“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”
We know
This is the third and last “we know” of this section. We know two truths in this verse: 1) we know that God is our Father and 2) that the world system is under the dominion of Satan. One is positive and the other negative. We are either a child of God or a child of the devil, one or the other.
2 Pe 1:2-4, 2 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
that we are of God,
We enjoy the certainty of our relationship to the Father. In this verse, John shows the distinction between those who find their origin in God and those who find their origin in Satan. The divine capacity/nature is inherently sinless, while the sin nature lies under the sway of Satan.
1 Jn 3:9, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”
1 Jn 5:1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.”
1 Jn 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
PRINCIPLE:
Life is correspondent with its source.
APPLICATION:
When a Christian sins, he steps out of character of his spiritual heritage. The partition between the believer and Satan’s world system is as great as the separation between God and Satan. The essential division from the satanic system occurred at the point of salvation, so Christians have an entirely new way of living. Previously we walked according to the norms and standards of this world. Apart from God, there is no satisfaction. When the Christian sins, he is fully aware that he is acting out of character.
The cross is an offense to this world system (Ga 5:11). People living under this system do not want any authority over them, and especially they do not care for God’s authority over them. They do not like to be told that to lie and undermine your fellow man is not right. They desire that privilege if it is convenient for their plans. They will deceive anyone to accomplish their purposes. All of this occurs because Satan deludes them. He blinds their eyes and minds.
Jn 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
2 Co 4:3-4, 3 “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age [Satan] has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
