1 John 3.1b-The Father Exercised His Love Toward the Believer By Effectually Calling Them to Be His Children
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 26, 2017
First John: 1 John 3:1b-The Father Exercised His Love Toward the Believer By Effectually Calling Them to Be His Children
Lesson # 97
1 John 3:1 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. (ESV)
“That we should be called children of God; and so we are” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction hina (ἵνα), “that” (2) nominative neuter plural form of the noun teknion (τεκνίον), “children” (3) genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “of God” (4) first person plural aorist passive subjunctive form of verb kaleō (καλέω), “we should be called” (5) conjunction kai (καί), “and so” (6) first person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “we are.”
The conjunction hina is employed with the subjunctive mood of the verb kaleō, “we should be called” in order to form an epexegetical clause which identifies what John means by his previous assertion that the Father exercised His love toward each one of them in that He effectually called them to be His children.
The noun teknion means “children” and is used in a figurative sense of those sinners who have been declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and through the Spirit have been regenerated, adopted and placed in union with Christ and identified with Him in His death and resurrection.
The word emphasizes the Christian’s relationship with God from the perspective of the spiritual birth, i.e. regeneration.
John uses this expression tekna theou (τέκνα θεοῦ), “children of God, God’s children” in John 1:12 and 1 John 3:2.
Paul uses it Romans 8:16 and Philippians 2:15.
John uses ta tekna tou theou (τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ), “the children of God” in 1 John 3:10 and 5:2.
The noun theos refers to God the Father and is in the genitive case functioning as a genitive of relationship indicating a familial relationship between God and those who have been regenerated by the Spirit as a result of being declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
It indicates that God is the progenitor of the justified and regenerated sinner.
The verb kaleō means, “to effectually call” and refers to the Christian’s conversion to Christianity or in other words, the moment of justification.
The word “effectual” is used of that which produces the effect desired or intended or a decisive result.
Thus, the Father’s calling of John, the recipients of this epistle and all believers throughout history produced the effect He desired, intended from them and the decisive result, namely to deliver them from sin, Satan, condemnation from the Law, spiritual and physical death as well as eternal condemnation.
The first person plural form of this verb refers to John and the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The conjunction kai means “indeed” since the word is emphatic meaning that it is serving to emphasize the word which follows it which is the first person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi, which means “to belong to a particular group of individuals.”
This group of individuals is identified by the phrase tekna theou (τέκνα θεοῦ), “God’s children.”
1 John 3:1 I solemnly charge each one of you to carefully consider what kind of love the Father has exercised toward each of us, namely each one of us have been effectually called to be God’s children. Indeed, every one of us are existing in this state. For this reason, the world never at any time recognizes any of us: because it never recognized Him. (My translation)
In 1 John 3:1, the apostle John teaches that God’s love was the reason why He effectually called them to be His children.
This love is an attribute of each member of the Trinity and was exercised by the Trinity towards John and the recipients of this epistle as well as all believers throughout the church age.
Thus, the believer in Jesus Christ is the beneficiary of this love.
God’s love was therefore exercised by each member of the Trinity towards the recipients of this epistle.
In 1 John 3:1, the apostle John identifies that God the Father exercised His love towards the believer in that He effectually called them to be His children.
This “effectual call” of the Father refers to the Christian’s conversion to Christianity or in other words, the moment of justification.
The word “effectual” is used of that which produces the effect desired or intended or a decisive result.
Therefore, this “effectual call” of the Father to be a child of God is used in relation to the conversion of John and the recipients of this epistle referring to the Father “effectually calling” them to trust in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and which invitation originated from eternity past and is thus directly related to their election.
By responding in faith, they manifested in time that they had in fact been elected to privilege by God.
God who is omniscient looked down the corridors of time and saw that the Christian would trust in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and had prepared in advance a plan for them and elected them to privilege.
Thus, when they placed their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, they were manifesting the fact that they had been elected to privilege by the Father.
He did not coerce their volition by electing them but rather elected them to privilege when He saw through His omniscience that they would believe in His Son.
This effectual calling is an expression of God’s love for the believer (cf. 1 John 3:1).
The believer’s calling is a gift and irrevocable (cf. Rom. 11:29) and is God’s complete agreement with His own foreknowledge (cf. 1 Pet. 1:1-2).
This effectual calling is based upon God’s grace policy meaning that the believer does not merit it but rather receives it based upon the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross (cf. 2 Tim. 1:8-9).
This effectual calling is related to God’s faithfulness (cf. 1 Thess. 5:24).
The Christian has been called out of the darkness of the cosmic system of Satan (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9).
The Christian’s calling was so that he would live in the eternal life, which he received when he believed in Christ for salvation (1 Tim. 6:12; Heb. 9:15).
The Christian has been called by the Father in order that he would have fellowship with Him (1 Cor. 1:9).
The Christian has been called in order to form the body of Christ, which will be completed at the Rapture (Col. 3:15).
The Christian has been called to be free from the bondage of the old sin nature in order that he might serve his fellow believer another through love (cf. Gal. 5:13).
The Father has called the Christian to peace (cf. 1 Cor. 7:15).
The believer has a great responsibility to conduct himself in a manner worthy of his calling (cf. Eph. 4:1-4; 1 Thess. 2:10-12).
God has called the Christian to sanctification and not immoral degeneracy (cf. 1 Thess. 4:7).
The Christian has been called by the Father in order that he would go through undeserved suffering for Christ’s sake (cf. 1 Pet. 2:21).
The Christian has been called by the Father in order that he would receive eternal glory, which means that God is not only going to bless the Christian with a resurrection body but also with an eternal inheritance, if he perseveres and overcomes (1 Pet. 5:10; Heb. 9:15).
Merrill F. Unger writes, “Calling, then, is that choice on the part of God of an individual through an efficacious working in his mind and heart by the Holy Spirit so that the will of the one who is called operates by its own determination in the exercise of saving faith. In this way two great necessities are provided; namely, only those are called whom God has predestined to be justified and glorified and those who are thus called choose from their own hearts and minds to accept Christ as Savior.”
Romans 8:28 In fact, we know without a doubt that for the benefit of those who are characterized as divinely loving God the Father, He (the Spirit), as an eternal spiritual truth, always works each and every circumstance together for the good, for the benefit of those who are, as an eternal spiritual truth, the chosen ones, in accordance with His predetermined plan. 29 That is, whom He knew in advance, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son in order that He Himself would, as an eternal spiritual truth, be the firstborn among many spiritual brothers. 30 In fact, these very ones whom He predestined, He also effectually called and these very ones whom He effectually called, He also justified. In fact, these very ones whom He justified, He also glorified. (My translation)