Doing, The Test Of Being
1 John 3:7
"Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous." -1 John 3:7.
Notice the parental affection John had for his brethren. This is captured by the
expression, "little children." This is the kind of attitude or feeling John had
for his brethren. He wanted to teach them and warn them, like a parent would his
children. He was an inspired apostle, yet he did not function in some sort of
"professional, mechanical" way; he was more than a cold human teaching machine.
He loved his brethren, and out of this intimate parental affection, there came
this teaching and these warnings...
Like this one: "...let no one deceive you." This is expected! Parents who love
their children as John loved his brethren will issue warnings against deception
and danger. John was aware of the influence of false teachers. In fact, this was
one of his purposes in writing. He told them: "These things I have written to
you concerning those who try to deceive you," (2:26). Just as parental affection
will express itself in warnings, John's love for his brethren had such an
expression. "Little children, let no one deceive you..." Specifically, he was
concerned about the fabrication that you can be righteous without the practice,
the behavior of what's right. So he told them...
"He who practices righteousness is righteous..." This is a plain statement of
fact. John teaches, they would be led astray if they were to think that
righteousness need not find its expression in right conduct (such as they saw in
the life of Jesus). This means, in my daily life, if I'm not doing what's right
I am not really righteous! And this means that anyone who attempts to persuade
me otherwise is escorting me into error.
There is some evidence that John is answering the teachings of a false system of
irreligious philosophy called Gnosticism. That suggestion would fit this
statement in 1 John 3:7, because Gnostic doctrine placed supremacy on knowledge.
The elite Gnostics claimed to have "special knowledge" of certain truths not
available to "ordinary" people. With this exaggerated emphasis on this "higher
knowledge," there were claims of knowledge, but often these claims were not
accompanied by the practice of what's right. The stress was placed on knowing.
What was absent in this approach was obedience, the practice of righteousness.
So it may be, John is denying this aspect of Gnostic teaching. "Little children,
let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He
is righteous."
In any case, there is an application for us! You cannot be righteous, without
doing what's right. Doing is the test of being! There cannot be righteousness
without obedience. "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous."
By Warren E. Berkley
The Front Page
From Expository Files 5.9; September 1998
