1 John 3:2

Beloved. See 1 John 2:7.

Now are we and, etc. The two thoughts of the present and the future condition of God's children are placed side by side with the simple copula, and, as parts of one thought. Christian condition, now and eternally, centers in the fact of being children of God. In that fact lies the germ of all the possibilities of eternal life.

It doth not yet appear [ο υ π ω ε φ α ν ε ρ ω θ η]. Rev., more correctly, it is not yet made manifest. See on John 21:1. The force of the aorist tense is, was never manifested on any occasion.

What we shall be [τ ι ε σ ο μ ε θ α]. "This what suggests something unspeakable, contained in the likeness of God" (Bengel).

But we know. Omit but.

When He shall appear [ε α ν φ α ν ε ρ ω θ η]. Rev., correctly, if He (or it) shall be manifested. We may render either "if it shall be manifested," that is what we shall be; or, "if He," etc. The preceding ejfanerwqh it is (not yet) made manifest, must, I think, decide us in favor of the rendering it. We are now children of God. It has not been revealed what we shall be, and therefore we do not know. In the absence of such revelation, we know (through our consciousness of childship, through His promise that we shall behold His glory), that if what we shall be were manifested, the essential fact of the glorified condition thus revealed will be likeness to the Lord. This fact we know now as a promise, as a general truth of our future state. The condition of realizing the fact is the manifestation of that glorified state, the revealing of the ti ejsomeqa what we shall be; for that manifestation will bring with it the open vision of the Lord. When the what we shall be shall be manifest, it will bring us face to face with Him, and we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.

As He is [κ α θ ω ς ε σ τ ι ν]. Strictly, just as. Rev., even as.

" As long as the festivity Of Paradise shall be, so long our love Shall radiate round about us such a vesture. Its brightness is proportioned to the ardor, The ardor to the vision; and the vision Equals what grace it has above its worth.

Dante, "Paradiso," 4, 37 - 42. 1 John 3

:8Every man that hath [π α ς ο ε χ ω ν]. A characteristic form of expression with John, containing "a reference to some who had questioned the application of a general principle in particular cases." Here to some persons who had denied the practical obligation to moral purity involved in their hope. See vv. 4, 6, 9, 10, 15, 23, 29; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 5:1; 1 John 5:4; 1 John 5:18; 2 John 1:9. Hope. John's only reference to Christian hope. The phrase used here, to have the hope upon one, is unique in the New Testament. Compare ejp' aujtw eqnh ejlpiousin "on Him shall the Gentiles hope" (Romans 14:12) : hjlpikamen ejpi Qew zwnti "we have hoped on the living God" (1 Timothy 4:10). On the force of ecwn, see on John 26:22.

In Him [ε π α υ τ ω]. Ambiguous. Better, as Rev., set on Him.

Purifieth himself [α γ ν ι ζ ε ι ε α υ τ ο ν]. On the verb, see on 1 Peter 1:22; James 4:8. In the Septuagint used only of ceremonial purification, and so four out of the seven instances in which it occurs in the New Testament (John 11:55; Acts 21:24; Acts 21:26; Acts 24:18). In the remaining cases, of purifying the heart and the soul (James 4:8; 1 Peter 1:22). The kindred adjective aJgnov pure, has a moral signification in every case, as has the noun aJgothv pureness (only 2 Corinthians 6:6). Agnismov purification (only Acts 21:26), ceremonial.

He [ε κ ε ι ν ο ς]. Christ, as always in the Epistle.

Pure [α γ ν ο ς]. See above. Though marking moral and spiritual purity, and that of a very high grade, since it is applied to Christ here, yet it admits the thought of possible temptation or pollution, thus differing from agiov, which means absolutely holy. Hence aJgnov cannot properly be applied to God, who is agiov; but both may be used of Christ, the latter in virtue of His human perfection.