ACC ~ 1 John 3 v3

FAITH PAST AND PRESENT. HILARY OF ARLES: We shall see him as he is because we shall be like him. This is our hope for the future, our love in the present and our faith in both the past and the present. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD IN HUMANITY. ANDREAS: Some people argue from this that God made man according to his image but not according to his likeness, which he will give us later on. We have supposedly believed in him according to the likeness which we have, and if that is worthy enough, then we shall receive God’s likeness as well. But if you have believed according to the likeness and then turn away from it and destroy it, who will give you what belongs to the likeness? You will not be able to acquire the likeness unless you have fully perfected the image first. This is supposed to be why John adds the words: “Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, as he is pure.” But my bishop, in his letter to Conon, has shown on the basis of the recognized Fathers of the church that the image and the likeness are one and the same thing and that John was speaking here of something which has already taken place. CATENA.

IMITATING GOD’S PURITY. BEDE: There are many who say they have faith in Christ but somehow seem to forget about this pure aspect of it. It is clear that anyone who has real faith will demonstrate that fact by living a life of good works … by rejecting ungodliness and worldly desires and by imitating Christ’s sober, righteous and godly life. We are commanded to imitate the purity of God’s holiness to the extent that we are capable of doing so, just as we are taught to hope for the glory of the divine likeness according to our capacity for receiving it. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

PURIFY YOURSELVES. THEOPHYLACT: Note that John uses the present tense when he talks about our need to purify ourselves. The practice of virtue is an ongoing thing and has its own inner dynamic. If we stop living this way or put it off until some future time, there is nothing virtuous about that at all. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

1 Jn