Kretzmann's Popular Commentary
1 John 3:20
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things.
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things.
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 g...
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 n...
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...
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 spir...
a By this we know that we are of the truth, and by this we will reassure our heart before him, when our heart condemns us in anything, for God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Beloved,...
REMEMBER THE PRIVILEGES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (1 John 3:1-2)...
IF. App-118. CONDEMN. Greek. _kataginosko._ See Galatians 2:11 (blamed). ALL THINGS. Compare Peter's answer, John 21:17....
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12. God is Love There seems to be no serious break in the Epistle from this point onwards until we reach the concluding verses which form a sort of summary (1 John 5:13-21). T...
Love and Hate: Life and Death _Marvel not, my brethren_ Comp. John 5:28; John 3:7. The antagonism between the light and the darkness, between God and the evil one, between righteousness and unrighteou...
_For if our heart condemn us_ It is possible to attach this to the preceding verse (reading ὅ τι ἐάν, a construction found Acts 3:23 and Galatians 5:10, and perhaps Colossians 3:17, for ὅτι ἐάν), and...
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12. GOD IS LOVE There seems to be no serious break in the Epistle from this point onwards until we reach the concluding verses which form a sort of summary (1 John 5:13-21). Th...
ὍΤΙ ἘᾺΝ ΚΑΤΑΓΙΝΏΣΚΗΙ ἩΜΩ͂Ν. The Revisers follow Lachmann in reading ὅ τι ἐάν, a construction found Acts 3:23 and Galatians 5:10, and possibly Colossians 3:17. The clause is then attached to what prece...
13–24. LOVE AND HATE: LIFE AND DEATH ΜῊ ΘΑΥΜΆΖΕΤΕ. Comp. John 5:28, and contrast 1 John 3:7. The antagonism between the light and the darkness, between God and the evil one, between righteousness and...
ΚΑΤΑΓΙΝΏΣΚΗ _praes. conj. act. от_ ΚΑΤΑΓΙΝΏΣΚΩ (G2607) знать что-л., говорящее против кого-л.; осуждать. _Conj._ с ΟΤΙ ΈΆΝ (G3754; G1437) следует рассматривать как обобщающее rel., в _conj._ 3 типа, в...
DISCOURSE: 2450 A GOOD AND EVIL CONSCIENCE 1 John 3:20. _If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence...
GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART,— That is, _more powerful,_ say some, and consequently more able to condemn and punish: but _greater in knowledge,_ say others; and the following words evidently favour t...
CHAPTER X _DIVINE SONSHIP PROVEN BY ACTIVE LOVE_ (The Second Test. The Second Time) 1 John 3:11-24 A. _The Text_ For this is the message which ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one...
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 Beng...
VERSE 20. FOR IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US. If we are deficient in love to our needy brethren, we know it; our own conscience so informs us. We thus condemn ourselves. God is greater than our hearts, for...
8 The title..Adversary" has far more aptness than is at first apparent. Satan is known to us only through his word He never appears otherwise than as the evil creature indicated by his titles. From hi...
3:20 us, (k-6) Subjunctive. 'That,' ver. 20, refers to 'hereby' in ver. 19. It is showing what tests 'in truth.' The repetition of 'that' is nothing uncommon. It is found in Ephesians 2:11 ,Ephesians...
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD AND THE DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF SONSHIP 1. The sons of God] RV 'children of God,' adding the words, 'and _such_ we are.' The word translated 'children' here is characteristi...
HOW CAN I BE SURE? 1 JOHN _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 3 THE CHILDREN OF GOD DO THE RIGHT THINGS (1 JOHN 3:1-10) V1 See what great love the *Father has given to us! He has called us children of God....
Our own consciences may blame us when we *sin. But we can comfort our consciences. We know that God is greater than our consciences. God knows the worst that is in us. And he still loves us. He knows...
The Secret of Assurance. “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hateth you. _We_ know that we have migrated out of the domain of death into the domain of life, because we love the brethren. He that lovet...
A _crux interpretum_. Read τὴν καρδίαν ἡμῶν ὅ, τι ἐάν (_i.e._ ἄν), and take the subsequent ὅτι as “because”. The foregoing exhortation may have awakened a misgiving in our minds: “Am I loving as I oug...
LOVING IN DEED AND IN TRUTH 1 John 3:13 Love to the brethren is a sign that we have been born into the family. We may not _like_ them all, yet we can _love_ them. If we love, we live; and if we live...
The letter now passed to a discussion of the fellowship of the saints with God as love. The hope born of love will have as its inevitable result the purification of those possessing it. The apostle sh...
THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVING THE BRETHREN It may be easy for one to say he would die for the brethren when such has never been required of him. However, the true test of one's willingness to lovingly sacr...
For (4) if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. (r) If an evil conscience convicts us, much more ought the judgment of God condemn us, who knows our hearts bet...
And in his sight we shall persuade our hearts. That is, if we love God and our neighbour in deed, as he said before, we may rest satisfied in conscience that we follow the ways of truth, and may have...
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. (14) We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. (15) Whosoever hat...
_THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE_ ‘And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Bel...
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 consc...
Now to say that we are born of Him is to say that we are children of God. [13] What a love is that which the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children! [14] Therefore the world know...
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 jud...
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Ver. 20. _If our keart condemn us_] Conscience is God's spy and man's overseer, _Domesticus index, iudex, carnifex;...
_My beloved children, let us not love_ merely _in word or in tongue_ Contenting ourselves with complimental expressions of regard, or with giving our Christian brethren nothing but fair speeches; _but...
OUR HEART CONDEMN US; as wanting in love, and for this reason withholding aid from the destitute when we ought to bestow it. GOD IS GREATER; more perfectly acquainted with our sins, and will more cer...
This chapter continues the subject introduced in ch.2:28. Verse 29 has shown that righteousness is an absolute requirement. It is indeed a solid, sound basis for the precious bestowal of the love of t...
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 S...
IF OUR HEART, or our conscience, CONDEMN US, viz. in plain things, (as this of loving our brother is), and wherein the mind of God is evidently the same with our own conscience; his superiority, to wh...
Tertullian A Treatise on the Soul and John says, "By his own heart is each man condemned; "[103]...
1 John 3:20 For G3754 if G1437 our G2257 heart G2588 us G2607 (G5725) G3754 God G2316 is...
THE CENTRALITY OF CHRISTIAN LOVE (1 JOHN 3:11 TO 1 JOHN 4:21). The reference to loving one's brother, deliberately added almost as an appendage in 1 John 3:10 in order to introduce the next section, n...
EXHORTATION THAT OUR CHRISTIAN LOVE SHOULD BE PRACTICAL (1 JOHN 3:16). As throughout John is now concerned that those he speaks to should examine their hearts to ensure that they really are true Chris...
‘By this we will know that we are of the truth, and will convince (persuade) our heart before him, because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.' To the modern...
_THE PRIVILEGE OF CONFIDENCE._ 1 John 3:19. Hereby: this looks back, taking up the word ‘truth,' according to the well-known habit of the writer in beginning a new theme. But he deepens the meaning of...
The apostle now introduces a new order of thought, governed by the idea of regeneration as the gift of life in Christ to individual man. He first (down to chap. 1 John 3:3) dilates on its glory as a b...
WHEREINSOEVER OUR HEART CONDEMN US (οτ εαν καταγινωσκη ημων η καρδια). A construction like οτ αν, whatever, in John 2:5; John 14:13. Καταγινωσκω occurs only three times in the N.T., here, verse 1 Jo...
1 John 3:19 God Greater than Our Heart. I. The subject with which these verses deal is an accusing conscience and its antidote. St. John does not say that the heart may not accuse justly. He does not...
1 John 3:10. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message th...
1 John 3:1. _Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:_ Behold it, wonder at it, and never cease to admire it. Is it not one of the great...
1 John 3:1. _Behold,_ For there is no greater wonder out of heaven than this: «Behold,» 1 John 3:1. _What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: t...
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...
CONTENTS: God's love magnified and the believer exhorted to holiness. Brotherly love urged. How our hearts may be assured before God. CHARACTERS: God, Christ, Satan, Cain, John. CONCLUSION: It is a w...
1 John 3:1. _That we should be called the sons of God!_ The character of the favoured race is defined in the preseding verses: they keep the commandments of God: 1 John 3:3. They abide in Christ by wo...
IF OUR HEART CONDEMNS US. It is best to make this part of the same thought as 1 John 3:19_. J. W. Roberts_ thinks this is so. "Our heart condemns us because of our acts of sin (_see note on_ 1 John 2:...
_But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?_ RIGHTEOUSNESS ESSENTIAL TO THE ANSWER OF A...
_And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before wire _ THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FAITH AND THE STATE OF THE HEART I. There is a certain blessing or privilege here spoken...
1 JOHN—NOTE ON 1 JOHN 3:20 WHENEVER OUR HEART CONDEMNS US. Whenever one has an inward conviction of sin. The fact that GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART assures us that he has forgiven us through the aton...
_For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things._ If we cannot conceal our hypocrisy from our own hearts, much less can we conceal it from God, who is greater and d...
CHAPTER 3 VER. 1. _Behold what great love the Father hath bestowed on us_ (unworthy, enemies and sinners as we are), _that we should be called, and be the sons of God._ Love, actively, His wondrous lo...
_CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES_ 1 John 3:18. IN WORD.—Profession, mere boasting. True love finds expression in service. “St. John hints that there is some danger of this conventionality amongst his f...
EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 3:1 TO 1 JOHN 5:12 3. SECOND MAIN DIVISION. _God is Love._ 1 JOHN 3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God (1 John 3:1): I love that verse. Behold, what manner of love God has bestowed upon you, that you sh...
1 Corinthians 14:24; 1 Corinthians 14:25; 1 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 4:4;...
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater, etc. A very difficult passage. See critical note as above. Render, as Rev., shall assure our heart before Him whereinsoever our heart condemn us, because G...
CHILDREN OF GOD 1 John 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS What a wonderful truth is this: "Now are we the sons of God." What! We who were once children of darkness, are now the children of light; we who were c...
For if we have not this testimony, if in anything our heart, our own conscience, condemn us, much more does God, who is greater than our heart — An infinitely holier and a more impartial Judge. And kn...
By heart here is undoubtedly meant CONSCIENCE: and it is as much as if the apostle had said, "If our consciences tells us that our love is barren and fruitless, and so condemn us for hypocrisy, God is...