James Nisbet Commentary - 1 John 3:3

James Nisbet Commentary - 1 John 3:3 - 3:3

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James Nisbet Commentary - 1 John 3:3 - 3:3

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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

THE HOPE OF THE ADVENT

‘And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.’

1Jn_3:3

‘The Epistles of John,’ it has been said, ‘with their ideal teaching, find the future in the present.’ In them, as in the fourth Gospel, stress is laid upon the essential continuity of the life hereafter with the present spiritual life of the Christian. None the less, as the same writer has pointed out, the final consummation is never lost sight of. ‘The use of the term Parousia, which elsewhere, and especially in the Pauline writings, has a very definite sense, indicates that, while to John, Christ’s return was in one sense a spiritual advent, a present act of grace or judgment, it was in another sense an objective event of the future.’ In this passage the Apostle refers to it as a definite manifestation in time, and he urges the expectation of it as an incentive to self-purification. In a few simple but moving words he reminds his readers of their wondrous privilege of Divine sonship—a privilege pointing to the infinite love and condescension of God. The world—fallen and estranged—despised them, persecuted them, rejected them. But then the same world had nailed Him to the cross. Divine sonship—‘now are we children of God’—was their present high calling; but the glory in which that calling was to culminate was not yet revealed. But this much at least—and it was enough—could be foreseen. When that supreme Self-disclosure should be vouchsafed it would result in all who were fit to behold it being brought into perfect resemblance to Him. The vision of Him in His beauty would transform them into His likeness.

I. An earnest expectation.—The hope of the Advent! St. Paul speaks of it as an ‘earnest expectation’ in which all nature joins. He himself rejoiced in the thought of it as the day which should bring deliverance, glory, renewal, incorruption. It was to himself the ‘expectation’ which enabled him to bear with patience and cheerfulness ‘the sufferings of this present time.’ To no man has the petition ‘Thy kingdom come’ been fuller of meaning, of hope, of encouragement, than to him who was ‘in labours abundantly, in prisons abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft,’ who was daily oppressed by ‘anxiety for all the Churches,’ who ‘bore branded on his body the marks of Jesus.’

II. Christ’s purity triumphant.—In that day the mind of Christ—the mind which is made known to us in the sacred records of Him—will be ‘all in all.’ Then whatsoever is opposed to Him—whatsoever denies and rejects Him—will be swept away for ever. Then the long and varying struggle between sin and righteousness—that struggle which wearies and often disheartens us—will have terminated. Then His ‘purity’ will be everywhere triumphant. And that triumph we shall witness—either to be saved or condemned by it. Do let us—while this period of probation lasts—seriously set ourselves to overcome the faults and frailties, the sins or vices, which dishonour and degrade us. Do let us make a resolute endeavour to get rid of the moral stains which defile our characters. We say to ourselves that we cannot do so altogether. ‘The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ But is the spirit willing? That is the vital question. Do we honestly desire to be quit of our evil nature? Do we wish for spiritual salvation? Would we be ‘pure’ if we could? Surely it is idle for many—only too many—of us to attempt the pretence that we are ‘seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness.’ We are engrossed with our business, our pleasures—are they always innocent pleasures?—our self-advancement, our prosperity, our worldly ambitions, our personal schemes. We labour and strive for these, we discipline ourselves carefully enough to run the race for such prizes; we throw all our mental powers, all our force of character, all our skill and perseverance, all our resourcefulness and determination, into the contest—not always too honourably fought out—which has these things for its rewards. But on self-consecration, moral idealism, spiritual strength, on all that St. John here includes in the thought of ‘purity’—on these we lay comparatively little stress. If we are thus willing to barter the kingdom of heaven—the kingdom in its infinite glory—for success in this world, how can we think, how can we wade so far in hypocrisy and self-deception as to persuade ourselves that we are really and truly fit in heart and mind for that awful, that unimaginable revelation?

III. Christ’s example.—‘Even as He is pure’! ‘I have given you an example.’ In Him—in His earthly ministry—we have the absolute ideal, the perfect and faultless pattern. The New Testament puts before us for our acceptance and imitation a definite type of character—a type which ‘has proved itself by the continuous trial of centuries and by a thousand tests; by infinitely varied images of mercy, nobleness, self-discipline, self-devotion; by the martyr’s fortitude and the missionary’s sacrifice; proved itself in many a patient and suffering life, in many a generous enterprise, in many a holy death-bed, in the blessed peace and innocence of countless homes.’ Meekness, compassionateness, loving-kindness, readiness to forgive, willingness to be offered for others, self-surrender, self-denial, humility, poverty in spirit, hunger and thirst after righteousness—these are among its constituent parts. And we—what are we? What are we seeking to be? Such questions, if we press them upon ourselves, if we are honest with ourselves in our answer to them, may well check and awe us. But our self-examination need not terrify us. We think of Calvary and all that followed. It is not only that there is that wondrous breadth of free pardon even for the worst; not only that there is no wickedness, however black, which may not be washed away in the Divine Blood; not only that our robes may be cleansed, whatever the defilements adhering to them; it is not only this, though this by itself would be a priceless boon, but that there is grace—His grace—to help and discipline and prepare us. In the solemn task of self-purification we are not left to ourselves. His aid is offered to us, if only we will avail ourselves of it. No struggle with some special fault, some besetting sin, need go on without Him. No temptation need be faced in spiritual solitude. ‘Lo, I am with you alway’ was His promise to His Church; but it is also His promise to each individual disciple. ‘If a man love Me, he will keep My word: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him.’ It is with Him and His Father abiding with us that we have to make ready for that second coming. ‘The Son of Man,’ the Crucified, will then be our Judge. But He Who will then be on the throne—the ‘great white throne’—is now with each one of those that believe in Him, transforming them into His own image. ‘Even as He is pure.’ So, too, shall we be ‘pure’ in that new world,

When God has made the pile complete,

when all that is now provisional and transitory shall have given place to the perfect and the everlasting, when the preparation shall have ended and the fulfilment have commenced, when He shall be manifested in His glorious Majesty, and ‘we shall see Him even as He is.’

—

Rev. the Hon. W. E. Bowen.

Illustration

‘Lo, as some ship, outworn and overladen,

Strains for the harbour where her sails are furled;—

Lo, as some innocent and eager maiden

Leans o’er the wistful limit of the world,

Dreams of the glow and glory of the distance,

Wonderful wooing and the grace of tears,

Dreams with what eyes and what a sweet insistence

Lovers are waiting in the hidden years:—

Lo, as some venturer, from his stars receiving

Promise and presage of sublime emprise,

Wears evermore the seal of his believing

Deep in the dark of solitary eyes,

Yea to the end, in palace or in prison,

Fashions his fancies of the realm to be,

Fallen from the height or from the deeps arisen,

Ringed with the rocks and sundered of the sea;—

So even I, and with a pang more thrilling,

So even I, and with a hope more sweet,

Yearn for the sign, O Christ, of Thy fulfilling,

Faint for the flaming of Thine Advent feet.’

Myers, St. Paul.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE INCENTIVE TO HOLINESS

It is the prerogative of Christianity, as a body of truth, to have made the prospect of immortality both definite and bright. But immortality is more than a doctrine; it is a power, a practical power, affecting and transforming human character and life.

I. What is the condition indispensable to future happiness?—The answer, in one word, is purity.

(a) Not the ceremonial cleanness of the Old Testament; not mere outward separation from the world; not mere external respectability of conduct.

(b) But such spiritual purity as is required by Christ, and illustrated in His perfect life.

(c) For this fits for fellowship with God, and for the joys and services appropriate to Christ’s associates in the abodes of light.

II. Upon what is the Christian’s hope of future happiness fixed?—It is set upon Christ Himself. Upon the vision of Christ; we shall see Him as He is; upon likeness to Christ, Whom we hope morally to resemble. It is quite in accordance with the spirit of Christianity that we should be taught to anticipate not so much personal enjoyment as a spiritual conformity to the Lord Whom we honour and love.

III. What is the disciplinary and preparatory power of this hope?—Can it help to realise itself, to bring about the appropriation of that to which it aspires?

(a) Hope is generally a powerful and beneficial motive. To hope confidently and brightly for any object is a step towards securing it.

(b) Hope set on Christ has a necessarily purifying influence. If faith in Christ and love to Christ be powerful motives to holy conduct, why not hope in Christ? Directed towards so holy a Being, hope cannot but hallow and elevate.

(c) For such hope induces to personal resolution and effort. The hoper ‘purifieth himself,’ i.e. uses the appointed means of endeavour, prayer, and Divine communion to that end.

(d) Above all, hope contemplates the model of such purity. To study the model is to be changed into the same image.

Illustration

‘Immanuel is the Incarnation of Divine purity, the image of Divine holiness in human nature, to which we are to be conformed. God has not told us merely in so many words what purity is, or given us a bare and rigid code by obeying which we may become pure, or provided a series of means and instruments by which purity may be secured in us. He has given us a living model, a perfect human pattern in Jesus Christ, Whose character and actions, as those of a Man, we can so far understand and imitate. Thus the task of purification becomes easier to us. We are to follow in His footsteps; to be in the world as He was; to walk by faith as He walked; to be obedient as He was; to learn obedience, as He learned His, by the things which we suffer; to bring our human wills into subjection to God’s will, as He did, by self-denial. In all things is He our pattern, our perfect pattern which we are to imitate, not artificially or mechanically, but in spirit and principle. How high the standard and lofty the ideal of our purity!’

(THIRD OUTLINE)

HOLINESS OF HEART AND LIFE

There are four points to which I would direct attention: the nature of holiness, the standard of holiness, the difficulties of holiness, and the power of holiness.

I. The nature of holiness.—Holiness is a personal quality of the individual person, and, just as a good tree bears fruit, the living man becomes holy in his personal character. From this is seen the very marked distinction between holiness and justifying righteousness. Justifying righteousness is the righteousness of the Blessed Saviour imputed to us. It is wholly external to ourselves. It is reckoned to us, but in no sense is it in us. The wedding garment in which God clothes us is the righteousness of the Son of God, imputed though not inherent. It is perfectly different from holiness. To use Hooker’s phrase, ‘Holiness is inherent.’ I prefer the expression ‘inwrought,’ because it is wrought in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, and does not grow there of itself. Thus the individual becomes holy.

II. The standard of holiness.—In the Word of God there is only one standard set before us. That is the perfect will of God, as taught in His law and exhibited in the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no lower standard. The words of Scripture are, ‘As He Who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.’ And the hope of the believer is, that the day is coming when ‘we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’ If we consider this standard, there are three great truths that immediately follow.

(a) It is perfect. A good deal is said about perfection, and we find it in Christ Jesus. He is holy and undefiled, and separate from sinners, a perfect exhibition in human form of the perfect character of the perfectly holy God.

(b) It is universal. It is exactly the same for all classes, the learned and the ignorant, the young and the old. It does not vary with our position or our opinions. It does not depend upon our consciousness. It does not alter with our thoughts of right and wrong, so that what may be right to-day may be wrong to-morrow. But it is the same and always the same, and from all eternity has been the same, and to all eternity will be the same. So it is the same for the whole universe. The standard for men is the same as that for angels, and the standard for the first beginner is the same as that for the most ripened and experienced believer.

(c) It combines in perfection the inner and outer life. This holiness of character has its root in its close companionship with God, and is exhibited in all manner of Christian conversation.

III. The difficulties.—It is a rash man that can suppose that he can walk in the path of holiness without encountering both danger and difficulty. There are difficulties without and difficulties within.

(a) Without there is the environment, if I may use a hackneyed modern term, of a wicked world strengthened by the perpetual malice of a wicked spirit. Respecting these, I would give only one caution. While we believe in the deadly power of Satan’s temptation, we must beware of accusing him of that which really belongs to ourselves.

(b) Then there are difficulties within. In Romans 6. I find that those who are directed to reckon themselves ‘dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God’ are warned not to let sin reign in their mortal body. Surely, then, sin must be there, or there would be no need of such a warning. Our ninth Article is perfectly right when it says that ‘the infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated’; and if any speak of the higher life lifting them up above the level of the regenerate, I can only say that I can find no account of it in Scripture, and that I know no record of any one saint of God in which he is described as being released in this present life from the difficulty and conflict of indwelling sin.

IV. Now let us turn to the power.—There is a power and a very great one. That power is the power of God the Holy Ghost.

(a) Do we want strength for victory? According to Eph_3:16, we may be ‘strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.’

(b) Do we want purity of heart? According to Act_15:9, it is the Holy Ghost that purifieth the heart by faith.

(c) Do we want transformation into the very likeness of our Lord Himself? According to 2Co_3:18, we must be ‘changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.’ He is an indwelling Sanctifier, perfectly acquainted with all the windings of the human heart, perfectly able to direct, and perfectly able to frustrate all the designs of Satan, so that in our present struggle we have all that can be desired, an omnipotent, indwelling God, perfectly able to give the victory.

Rev. Canon Edward Hoare.

Illustration

‘I often hear the expression, “the possibilities of faith.” I cannot say I altogether like it. I greatly prefer to hear of the omnipotence of the Spirit, for there is no limit to that; and when we speak of the possibilities of faith, it is important to remember that there is a limit to that, for it is not true faith to expect that which God has not promised in His Word, or led us by that Word to expect. We cannot rightly take a verse from its context and use it as a proof text for some particular point not referred to in that context. But this we can rightly do: we can look at the eternal purpose of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost; we can look at the never-failing covenant of God; we can look at the mighty power of the grace of Christ; we can look forward to the day when we shall see Him as He is and shall be like Him, when God shall have completed the whole number of His elect, and we shall stand before Him in perfect, spotless, everlasting holiness.’