First John: 1 John 3:10b-The Believer Who Does Not Practice Righteousness By No Means Possesses the Characteristic Originating from God Lesson # 114

1 John 3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (ESV)

“Whoever does not practice righteousness” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “whoever” (2) articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb poieō (ποιέω), “whoever practices” (3) accusative feminine singular form of the noun dikaiosune (δικαιοσύνη), “righteousness.”

The noun dikaiosune means “righteousness” and refers to a person exemplifying God’s integrity and virtue which constitutes righteousness.

It refers to believer exemplifying Christ-like character which is perfectly sound by practicing righteousness.

It speaks of perfectly adhering to God’s perfect standards, which appear in the gospel.

The articular construction of the abstract noun dikaiosune particularizes the general quality of this noun and defines it more closely distinguishing it from other notions.

Here it is distinguishing this righteousness from relative human righteousness since the former is absolute divine righteousness.

Specifically, it speaks of a person practicing God’s righteousness in their life after conversion.

The article also indicates that this word is in a class by itself and the only one truly deserving of the name.

Thus, it speaks of the righteousness which is of any value to God.

The nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas means “everyone, anyone” since the word pertains to totality with emphasis on its individual components.

Here the word is referring to any member of the body of Christ without exception.

The verb poieō means, “to practice” and its object is the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun dikaiosune, “righteousness.”

The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, which denies any idea of a person practicing divine righteousness.

Therefore, this verb is expressing the idea of any member of the body of Christ not practicing divine righteousness.

The present tense of the verb poieō is a gnomic present which is not used to make a statement of a general, timeless fact but rather is used to describe something that is true any time and does take place.

Therefore, the gnomic present of the verb is expressing the idea of a believer who at any time does not practice the righteousness of God.

“Is not from God” is composed of the following: (1) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (2) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (3) preposition ek (ἐκ), “of” (4) articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “God.”

The third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi means “to possess a particular characteristic” which is identified as practicing that which constitutes righteousness.

This verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which expresses an absolute, direct and full negation.

Therefore, these two words express the idea of believer never possessing the characteristic which originates from the Father, namely righteousness.

This use of the word eimi corresponds with its usage in 1 John 3:8.

In this verse, the verb speaks of the believer possessing the characteristic of sinning which originates from the devil.

In 1 John 3:10, the noun theos refers to the Father which is indicated by the word’s articular construction which in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity unless otherwise indicated by the context.

The articular construction of this word is expressing the idea that the Father is the one true God or in other words, He is unique and one of a kind.

The word is the object of the preposition ek, which means “from, originates from” since the word is a marker of source.

This indicates that the believer by no means possesses the characteristic of righteousness which originates from the character and nature of God as a result of failing to practice divine righteousness.

The present tense of the verb eimi is a gnomic present which is used to make an absolute statement regarding the believer who at any time does not practice that which constitutes divine righteousness.

1 John 3:10 By means of this, God’s children are manifested as well as the devil’s children: Any person who at any time does not practice that which constitutes true righteousness by no means possesses the characteristic originating from the one true God. Specifically, the one who at any time does not divinely love their fellow believer. (My translation)

The first statement in 1 John 3:10 asserts that any person who at any time does not practice that which constitutes true righteousness by no means possesses the characteristic which originates from God, which is righteousness.

Therefore, John is teaching in a negative sense that the believer manifests the fact that they are a child of God by practicing divine righteousness.

“Righteousness” is the noun dikaiosune which refers to a person exemplifying God’s integrity and virtue which constitutes righteousness.

It refers to believer exemplifying Christ-like character which is perfectly sound by practicing righteousness.

It speaks of perfectly adhering to God’s perfect standards, which appear in the gospel.

“Righteousness” denotes a child of God doing all that God commands them in the gospel and all that He demands of them in the gospel as His child and all that He approves, and all that He provides through Christ.

It refers to a believer experiencing the righteousness of God by appropriating by faith their union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session, which results in obedience to the various prohibitions and commands that appear in the gospel.

This constitutes loving God with one’s entire being and strength and one’s neighbor as oneself.

Therefore, the noun dikaiosune, “righteousness” refers to the believer fulfilling their obligations to both God and man.

The former required that they love God with their entire being and the latter required that they love their neighbor as themselves.

Their obligation to their fellow-believer is to love their fellow-believer as Christ loves them.

Thus, the practice of divine love constitutes practicing divine righteousness.

Therefore, the practice of that which is truly righteousness refers to a believer practicing so as to exemplify God’s integrity and virtue.

It refers to a believer exemplifying Christ-like character which is perfectly sound by practicing righteousness.

It speaks of a believer perfectly adhering to God’s perfect standards, which appear in the gospel.

It refers to a believer doing all that God commands them in the gospel and all that He demands of them in the gospel as His child and all that He approves, and all that He provides them through Christ.

In 1 John 3:10, the phrase ouk estin ek tou theou (οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ), “by no means possesses the characteristic originating from the one true God” teaches that a believer who fails to practice divine righteousness by no means possesses the characteristic of righteousness which originates from the Father’s character and nature.