1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear… I. THAT WHICH IS POSITIVELY KNOWN: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." 1. A man may know himself a Christian, as he knows himself a living soul — by personal consciousness. The fact of his conversion is the starting point in his religious history; and the incidents of Christian experience are the indications of his progress in the Divine life. 2. And, beyond the personal evidence arising from the exercise of faith in the soul, there is the witness of the Spirit in our hearts. II. THAT WHICH IS IMPERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." 1. One thing, however, is quite sure. We shall not remain as we are. The very process of animal life is fraught with decay. 2. Another thing is equally certain; and that is, that we shall still exist. 3. But amidst all the information which God has given us on that subject, we know not the mode of our future existence, nor even its locality. How we shall see without these eyes, hear without these ears, and converse without these organs of speech, we cannot tell. Probably we shall be all intelligence, and find, to our surprise, that the senses on which we laid so great a stress, and considered so essential to our intellectual being, were but so many loopholes in our prison house of clay, through which we could sometimes catch a glimpse of surrounding objects, but by means of which we could distinguish nothing perfectly. III. THAT WHICH IS CONFIDENTLY ANTICIPATED. (D. E. Ford.) Parallel Verses KJV: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. |
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