God's Love is Greater
By Jonathan Mitchell
Some Thoughts on 1 John 3:19-20
This article is inspired by a social media post by Richard Murray, on 6/6/24, in which he cited verse twenty. We will begin by offering these verses from my expanded translation:
19. And, within this, we WILL progressively gain insight, and come to know by our own experience, that we continuously exist (or: are) from out of the midst of the Truth (or: this Reality; [cf Jn. 18:37b]), as our Source, and so before Him, and face to face with Him (or: in front of Him; in His very presence), we WILL progressively persuade (or: repeatedly prevail upon, convince, win over, reassure, set at ease, and render tranquil) our hearts,
20. because - even if our heart may habitually offer condemnation (or: would from time-to-time censure or know-against us, by experience) - indeed, God continues being greater and more important than our heart, and He knows all mankind (all people; or: everything; all things) by intimate experience.
Richard begins his post with the following: "Here is why I think God will, either in this age or the postmortem ages to come, eventually convince every lost, defiant, and misled soul to return to His embrace." He grounds this statement by quoting 1 Jn. 3:20. I concur with a hearty, "Amen!"
Unsurprisingly, his post received comments citing humanity's free will as overriding the will of God. I love Richard's response to this:
"I don't believe anybody has the strength of will to resist wave after wave after wave after wave after wave, after endless wave, of perfect love, matchless beauty, and tenderly infinite love [and] wisdom to win it. I think we need to have more confidence in God's abundant abilities (in this age and in the postmortem ages to come) than in our seasonal stubbornness to reject him."To this we say, "Well said, Richard."
Looking to our text, it's important to note that, on this topic, Paul unpacks a positive promise for us. Beginning in vs. 19, he is using the durative future tense of the verbs: "we WILL progressive gain insight.... We WILL progressively persuade our hearts." It is equally important to notice that this will happen "before Him, and face to face with Him." This matter of the heart is fully on God's mind.
"Face to face is the most vulnerable and intimate posture. We only need to read Song of Songs to feel the passion. God intended for all humanity to come into a New Creation design. And we will do this as we open our hearts to these beautiful promises" (Lynda Mitchell).
This can happen within life, or at His judgment seat.
From the last clause of vs. 20, we understand that God knows the condition, or state of existence, of the heart of every person. He knows why people exercise their limited, imprisoned wills from the deadness of their existence (Eph. 2:1; cf Martin Luther's insightful work, "The Bondage of the Will"). Until the Son sets them free (Jn. 8:36; Gal. 5:1) and gives them Life (Jn. 10:10), they can only choose what is available to them in their imprisoned conditions. Yes, each person has a will, but until impregnated with the Seed of Life, that will can only choose within the confines of his or her prison. Recall that Jesus said that He was sent off as an Emissary, and His mission was:
"to cure and heal folks with [their] heart having been crushed; to publicly proclaim, as a herald, to (for; among) captives, a release and liberation (a letting go away); and to (for; among) blind folks, a seeing again (a recovery of sight); to send off, as emissaries and representatives with a mission, the downtrodden folks [cf Jn. 20:21-22] - even those having been shattered by oppression - within the midst of a state of release, and in union with the sphere of liberation" (Lu. 4:18b).
Observe, again, how this description portrays the human predicament. Until they are born back up again (Jn. 3:7),
they can neither see nor enter the Kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3, 5).
The new birth must come first. We can observe John's description of the contrasting present states of spiritual reality, which we find on offer in Jn. 3:36,
"The one habitually trusting into (or: continuously going on confidently believing with loyalty unto) the Son is now constantly holding and is presently, progressively possessing (having) eonian Life (life having the characteristics and qualities of the sphere of the Age; life of and for the ages; eon-lasting life; life whose source is the Age [of Messiah]; [cf Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17]). Yet the person now continuing being unpersuaded by the Son (or: presently being constantly incompliant, disobedient or disbelieving, to the Son; being repeatedly stubborn toward the Son) will not be catching sight of [this] Life (or: will not proceed seeing, observing or perceiving Life; [i.e., they remain dead; cf Eph. 2:1]). To the contrary (or: Yet, nevertheless; Instead), God's personal emotion and inherent fervor (or: the teeming passion and swelling desire, which is God; the mental bent, natural impulse, propensity and disposition from God; or: the ire, anger, wrath or indignation having the quality and character of God) [cf Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12; Rev. 6:16]presently continues remaining (keeps on resting, dwelling and abiding) upon him."
Take note of the present (durative) verb tenses, and of the semantic range of the Greek word, "orge," which is commonly only rendered as "anger," or "wrath," but which I have offered as "personal emotion and inherent fervor (along with the parenthetical expansion)." How the reader envisions God will influence how he or she chooses which English word should be used to translate "orge." Is it His "wrath," or His "teeming passion and swelling desire"?
Recall Paul's wrestling in Rom. 7:
16. Now if what I am NOT continually willing (or: So in view of the fact that the thing which I am not habitually wanting or intending), THIS I am habitually doing or producing, I am constantly concurring with (conceding; approving, affirming and agreeing with) the Law and code (or: custom; [= the Torah]), that [it is] sound, fit and ideal (fine, excellent, and beautiful),
17. yet now (or: but as the case really stands), I myself am no longer habitually producing (continuously working down and effecting) it [i.e., the Law, or, what he referred to in vs. 15]. But to the contrary, instead, [it is] the Sin (the Failure; the personified Error of missing the Target; this Deviation [from Torah and its boundary markers]) [which is] continuously housing herself (or: making its home; inhabiting; indwelling; = living) within me, [that is constantly producing].
18. For I have seen, and thus know, that Good (or: Virtue; Excellence) is not habitually making its home (normally housing itself, or dwelling; residing) within me - that is, within my flesh (natural realm; = alienated self; or: = life under Torah). You see, the [ability or condition] to will (or: want; intend; purpose) is continually lying near beside me, but NOT the [ability, condition, circumstance or impulse] to constantly produce (work down, effect and accomplish) the ideal (the fit, fine, excellent, or beautiful). (or, following Nyland: For in fact, this willing and intending is normally lying alongside, in me, and it is [a situation, condition or impulse] to be normally producing or accomplishing the thing [which is] NOT beautiful or ideal.)
19. It follows that, what I normally intend (will; purpose) - [that being] a good thing (a noble deed; a virtuous act) - I do not normally do (or: I am not consistently doing what I repeatedly will, intend or purpose: [something] good), but rather, that which I continuously (or: repeatedly) do NOT intend (or: want; will; purpose) - a worthless (ugly; ignoble; base; bad; evil) thing - THIS I repeatedly put into practice!
In verse 17, Paul laments the snare that entraps humanity: there is no natural ability to accomplish the ideal. Verse 19 summarizes Paul's frustration. Taken as a whole, this passage lays the ax to the falsehood of "free will."
We know that
"God is Love" (1 Jn. 4:7-12).
Now consider what the "Great Voice" said to John in Rev. 21:
4."And He will continue anointing (or: progressively smear or repeatedly wipe away) every tear from their eyes. And the Death will no longer continue existing (or: the death shall proceed being no more) - neither will mourning (sadness; grief), nor an outcry, nor hard work (painful toil; misery) continue existing any longer ([they] will continue being no more), because the FIRST THINGS went (or: passed) away." [cf Isa. 25:8; 2 Cor. 5:1-2, 6, 8, 17]
5. And then the One (or: He [who is]) continuously sitting upon the throne said, "Consider this! I am presently making all things new (or: habitually creating everything [to be] new and fresh; progressively forming [the] whole anew; or, reading as masculine: I am periodically making all humanity new, and progressively, one after another, producing and creating every person anew, while constantly constructing all people fresh and new, i.e., continuously renewing everyone)!" [Isa. 43:19; 65:17-25; 2 Cor. 5:17]
This reveals God's single heart intention: He is committed to the process of making every person anew. In 2 Cor. 5, Paul put it this way,
18. Yet further, all things [are] (or: the Whole [is]; = all the things that exist [are]; [cf Rom. 11:36]) forth from out of the midst of God - the One transforming us to be completely other [than we were](or: bringing us into another place or state of being; changing us to correspond with other [perceptions and conceptions]; altering us to be conformed to another [person]; changing us from enmity to friendship; reconciling us) in Himself (or: with Himself; by Himself; to Himself; for Himself), through Christ, and giving to us the attending service of, and the dispensing from, the complete transformation [for folks] to be other [than before](or: the change into another [position]; the changing to correspond with other [situations; perceptions]; the alteration to be another [person]; the change from enmity to friendship; the reconciliation), [cf Rom. 8:19-21]
Reading through these passages we can see the plan and conviction of God's heart. This is because He (Love) is God, and the human being is not the Sovereign One. Human will is very limited, and is (in its unregenerate state) far from being free. The human condition was distorted by the death that was passed on into it (Rom. 5:12). The spiritually dead can make no spiritual choice. People remain prisoners of death until they are set free by the incorruptible Seed being implanted into them. In the natural realm, does anyone choses to be born? As we understand it, the choice is that of the parents. So it is within the realm of God: God is the One who plants His Life into our "soil," and then we become born anew. This was how it was with Adam, in Gen. 2:7. God is greater than both a dead heart and an enlivened heart.
"Thus, just as within Adam all humans keep on (or: everyone continues) dying, in the same way, also, within the Christ, all humans will keep on being made alive (or: everyone, or all, will one-after-another be created and produced with Life, in union with the Anointed One) - yet each person within the result of his or her own set division, or position [in line](or: effect of ordered placement; appointed class; proper rank; arranged time, or order, in the procession [cf 2 Cor. 2:14]; or: = place in a harvest calendar, the season of maturity): Christ a Firstfruit (First one reaped); after that, those belonging to the Christ (or: those from the Anointing; those who are [body members; cf 12:27-28, above] of the Christ) within the midst of, in union with, and in the sphere of, His presence" (1 Cor. 15:22-23)[cf 1 Cor. 16:22b; Phil. 3:16]
God will enliven the heart of every person... each in his or her own time, in their own order. He is the Greater One who is the Author and Finisher (the Alpha and the Omega) of the destiny of every human being. The Seed of Christ eventually falls into the heart of every person (cf Jn. 1:9).
We end with this wonderful proclamation of 1 Jn. 4:17,
"Within THIS, the Love has been brought to its goal, been matured, reached its destiny and is now perfected in its completed state with us, to the end that we may continuously have confident freedom of speech (the boldness of a citizen to speak publicly without fear of punishment; [cf 1 Jn. 2:28; Heb. 10:19-22]) within the day of sifting and separation (distinction, evaluation and decision; judging; judicial proceeding; or: administering of justice), because just as That One is, we ourselves, also, continuously exist being: within the midst of this ordered System and within the midst of the aggregate of humanity (or: because in this world of culture, religion, economy and government, even we, ourselves, progressively exist - correspondingly as, and to the according level as, That One continuously exists and is constantly being).
Jonathan
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