In 2:28 John says, “And now, little children, abide in Him, that if He is manifested, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming.” This word is addressed to the “little children,” that is, to all the believers (2:1). This charge begins (2:28), continues (3:6), and ends (3:24) with “abide in Him.” If we abide in Him, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming, at His parousia. This means that at His coming back we shall not be put to shame from His glory. But if we do not abide in the Triune God, continually living the divine life, then at the Lord’s coming back we shall suffer shame, which will be a kind of discipline exercised upon us. Then we shall be kept away from His glory.
In verse 29 John continues, “If you have known that He is righteous, you know also that everyone who practices righteousness has been begotten of Him.” The first mention of the word “known” in this verse is the translation of the Greek word eidete, from oida, which means perceive with a conscious knowledge, a deeper inward seeing. We need to know in such a way that God is righteous. If we perceive this, then we shall know that everyone who practices righteousness has been begotten of God.
Practicing righteousness is a matter that is habitual and unintentional as a common daily life. Hence, to practice the divine righteousness is to do righteousness habitually and unintentionally as our daily living. However, if we do righteousness intentionally with a purpose, that is not a matter of our common daily life. Rather, it is to behave in a political way. Someone may do righteousness with a purpose of gaining a position or a name for himself. That is to behave in a political way. But we Christians, as children of God, should be saturated with the righteous God so that spontaneously we live a life that practices righteousness habitually and unintentionally. Instead of doing a particular act of righteousness for a certain purpose, we practice righteousness as our common daily life. This is an issue of the fellowship of the divine life and the anointing of the Divine Trinity. Furthermore, this is an expression of the righteous God. Through abiding in the righteous God, we are infused and saturated with Him. Then our living becomes an expression of the righteous God with whom we have been infused and saturated. This righteous God then becomes our righteous living, our daily righteousness. This practice of righteousness is not merely outward behavior, but the manifestation of the inward life. As we have pointed out, this is not an act done for a purpose; it is the flow of life from within the divine nature of which we partake.
First John 3:1 says, “See what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and we are. Because of this the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” This verse is included in the passage which goes from 2:28 through 3:3. This passage is one paragraph on the righteous living of God’s children.
In 3:1 John refers to the divine birth and to the begetting Father. Of the Triune God implied in 2:29, the Father is particularly mentioned. He is the source of the divine life, the One of whom we have been born with this life. The love of God is manifested by sending His Son to die for us so that we may have His life and thus become His children (4:9; John 3:16; 1:12-13). The sending of His Son is for begetting us. Hence, the love of God is a begetting love, particularly in the Father.
The word “children” in 3:1 corresponds to “begotten of Him” in 2:29. We have been begotten of the Father, the source of life, to be the children of God, the Owner of the children. We partake of the Father’s life to express the Triune God.
In 3:1 John says, “Because of this the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” The Greek word rendered “because” may also be translated on this account or for this reason. For the reason that we are the children of God by a mysterious birth with the divine life, the world does not know us. The world is ignorant of our regeneration by God; it does not know us, because it did not know God Himself. It was ignorant of God, so it is also ignorant of our divine birth.