ACC ~ 1 John 3 v2

GOD’S CHILDREN NOW. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: By writing these things John is exhorting his readers to recognize what it means to be born again of God. He tells them that they are now worthy to be loved as children of God, even in this world, and that the adoption of sons is a reality here and now. For since we now know in part and have the first fruits of the Spirit, we already have something of the adoption of sons and can see what the fullness of it will be like when it arrives. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. AUGUSTINE: Despite the measure of likeness which we find in God’s Word, we also recognize a great unlikeness to God and his Word in this enigma. We must admit that even when we are like him and shall see him as he is (words which clearly imply an awareness of our present unlikeness), we shall still have no natural equality with him. For the created nature must always be less than the Creator. ON THE TRINITY 15.16.26.

WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH: Therefore we live as children of God even in this present life, sanctifying ourselves by virtue and striving toward the likeness of something even better. Encouraged by this, we shall be fashioned according to the brightness of the resurrection, when we shall see him, insofar as that is possible, as he is. CATENA.

IT DOES NOT YET APPEAR WHAT WE SHALL BE. BEDE: The believer in Christ has already died to his old life and has been born again by faith, but it is not yet clear what the full extent of that new life will be. However, we do at least know that we shall be immortal and unchanging, because we shall enjoy the contemplation of God’s eternity. Because we shall be blessed we shall be like Christ, yet at the same time we shall be unlike him because he is our Creator and we are only creatures. It seems that this verse applies most obviously to our resurrection body, which will be immortal. In that case we shall be like God after the likeness of his Son, who alone among the persons of the Trinity took a human body in which he died and rose again and which he then took with him into heaven. We shall see God as he is, but this does not mean that we shall fully understand him. For it is one thing to see and another thing to see in such a way as to understand everything. ON 1 JOHN.

JOHN DOES NOT CONTRADICT PAUL. MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR: Is there any connection between what John says here and what Paul says when he writes: “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God”? What then shall we be like? The answer is that here John says that he does not know what form the coming deification through the virtues of faith will take for those who are children of God here on earth now. The independently existing nature of the good things to come has not yet been revealed in detail. Here on earth we walk by faith, not by sight. Paul on the other hand says that through revelation we have received the divine promise concerning the good things which are to come but does not claim to know what these are in any detail. Thus he says quite clearly that he examines himself and pursues the higher calling as far as he understands what it is. Any contradiction between the two apostles is merely apparent, not real, because they are both inspired by the same Spirit. CATENA.

1 Jn