1 John 3:20

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Bengel takes this as consoling the believer whom his heart condemns; who therefore, like Peter, appeals from Bengel takes this as consoling the believer whom his heart condemns; who therefore, like Peter, appeals from conscience to Him who is greater than conscience, "Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee." Peter's conscience, though condemning him of his denial of the Lord, assured him of His love; but fearing the possibility, owing to his fall, of deceiving himself, he appeals to the all-knowing God (John 21:17): so Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:3). So, if our heart condemn us of sin in general, yet if we have the one sign of sonship, love, we may still assure our...

20._For if our heart condemn us _He proves, on the other hand, that they in vain possess the name and appearance of Christians, who have not the testimony of a good conscience. For if any one is conscious of guilt, and is condemned by his own heart, much less can he escape the judgment of God. It hence follows, that faith is subverted by the disquiet of an evil conscience. He says, that _God is greater than our heart_, with reference to judgment, that is, because he sees much more keenly than we do, and searches more minutely and judges more severely. For this reason, Paul says, that though he was not conscious of wrong himself, yet he was not therefore justified, (1 Corinthians 4:4;) for he knew that however carefully attentive he was to his office, he erred in many things, and through inadvertence was ignorant of mistakes which God perceived. What then the Apostle means i

16-21 Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of Divine love, that God would redeem the church with his own blood. Surely we should love those whom God has loved, and so loved. The Holy Spirit, grieved at selfishness, will leave the selfish heart without comfort, and full of darkness and terror. By what can it be known that a man has a true sense of the love of Christ for perishing sinners, or that the love of God has been planted in his heart by the Holy Spirit, if the love of the world and its good overcomes the feelings of compassion to a perishing brother? Every instance of this selfishness must weaken the evidences of a man's conversion; when habitual and allowed, it must decide against him. If conscience condemn us in known sin, or the neglect of known duty, God does so too. Let conscience therefore be well-informed, be heard, and diligently attended to....

Verse 20. _IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US_] If we be _conscious_ that our love is _feigned_, we shall feel inwardly condemned in professing to have what we have not. _And if our heart condemn us,_ _God is greater than our heart_, for he knows every hypocritical winding and turning of the soul, he searches the heart, and tries the reins, and sees all the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the heart which we cannot see, and, if we could see them, could not comprehend them; and as he is the just Judge, he will condemn us more _strictly_ and _extensively_ than we can be by our own _conscience_....

FOR IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US - We cannot hope for peace from any expectation that our own hearts will never accuse us, or that we ourselves can approve of all that we have done. The reference here is not so much to our past lives, as to our present conduct and deportment. The object is to induce Christians so to live that their hearts will not condemn them for any secret sins, while the outward deportment may be unsullied. The general sentiment is, that if they should so live that their own hearts would condemn them for present insincerity and hypocrisy, they could have no hope of peace, for God knows all that is in the heart. In view of the past - when the heart accuses us of what we have done - we may find peace by such evidences of piety as shall allay the troubles of an agitated soul, 1 John 3:9, but we cannot have such peace if our hearts condemn us for the indulg

EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 3:1 TO 1 JOHN 5:12 3. SECOND MAIN DIVISION. _God is Love._ 1 JOHN 3:1 (1) The _evidence of sonship. _Righteousness. 1 JOHN 3:1 The Divine birth is the outcome of the Divine love. 1 JOHN 3:1 BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE! Ποταπός;_ _literally, "of what country," in the New Testament always implies amazement; but,

FOR IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US,.... Of want of love to the brethren, and of hypocrisy in it, as well as of any other sin; for the conscience, which is meant by the heart here, is accuser, witness and judge; it accuses of the evil of sin, and is as good as a thousand witnesses; and upon its own testimony pronounces guilty, and condemns. GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART: for he is the Maker of it, and he has the power over it, and the management of it; it is in his hands, and to be turned by him as he pleases; and he is the searcher and trier of it; and besides, is a swifter witness than conscience, and a superior Judge unto it. AND KNOWETH ALL THINGS; that are in the heart; the principles of actions, and all the actions of men, for which their hearts condemn them; and all the sinfulness in them, and the aggravations of them; wherefore, as he knows them more perfectly, he judges of them more e...

I have read this chapter many times in your hearing, but we cannot read it too often, for it is full of the deepest and most important instruction. God grant that fresh light from above may shine upon it as we listen once more to the familiar words! 1 John 3:1. _Behold,_ If you never used your eyes to good purpose before, use them so now: 1 John 3:1. _What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:_ Let the truth of our adoption amaze us, the adoption of such unworthy ones as we were to so high a relationship «that we should be called the sons of God.» 1 John 3:1. Therefore the world knoweth not, because it knew him not.

V. HEREBY WE KNOW Chapter S 3:19-5:13 _ 1. Hereby we know that we are of the truth (1 John 3:19)_ 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God (1 John 4:1) 3. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and of error (1 John 4:5) 4. The Love manifested toward us (1 John 4:7) 5. The final tests as to the possession of eternal life (1 John 4:20; 1 John 5:1) 1 John 3:19 .

The hatred of the world is to be expected, but within the Christian brotherhood there must be love, manifesting itself in deeds of self-sacrifice in imitation of Christ's love. If we possess this spirit we shall be able to silence inward misgivings as to our standing before God, because we obey Him in that we believe in Christ and love one another. Such obedience ensures His indwelling, attested by the gift of His Spirit. 1 JOHN 3:14. The teaching is the same as in 1 John 2:9 f., except that the metaphor has been changed, and the soul's lack of correspondence with its spiritual environment is described as death. 1 John 3:15_ a_. An echo of...