1 John 2:28-3:3 | Sunday January 18, 2026
1 John 2:26 KJV
(26) These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
John has been warning believers who know the truth, about false teaching antichrists. The antichrists are denying that Jesus is the Christ. They are changing who He is, fully God and fully man, and changing what He has done, perfectly paid for our sins. These antichrists are trying to find a way to God the Father without going through Jesus. They are extremely dangerous because they once had fellowship with the apostles but now have left that fellowship by teaching these falsehoods. These teachers are trying to seduce, believers into following them. They intentionally make their false teaching attractive, and appear to be the truth. John is warning believers to abide in Jesus and in the truth they have known from the beginning. He encourages us that all believers have the Holy Spirit who wants to teach us all things. The best guard against these false teachers is to abide in Jesus. Multiple times we are commanded and encouraged to abide in Him.
1 John 2:27-3:3 ESV
(27) But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in Him.
(28) And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.
(29) If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.
(1) See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
(2) Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
(3) And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.
The false teaching that is being presented by the antichrists will take a believer out of an abiding walk with Jesus. It will ruin their fellowship with Him. An abiding walk with Jesus is not an automatic thing for believers. We are promised that the Holy Spirit abides in us as believers. Then we are commanded multiple times to abide in Him. This is a theme that is very important to John and He has been describing what an abiding walk looks like throughout the letter. An abiding believer, walks in the light (1:7), confesses sin (1:9), keeps Gods’ commandments (2:3), walks how Jesus walked (2:6), and abiding is ultimately reflected in a biblical love for others (2:10). This is the kind of close intimate walk that God desires to have with us. Abiding in Jesus will cause us to look forward to seeing Him.
1 John 2:28 ESV
(28) And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.
To understand this verse we have to understand that Jesus is coming back. Christianity is not a set of moral rules, or a social club. It is a trust and relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ who has promised to come back and get us. “When He appears” literally means when His presence comes. This term was used to describe a King or Emperor visiting an area. Jesus has promised to return, to be present with us and He will come as our King. We are told the details of this real moment for believers that is commonly called the rapture.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 ESV
(14) For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.
(15) For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
(16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
(17) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
(18) Therefore encourage one another with these words.
There are no better verses to consider as you walk through a cemetery then these. Often as I stand and look at all of the graves of so many people who have died and I try to imagine what this moment will be like. The moment when Jesus descends from heaven with a cry of command. At His voice all believers who have passed away will also descend from heaven with Him. Then their physical bodies will be resurrected. The moment a believer dies they are in God’s presence (2 Cor 5:8) and receive a new body. They do not receive their permanent resurrected body until this moment. Somehow our physical body is transformed into our new resected body. Jesus’ physical body left the tomb as He was resurrected. It can be overwhelming to think of how many graves will emptied out in that moment. Then every believer who is alive will put on a resurrected body and we will join them in the air to be with our Lord and Savior. I cannot think of a more encouraging truth. For believers there are two options in how to experience this moment.
1 John 2:28 ESV
(28) And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.
When Jesus returns we can have confidence, courage, boldness, fearlessness, when we see Him. The word literally carries the idea of free, open speech with nothing to conceal. This is possible if we are abiding in Him. This does not mean we are perfect, but it means we have been walking in the light with Him. We have confessed sins as they arise and sought to know Him more. So when He returns we are thrilled and can have boldness to see the one we have longed to be with. This boldness does not come from a perfection that we somehow achieved but comes from a close, abiding, honest walk with Jesus.
Ephesians 3:11-12 ESV
(11) This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
(12) in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.
Through Jesus we have been given access, to God the Father. We can boldly, confidently approach God because of the shed blood of Jesus. Our confidence comes from walking close with Him. The more we abide with Jesus the more we will see our sinfulness and that the entire relationship is based on the finished work of Christ. As we abide we learn to rest in Him and rely on Him. Every believer is secure in Jesus because He has promised not to lose a single believer (John 6:39). Yet our assurance of that, our confidence in that grows the more we come to know and trust Him.
The other option for believers is to “shrink from Him in shame at His coming.” This is a believer who recoils when they see Jesus descend and are ashamed to be in His presence. This believer has not been abiding, and not living in the light. I watched this reaction happen first hand when I got home and my dog had knocked off the fence every solar light and chewed them up. As I approached her pen, she shrunk in shame at my coming. Instead of being excited to see me and jumping to get close to me, she pulled back. God even warned Israel that they would have this ashamed reaction for the darkness they were walking in.
Isaiah 1:29 NLT
(29) You will be ashamed of your idol worship in groves of sacred oaks. You will blush because you worshiped in gardens dedicated to idols.
When the true God arrives, worshipping fake idols in trees and gardens will be embarrassing and shameful. As a believer, do we want to be living a lifestyle of sin and darkness, or even be in the act of committing a sin when Jesus arrives? Our entrance to heaven will not be in question, but we will shrink in shame.
Romans 14:10-12 ESV
(10) Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
(11) for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
(12) So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Every believer will stand before the judgment (Bema) seat of God. It is at this Bema seat that we will give an account, literally give a word, of ourselves to God. In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 we are told the earthly will be separated form the eternal. If we abide with Jesus we will have a free speech and openness with Jesus in this moment. If we just live for this life and ignore our walk with Him, then we will be ashamed and shrink. Too many of us as believers never consider this day. We just live and do not reflect Him or abide with Him.
1 John 2:29 NAS95
(29) If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.
John uses two different words for know right next to each other. What He is saying is “If we know absolutely as fact that Jesus is righteous, then we can know experientially, or in practice that everyone who produces and practices righteousness is born of Him.” We know Jesus is righteous as a fact, so then when we see someone practice righteousness we can know experientially that they are a believer. This is true righteousness, not benevolence, humanitarian aid, or good actions. We tend to confuse the two. A non-believer can do good things, and benevolent things to others but a non-believer cannot practice true righteousness that gives honor and glory to God. True righteousness will only be produced and practiced in an abiding believers life. John is not describing how to be saved but how we can recognize salvation in someone. We have been born of God and righteousness is to be a family trait.
1 John 3:1 ESV
(1) See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
We have been brought into God’s family and are His children as believers. John is marveling at this kind love, He wants us to see it. The word for kind originally meant from a different country or foreign. God’s love for us is foreign to the world, it is wholly different then anything they know. It is an unearthly, incredible love, that we have been made children of God.
The world does not understand who we truly are. Which is fitting because they did not understand Jesus. Being a child of God is not a future promise but a present reality. If you have believed in Jesus you are God’s child right now.
1 John 3:2 ESV
(2) Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
Now is emphatic. We do not expect to one day become the Sons and Daughters of the most High God but we are right now! The problem is we can’t see on the outside who we really are on the inside. When a believer practices righteousness we can catch a glimpse of it. In this physical body we still have a sin nature, and we do not always act as a child of the living God. Yet when Jesus is revealed, when we are in His presence, we will be revealed. We will be transformed into His likeness. The outside will finally match the inside. Seeing Jesus changes us.
Philippians 3:20-21 ESV
(20) But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
(21) who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.
Seeing Jesus will transform this body of humiliation to be like His resurrected body. It is through His power that we are transformed. Our true nature as a child of God will finally be reflected in this physical body. This is partly why some will be ashamed at His coming. They will have a new resurrected body and will have a holy view of what they had been doing. They will have a holy perspective on the sin that had kept them from abiding. Throughout scripture we are called to long for the day when we will see Jesus. To long for the day when we will put on our new resurrected bodies.
2 Corinthians 5:1-4 ESV
(1) For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
(2) For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,
(3) if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.
(4) For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
I am so thankful this body is called a tent. They keep finding new ways to wear out, and are in the process of being dismantled. As a child of God we have been promised an eternal building for our new body. We groan in this tent as we long to be swallowed up by life. This body and our old sin nature are holding us back.
2 Corinthians 5:8-11 ESV
(8) Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
(9) So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.
(10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
(11) Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
We are to be of good courage, we are to be confident in this life because we know it is temporary. We are just in a tent. As we abide in Jesus, and grow closer to Him our desire to go home will increase. Whether we are in heaven with Jesus or here on this earth we should desire to please Him. If we are abiding He is our focus either way. We are to be motivated by the fact that we will give an account for our lives at the Bema seat. We are to live focused on Jesus not wanting to shrink in shame from Him at His coming. We can be fully assured that Jesus is coming back and we can also be fully assured that we will give an account for how we have abided in Him. Please do not think that we will show off what we have done for Him. Instead we will give an account for how we have let Him work in and through us. Anything eternal in our lives is accomplished through His power. We are to live each day with this in mind.
1 John 3:3 ESV
(3) And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.
We have this hope, a confident expectation of something that will be fulfilled. So we are to purify, be cleansed, just as He is pure. We are to reflect His Holiness. Seeing Jesus is what transforms us in the end, so to purify ourselves we are to abide and see Him more. I so desire to have a confidence when Jesus appears and I earnestly desire that for this body of believers. Let us not be those who shrink back ashamed from Him, but those who are longing to see Him each day!