Time after Pentecost · All Saints' Day · Year C
1 John 3:1-3
Children of God
November 1, 2028
Overview & Insights
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)
This section of 1 John is unified by the idea of the children of God: who they are and how one can identify them by their lives. It is a passage dominated by ethics, particularly an ethical concern for righteousness and sin. It compares two “families”: the children of God and the children of the devil. In the background, as always, are the Elder’s opponents, the secessionists, whom he strongly contrasts to his own “dear children.”
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Commentary
1 John 3 Commentary Enduring Word · David Guzik
A verse-by-verse walkthrough of John's teaching on being God's children.
1 John 3:1 Commentary Precept Austin
An inductive-study commentary on the Father's love and its present reality.
1 John 3:1 Commentaries BibleHub
Classic commentary excerpts gathered for this verse.
1 John 3 (Barnes' Notes) StudyLight
Albert Barnes' close exegetical notes on the chapter.
Commentary on 1 John 3:1-3 Working Preacher
An All Saints reading on present and future hope for God's children.
Background & Word Study
The Church Fathers
Questions preachers ask
What is our destiny in 1 John 3?
We are already God’s children, and though what we will be is not yet made known, “when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1–3), the hope All Saints celebrates.
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