1 John 3:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

NIV: If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

NASB: But whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him?

CSB: If anyone has this world's goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him--how does God's love reside in him?

NLT: If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion — how can God’s love be in that person?

KJV: 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?

NKJV: But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

John next offers a direct application to show God's love abides in the believer, in the form of a question. This involves a person who has more than enough to meet his or her own needs, but who chooses to be hard-hearted, failing to meet the other person's need. Keeping material things for ourselves, beyond our needs, while brothers or sisters suffer shows a lack of love. A believer in Christ should have concern for the needs of others, and not merely in an emotional sense.

John was a student of John the Baptist before following Jesus (John 1:35–39). The application he gives here in verse 17 is very similar to the teaching of John the Baptist, that someone with two shirts should give one to the person who has none (Luke 3:11).

Here again is the concept of "abiding." Christians are still capable of sin, so it's possible for a believer to be stingy, cold-hearted, or unloving. But this is a sign of someone not "abiding" in Christ. That attitude is never the product of fellowship with Jesus. Cold-heartedness or hatred are always signs of spiritual failure.

First John 3:11–18 describes the contrast between hate and love, and how love ought to be seen in the life of a Christian believer. Evil has a jealous hatred for good. This is why Cain killed Abel, and why hatred is considered the spiritual equivalent to murder. Christians are expected to do more than feel love, they are commanded to act on it, in selfless sacrifice.

The third chapter of 1 John focuses mostly on the concept of love. Because of His love, God not only calls us His children, He actually makes us His children. John also explains how sin, including hate, is never the result of a proper relationship with God. Christians, in contrast to the world, are supposed to do more than simply ''feel'' love; we are to act on it, as well

Chapters 1 and 2 introduced the stark differences between those who truly have fellowship with Christ, as opposed to those who are ''in darkness.'' Chapter 3 continues this discussion, with a particular emphasis on love. This serves as a bridge, between John's descriptions of lives lived abiding either in darkness or light, to an explanation of how God's faithfulness gives us confidence as Christian believers.

First John seems to assume that the reader is familiar with the gospel. Rather than re-state these facts, John is concerned with building confidence in Christian believers. At the same time, his words encourage believers to examine their own lives for signs of their relationship with Christ. This letter also challenges false teachers and their incorrect claims about Jesus. Many themes are shared with the Gospel of John.

Accessed 5/4/2024 9:41:56 PM