First John: 1 John 3:20a-Obeying the Command to Love One Another Resolves the Problem of a Guilty Conscience Lesson # 133

1 John 3:19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. (ESV)

“For whenever our heart condemns us” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “whenever” (2) conditional particle ean (ἐάν), “whenever” (3) third person singular present active subjunctive form of the verb kataginōskō (καταγινώσκω), “condemns” (4) genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “our” (5) articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun kardia (καρδία), “heart.”

The conjunction hoti is epexegetical which means that it is introducing a clause which explains or clarifies or completes the result clause at the end of verse 19, which asserts that as a result of obeying the command to love one another the believer will at any time assure their hearts before God in prayer.

The conditional particle ean is introducing the protasis of a third class condition which is communicating a spiritual axiom or eternal spiritual principle.

As was the case in 1 John 3:19, the noun kardia here in 1 John 3:20 means “heart” referring specifically to that aspect of the heart, which is the conscience.

The articular construction of this word is employed with genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego, “our” which is referring to John and the recipients of First John.

Together, they denote possession indicating that these hearts belong to John and the recipients of First John.

This personal pronoun is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions indicating that this principle is applicable to everyone in the body of Christ including the apostles such as John.

The verb kataginōskō means “to convict” since it pertains to finding or proving someone as guilty or to convince of error or sin.

Specifically, this word speaks of the believer’s conscience convicting them of the sin of failing to love their fellow-believer because they refused to provide food, shelter or clothing for a fellow-believer in need of such things.

The present tense of this verb kataginōskō is a gnomic present which expresses the idea that if their hearts “at any time” should be convicted of the sin of not loving their fellow-believer, they can assure their hearts before God by obeying the command to love one another.

1 John 3:19 Now, by means of this, any one of us will, at any time confirm for ourselves that we are manifesting the attribute originating from obedience to the truth. Consequently, each one of us will at any time assure our hearts before Him, 20 namely whenever any of our hearts are convicted. For God is inherently superior to our heart. Specifically, He possesses inherently an omniscient knowledge of everyone. (My translation)

1 John 3:20 is composed of two hoti clauses and an epexegetical clause.

The first hoti clause contains the protasis of a third class condition.

The apodosis is contained in the result clause which completes 1 John 3:19.

The second hoti clause is a causal clause which presents the reason for the previous third class condition.

Therefore, the content of 1 John 3:20 is intimately connected to the content of 1 John 3:19.

The epexegetical clause which completes 1 John 3:20 provides specific details which help the reader understand the meaning of the causal clause.

This first use of hoti in verse 20 is epexegetical and is introducing the protasis of a fifth class condition with the apodosis being composed of the result clause which completes verse 19.

It asserts that as a result of obeying the command to love one another, the believer will at any time assure their hearts before God in prayer.

This interpretation would express the idea that as a result of obeying the command to love one another, the believer will at any time assure their hearts before God, namely, if at any time or whenever their hearts should convict them as a result of not doing so because God is greater than their hearts.

Thus, John is flip flopping the usual order in a conditional clause since usually the protasis appears first followed by the apodosis.

If we reverse John’s order, it would read: if at any time or whenever our hearts convict us, then, we will at any time assure our hearts before God as a result of obeying the command to love one another.

Or, we can say: if at any time or whenever our hearts convict us, by obeying the command to love one another we will at any time assure our hearts before God.

Therefore, the first hoti is epexegetical which means that it is introducing a clause which explains or clarifies or completes the result clause at the end of verse 19, which asserts that as a result of obeying the command to love one another the believer will at any time assure their hearts before God in prayer.

Now, the spiritual principle communicated in these verses is that the problem of the believer’s conscience being convicted because of sin as a result of refusing to provide food, shelter and clothing for a fellow-believer in need of such things is resolved by obeying the command to love one another.

In other words, the problem of a guilty conscience is resolved by obeying the command to love one another.

This obedience is manifested by providing food, shelter and clothing for a fellow-believer when they are in need of such things.

This obedience also manifests God’s attribute of love since the Holy Spirit manifests this attribute in the life of the believer when they obey His Spirit inspired command to love one another.

Therefore, this first hoti clause in verse 20 is identifying specifically for the reader a hypothetical situation in which they can assure their hearts before God in prayer as a result of obeying the command to love one another.

Namely, this takes place when their conscience convicts them for not loving their fellow-believer as a result of not providing them the essentials necessary to sustain human life such as food, shelter and clothing.

The protasis or premise here in verse 20 is “if at any time or whenever our hearts should convict us (because we did not love our fellow-believer)” and the apodosis or the inference from this premise or protasis is “we will at any time assure our hearts before Him (as a result of loving our fellow-believer).”

The relationship between the protasis and the apodosis is equivalence, which means that the protasis and the apodosis are equivalent to each other.

In other words, you can flip flop them and the statement or thought or principle would be the same.

Thus, the statement “we will at any time assure our hearts before Him (as a result of loving our fellow-believer), if at any time or whenever our hearts are convicted (because of not loving our fellow-believer)” is the same as saying “if at any time or whenever our hearts are convicted (because of not loving our fellow-believer, we will at any time assure our hearts before Him (as a result of loving our fellow-believer).”

The third class condition here in 1 John 3:20 is expressing certain fulfillment in the sense that the believer’s conscience is certain to be assured in the presence of the Father as a result of obeying the command to love one another, whenever their conscience convicts them of having not done this.

Therefore, it is communicating a spiritual principle or spiritual axiom which is true all the time, namely, it is teaching how the believer can resolve their problem of a guilty conscience.

This guilty conscience is the direct result of disobeying the command to love one another as a result of failing to provide food, shelter and clothing for a fellow-believer in need of such things.

When John speaks of the heart here in verses 19-20, he is referring to that aspect of the heart which is called the conscience.

When he speaks of the believer being convicted, he is referring to the believer’s conscience convicting them of the sin of failing to love their fellow-believer because they refused to provide food, shelter or clothing for a fellow-believer in need of such things.

Also, it is important to understand that when John speaks of the believer experiencing assurance in 1 John 3:19, he is not speaking of assurance of one’s eternal salvation since this is never stated as a purpose in First John.

Rather, the assurance he mentions is related to prayer.

This is clearly indicated by the context.

First, in 1 John 3:21, John speaks of the believer possessing confidence before God.

Then, in 1 John 3:22, he teaches that the believer will possess confidence that they will receive their requests in prayer to God because they keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.

A comparison of these two verses reveals that John is associating the believer having confidence before God with prayer.

Lastly, in 1 John 3:23, John defines what he means by commandments.

The first is related to justification since it refers to the commandment the sinner must obey in order to be declared justified by the Father, namely the command to believe in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior.

The second is related to experiencing fellowship with God after justification since it refers to the commandment to love one another as Jesus loved the believer.