1 John 3:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Apostle speaks as though saying: from what precedes, you have undoubtedly learned that we have been received by God as children.

Although this has not yet been revealed, do not be troubled. What is now unknown will become manifest when He is revealed.

Then, being found like Him, we shall visibly present our adoption. For children are surely like the Father.

Having boldness before Him as children, we shall see Him as He is. Yet not according to essence, for this is impossible for a created being.

Rather, the pure will see the Pure One, and the righteous the Righteous One. For like will cleave to Like.

For this reason I said just before only that we shall be like Him, not that we shall be of the same nature as Him.

Had that been so, I would not have said "like," but "exactly the same." Since this will not be, I said "like," that is, according to the quality of glory.

194. Now our weak flesh is corruptible. In its ordinary state the body is subject to wounds or sores.

It cannot rise above the earth, weighed down by its heaviness, and walk through the air.

But we shall be wondrously transformed into a beautiful and simple creation, when what John said is fulfilled.

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know only that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him" (1 Jn 3:2).

Since the nature of God is simple, for "God is spirit" (Jn 4:24), we likewise shall be changed according to His image.

"As is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man" (1 Cor 15:48-49).

Our spirit must be clothed in that image.

Question 9: In what sense does Saint John also say: "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be"?

If it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, why does Saint Paul say: "God has revealed this to us through His Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God" (1 Cor 2:10)?

Does he also philosophize in the same way about "what we shall be"?

The holy Evangelist John says that he does not know the manner of the future deification of those who here have become children of God through the practice of virtues according to faith.

He says this because the self-subsistent presence of future blessings has not yet visibly appeared.

For here "we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7).

We have often shown that the Apostle calls the vain crowd the world. Turning now to the theme of adoption, he more definitely calls the glory prepared for us the boldness of the adopted, and says: "Beloved, we are now children of God" (cf. 1 Jn 3:2). It is as if he said: beloved, from what was said before you have understood that we have been received into the number of God's sons. If this has not yet become manifest, do not be troubled. What is now unclear will become evident when He is revealed. For when we become like Him, we shall manifest the glory of adoption.

Paul affirms: "You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col 3:3).

We have certainly died with respect to our former life in sin, and now have a new life in Christ through faith. Its end has not yet been visibly revealed to us.

Saint John says that we shall be like Him, because we shall enjoy the contemplation of the unchangeable, divine, and eternal.

We shall be Godlike in our immortality and blessedness.

Yet we shall remain distinct from the Creator, since we ourselves are creatures.

This seems to refer to the body of immortality. In this way we shall be made like the Father through the Son, the only one of the Trinity Who took a body.

In that body He died, rose, and carried it with Himself into heaven.

But this does not mean that we shall contain the fullness of God, whether with bodily eyes or with the mind.

For it is one thing to see, and another to comprehend fully.

"It has not yet appeared what we shall be." These words refer to the unknown character of the future glory of the children of God. Although we know that, as children of God, we shall be like Him in holiness and glory, we cannot even imagine that glory itself. For, in the words of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor 13:12), now we see it as in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. The vision of God, of which even the righteous are now deprived, will then be the cause and source of their glory and blessedness. Then, indeed, we shall see Him as He is.

This is a further explanation of why the world does not know the sons of God. It is preceded by an indication of God’s love for them, in the sense of His most intimate communion with them: “beloved.”

“We are now children of God,” or more precisely, we are already, even now, children of God, from the time we believed in Christ. We have been so until now and will be so in the future, provided, of course, that we do not fall away.

Let the world not know us. Let it not acknowledge us as such. Let it deny our sonship to God. Nevertheless we are truly and undoubtedly children of God. In this capacity we have the right, or authority, to eternal blessedness, and even now possess it as such.

The Apostle speaks of our future so broadly that, on the one hand, his words may indicate its general unknowability.

On the other hand, they also indicate such greatness in it that the Apostle Paul spoke of it in this way: "It has not yet been revealed what we shall be" (1 Jn 3:2; cf. 1 Cor 15:54-55).

In keeping with this latter indication, the Apostle John also speaks of our future Godlikeness.

It will be revealed in the fullest and most perfect possible knowledge of all things, and especially in the knowledge of God Himself.

The Apostle Paul likewise says: "Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" (1 Cor 13:12).

Concerning our future Godlikeness, Bishop Theophan observes: "We shall be like Him, but not of the same nature with Him.

Otherwise the Apostle would not have said 'like,' but 'the very same.' Only the children of light (see Eph 5:8) can look directly upon the Source of light and glory" (Col 3:3).