Please Help Us Keep These Thousands of Blog Posts Growing and Free for All

$5.00

1 John 3:3 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
³And everyone who has this hope set upon him purifies himself, just as that one is pure.

And everyone who has this hope set upon him. This hope of seeing the Savior and being made like him; that is, every faithful Christian. Hope helps the Christian maintain a clean way of life, for he knows that God and Christ, where his hope is found, are pure. Therefore, he cannot hope to be like God and to receive the reward of eternal life if he practices uncleanness or unrighteousness.

Purifies himself. He makes himself holy. That is, under the influence of this hope of being like the Savior, he puts forth those efforts in struggling against sin and in overcoming his evil propensities, which are necessary to make him pure. The apostle would not deny that we are dependent on Divine aid for the success of these efforts. Still, as is often done in the sacred writings, he brings into view the agency of man himself as essentially connected with success. Comp. Phil. 2:12. The particular thought here is that the hope of being like Christ and being permitted to dwell with him will lead a man to earnest efforts to become holy and will be followed by such a result.

Just as that one is pure. The same kind of purity here, the same degree hereafter. That is, the tendency of such a hope is to make him holy now, though he may be imperfect; the effect will be to make him perfectly holy in the world to come. It cannot be shown from this passage that the apostle meant to teach that anyone actually becomes as pure in the present life as the Savior is, that is, becomes perfectly holy; for all that is fairly implied in it is that those who have this hope in them, aim at the same purity, and will ultimately obtain it. But the apostle does not say that it is attained in this world. If the passage did teach this, it would teach it respecting everyone who has this hope, and then the doctrine would be that no one can be a Christian who does not become absolutely perfect on earth; that is, not that some Christians may become perfect here, but that all actually do. But none, it is presumed, will hold this to be a true doctrine. A true Christian does not, indeed, habitually and willfully sin, but no one can pretend that all Christians attain to a state of sinless perfection on earth or are, in fact, as pure as the Savior was. However, unless the passage proves that every Christian becomes absolutely perfect in the present life, it does not prove that, in fact, any do. It proves (1) that the tendency, or the fair influence of this hope, is to make the Christian pure; (2) that all who cherish it will, in fact, aim to become as holy as the Savior was; and (3) that this object will, at some future period, be accomplished. There is a world where all who are redeemed shall be perfectly holy.