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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 John 3:23 - 3:23
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His commandment (hē entolē autou).
That (hina). Subfinal use of hina in apposition with entolē (commandment) and explanatory of it, as in Joh 15:12 (entolē hina). See Christ’s summary of the commandments (Mar 12:28-31; Mat 22:34-40).
So these two points here (1) We should believe (pisteusōmen, first aorist active subjunctive according to B K L, though Aleph A C read the present subjunctive pisteuōmen) either in a crisis (aorist) or the continuous tenor (present) of our lives. The “name” of Jesus Christ here stands for all that he is, “a compressed creed” (Westcott) as in 1Jo 1:3. Note dative onomati here with pisteuō as in 1Jo 5:10, though eis onoma (on the name) in 1Jo 5:13; Joh 1:12; Joh 2:23; Joh 3:18.
But (2) we should love one another” (agapōmen allēlous), as he has already urged (1Jo 2:7.; 1Jo 3:11) and as he will repeat (1Jo 4:7, 1Jo 4:11.; 2Jo 1:5) as Jesus (even as he gave us commandment, that is Christ) had previously done (Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12, Joh 15:17). There are frequent points of contact between this Epistle and the words of Jesus in John 13-17.