‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
The thought of being begotten by Christ now raises John to adoration in the face of such a glorious truth. See, he says, what kind of love the Father has bestowed on us. He has not only called us children of God, but actually made us so through Christ's begetting. We truly are His children, begotten of Christ, begotten of God. Such was His love freely bestowed on us. And that is why the world does not acknowledge us or know us, for it also failed to acknowledge and know Him in Christ (John 1:10-11). The next section reveals more of why this is. The world is lawless and therefore rejects those who are true children of God and introduce the law of love.
‘Behold.' This is an unusual use of ‘behold' for usually when it is used something visible is to be seen. And yet John might well have felt that there was something visible to look at, the children of God to whom he was writing and those in his own church grouping. ‘Look', he might be saying, ‘at all the children of God that there are, these doers of righteousness in a sinful world (1 John 2:29). And this is what God has done.'
‘Behold what manner of love.' For ‘what manner of' compare Matthew 8:27 where it is asked concerning Jesus, ‘what manner of man is this?' Or 2 Peter 3:11 where the question is, ‘what manner of persons you ought to be.' Thus it contains the idea of quality, of superiority. Who has known love like this in its greatness and its splendour? Who else could ever have done such a thing? This is the first direct reference in the letter to the Father's love for us (but see 1 John 2:15), although what has gone before has revealed His love. John is now moving on to expound on God's love.
‘The Father has bestowed on us.' Note first that it is the love of the Father. He Who is over all, the great Giver, Who gives rain to the just and the unjust, has bestowed on us who belong to Him His love. It is a wonderful gift, yet not merited, not earned, but freely bestowed as from a great King to His subjects, and it is selective, it is bestowed only on those who believe on Him, who look to Him for salvation, who become His true spiritually-born children.
And note secondly that this great love of the Father is bestowed on us. It is ours, not through our having earned it, not through our having deserved it by any means, but because in His gracious love He has bestowed it as a gift. And because of it we do not love the world (1 John 2:15).
‘That we should be called children of God; and such we are.' There are two points here, that we are called children of God, and that we really are children of God. The calling of us as children is the act of naming. It is a public demonstration of God's favour before all beings. The world may not notice but the angels look on at the naming ceremony and wonder. These puny mortals have become the Father's children.
But even more wonderful is that it is actually true. ‘And such we are.' The Father has begotten us to Himself. He has imparted His seed (1 John 3:9), He has given us new life, He has planned for us a glorious future with Him.
John never speaks of us as sons (huios) of God. That term is reserved for Jesus. He alone is the unique Son. He alone is of the same essence. But through His working within us we become His children, and in a secondary sense ‘partakers of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4). It alters our attitudes, it alters our aims, it delivers us from the world because we see everything differently (1 John 2:15-16; 2 Peter 1:4). It makes us seek after righteousness, for that has become our nature.
‘For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew Him not.' But the world is oblivious of our privilege. It does not know. And it does not want to know. It deliberately closes its eyes and heart to God's children. And why? Because it rejects all that is from God. It turns its eyes from such things. It knows Him not because it rejects His revelation of Himself in creation and in conscience (Romans 1:18-25; Romans 2:14-16). And most of all because it does not acknowledge the One He sent (John 1:9-11). It is blind and in darkness, and yet at the same time giving the impression that it wants to find Him. But it wants Him on its own terms, as One Who is subject to its own opinions and its own ideas. It does not want light, it does not want to have done with sin. That is why it would welcome the false teachers.
But those who do receive Him are blessed indeed. They are begotten of God (John 1:12-13). They become His true children, born from above by the Spirit of God. But the remainder reject the light. They do not want it. And they continue not to want it.