Chapter 3
[1 John 3:1] -- Behold what manner of love the Father has given us, etc. Great is the grace of our Creator, which has granted us to love Him, to know, and to be able: and thus to love, as children the father, when even this would be great, if we could love Him as faithful servants love masters, as devoted hirelings love masters. How, however, we ought to become children of God, the same John testifies in the Gospel: He came unto His own (he says), and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name (John I). Therefore, combining both testimonies, it is certain that through faith and love we become children of God. But also the doctrine of Pelagius and Arius is condemned by these matters. The heresy of Pelagius (who dared to say that men can be saved without the grace of God) is condemned in that it is said that love or the power is given to us by God, by which we receive the adoption of sons. Moreover, Arius, who said the Son is lesser than the Father and unlike Him, is refuted in that the same John says here, the Father gives us the love by which we are named and are children of God, and in the Gospel, he says through the Lord the Savior, power is given to believers to become the children of God. For it is certain that they are of one substance and the same power, who equally and indifferently bestow heavenly gifts upon men.
[1 John 3:1] -- For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. In this place, he calls the lovers of the world. And this is what the same will say in judgment, seeing the glory of the saints whose faith they despised, they will say within themselves, groaning and repenting: These are they whom we once had in derision, and in a likeness of a reproach. We fools considered their life to be madness, and their end without honor. How are they counted among the children of God, and their lot among the saints (Wisdom V)?
[1 John 3:2] -- Dearest, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. And Paul says: For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians III). A faithful one is dead through the extinguishing of the old life which was in sins, and has a new life in Christ through faith, the height of which is not yet visibly apparent to us.
[1 John 3:2] -- We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him. And Paul explains this too in other words: When Christ (he says) your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Colossians III). He says we shall be like Him, for when we enjoy the immutable and eternal contemplation of divinity, we ourselves shall also be immortal. And indeed we shall be like Him, because we will be blessed; and yet, similar to the Creator because we are creatures; for who among the children of God will be like God? Even though this might also be thought to be said about the immortality of the body. And in this too we shall be like God, but only to the Son, who alone in the Trinity took on a body, in which He died, rose again, and raised it to the heights.
[1 John 3:2] -- Because we will see Him as He is. To be God is to remain eternally and immutably. Whence to Moses He says: "I am who am" (Exod. III); and: "You shall say to the children of Israel: He Who Is has sent me to you" (Ibid.). Therefore, we will see Him as He is, when we will contemplate Him in the very substance of His divinity, which in this life is granted to no one among the elect. Even the legislator, who was accustomed to contemplating the Lord in an angelic guise, beseeched, saying: "Lord, show me Yourself that I may see You" (Exod. XXXIII), and heard from the same Lord: "No one shall see my face and live" (Ibid.). However, to him, for the merit of great sanctity, He said: "I will show you all good" (Ibid.). Hence Paul also said: "Now we see through a glass in a riddle, but then face to face" (I Cor. XIII). Therefore, what was answered to Moses is true, that no one can see the face of God and live (Exod. XXXIII), which is to say, no one living in this life can see Him as He is. Many have seen, but what the will of God chose, not what nature formed. And that which John said can rightly be understood as: "Beloved, we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we will see Him as He is." Not as men saw Him when He willed, in the guise in which He willed, not in the nature which remained hidden in himself even when He was seen; but as He is, which was requested of Him by Moses when he said: "Show me Yourself" (Exod. XXXIII), by Him who spoke with him face to face. Not that anyone has comprehended the fullness of God, not only with the eyes of the body but even with the mind itself. For it is one thing to see, another to comprehend fully by seeing. Therefore, what is seen is what is perceived as present in whatever way, but the whole is comprehended by seeing, as nothing of it is hidden from the one seeing, or of which the limits can be circumscribed, as nothing is hidden from you of your present will. However, you can circumscribe the limits of your ring. For example, I have given two examples, one of which pertains to the mind's sight, the other to the bodily eyes. For sight must be referred to both, that is, both to the eyes and the mind.
[1 John 3:3] -- And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, etc. Many say they have the hope of heavenly life in Christ, but they make this confession void by living negligently. However, he shows a clear sign of his hope of the hereafter in himself, who strives to give diligence to good deeds, being certain that no one will reach the likeness of God in the future otherwise, unless by sanctifying himself in the present, that is, by renouncing impiety and worldly desires, and by living soberly, justly, and piously, he imitates the holiness of God. We are commanded to imitate the purity of divine holiness according to the measure of our capacity, just as we are enjoined to hope for the glory of divine likeness according to our measure, that is, the measure of the creature. It is not to be believed that the Pelagian dogma is to be supported—what is said about man "He purifies himself"—as if anyone could sanctify himself by free will without divine aid. But he who has hope in the Lord purifies himself to the extent he can by striving, and by imploring His grace in all things, who says: "Without me, you can do nothing" (John XV); and saying to Him: "Be my helper, do not forsake me" (Psalm XXVI).
[1 John 3:4] -- Everyone who commits sin also practices lawlessness. Let no one say: sin is one thing, lawlessness another. Let no one say: I am a sinner but not lawless. For everyone who commits sin also practices lawlessness, because sin is lawlessness. The meaning of this statement is more easily understood in the Greek language in which the Epistle was written, for among them lawlessness is called ἀνομία, which means something done against or without the law, as the Greek term for law is νόμος. Therefore, when John says that everyone who commits sin also practices lawlessness, that is ἀνομία, and sin is lawlessness, he clearly indicates that whatever sin we commit is against the law of God, as the Psalmist says: "I have considered all the sinners of the earth to be apostates" (Psalm 118). For all who sin are guilty of transgression, that is, not only those who scorn the knowledge of the written law given to them but also those who corrupt the innocence of the natural law we all received in our first parent, whether through weakness, negligence, or even ignorance. Moreover, the Latin term corresponds to the same reasoning since iniquity is called as if it is contrary to equity, and whoever commits sin also practices iniquity, and sin is iniquity. Because whoever sins clearly exists in opposition to the equity of divine law by sinning. However, lest we who cannot be entirely free from sins and iniquities lose all hope of salvation, let us see what follows about the Lord:
[1 John 3:5] -- And you know that He appeared to take away sins, etc. John the Baptist also bore witness to this about the Lord, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. The Lord was able to take away sins because there was no sin in Him. Many and so great men came into the world perfect, but none of them could take away the sins of the world, because none could be without sin in the world. Therefore, let not Pelagius boast, nor let Julian, his follower, exalt himself, hearing that everyone who has hope in the Lord sanctifies himself. For no one takes away sins, which even the law, although holy and just and good, could not remove, except Him in whom there is no sin. He takes them away by both forgiving what has been done and helping that it may not be done, and by leading to a life where it is utterly impossible for them to be committed.
[1 John 3:6] -- Everyone who remains in Him does not sin. To the extent he remains in Him, to that extent he does not sin.
[1 John 3:6] -- And everyone who sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. He speaks of the vision and knowledge of faith, with which the righteous even in this life delight in seeing God, until they reach the very form of His open vision in the future, of which it is said above: For we will see Him as He is. Therefore, everyone who sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. For if he had tasted and seen how sweet the Lord is (Psalm 34), he would by no means separate himself from the vision of His glory by sinning. And to the extent that the righteous recall the abundance of His sweetness and exult in His justice (Psalm 145), to that extent they strive to keep themselves from sins, seeking to harmonize with His immutable and incomparable justice.
[1 John 3:7] -- Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, etc. And above: He purifies himself, it says, just as He is pure. Not that our righteousness or holiness can be equal to the divine, since it is written: There is none holy like the Lord (1 Samuel 2), but just as there is much difference between the face of a man and the image in a mirror, because the image is in imitation, the body in reality, and yet, just as here are eyes, so also there; yet the matter differs, but just as it pertains to likeness, so also we indeed have the image of God, but not the one which the Son, equal to the Father, has. For we also, according to our measure, if we were not in some way like Him, would by no means be called similar. Therefore he sanctifies us, just as He is holy. But He is holy in eternity, we are holy by faith. We are righteous, just as He is righteous. But He in the immutable perpetuity itself, we righteous by believing in Him whom we do not see, so that we may someday see.
[1 John 3:8] -- Whoever commits sin is of the devil. Not deriving the origin of the flesh from the devil, as the Manichean impiously believes of all men, but taking the imitation or suggestion of sinning from him, in the same way that we become children of Abraham by imitating the faith of Abraham. And conversely, the Jews, who are children of Abraham, by abandoning the faith of Abraham, have become children of the devil, as the Lord says to them: You are of your father the devil (John 8).
[1 John 3:8] -- For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. When he mentioned "from the beginning," he added the verb in the present tense, "sins." Because from the beginning when the devil started to sin, he has never ceased, neither restrained by the enormity of present punishments nor the fear of future ones. Therefore, it is said to be justified for anyone who neglects to turn away from sin. But the devil sins from the beginning, from that moment when he himself was made, when also the origin of all creatures began. For it is not to be doubted that angels were created among the first creatures, but while the others returned the glory of their condition to the praise of the Creator, he who was first created, as soon as he beheld the height of his own brightness, swelled with pride against the Creator with his followers, and through that same pride, sinning from the beginning, was transformed from an archangel into the devil.
[1 John 3:8] -- The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. All sinners are born of the devil in as much as they are sinners. Adam was made by God; but when he agreed with the devil, he was born of the devil, and begot all such as he was. That birth cast down to death; the second birth, which is baptism, raised up to life. That birth brings sin with it; the second birth frees from sin. Therefore Christ became man, to free mankind from sin; of which release it is rightly added:
[1 John 3:9] -- Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, etc. However, this is not said of every sin: for if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1), but of the violation of charity, which one who has the seed of God, that is, the word of God, by which he is reborn, cannot commit within himself. For following this, he manifests it, saying:
[1 John 3:10] -- By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are made manifest, etc. Therefore, only love distinguishes between the children of God and the children of the devil. Those who have charity are born of God. Those who do not have it are not born of God. Have whatever else you will, if you do not have this alone, it profits you nothing. If you do not have others, have this, and you have fulfilled the law. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. And the fullness of the law is charity.
[1 John 3:11] -- For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. The Lord saying: This is my commandment, that you love one another (John XV).
[1 John 3:12] -- Not as Cain, who was of the evil one, etc. He explains how Cain was of the evil one because he himself had evil deeds. Therefore, where there is envy, brotherly love cannot exist; but the sin of the evil one, that is, the devil, is in such a heart, for the devil also cast out man through envy. Therefore, the righteous deeds of Abel signify nothing but charity. The evil deeds of Cain signify nothing but fraternal hatred. It is not enough that he hates his brother and envies good deeds (thus). Hence, men are distinguished. Let no one heed words, but deeds. Why, if he does not do good for his brothers, shows what he has within himself? Men are tested by temptations.
[1 John 3:13] -- Do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you. He calls those who love the world worldly. Nor should it be wondered that those who love the world cannot love a brother separated from the love of the world and intent only on heavenly desires. For religion is an abomination to a sinner, as Scripture testifies.
[1 John 3:14] -- We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers. Let no one falsely exalt himself over virtues, let no one measure the poverty of his own strength beyond measure: it gives open judgment, whoever is full of fraternal love, that he belongs to the lot of the elect, because he has earned a portion in the land of the living.
[1 John 3:14] -- He who does not love remains in death. He speaks of the death of the soul. For the soul that sins, it shall die. For the life of the flesh is the soul, and the life of the soul is God. The death of the body is to lose the spirit, the death of the soul is to lose God. Hence it is certain that all who are born into this light are spiritually dead, carrying original sin from Adam, but by the grace of Christ, the faithful are regenerated so that they may live in the soul. Indeed the mystery of baptism and faith benefits only those who sincerely love their brothers, drawing them from death to life. And it must be noted that he does not say, "He who does not love will come into death," as if he were speaking of eternal punishment which awaits sinners in the future, but he says, "He who does not love remains in death." Surely in that very death from which he could rise even in this life, if he perfectly loved his brothers. Hence it is said in the Apocalypse: "Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection (Apoc. XX); over these the second death has no power."
[1 John 3:15] -- Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. If anyone despised brotherly hatred, would he also despise murder in his heart? He does not move his hands to kill a man, yet he is already considered a murderer by God. That man lives, but this one is already judged a killer.
[1 John 3:15] -- And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Even if he seems to live among the saints through faith here, he does not have eternal life abiding in him. For when the time of retribution comes, he will be damned with Cain who was of the evil one, even he who is guilty of this kind of murder, so as to disagree and dissent and have no peace with his brothers. Note that he does not say absolutely, "A murderer does not have life in him," but, "Everyone," he says, "who is a murderer." Certainly not only he who uses a weapon, but also he who follows his brother with hatred.
[1 John 3:16] -- In this, we have known the love of God, etc. What kind of perfect love ought to be in us, we have learned from the example of the Lord's passion. For no one has greater love than this, that one lays down his life for his friends (John XV). Hence Paul also says: But God commends His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Romans V). Blessed Peter was admonished to have this love, when the Lord said: Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep (John XXI); he responded that he loved Him, and immediately he heard: But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish (Ibid.). This He said (says the evangelist) signifying by what death he would glorify God. For, to the one confessing love, He commended His sheep, teaching him to lay down his life for the same sheep as a testimony of perfect love. He, He said, laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. But perhaps someone says: And how can I have this love? Do not quickly despair of yourself, perhaps it is born, but not yet perfect. Nurture it, lest it be choked. And how, you ask, do I know that love is born in me which I should nurture? Listen to the following:
[1 John 3:17] -- Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, etc. Behold where love begins. If you are not yet fit to die for your brother, be at least fit to give from your possessions to your brother. For if you do not sympathize with your brother suffering hardship, indeed the love of the Father, from whom both of you were reborn, does not abide in you.
[1 John 3:18] -- My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, etc. Namely, in deed, so that when a brother or sister is naked and in need of daily food, we give them what is necessary for the body. Similarly, when we see them lacking in spiritual gifts, let us provide to their need what we can. But in truth, let us give them these blessings with a sincere intention, and not for human praise, not out of pride, not to the injury of others who, though endowed with greater means, have done no such thing. For any mind infected by such vices cannot dwell in the light of truth, even if it seems to show acts of love to its neighbors.
[1 John 3:19] -- In this we know that we are of the truth. That is, when we perform acts of piety in truth, it is evident that we are of the truth, which is God, just as we imitate His perfection according to our capacity.
[1 John 3:19] -- And shall assure our hearts before Him. This statement depends on what preceded. Because when we love our neighbors in deed and truth, we clearly know that we assure our hearts in the sight of the supreme truth. For all men, when they intend to do something, persuade their hearts to meditate on that thing to be done. But those who think evil would, if they could, hide these things from God; as He testifies who says: For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (John 3); but those who meditate on doing good easily persuade their hearts to desire to be revealed before the divinity, which is a sign of the highest perfection when each one rejoices that his deeds or thoughts are seen by God. Hence, He subsequently says: But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God (Ibid.). Through true love, therefore, we know that we are of the truth, and that we assure our hearts before the same truth, that is, we persuade our hearts to have such thoughts as are worthy of divine sight.
[1 John 3:20] -- For if our heart reproves us, etc. If our conscience itself accuses us within, because we are not doing our good works with the right intention, how can we hide our knowledge from Him to whom it is sung: Behold, Lord, you have known all things, and, Because the darkness will not be darkened from you, and the night will be illuminated like the day (Psalm 138)?
[1 John 3:21] -- Beloved, if our heart does not reproach us, etc. If it truthfully answers us that we love, and that genuine love is in us, and not feigned, but sincere, seeking the brother’s salvation, expecting no gain from the brother except his salvation; likewise, if our heart does not reproach us, notably when we say in prayer: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matthew VI), we have confidence towards God, not in the sight of men, but where God Himself sees in the heart.
[1 John 3:22] -- And whatever we ask we shall receive from Him, etc. This is a great and desirable promise given to the faithful. But if anyone is so foolish and absurd as not to delight in heavenly promises, at least let him fear what wisdom terrifyingly thunders in contrast, saying: He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, his prayer will be abominable (Prov. XXVIII). Nor should it seem contrary to this statement of blessed John that Paul asked the Lord three times for the angel of Satan to depart from him, and could not obtain it (II Cor. XII), but was told: My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness (Ibid.). For even if we do not always receive what we ask for in prayer to our will, yet we receive the reward of devotion for our salvation, just as the same Paul praying to the Lord received not what he sought, but what was useful for him. But, on the contrary, the reprobate are often heard according to their will, even if not for their salvation. Whence also their head, the devil, was heard according to his will when he tempted blessed Job, but to his own damnation. For he was allowed to be tested, so that by being tested, he (the devil) should be punished. Therefore, when John said that whatever we ask we shall receive from Him, if we keep His commandments, as if you were asking what the commandments are, he immediately added:
[1 John 3:23] -- And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, etc. He placed the commandment in the singular number and subsequently added mandates to it, namely faith and love, because clearly these cannot be separated from each other. For neither can we rightly love one another without faith in Christ, nor can we truly believe in the name of Jesus Christ without fraternal love. And he says, let us love one another, as he gave commandment to us. That is, with pure love, not like thieves or perpetrators of any other crimes, who indeed love each other but not chastely. But he gave commandment to us when he said: This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you (John XV). For what is, As I have loved you, except: love for the purpose that I loved you, namely, that you may reach the heavenly kingdoms? And by what reward are these commands of faith and love kept? It follows:
[1 John 3:24] -- And he who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. Let God therefore be your home, and be the home of God; abide in God, and let God abide in you. God abides in you to hold you, you abide in God so that you do not fall. Keep his commandments, hold onto charity. Do not separate yourself from faith in him, so that you glory in his presence, and you will remain secure in him, now through faith, then through sight. And he will remain eternally in you, as the Psalmist sings of him: They shall exult forever, and you will dwell in them (Psalm V).
[1 John 3:24] -- And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. In the early times, the Holy Spirit fell upon believers, and they spoke in tongues which they had not learned. But now, because the holy Church does not need external signs, whoever believes in the name of Jesus Christ and has fraternal love bears witness to the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. For this is what the Holy Spirit does in a person, so that there is love in them. For love (says Paul) is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom. V). Yet because many, not having love, and by perverse doctrine tearing the unity of the Church, nonetheless contend that the Holy Spirit is in them, it is rightly added: