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Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:19-24
In this message we shall consider 3:19-24. In verse 19 John says, “In this we shall know that we are of the truth, and we shall persuade our heart before Him.” Here “truth” denotes the reality of the divine life, which we received of God in our divine birth. We have received the divine life so that we may love the brothers by the divine love. If we love the brothers with the divine love, we shall know that we are of this reality.
John’s way of writing here is not doctrinal but experiential. Apart from spiritual experience, we cannot understand what John is saying. In verses 18 and 19 John is telling us that if we love the brothers in truth, sincerity, honesty, as the outcome of our enjoyment of the Triune God, we shall have the assurance that we are in the divine reality.
According to John’s word, if we love in truth, we shall also be able to “persuade our heart before Him.” The Greek word rendered “persuade” also means conciliate, convince, assure, tranquilize. To persuade our heart before God is to have a good conscience, void of offense (1 Tim. 1:5, 19; Acts 24:16), that our heart may be conciliated, convinced, assured, and tranquilized before the Lord. This is also a condition of the life that abides in the Lord. To abide in the Lord requires a tranquil heart with a conscience void of offense. This is also vital to our fellowship with God, which is covered in the first section of this Epistle. A heart disturbed by a conscience with offense frustrates our abiding in the Lord and breaks our fellowship with God.
We know from experience that if we do not love by the divine love, our heart will not be at peace. Furthermore, we shall not have peace if we are not right even with a small matter in our environment. Suppose a brother becomes upset and knocks over a chair. Certainly he does not have peace in his heart. But if instead he lives by the divine life and loves others by the divine love, he will be able to conciliate his heart, to persuade his heart before God.
When we have the assurance that we are in the divine truth, we shall be able to convince, persuade, and assure our heart and cause it to be tranquil. Otherwise, there will be turmoil within, for our heart will protest that we do not love according to the divine love. Our heart may say, “You are a child of God, but you are not living by the divine life. Why do you knock over a chair?” If we want our heart to be tranquil, we need to live by the divine life in relation to everyone and everything. Suppose, for example, that I carelessly throw something aside. I know from experience that if I do this, I will not have peace in my heart. In order for my heart to be tranquil, I need to be right with everything. Only when we live a life that is the expression of the divine reality can we cause our heart to be tranquil.
Many times we, the children of God, are not happy. Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” and Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Why is it that often we do not have joy within? The reason we do not have joy is that our heart is not at peace. Instead of peace, there is turmoil. The reason our heart is not tranquil is that we are not living in the divine life. But when we live in the divine life, we are in the truth, the reality. Then we can persuade, conciliate, convince, our heart and cause it to be tranquil. As a result, we shall be happy.
At the end of verse 19 John inserts the phrase “before Him.” This tells us that the Lord is living with us and in us. If we do not live by the divine reality, our heart will protest. Then we shall not have a calm heart before Him. We need to remember that the Lord is living in us and that we are living before Him. Only when we live by the divine life can we persuade our heart before Him. The phrase “before Him” points to a crucial matter — that our living as children of God, and also our heart, are before Him. Therefore, we must take care to always have a tranquil heart before Him.
In verse 20 John continues, “Because if our heart blames us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” Actually it is our conscience, which is a part not only of our spirit but also of our heart, that blames us or condemns us. The conscience in our heart is the representative of God’s ruling within us. If our conscience condemns us, surely God, who is greater than His representative and knows all things, will condemn us. The consciousness of such condemnation in our conscience alerts us to the danger of breaking our fellowship with God. If we attend to this, it will be a help to our fellowship with God and will keep us abiding in the Lord.
By reading the context, we can see that in verse 20 the heart actually refers to the conscience. The conscience is one of the four parts of the heart, which is composed of the mind, the emotion, the will (the three parts of the soul), and the conscience, which is part of our spirit. Our heart is influenced, directed, and controlled to a great extent by our conscience.
When our heart blames us, this means that our conscience condemns us. If we do not live by the divine reality, our conscience will check, blame, and condemn us. As a result, our heart will protest.
In verse 20 John says that God is greater than our heart; that is, God is greater than our conscience. God has a government, and this government has a local administration within us. This local administration of God’s government is our conscience. Our conscience, therefore, is the local government of God within us. In a sense, our conscience is both a “law court” and “police station.” Often our conscience “arrests” us. The police station of our conscience, which knows the law very well, may issue an order for our “arrest.” Then the police station knows when to turn us over to the law court. We know from experience that many times we are arrested and taken to the law court, where we are judged and condemned. When this happens, we need the cleansing of the precious blood of Jesus, the Son of God. This indicates that the condemnation of the conscience spoken of in chapter three will take us back to the cleansing mentioned in chapter one.
If our conscience blames us, arresting us and condemning us, certainly God will also condemn us, for He is greater than our conscience and knows all things.
The Epistle of 1 John is not only on the divine fellowship, but is also on the details of this fellowship. Here in 3:20 we have one of the details related to the divine fellowship. John’s writing regarding this matter is profound, mysterious, divine, and detailed. In no other portion of the holy Word do we have as many details about the divine fellowship as we have in these verses in chapter three of 1 John. These verses are crucial to our fellowship with God.
In chapter one much is unveiled regarding the fellowship of the divine life. But in chapter three this fellowship is viewed from another angle. In chapter one the angle is that of the divine light shining within us. As a result of this shining, we are exposed and realize that we have sinned. But here in chapter three we have the angle of living by the divine reality. If we do not live by the divine reality, our conscience will protest and condemn us. That condemnation is a sign of God’s condemnation. Therefore, we must do something to conciliate the situation, to calm the turmoil in our heart, to cause our conscience to be at peace with God. In order for our heart to be quiet and calm in this way, we need to live, behave, and act in the divine reality.
If our heart condemns us for not living in the divine reality, this is a sign that God also condemns us. Therefore, we need to have an improvement in our inward condition. This does not mean, however, that we should try to improve our character or outward behavior. It means that we need to deal with our inward situation so that we may be willing to live by the divine life and in the divine reality. If we do this, we shall have the assurance that we are in the divine reality. Then we shall be able to persuade our heart, cause it to be tranquil, and enjoy peace in our conscience with God. This is related to the divine fellowship.
What John says concerning fellowship in chapter one involves the confessing of sins under the shining of the divine light and the cleansing of our sins by the blood of Christ. But in chapter three we have the protesting and blaming of our conscience within us. This is not only a matter of the divine light shining in us, upon us, and through us; it is also a matter of a cleansed, purified, and purged conscience giving us a sign that we are not right in our living, that we are not living in the divine reality. When we do not live by the divine reality, our conscience will protest and condemn us. This is a sign that God is not pleased with us and that we need an improvement of our inward condition.
In 3:21 John says, “Beloved, if our heart does not blame us, we have boldness toward God.” The Greek word rendered “boldness” is parresia, meaning boldness of speech, confidence. We have such boldness in tranquility to contact God, to fellowship with Him, and to ask of Him, because there is no condemnation of the conscience in our heart. This preserves us in abiding in the Lord.
Christians often talk about knowing God. However, their concept is that of objective knowledge of a God who is great and almighty. But here the apostle John does not teach us to know God in that kind of objective way. On the contrary, John’s word here is about knowing God in a very subjective way. Some may speak about the almighty God who rules the universe, but here John speaks concerning the God who is in our heart. He does not talk about the mighty God, about the great God; instead he speaks concerning the practical God. Not only is God infinite, unlimited, and beyond our ability to comprehend; He is also small enough to be in our heart. When God becomes our experience, He is not only the One on the throne who is universally vast, but He is the One in our heart.
Some have said, “How is it possible for Christ to be in you? Christ is great, and you are small. How could you contain such a great Christ?” This kind of talk comes from the fallen human mentality. According to the teaching of the New Testament, we need to know God in the personal realm of our heart. God is known by us not in the vastness of the universe, but in the smallness of our heart.
Where do you know God? To say that you know God in the universe is to speak in a religious way. I certainly believe that God is great and almighty. But here I am burdened to point out that the concern of the New Testament is that we know the God who has come into our being, the One who dwells in our spirit and desires to spread into all the inward parts of our heart. Therefore, we need to know God in our heart.
In 3:20 John does not say that God is greater than the universe. Here John says that God is greater than our heart. This way of writing indicates that our knowledge of God must be experiential. Knowing God is a matter not of the universe but of our heart. Is your heart at peace? Is your heart tranquil? This is related to your knowing God. Some may say that they know God. But they may know Him in a religious way, in an objective way. We need to know God in our heart, in our conscience. To know God in this way is for the great, almighty, infinite God to become practical to us in our conscience. If our conscience bothers us, this means that God also has a problem with us.
I can testify that from experience I have learned to know God in my conscience. Often in my Christian life I have wondered why God cares for all the details in my daily life. For example, I know that He would bother me if I were to show a “long face” toward my wife. If I give my wife a “long face,” He will trouble me in my conscience. If I argue with Him about matters like this, the God who is in my conscience will not agree with me. This is an example of the experiential way to know God.
In being known by us experientially, God is small, not infinite. A brother may argue with God; he may think that it is not right for Him to trouble his conscience regarding a certain matter. Suppose the brother says to Him, “Why does my conscience bother me concerning my wife? She is wrong, and I am right. She caused the problem, and I have been trying to avoid an argument. But she is trying to force me to say something. Why, then, does my conscience bother me about the way I feel? This isn’t fair!” But no matter how much the brother may argue with Him, God will not rule in his favor. Rather, He will agree with the brother’s conscience in condemning him.
If we are honest, we shall admit that sometimes we are stubborn with God. We may not be stubborn with our husband or wife or with the saints, but we may be stubborn with God. A certain brother may be kind and gentle; nevertheless, at times even such a brother may be stubborn with God. He may be subdued by his wife, but he may not be easily subdued by God. He may go for a period of time without being willing to be subdued by God regarding a particular matter. I believe that we all can testify of having been stubborn with God in this way.
The reason we have been stubborn is that we were arguing with God about something. We may have thought that we were right and that the other party was wrong, and that for this reason our conscience should not trouble us. We may have questioned why our conscience, the representative of God’s government within us, would keep troubling us about that matter. Therefore, for a period of time we were stubborn with God.
I use this as an illustration of the fact that the New Testament way for us to know God is personal, detailed, and experiential. The New Testament way is to know God as the One who is in our heart. How precious is this experiential way of knowing God!
Sometimes we may wonder why God, who has billions of matters to take care of, would be concerned with a small detail in our daily living. Although God is infinite and almighty, He cares even for the small things in our life. For example, He may care about a brother’s inward attitude toward his wife, something so small that it may seem it takes a divine magnifying glass to see it. Nevertheless, God cares for such a matter. We know God cares for such things because our conscience bothers us concerning them. Whenever our conscience is not tranquil, we know that we need to take care of the feeling of our conscience, which is the representative of the divine government. In this way we know God not in great matters but in small things. This way of knowing God is experiential and practical.
In verse 22 John goes on to say, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and practice the things which are pleasing in His sight.” Offenses in the conscience of a condemning heart are obstacles to our prayer. A conscience void of offense in a tranquil heart straightens and clears the way for our petition to God.
In verse 22 the keeping of the commandments is not the keeping of the commandments of the Mosaic law by our own endeavor and strength. It is rather a part of the believers’ living as the issue of the divine life that abides in them. This is the habitual keeping of the Lord’s New Testament commandments through the inner operation of the power of the divine life. This accompanies the practicing, the habitual doing, of the things which are pleasing in His sight. This is a prerequisite to God’s answering our prayers, and it constitutes a condition of the life that abides in the Lord (v. 24).
In verse 22 John speaks of “the things which are pleasing in His sight.” No doubt, these things are the living of a life of righteousness and love. Literally, the Greek word rendered “sight” means seeing into. This does not refer to objective sight. On the contrary, it refers to the Lord’s watching over us and seeing into our situation. This indicates that the relationship between us and God is very personal.
In verse 23 John goes on to say, “And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, even as He gave a commandment to us.” This is a summary of the commandments in the preceding and following verses. All the commandments are summarized in two: one is to believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ, and the other is to love one another. The first is concerning faith; the second, love. To have faith is to receive the divine life in our relationship with the Lord; to love is to live the divine life in our relationship with the brothers. Faith touches the source of the divine life; love expresses the essence of the divine life. Both are needed for the believers to live a life that abides in the Lord.
According to the Gospel of John, faith and love are the two requirements for us to enjoy God. In order to receive God and enjoy Him, we need to believe in the Lord Jesus. We also need to love Him and love one another.
In verse 24 John concludes, “And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.” This verse is the conclusion of this section, which begins in 2:28, on our abiding in the Lord according to the teaching of the divine anointing, as unfolded in the preceding section (2:20-27). This section reveals that abiding in the Lord is the living of the children of God by His eternal life as the divine seed, which grows in practicing the righteousness of their begetting God (2:29; 3:7, 10) and the love of their begetting Father (3:10-11, 14-23). Such an abiding and its bases — the divine birth and the divine life as the divine seed — are mysterious yet real in the Spirit.
To keep His commandments is to live a life according to the divine reality. This is what it means to keep the Lord’s commandments according to this Epistle. This means that keeping His commandments is not the keeping of the Mosaic law. To keep the commandments of the Lord is to have a life according to the divine reality.
If we keep the Lord’s commandments by living in the divine reality, we shall abide in Him, and He in us. We abide in the Lord; then He abides in us. Our abiding in Him is a condition for His abiding in us (John 15:4). We enjoy His abiding in us by our abiding in Him.
The second part of verse 24 says, “And in this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.” Literally, the Greek for “by” means out of. The phrase “by the Spirit” modifies “we know.”
Thus far in this Epistle the Spirit has not been referred to, though the Spirit is anonymously implied in the anointing in 2:20 and 27. Actually, the Spirit, that is, the all-inclusive compound life-giving Spirit, is the vital and crucial factor of all the mysteries unveiled in this Epistle: the divine life, the fellowship of the divine life, the divine anointing, the abiding in the Lord, the divine birth, and the divine seed. It is by this Spirit we are born of God, we receive the divine life as the divine seed in us, we have the fellowship of the divine life, we are anointed with the Triune God, and we abide in the Lord. This wonderful Spirit is given to us as the promised blessing of the New Testament (Gal. 3:14). He is given without measure by the Christ who is above all, who inherits all, and who is to be increased universally (John 3:31-35). This Spirit and the eternal life (1 John 3:15) are the basic elements by which we live the life that abides in the Lord continually. Hence, it is by this Spirit, who witnesses assuringly with our spirit, that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16), and that we know that the Lord of all abides in us (1 John 4:13). It is through this Spirit that we are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). And it is by this Spirit that we enjoy the riches of the Triune God (2 Cor. 13:14).
Chapter three of 1 John concludes with a word concerning the Spirit. This indicates that what is covered in this chapter is a matter of the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving, indwelling Spirit. In this verse John does not speak of the Spirit of God or of the Holy Spirit; he speaks of the Spirit. Whenever the New Testament mentions the Spirit, it refers to the all-inclusive compound, life-giving, indwelling Spirit. In the last chapter of the Bible, we have a word concerning the Spirit (Rev. 22:17). The Spirit is more inclusive than the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit refers to the Spirit who was not yet (John 7:39) before Christ’s glorification. Now since the resurrection of Christ, the Spirit is here. Therefore, we abide in the Lord and He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given to us.
