‘Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we will be like him, for we will see him even as he is. And every one who has this hope set on him (or ‘in him') purifies himself, even as he is pure.'
‘Beloved.' Possibly opening a subsection, but to also be read as a continuation. We split the letter for convenience, but each part runs into the next. Such expressions continue to reveal the love and concern in the Apostle's heart.
Both the present and the future is glorious for His true children, those who have come to Him through Christ. Now they already are the true children of God. That is glorious indeed. They are His own. Let them rejoice in that and consider it well. But an even more glorious future awaits. For what they will be has not yet been fully revealed, indeed is so glorious that it cannot be known until it is revealed. For it is so glorious that we can only know it when He is openly revealed in all His glory. Then we will know and will be made like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
‘Now we are the children of God.' Walking in a world in darkness we have light, we are children of light (John 12:36; Luke 16:8). Walking in a spiritually dead world (Ephesians 2:1) we have life, eternal life (1 John 5:12-13; John 10:28). Walking in a godless world we have God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Who watch over us.
‘It is not yet made manifest what we shall be.' What we shall be in the future is not yet clearly revealed. It is beyond our most glorious expectation. It is to be made like Him, and until we know fully what He is like we cannot even begin to appreciate it. Now we see dimly as in a distorted mirror, but then we will see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Then it will all become clear to us.
‘We know that, if he shall be manifested.' The ‘if' is a reminder that John's hope was not that he might die but that he might be alive to enjoy the glorious transformation at the coming of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:52-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:17). But he was well aware that he might die first (John 21:23). The manifestation of Christ will take place at the end. Then will the fullness of His glory be revealed, to the joy of His own and the disconsolation and tragedy of the world (Mark 13:26; Matthew 16:27; Revelation 1:7; Revelation 19:11-16).
‘We will be like him, for we will see him even as he is.' It is so wonderful that we can hardly believe it. We will be like Him as He will be then. No pale imitation or copy here. We will be transformed, both those who are alive at His coming, and those who are dead in Christ, and we will be made like Him, holy and without blemish before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4), ‘conformed to the image of His Son' (Romans 8:29).
‘For (or ‘because') we will see him even as he is.' We will see the fullness of His glory. The ‘for' or ‘because' may simply introduce the glorious pattern of what we shall be, or it may even be suggesting that seeing Him as He is will contribute to our being made like Him. The light of His glory will fully awaken the glory that He has implanted within us in ‘eternal life'. The seed will sprout, the flower will come to full bloom. Whichever is true the effect will be the same, and it will be all of God.
‘And every one who has this hope in (set on) him purifies himself, even as he is pure.' Such a vision of glory can only have one effect on us now. Once we take it into our hearts it can only have this effect, a determined longing to achieve it as soon as possible, to be Christ-like now, to be pure as He is. And if that is our hope it must also be our aim. Every one who has this hope sets diligently about making themselves pure, through the word, through prayer, through meditation, through exhortation, through hearing the word, through godly living, through continual submission to God, through yielding their lives and bodies for Him to live through them, not because they hope thereby to earn it, but because it is already their destiny and they want to enjoy it to the full. They commence the process of bringing about His purpose for them. It is inevitable.
It is true that we commence from lowly beginnings. Once we are ‘born from above' we see the glory of Christ only dimly. We are babes. We are little aware of the truth about ourselves. But we begin the journey to Christlikeness, to becoming what God has purposed for us as God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). And so as we grow we become more and more aware, and are transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18) and thus we become more and more like Him until that day that we see Him as He is and all is then completed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we are made like Him. Such a gift has never been bestowed before.
But what of those whose growth is stunted, who never grow up, who are still gripped by the world, who reveal little evidence that they are His children? The answer is that if they are fully like that they have no life within them, they are not God's workmanship, they can have no assurance that they are His. But in the final analysis we are not judges of what a man is, we cannot see the workings of his heart, and it is not therefore for us to pass the final judgment. There is perhaps a work which is taking place which we cannot see. God may have a purpose that we cannot know. It is between that man's heart and God. But let him beware lest the ruin of his house be great.
One way in which we discover His purity is, of course, through reading the Gospels. As we read and reread them, so the purity and moral glory of Jesus Christ will implant itself in our hearts, and we will then seek to fulfil it in our lives. We become what we read, for good or for bad.
‘Purifies.' The verb is a rare one in the New Testament and is used of ceremonial purification (John 11:55 and in Acts), but it is used in James 4:8; 1 Peter 1:22 of moral purification as here. It seems to suggest that just as men ceremonially purified themselves for participation in ceremonies such as Passover, so Christians, in readiness for appearing before their Lord, will morally and spiritually purify themselves in readiness for that day.
Some see, ‘we shall be like Him for we shall see Him He is' as referring to God. The idea being that for the first time we will be able to look on God as He really is. And then all that is impure will shrivel before Him. The thought is certainly true. But the context is the manifestation of Christ in His glory, and John surely has in mind the glimpse of that glory that he had seen at the Transfiguration (Mark 9:1-8). He knows exactly what an effect that can have.