First John: 1 John 3:3-The Believer’s Confident Expectation of Receiving a Resurrection Body Purifies Them Just As Jesus Christ is Pure Lesson # 101
First John • Sermon • Submitted • 1:07:09
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· 92 viewsFirst John: 1 John 3:3-The Believer’s Confident Expectation of Receiving a Resurrection Body Purifies Them Just As Jesus Christ is Pure
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1 John 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (ESV)
“And” is the conjunction kai (καί), which means “correspondingly” since the word is functioning as a marker of correspondence which means that the assertion which it introduces here in verse 3 corresponds to the assertion at the end of verse 2.
“Everyone who thus hopes in him” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “everyone” (2) articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb echō (ἒχω), “who hopes” (3) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun elpis (ἐλπίς), “the hope” (4) demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “thus” (6) preposition epi (ἐπί), “in” (5) dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “him.”
The nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas means “each one of us” since the word pertains to totality with emphasis on its individual components and here the word is used of any member of the body of Christ possessing the confident expectation of being perfected in a resurrection body by Jesus Christ.
The verb echō which means “to possess” a particular characteristic which is identified by the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun elpis (ἐλπίς), which means “confident expectation (of blessing).”
The present tense of the verb echō is a gnomic present which is expressing the idea of the believer who “at any time does” possess the confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body will purify themselves just as Jesus Christ is pure.
The noun elpis of the believer’s “confident expectation” of receiving a resurrection body from Jesus Christ when the latter appears to them at the rapture or resurrection of the church.
The articular construction of this word is employed with the demonstrative pronoun houtos and together they are anaphoric in that they are pointing back to John’s teaching in 1 John 3:2.
The dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos means “Him” referring to Jesus Christ and not the Father since the believer cannot be like the Father but only Jesus Christ since only Jesus Christ is a human being and in a resurrection body.
This word is the object of the preposition epi, which means “because of” since the word functions as a marker of cause or reason or basis for a particular state and here it is marking Jesus Christ as the basis or the reason why the believer possesses the confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body.
Jesus Christ is the reason why the believer possesses this confident expectation because He was raised from the dead and promised to raise every believer from the dead (cf. John 6:39-40, 44, 54).
“Purifies himself” is composed of the following: (1) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb hagnizō (ἁγνίζω), “purifies” (2) accusative third person masculine singular form of the reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ), “himself.”
The third person singular present active indicative form of the verb hagnizō means “to purify” and speaks of believers causing themselves to experience their sanctification and refers to a believer purifying themselves in the sense of causing themselves not to commit sin.
The present tense of the verb hagnizō is a gnomic present, which indicates that the believer who does possess the confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body because of Jesus Christ does “as an eternal spiritual truth” exist in the state or condition of purifying themselves.
The reflexive personal pronoun heautou emphasizes the volitional responsibility of the believer in the sense that this purification is the direct result of the believer possessing a confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body.
“As he is pure” is composed of the following: (1) adverb kathōs (καθώς), “as” (2) nominative masculine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun ekeinos (ἐκεῖνος), “he” (3) nominative masculine singular form of the adjective hagnos (ἁγνός), “pure” (4) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is.”
The adverb kathōs is “comparing” the moral purity of the believer with the moral purity of Jesus Christ and specifically, it is comparing the believer not committing sin because of this confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body with the sinlessness of Jesus Christ.
In 1 John 3:3, the demonstrative pronoun ekeinos means “this one” referring of course to Jesus Christ.
The third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi means “to possess a particular inherent characteristic” which is identified by the nominative masculine singular form of the adjective hagnos, “pure” indicating that sinlessness is an inherent characteristic of Jesus Christ.
The adjective hagnos means “pure” since the word pertains to being without moral defect or blemish and specifically, it is used of Jesus Christ and pertains to His sinlessness.
1 John 3:3 Correspondingly, each one of us who does at any time possess this confident expectation because of Him, does purify himself just as He Himself is pure. (My translation)
The apostle John’s assertion here in 1 John 3:3 corresponds to the assertion he makes at the end of 1 John 3:2.
Therefore, the correspondence between verses 2 and 3 is that a believer possessing the conviction that they will be perfected in a resurrection body is equivalent to possessing the confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body because of Jesus Christ.
In other words, the confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body when Jesus appears at the rapture is equivalent to possessing the conviction that one will receive a resurrection body when Jesus appears at the rapture.
Consequently, John is teaching that this confident expectation and conviction that the believer will receive a resurrection body from Jesus at the rapture will cause them to purify themselves in the sense that they will not commit sin just as Jesus is sinless.
In other words, they will experience their sanctification as a result of this conviction and confident expectation.
When John asserts in 1 John 3:3 that each believer, who does at any time possess this confident expectation because of Him, he is identifying Jesus Christ as the basis or the reason why they possess the confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body.
Jesus Christ is the reason why the believer possesses this confident expectation because He was raised from the dead and promised to raise every believer from the dead (cf. John 6:39-40, 44, 54).
Therefore, John is teaching here in 1 John 3:3 that one of the marks which distinguishes a child of God from the children of the devil is that the former will purify themselves from sin because of their conviction and confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body at the rapture of the church.
This purification distinguished the recipients of this epistle from the false teachers.
He is also teaching that Jesus Christ is the basis for the believer’s sanctification and in addition, their righteousness.
He is the ethical perfect standard by which they were to live their lives on planet earth.
In other words, Jesus Christ’s impeccability is the pattern which the Christian is to follow.
They must live their lives like Jesus Christ lived His life and were to imitate His lifestyle.
The apostle John is also teaching in 1 John 3:3 that fellowship with the Trinity can be described as purifying oneself from sin because one has the confident expectation of receiving the promise of a resurrection body at the rapture of the church.
In other words, this purification refers to experiencing sanctification.
1 John 3:2-3 teaches that prophecy purifies the believer.
Specifically, it teaches that the conviction regarding the prophecy of the rapture motivates them to experience their sanctification.
So not only is the confident expectation of the Lord’s return at the rapture a source of comfort and encouragement to the believer, but also it is a very definite incentive for holy living.
In Colossians 3:1-11, the apostle Paul echoes what John is teaching here in 1 John 3:2-3, namely, possessing the conviction and confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body at the rapture of the church will result in the believer experiencing their sanctification.