First John: 1 John 3:14a-The Believer Who Divinely Loves Their Fellow-Believer is Experiencing Eternal Life Lesson # 122

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. (ESV)

“We know that we have passed out of death into life” is composed of the following: (1) nominative first person plural form of the personal pronoun egō (ἐγώ), “we” (2) first person plural perfect active indicative form of the verb oida (οἶδα), “know” (3) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “that” (4) first person plural perfect active indicative form of the verb metabainō (μεταβαίνω), “we have passed” (5) preposition ek (ἐκ), “out of” (6) articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun thanatos (θάνατος), “death” (7) preposition eis (εἰς), “into” (8) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun zōē (ζωή), “life.”

The first person plural form of the personal pronoun egō means “each one of us, each and every one of us” since the word refers to John and the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

Here the word is used to emphasize that John and each of the recipients of First John who were faithful to his apostolic teaching had passed out of death into life.

However, it is also expressing a contrast between them and the unregenerate people of the world who are enslaved to sin and Satan since these individuals are mentioned in verse 13 as hating the believer.

The verb oida means “to confirm” and speaks of John and each of the recipients of this epistle being able to confirm that they have passed out of death into life because they practice the love of God towards their fellow believer.

The verb metabainō is used in a figurative of sense and means “to change or transfer from one particular state of existence to another.”

Here it refers to John and each of the recipients of this epistle transferring from the state of experiencing spiritual death to the state of experiencing eternal life.

The noun thanatos means “death” is referring to spiritual death which describes the unregenerate state of the recipients of First John prior to their conversion.

The noun thanatos is the object of the preposition ek which functions as a marker of disassociation expressing the idea that John and each of the recipients of First John are manifesting that they have disassociated themselves with spiritual death with God when they obeyed the command to love one another.

The noun zōē means “life” and refers to eternal life which is an attribute of each member of the Trinity and is received as a gift by the sinner who is declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

It is experienced by the justified sinner after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.

This word zōē is the object of the preposition eis, which mean “to” since the word is a marker of an entrance into a particular state.

Here it is expressing the idea of John and the recipients of First John entering into the state of experiencing eternal life which is experiencing fellowship with the Trinity which manifested itself when they obeyed the Lord’s command to follow His example of loving each other.

“Because we love the brothers” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “because” (2) first person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb agapaō (ἀγαπάω), “we love” (3) articular accusative masculine plural form of the noun adelphos (ἀδελφός), “brothers.”

The conjunction hoti is employed with the indicative form of the verb agapaō, “we love” in order to form a causal clause which is expressing the reason why John and the recipients of this epistle have been transferred from death to life.

The verb agapaō means “to divinely love” referring to the practice of God’s love in the lives of the apostle John and the recipients of First John.

The noun adelphos means “spiritual brothers and sisters” and is ascribed by the apostle John to the individual members of the body of Christ.

In other words, it describes those who have been declared justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone and thus regenerated by the Spirit.

1 John 3:14 Each and every one of us has confirmed that we have been transferred from death to life because each one of us are divinely loving our fellow-believer. The one who at any time does not practice divine love continues to exist in death. (My translation)

The apostle John in 1 John 3:14 contrasts the unregenerate people enslaved to sin and Satan and his cosmic system with himself and each of the recipients of First John who he affirmed in 1 John 2:12-14 were remaining faithful to his apostolic teaching.

In this verse, he asserts that each and every one of them exists in the state of confirming that they have been transferred from that which constitutes death to that which constitutes life.

He then gives the reason for this by asserting that each one of them were existing in the state of divinely loving our fellow-believer.

Therefore, John is teaching that the believer must obey the Lord’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to follow His example and love their fellow-believer as He loves in order to experience eternal life, which constitutes experiencing fellowship with the Trinity.

He is teaching that they have confirmed that they possess eternal life and are no longer unregenerate because they obeyed the command to love one another.

“Life” in 1 John 3:14 refers to eternal life which is an attribute of each member of the Trinity and is received as a gift by the sinner who is declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

It is experienced by the justified sinner after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.

Specifically, it is experienced by the believer after justification when they appropriate by faith their identification with Christ in His death and resurrection and which faith expresses itself by considering oneself dead to sin, Satan and the Law and alive to God.

It is also experienced after justification by the believer who obeys the Lord Jesus Christ’s command recorded in John 13:34 and 15:12 to follow His example to love one another.

“Divinely loving” is referring to the practice of God’s love in the lives of the apostle John and the recipients of First John.

This is indicated by the fact that John is speaking of the love which is reproduced in the Christian by God the Holy Spirit when they obey the Lord’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another.

In other words, this love is divine in quality and character because is resides in the character and nature of God and is reproduced in the Christian by the Spirit when they obey this command.