1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Adoption into the family of God brings many benefits. The obvious one is eternal life. But what will this life be like? John gives one of the most significant clues in verse 2: “we shall be like him.” This has been variously interpreted through time, sometimes in major distortion with people thinking that we become gods. That is not what John meant here. John was a good biblical theologian. He knew his Bible. He knew that God created the human race in God’s image (Genesis 1:27-28). There is something special and unique about us. But something happened to us because of sin. Sin distorts God’s plan for us. Sin must be confessed, forgiven, cleansed, and avoided (1 John 1:9). God adopts us at the same moment. Our openness before God allows God to begin the recreating process “in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
John also knew what Jesus taught and how Jesus lived. John knew that students become like their teachers, and disciples become like the one they follow. Jesus is the perfect image of God for humans. He came as the second Adam, the solution to the problem with sin shown by his righteousness. When Jesus comes again, we will see the perfect image of God. John will also write about this in Revelation, especially chapters 4-5. The blindness and deceit of this world will be removed. Our imperfect vision and understanding will be removed. We will see as God meant for us to see, like Adam and Eve walking with God in the cool of the evening in the Garden of Eden. The is the promise of God and God is able to do it. We must carefully consider the context and the conditions for all this to happen. Orthodox Christian doctrine is not universalistic. There are conditions to be met to be adopted as God’s children. Sadly, most of the world chooses to reject these conditions and remain walking in the darkness of the world.
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