning leads us to expect, it implies marvelous quality rather than marvelous size. Love must be taken literally: the Divine love itself, and not a mere proof of it, has been given. ποταπὴν ἀγάπην strikes the key-note of the whole section. "And the goal of this love ἵνα is that once for all (aorist) we have received the title 'children of God.'" And, whatever cavilers may say, the title is rightfully ours. (The words, "and (such) we are," are quite rightly inserted in the Revised Version after "children of God.") This is shown by the fact that the world does not recognize us as such, because from the first it did not recognize God. Had it known the Father, it would have known the children, διὰ τοῦτο in St. John refers to what precedes ( John 5:16 , John 5:18 ; John 7:22 ; John 8:47 ; John 10:17 ; John 12:18 , John 12:27 , John 12:39 ); it does not merely anticipate the ὅτι which follows it. In logical phraseology we have here first the major premise, then the conclusion introduced by διὰ τοῦτο , then (to clench the argument) the minor premise introduced by ὅτι ,—

We are children of God;

Therefore the world knows us not;

For the world knows not God.

But we must beware of supposing that every one who fails to recognize our form of Christianity is necessarily of the world. St. John invariably (but comp. Revelation 21:7 ) speaks of "children of God" τέκνα θεοῦ , St. Paul generally of "sons of God", υἱοὶ θεοῦ . The latter expression can apply to adopted sons; the former, strictly speaking, implies actual parentage. In saying κληθῶμεν καὶ ἐσμεν , St. John appeals to the conscious nobility of Christians: we have this magnificent title with its corresponding dignity.