First John: 1 John 3:5a-The Purpose of the Incarnation, Hypostatic Union and Earthly Life of the Son of God was to Eradicate the Believer’s Sins Lesson # 103

1 John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. (ESV)

“You know that he appeared in order to take away sins” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), which is not translated (2) second person plural perfect active indicative form of the verb oida (οἶδα), “you know” (3) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “that” (4) nominative masculine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun ekeinos (ἐκεῖνος), “he” (5) third person singular aorist passive indicative form of the phaneroō (φανερόω), “appeared” (6) conjunction hina (ἵνα), “that” (7) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία), “sins” (8) third person singular aorist active subjunctive form of the verb airō (αἴρω), “take away.”

The conjunction kai is a marker of result meaning the word is introducing an assertion which presents the result of the previous assertion in 1 John 3:4 that sin is lawlessness.

The verb oida means “to know for certain, to be certain, to be of the conviction” since the word pertains to having knowledge of someone to the extent of having no doubt about a matter and speaks of having a conviction that is based upon the truth of the Word of God.

The second person plural form of this verb means “each one of you” since the word refers to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

Therefore, this verb oida indicates that each one of the recipients of this epistle possessed the conviction that the Son of God appeared as a human being in order to take away the sins committed by the Christian community (cf. 1 John 2:2).

The demonstrative pronoun ekeinos means “this one” referring of course to Jesus Christ and is emphatic meaning that it is used to denote a well-known person who in context of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ.

This word is a reference to the Son of God and not the Father since the word was used of Jesus Christ in 1 John 2:6.

Also, the Father did not appear as a human being but rather the Son did (cf. John 1:14-18; Phil. 2:5-8).

In 1 John 3:5, the verb phaneroō should be translated “to reveal” and not “to manifest” since the English word “reveal” has the connotation of making known something previously hidden, concealed or secret, which phaneroō connotes.

This is why the Greek word musterion is used of the incarnation of the Son of God in 1 Timothy 3:16 since it denotes the concept of revealing something that was previously secret or unknown before an act took place.

Thus, the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union of the Son of God was a “mystery” because it revealed God who was previously hidden, concealed and secret before the incarnation.

The conjunction hina is employed with the subjunctive mood of the verb airō, “take away” in order to form a purpose-result clause that indicates both the intention and accomplishment of the action of the verb phaneroō.

This indicates that the conjunction is introducing a clause which presents both the purpose and the result for the Son of God appearing in human history as a human being.

The verb airō means “to take away, to remove, to eliminate, to eradicate” and is used in relation to the sins of the entire Christian community.

The noun hamartia is used with reference to mental, verbal and overt acts of sin from the perspective that these mental, verbal and overt acts of sin miss the mark of the absolute perfection of God’s character, i.e. His holiness.

This word speaks of any thought, word or action on the part of members of the Christian community which is in disobedience to God’s laws.

The articular construction of this word is anaphoric meaning it is pointing back to the use of the word in 1 John 3:4 which was used of the sins of the believer.

This would then indicate that the word here in 1 John 3:5 has the same meaning and referent here in 1 John 3:5.

It is thus functioning as a possessive personal pronoun and should thus be translated “our” referring to the Christian community as a corporate unit including John.

1 John 3:4 Anyone who does practice that which constitutes sin correspondingly does practice that which constitutes lawlessness. In other words, sin is lawlessness. 5 Consequently, each one of you possess the conviction that He Himself was revealed in order to eradicate our sins. However, the sin nature absolutely does not exist in Him. (My translation)

The apostle John in this verse presents the result of the previous assertion in 1 John 3:4 that sin is lawlessness.

He teaches the recipients of this epistle that each of them possess the conviction that Jesus Christ Himself was revealed in order to eradicate the sins of the entire Christian community.

This would then indicate that the purpose of the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union and earthly life of the Son of God was to eradicate the believer’s sins is the direct result of sin being committed by each member of the Christian community.

This conviction was the direct result of accepting by faith John’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching concerning Jesus Christ.

A comparison of Scripture with Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit revealed to both human beings and angels who the Lord Jesus Christ was during His First Advent.

God the Holy Spirit’s job both during the Lord’s First Advent, church age, tribulation and millennium dispensations is to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to human beings in order that they might make a decision to accept or reject Him as Savior.

All of Scripture as well as First John indicate this as well that the Spirit’s job during the church age dispensation is to reveal the person of Christ.

Here in 1 John 3:5, the divine agent is not the Father since John 1:14 teaches that no one has seen the Father but the Lord Jesus Christ explained the Father during His First Advent.

John states in his Gospel and here in his first epistle that it is the job of the Spirit to reveal and mediate the Person of Christ (John 14:16-17, 27-28; 16:5-15; Rom. 1:1-4; 1 Cor. 2:6-15; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 4:1-2; 5:6-12).

In 1 John 3:5, the apostle John employs a hina purpose-result clause which emphasizes the “intention” of the action of the main verb whereas a result clause emphasizes the consequence of the verbal action that is “not intended.”

Now sometimes the conjunction hina can introduce a clause that indicates both purpose and result meaning that it indicates both the intention and its sure accomplishment.

Therefore, this purpose-result clause in verse 5 teaches that the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ eradicating the sins of the Christian community is both the result and the purpose of His appearing in human history as a human being.

It would emphasize that the Son eradicating the believer’s sins is not only the direct result of His appearing in human history as a human being but also the purpose for which He appeared in history as a human being.

In other words, the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of the incarnate Son of God in order to deal with the problem of personal sins of the believer was both the purpose and the result of the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union of the Son of God.

This purpose-result clause expresses the idea that the purpose of the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union of the eternal Son of God has been accomplished already in human history.

The word “eradicate” in English speaks of doing away with something completely as if by pulling up by the roots.

Thus, the verb airō in 1 John 3:5 refers to the fact that Jesus Christ “eradicated” or “eliminated” the sins of each member of the Christian community by means of His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross in the sense of pulling sin up by the root, which would be the sin nature.

Therefore, this verb speaks of Jesus Christ solving the problem of personal sin at the cross by not only suffering the consequences of these sins with His spiritual death on the cross but also by suffering a physical death as well to deal with the root problem of personal sin, namely the indwelling sin nature.

Of course, Jesus Christ did this also for the sins of every non-believer.

However, in 1 John 3:5, John is speaking in the context of the believer.

This same verb which appears in 1 John 3:5 is used by John in his gospel, namely John 1:29 in relation to sin.

So John is teaching the recipients of this epistle in 1 John 3:5 that when they commit personal sin, it is incompatible with the purpose of the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union of Jesus Christ.

He suffered a substitutionary spiritual and physical death on the cross in order to solve their problem with personal sin.

However, by committing sin, they are living in a manner which is totally inconsistent with the purpose of the Son of God becoming a human being and suffering a substitutionary spiritual and physical death on the cross.

Thus, John is teaching that the purpose of the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union of Jesus Christ and the purpose of His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross must always dictate the way the believer conducts their life.

So, we can see he is presenting in verse 5 another reason why the believer is to strive to reject sin and obey God.

This first assertion in 1 John 3:4 that the purpose of the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union and earthly life of the eternal Son of God was to eradicate the sins of the Christian community echoes John’s assertion in 1 John 2:2.