CH 3:11-4:6

NT

1 John 3:11-4:6

esv

For this is the message

that you have heard

from the beginning,

Temporal

that we should love one another.

Content

We should not be like Cain,

Negative

who was of the evil one

and murdered his brother.

Result

And why did he murder him?

Ground

Because his own deeds were evil

Answer

and his brother’s righteous.

Do not be surprised, brothers,

that the world hates you.

We know

that we have passed

out

of death

Separation

into life,

Locative

because we love the brothers.

Whoever does not love

Condition

abides

in death.

who hates his brother

Everyone ... is a murderer,

and you know

Explanation

that no murderer has eternal life abiding

in him.

By this

Means

we know love,

that he laid down his life

for us,

Advantage

and we ought to lay down our lives

for the brothers.

But if anyone has the world’s goods

Concessive

and sees his brother

in need,

Context

yet [if he] closes his heart against him,

how does God’s love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love

in word

Manner

or talk

but in deed

and in truth.

We shall know

by this

that we are of the truth

and persuade our heart

before him;

whenever our heart knows against us,

(that) God is greater than our heart,

Explanation (Resumptive)

and he knows everything.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,

we have confidence before God;

and whatever we ask

we receive

from him,

Source

because we keep his commandments

and do

what pleases him.

And this is his commandment,

that we believe in the name

of his Son

Possessive

Jesus Christ

and love one another,

just as he has commanded us.)

Comparison

Whoever keeps his commandments

[then] [he] abides

in God,

and God [abides]

in him.

And by this

Means (1st mention)

we know that he abides

in us,

by the Spirit

Means (2nd mention)

whom he has given us.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit,

but test the spirits

to see whether they are

Purpose

from God,

for many false prophets have gone out

into the world.

Destination

By this

you know the Spirit

of God:

every spirit ... is from God,

Explanation #1

that confesses

that Jesus Christ has come

in the flesh

and every spirit ... is not from God.

Explanation #2

that does not confess Jesus

This is the spirit

of the antichrist,

Attributive

which you heard was coming

and now is

in the world already.

Little children, you are from God

and have overcome them,

who is

in you

for he ... is greater than he

who is

in the world.

They are from the world;

therefore they speak from the world,

Concession

and the world listens

to them.

Reference

We are from God.

Whoever knows God

listens

to us;

whoever is not

from God

does not listen

to us.

By this

we know the Spirit

of truth

and the spirit

of error.

I like Result. It's better than inference in this case. Like maybe an inference might be grounds for casting off personal responsibility. "If it was because I of the evil one, then it's not my fault." But since murder was a result of being of the evil one, it shows that they are connected but not strictly causal (if he could blame the devil for it.). I also think this squares with the the question and answer below, because that question does address the causality of Cain's actions. Thus cause was his own evil deeds in the light of his brother's good deeds (and perhaps the inner turmoil that envy might produce in that situation). However, it is all still an inevitable result of him being "of the evil one."

*if I ever come back to this, my view (expressed below) fell apart as a result of the second οτι in v20. after class Ok, Andy gave arguments at the meeting that "this" referred to what followed, not what preceded. I'm going to go out on a limb and attempt to test that view and hypothesize that that "this" in v19 refers to what came before, and not after. Does it bear out? First, are there any indications that "this" refers to what comes before? NET - As far as the two ὅτι clauses in 3:20 are concerned, it is difficult to see how believers could know that they belong to the truth (19a) by means of either, since the first speaks of a situation where they are under self-condemnation (“if our heart condemns us…”) and the second ὅτι clause seems to give a further explanation related to the first (“that God is greater than our heart…”). Therefore it seems better to understand the phrase ἐν τούτῳ in 3:19 as referring to the preceding context, and this makes perfectly good sense, because 3:18 concludes with a reference to the righteous deeds with which believers are to love one another, which are produced by the truth. So the question is: by what means, or test, might we know that we are of the truth (19a)? It doesn't follow that "God's greatness and knowledge despite our self condemnation" is the means by which we know that we are of the truth. We are not really knowing if we are self condemned and trying to get to a place of knowing. On top of that a very similar phrase was given already in v14 showing the connection between "knowing that we have passed from death to life" (ie. knowing that we are of the truth), and a hoti clause that directly refers to loving the brethren as the grounds for that knowledge. It would follow very closely then, almost as the closing of that idea in this section, for "this" here to refer to the preceding acts of love done by the believer as the test for "knowing we are of the truth and reassuring our hearts." The point of the passage is that loving our brother gives us a sense of passing the test, and therefore builds security that we are really saved. So I think it follows nicely that "this" would refer to the love that came before. Also, is it always true that "en touto" when followed by 'hoti' refers to that which follows? According to the NET 1 John 4:17 has an "en touto" that refers to what precedes (although it concedes that it could refer to what follows as well). Other possibilities - 4:6 Plus the general point, that re-assurance comes from passing the tests given (by this (test) you know...therefore pass the test) is a general theme of the book. It is not common that the logic (by this you know where your at, because God is greater and knows, so just lean on that) is used. In other words, the language of God's sovereign acts are not necessarily directly connected to the idea of assurance throughout 1 John, but rather it is upon the passing of the tests that the weight of assurance falls, prooving that that sovereign grace has indeed been imparted to us. SO the passing of the test is directly connected with that assurance. Hence "en touto ginosko" throughout the book always referring to either love, or keeping commands, or righteousness, or imitation of Jesus, or confession, or something along those lines. To state the above point one more way. If you were to draw a line between God's sovereign work, and our assurance, then there would be a point in the middle entitled "pass the test." God's sovereign work is still the foundation, but the testing has to produce the assurance that we are really on that foundation. Thus, "en touto" would contextually be better connected with the above passing of the test of love, rather than directly connected with the sovereign work of God's "knowledge." The reason that God's knowledge is introduced here is not as a means of knowing we are of the truth, but rather as a resource to run to when we don't know, namely when we are failing the test.

If "en touto" refers to what preceded, then what is the since of this "hoti" clause? Is it grounding something or explaining something? For sure the believer is going to be convicted regarding this passage. I wonder if I'm saved? I'm not sure I have assurance like I thought. I believe that this hoti, as an explanation of what preceded regarding the reassurance of the heart, makes great sense. I see it like this, "by loving your brother you know that your of the truth, and find reassurance in your heart. Let me explain how reassurance works . If you are not loving your brother, then your feeling condemned, but being a believer, you need to trust in God's greatness over your own feelings of condemnation. But if you happen to be passing this test, then your heart won't condemn you, and you are obeying his command, loving your brother, and asking and receiving cause you are close with the Lord." The reason that idea is introduced here is not because it is how we know we are saved, but it is what we run to when we don't know , when we are failing the test. It would be awkward to say, for example, "by this you know your saved: when you don't know your saved, God knows you are...that's how you know." So hoti, as for, in an explanatory sense, works.

Having confidence before God and the kind of relationship where he is not afraid to give us anything we ask for goes hand in hand with keeping his commands.

This construction is used multiple times in the following verses. It is similar to what we saw in chapter 2 "of the world." And we didn't break it off. Otherwise it could be broken off and labeled source.

Although grammar doesn't indicate a ground relationship, the logical sense, and the parallelism with verse 5 give strong support of this label.

I'm kind of experimenting a bit, but this seems to be a bit of a bilateral. The reason for the murder (that his deeds were evil and his brothers righteous) seems to also be grounds for a second inference, namely that we should not be surprised when we face the same treatment. So Cain's motive is Ground for the murder, but is also Grounds for us not to be surprised. So this Grounds leads us both to the interpretation of Cain's heart, and an application for us. Am i allowed to do this?

rheteorical - therefore God's love does not abide in him.

From the class - This is really Explanation, because it is not the subject or object of the phrase.

Per class - "Out of" is a preposition, not a true genetive. The way to know is that it can be replaced by a single word preposition, ie. "from."

We can extract "we know love" and put it above, and then "by this" ends up more in order with normal subordination arrows.

Andy rocked this one, always refer back to his class. This but connects with the main phrase, and together are a negative of what came before. Try his next time we get a double conjunction.

kata ginosko - to know against.

Peter - you know I love you and you know all things.

Updated after class: The second οτι is kind of a repeat of the first, and giving the sense that the sentence was started, and then content was added after. Resumptive. So the two "thats" - that's non-negotiable. But now, does the second οτι give qualify "persuade" or does it refer back directly to "this" Is it "by this...that God is great greater than our heart..." Or is it "persuade our hearts...that God is greater than our hearts and knows all things." Why would we need to pursuade our hearts that God is greater and knows everything? I like the first, because the purpose of the whole content in v20 seems to be move toward knowledge of our true state, pursuade ourselves of something about us, not about God.

Now I see this whole passage like this: In his mention of love for brothers being the test for understanding, and in particular the kind of love that is extra-generous, he does take an aside here. However it is not totally disconnected from the theme. It's almost like he's running a race, and then sees somebody behind in the race, and slows down to go back and get them up to the speed of sanctification. "Oh brother, you are convicted of sin, and you have not loved your brother. then by this you'll persuade your heart, not by what you know against yourself, but what God knows about you, namely that you are justified by him." "But brother, if you are not in that place,

After class: The "then" piece of the conditional statement is "by this." So that it is saying, "if our heart is in a place of condemnation, then by this we will know that we are of the truth and persuade our hearts."

Ok so the whole sense is "even though you might have to know through persuading the heart through God's sovereign knowledge, yet you don't have to live that way, you can have confidence before God!

phrasing