Thwarting the Devil

View daily reading plan: 1 John 3.7-12

Satan has been consistently wicked “from the beginning”, and his family members display the same propensity to evil. His ambition was to entrap the whole of humanity in that culture of iniquity, but “the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil”.  Wonderfully, there are now people in the world who are passionate about righteousness rather than sin; they are no longer “the children of the devil” and are now “the children of God”.

Once more, stress is laid on the fact that His children do not “commit sin” in that steady fashion (v.9). In fact, they “cannot sin” in that way and for this reason - “his seed remaineth in them”. A divine life-principle has been imparted, empowering them to do right and to abhor sin. Holy living is not a matter of will-power and self-effort. It is facilitated by the fact that they possess “the divine nature” (2 Pet 1.4).

Having spoken of doing righteousness, John now deals with family affection, another thing enjoined upon believers “from the beginning” (v.11). The first two brothers were so diverse. Cain was “of that wicked one” so he hated all that was righteous and holy in Abel. John will proceed to show that a professing believer displaying that kind of animosity towards “his brother” demonstrates that he is a child of the devil and devoid of eternal life (v.15). The teaching is challenging.

Wednesday, 8 May, 2024