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From: 1 John 3:22-4:6
We are Children of God (Continuation)
Faith in Christ, Not Antichrist
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Commentary:
1-24. This entire chapter shows how moved the Apostle is when he contemplates
the marvelous gift of divine filiation. The Holy Spirit, who is the author of all Sa-
cred Scripture, has desired John to pass on to us this unique revelation: we are
children of God (v. 1).
It is not easy to divide the chapter into sections, because the style is very cyclic
and colloquial and includes many repetitions and further thoughts which make
for great vividness and freshness. However, we can distinguish an opening pro-
clamation of the central message (vv. 1-2) and emphasis on two requirements of
divine filiation — rejection of sin in any shape or form (vv. 3-10), and brotherly love
lived to the full (vv. 11-24).
19-22. The Apostle reassures us: God knows everything; not only does he know
our sins and our frailties, he also knows our repentance and our good desires,
and he understands and forgives us (St Peter, on the Lake of Tiberias, made the
same confession to Jesus: “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you”:
Jn 21:17).
St John’s teaching on divine mercy is very clear: if our conscience tells us we
have done wrong, we can seek forgiveness and strengthen our hope in God; if
our conscience does not accuse us, our confidence in God is ardent and bold,
like that of a child who has loving experience of his Father’s tenderness. The love
of God is mightier than our sins, Pope John Paul II reminds us: “When we realize
that God’s love for us does not cease in the face of our sin or recoil before our of-
fenses, but becomes even more attentive and generous; when we realize that this
love went so far as to cause the Passion and Death of the Word made flesh who
consented to redeem us at the price of his own blood, then we exclaim in grati-
tude: ‘Yes, the Lord is rich in mercy’, and even: ‘The Lord is mercy”’ (”Reconcilia-
tio Et Paenitentia”, 22).
This confidence in God makes for confidence in prayer: “If you abide in me, and
my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you” (Jn
15:7; cf. 14:13f; 16:23, 26-27).
23-24. The commandments of God are summed up here in terms of love for Je-
sus and love for the brethren. “We cannot rightly love one another unless we be-
lieve in Christ; nor can we truly believe in the name of Jesus Christ without bro-
therly love” (St Bede, “In I Epist. S. Ioannis, ad loc.”). Faith and love cannot be
separated (cf. Gal 5:6); our Lord himself told us what would mark his disciples
out — their love for one another (Jn 13:34-35).
Keeping the commandments confirms to the Christian that he is abiding in God:
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love” (Jn 15:10). Moreover,
it ensures that God abides in his soul, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: “If you
love me you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will
give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever” (Jn 14:15-16).
“May God be your house and you God’s; dwell in God that God may dwell in you.
God dwells in you to support you; you dwell in God in order not to fall. Keep the
commandments, have charity” (”In I Epist. S. loannis, ad loc.”).
1-6. In the third part of the letter (4:1-5:12), the sacred writer expands further on
the two things which sum up God’s commandments (3:23) — faith in Jesus (4:1-
6; 5:1-12) and brotherly love (4:7-21).
He begins by giving criteria for recognizing the true spirit of God and for identi-
fying false teachers (4:1-6), clearly echoing what he said in the second chapter
(cf. 2:18-29). There the heretics were called “antichrists”, here “false prophets”.
There he underlined the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in believers (”you will
abide in the Son and in the Father”: 2:24), the anointing “abides in you” (2:27);
here he emphasizes rather the fact of belonging to God or not. This idea is de-
veloped in three points: 1) he who confesses Jesus Christ “is of God”; 2) he
who does not confess him “is not of God” (vv. 2-3); you “are of God”, they “are
of the world” (vv. 4-5); 3) we (he must surely mean the Apostles) “are of God”,
and therefore apostolic teaching merits attention and must be listened to (v. 6).
“Being of God”, in St John’s language, does not refer to originating from God, be-
cause in fact everyone, good and bad, faithful or not, comes from God. It means,
rather, belonging to a group (”to my sheep”: Jn 10:26) and it also means a mode
of existence: “he who is from the earth ..of the earth speaks” (Jn 3:31); “you are
from below, I am from above” (Jn 8:23); “Everyone who is of the truth hears my
voice” (Jn 18:37). Faith, therefore, is not a superficial thing, something that af-
fects us on the outside only: it actually changes a person’s inner life; belonging
to the community of the children of God involves a new way of being, which can
be seen from the fact that we live in accordance with the faith we profess.
2-3. “Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh ...”:
according to this translation (which fits certain Greek manuscripts) the Apostle
would be emphasizing the fact that the Incarnation really happened, as if the
false prophets opposed to the faith were saying that Christ’s human nature was
not real but only apparent (that was the position of the Docetists).
In the context, the alternate reading — “every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ
come in the flesh” — may fit in better, since St John often insists that the Chris-
tian’s faith centers on the person of Jesus Christ, who, being God, became man
(cf. 2:22; 4:15; 5:1-5). By emphasizing this he is taking issue with the Gnostics
particularly, who were saying that Jesus was the Son of God only from his Bap-
tism onwards (cf. note on 1 Jn 5:6).
On the antichrist, see the note on 2:18.
4. St John repeats his conviction that Christians are assured of victory in their
battle against the evil one (cf. 2:13; 5:4, 18). But what makes them victorious is
the power of Christ working in them; so, while bolstering their faith he is also cal-
ling on them to be humble: “Do not become proud; recognize who has conquered
in you. Why did you win? ‘Because he who is in you is more powerful than he
who is in the world.’ Be humble; carry your Lord; be a little donkey for your rider.
It is in your best interest to have him guide and direct you; because if you do not
have him as your rider, you will be inclined to toss your head and kick out; but
woe to you if you have no guide! That freedom would mean your ending up as
prey for wild beasts” (St Augustine, “In Epist. Ioann. ad Parthos”, 7, 2).
6. “Whoever knows God listens to us”: as elsewhere in the letter, there is a
change from “you” to “we” (cf. 2:18, 28; 3:13-14). One could argue that the Apos-
tle is simply including himself in the Christian community as a whole, as if to say
“Whoever knows God listens to the Christians.” However, the obvious interpreta-
tion is that the “us” refers to those in authority in the Church, bringing it perfectly
into line with what Jesus says: “He who hears you hears me” (Lk 10:16). Obe-
dience to the living Magisterium of the Church is, therefore, the rule for distingui-
shing the spirit of truth from the spirit of error. It could not be otherwise, for it is
the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church in its teaching and leads the faith-
ful to accept that teaching: “the assent of the Church can never be lacking to
such definitions [of the Supreme Magisterium] on account of the same Holy Spi-
rit’s influence, through which Christ’s whole flock is maintained in the unity of the
faith and makes progress in it” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 25).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.