Focal Verse(s): In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ~ 1 John 3:10 (NKJV)
In my last message, I glossed over today’s verse more as an aside than anything else. In an attempt to better teach you how to study the Bible…to think critically of word choice and such as you read it to glean more from you reading. I mentioned that today’s verse was a literal transitional device John employed to show a change of topic from living righteously and in the light to Christian love.
I wasn’t wrong in showing you this, but days later, after mediating on the passage throughout the week, I was hit with the knowledge of a huge missed opportunity. Keep in mind, by now, I’ve already moved onto chapter four. Already written the message for chapter four, verses one through six. I was just about to record that message when I had a powerful impulse to press pause on that and explore 1 John 3:10 with a bit more depth than a structural aside of the text.
You see, the verse itself speaks volumes all on its own. Specifically, in only thirty-two words (in the New King James Version anyway), it breaks down and answers one of the biggest questions/debates of the modern American church. In fact, it’s so precise…so spot on…I can’t help wonder if God didn’t include this verse specifically for this generation.
Let’s take a closer look.
The first part of the verse says this: “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest…” The English Standard Version renders it this way: “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil…”
This portion of the verse gives us the topic of what John is discussing here. The differences between ‘children of God’ and ‘children of the devil.’ Specifically, he tells us that he’s about to give us evidence for which of us belong to which family.
Did that catch your attention? Good. Stay focused because this is where it lays to rest on the big debates of the twenty-first century church. Look at the second half of the verse, which provides that specific evidence John is referring to:
“Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”
Can you guess where I’m going with this? Can you guess the debate I keep alluding to?
While John sees only two classes of people (God’s children and the devil’s children), throughout the centuries, there has developed certain rifts within the body of the Church. Schisms, if you will. Areas of theological focus that keeps certain groups at arm’s reach.
And while there are many such debates among Christians today, one of the biggest that I see on almost a daily basis is the argument between those who believe holiness is tantamount and those who believe love is tantamount to the Christian faith.
Many theological conservatives, such as myself, tend to dwell so much on doctrine and righteousness so that sin can more easily kept at bay. Those of the more liberal theological schools of thought tend to think that our academic pursuits and puritanical emphases blinds us to what truly matters: love. Those on the left side of the fence see nothing within Christianity to be more important than unconditional love and acceptance. Tolerance. Charity. Mercy and grace. They view our fixation on holiness as a kind of idolatry in its own self.
Those on the right view the left’s emphasis on unconditional and tolerant love as a way of excusing sinful behavior and unrighteous actions and sin.
But here’s the thing! Here’s how God spoke to me this past week as I’ve pondered this verse…the two are not mutually exclusive. They are, in fact, according to John’s own logic, two sides of the very same coin. The children of God will be righteous and the children of God will love our brothers and sisters (by the way, context would suggest that ‘brothers’ here are fellow Christians and not necessarily humanity in general because all of this is within the confines of defining God’s children and therefore, family.).
What I’m trying to say is that neither side of the fence is wrong. Both are right! Children of God will love our brothers and sisters in righteousness! It doesn’t mean we condone sin or unrighteous behavior, but it does mean that we will love our brothers in both deed and truth and not just lip service as we discussed last time.
That might mean calling our brothers out when they are living in a lifestyle of rebellion against God, but it also means that we’ll be there to pick them up when they’re knocked down and help them get right back where they need to be with God in fellowship with Him.
Why did I say it that way? Why did I emphasize ‘righteous love’? Am I showing my conservative colors here? If I am, it’s only because John did it first. See verse ten falls smack dab in the transition between his discussion of Christian righteousness and Christian love, but by combining both in a single verse, the context suggests that ‘love’ is part of what it means to be righteous!
Isn’t that amazing? Such a huge, entrenched war going on within the Church over righteousness versus love. And from this single verse, we can see just how silly it is. There is no dichotomy with God or His character, therefore, He would never expect His children to be dichotomous either. Every command He gives us makes sense when we properly study and understand His word.
Father God, help us to live righteously. Help us to love as You love. As you continue to sanctify us…to grow us more and more into the image of Your Son, help us to love harder and more righteously than we ever thought imaginable. Give us, Lord, a burden for our brothers and sisters, so that through our love for them, we can lift each other up and help each other grow in the faith without compromise and without bickering over silly things.
Now that 4N6 Ministries has begun doing video and podcasts, we’re also changing up precisely what these studies are. In the past, we’ve designated these as ‘devotions’ and kept them relatively short due to respect for the amount of time people have to read such things. Now that we’re available in video and audio, we’re expanding. From now on, these little vignettes will be a deeper dive into Scripture and not just salient nuggets to glean from the passage. It won’t be a full blown Bible study, mind you. We’re hoping to keep the videos around 15 minutes in length each time. But we feel that exposing God’s word in more detail is what we’re called to do. It also means we might be returning to once a week studies as opposed to twice a week. I hope you enjoy!
