Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
The same truth, with the addition that he who sins is, so far as he sins, "of the devil."
Let no man deceive you - as antimonians would.
Righteousness - `the righteousness' of Christ or God.
He that doeth ... is righteous. Not his doing makes him righteous, but his being righteous (justified by the He that doeth ... is righteous. Not his doing makes him righteous, but his being righteous (justified by the righteousness of God in Christ, Romans 10:3-10) makes him to do righteousness: an inversion common in familiar language, logical in reality, though not in form, as an Luke 7:47; John 8:47. Works do not justify, but the justified man works. We infer from his doing righteousness that he is already righteous (i:e., has the true and only principle of doing righteousness-namely, faith), and is therefore born of God (1 John 3:9); just as we say, The tree that bears good fruit is a good tree, and has a living root: not that the fruit makes the tree and its root good, but shows that they are so.
He - Christ.