1 John 3:17

3:16-21 Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of Divine love, that God would redeem the church with his own blood. Surely we should love those whom God has loved, and so loved. The Holy Spirit, grieved at selfishness, will leave the selfish heart without comfort, and full of darkness and terror. By what can it be known that a man has a true sense of the love of Christ for perishing sinners, or that the love of God has been planted in his heart by the Holy Spirit, if the love of the world and its good overcomes the feelings of compassion to a perishing brother? Every instance of this selfishness must weaken the evidences of a man's conversion; when habitual and allowed, it must decide against him. If conscience condemn us in known sin, or the neglect of known duty, God does so too. Let conscience therefore be well-informed, be heard, and diligently attended to.

{17} But whoso hath this {p} world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and {q} shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (17) He reasons by comparisons: for if we are bound even to give our life for our neighbours, how much more are we bound to help our brothers' needs with our goods and substance? (p) Wherewith this life is sustained. (q) Opens not his heart to him, nor helps him willingly and cheerfully.

1 John 3:17 . Love must be practical. It is easy to “lay down one’s life”: martyrdom is heroic and exhilarating; the difficulty lies in doing the little things, facing day by day the petty sacrifices and self-denials which no one notices and no one applauds. τόν βίον τοῦ κόσμου , “the livelihood of the world”; see note on 1 John 2:16 . θεωρῇ , of a moving spectacle; cf. Matthew 27:55 . κλείσῃ , schliesst : the metaphor is locking the chamber of the heart instead of flinging it wide open and lavishing its treasures. σπλάγχνα , רַתְֽמִים , viscera , “the inward parts,” viewed by the ancients as the seat of the affections. Cf. Colossians 3:12 : σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ . ἡ ἀγ . τ . Θ ., “love for God” (objective genitive), inspired by and answering to the love which God feels (subjective genitive). Cf. note on 1 John 2:5 .

This world's good (τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου) Rev., the worlds goods. Βίος means that by which life is sustained, resources, wealth. Seeth (θεωρῇ) Deliberately contemplates. See on John 1:18. Rev., beholdeth. The only occurrence of the verb in John's Epistles. Have need (χρείαν ἔχοντα) Lit., having need. Rev., in need. Bowels of compassion (τὰ σπλάγχνα) See on pitiful, 1 Peter 3:8. Rev., much better, his compassion. The word only here in John.

1 John 3:17 . Τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου , the substance of the world ) An instance of the figure Litotes: in antithesis to lives , 1 John 3:16 .— κλείσῃ , shall shut ) whether asked for aid, or not asked. The sight of the wretched at once knocks at the hearts of the spectators, or even opens them: then a man freely either closes his bowels of compassion, or opens them more fully. Comp. Deuteronomy 15:7 .— τὰ σπλάγχνα , his bowels ) Together with his bowels a man’s substance is also closed or opened.— ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ) that is, love towards God : ch. 1 John 4:20 .— μένει , abides ) He said that he loved God: but he does not now love: 1 John 3:18 .

Verse 17. - "But δέ if a man not only fails to do this, but even steadily contemplates θεωρῇ another's distress, and forthwith ( aorist , κλείσῃ closes his heart against him, although he has the means of relieving him, how can he have any love for God?" The meaning is not, "How can God love him?" as is plain from 1 John 4:20 . But possibly "love such as God has shown towards us" may be meant ( 1 John 4:10 ). "The world's goods" τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου is literally "the world's means of life" (see on 1 John 2:16, and Trench on 'New Testament Synonyms,' for the difference between βίος and ζώη . (For τὰ σπλάγχνα as the seat of the affections, comp. Luke 1:78 ; 2 Corinthians 6:12 ; 2 Corinthians 7:15 ; Philippians 1:8 ; Philippians 2:1 ; Philemon 1:7, 12 .) The ἀπ αὐτοῦ is graphic; closes his heart and turns away from him ( 1 John 2:28 ). 1 John 3:17

17. this world's good—literally, "livelihood" or substance. If we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1Jo 3:16), how much more ought we not to withhold our substance? seeth—not merely casually, but deliberately contemplates as a spectator; Greek, "beholds." shutteth up his bowels of compassion—which had been momentarily opened by the spectacle of his brother's need. The "bowels" mean the heart, the seat of compassion. how—How is it possible that "the love of (that is, 'to') God dwelleth (Greek, 'abideth') in him?" Our superfluities should yield to the necessities; our comforts, and even our necessaries in some measure, should yield to the extreme wants of our brethren. "Faith gives Christ to me; love flowing from faith gives me to my neighbor."

But whoso hath this world's good - Has property - called "this world's good," or a good pertaining to this world, because it is of value to us only as it meets our wants this side of the grave; and perhaps also because it is sought supremely by the people of the world. The general meaning of this verse, in connection with the previous verse, is, that if we ought to be willing to lay down our lives for others, we ought to be willing to make those comparatively smaller sacrifices which are necessary to relieve them in their distresses; and that if we are unwilling to do this, we can have no evidence that the love of God dwells in us. And seeth his brother have need - Need of food, of raiment, of shelter; or sick, and poor, and unable to provide for his own wants and those of his family. And shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him - The bowels, or "upper viscera," embracing the heart, and the region of the chest generally, are in the Scriptures represented as the seat of mercy, piety, and compassion, because when the mind feels compassion it is that part which is affected. Compare the notes at Isaiah 16:11. How dwelleth the love of God in him? - How can a man love God who does not love those who bear his image? See the notes at 1 John 4:20. On the general sentiment here, see the notes at James 2:14-16. The meaning is plain, that we cannot have evidence of piety unless we are ready to do good to others, especially to our Christian brethren.

17 . But whoso hath this world’s good ] Better, as R. V., But whoso hath the world’s goods . The ‘But’ is full of meaning. ‘But not many of us are ever called upon to die for another: smaller sacrifices, however, may be demanded of us; and what if we fail to make them?’ The word for ‘good’ or ‘goods’ ( βίος ) is the same as that rendered ‘life’ in 1 John 2:16 , where see note. It signifies there and here ‘means of life, subsistence’. ‘The world’s life’, therefore, means that which supports the life of mankind, or life in this world (see on 1 John 2:15 ) in marked contrast to eternal life ( 1 John 3:15 ). and seeth his brother have need ] Better, and beholdeth his brother having need . The verb implies that he not only sees him ( ἰδεῖν ), but looks at him and considers him ( θεωρεῖν ). It is a word of which the contemplative Apostle is very fond; and outside the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts it occurs nowhere but in S. John’s writings and Hebrews 7:4 . It is a pity to spoil the irony of the original by weakening ‘ having need’ into ‘ in need’ (R. V.). The one has as his possession the world’s wealth , the other has as his possession need . shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him ] There is no ‘of compassion’ in the Greek and we hardly need both substantives.

The ancients believed the bowels to be the seat of the affections ( Genesis 43:30 ; 1 Kings 3:26 ; Jeremiah 31:20 ; Php 1:8 ; Php 2:1 ; Philemon 1:7 ; Philemon 1:12 ; Philemon 1:20 ) as well as the heart, whereas we take the latter only. Coverdale (here, as often, following Luther) alters Tyndale’s ‘shutteth up his compassion’ into ‘shutteth up his heart.’ And in fact, ‘shutteth up his bowels from him’ is the same as ‘closeth his heart against him.’ The phrase occurs nowhere else in N. T., but comp. 2 Corinthians 6:12 . The ‘ from him’ is picturesque, as in 1 John 2:28 : it expresses the moving away and turning his back on his brother. In LXX. ‘Thou shalt not harden thine heart’ ( Deuteronomy 15:7 ) is ‘Thou shalt not turn away thine heart’. how dwelleth the love of God in him? ] Better, as R. V., how doth the love of God abide in him? this preserves the order of the Greek better and marks the recurrence of S. John’s favourite verb ‘abide’ (see on 1 John 2:24 ). ‘The love of God’, as usual in this Epistle (see on 1 John 2:5 ), means man’s love to God. The question here is equivalent to the statement in 1 John 4:20 , that to love God and hate one’s brother is impossible.