Children of God
John calls the church to behold the astonishing love of the Father in naming them His children, and he immediately confirms that this title reflects present reality. The world fails to recognize believers because it failed to recognize God Himself. Yet this filial identity is still moving toward a future unveiling: when Christ appears, believers will be like Him because they will see Him as He is. That future likeness does not foster passivity, but present purification. The paragraph links adoption, future glory, and present holiness into one coherent Christian hope.
B1ehold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. 2Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. 3And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.
John then defines sin as lawlessness and places it in direct contradiction to Christ's appearing, for Christ came to take away sins and in Him there is no sin. Those who remain in Him cannot make sin their settled practice, while ongoing sin exposes the absence of true knowledge of Christ. John warns against deception: the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous, but the one who practices sin belongs to the devil. The Son of God was revealed to destroy the devil's works, and those born of God no longer live under sin's reigning pattern because God's seed remains in them. The paragraph ends with a clear distinction: the children of God are known by righteousness and love, while the children of the devil are exposed by their absence.
4Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him. 7Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. 8The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.