1 John 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
The way to purity is hope. This is an interesting link and implied progression. How does hope bring purity? We all make choices based on motivation. Some people are motivated by money and make their decisions based upon what will bring the best reward. Others are motivated by love, especially in “winning” the love of another. Others are motivated by a sense of duty. Most people have a mix of these things. Behind all of these motivations is some hope. Hope always requires an object to complete it since hope cannot exist by itself. We hope for something or hope in someone.
John the writer here connects hope with purity because hope serves as our motivation for walking in holiness. What is the object or goal of hope? We hope to be remade into the likeness of Christ (v. 2). This hope is our motivation for the choices we make. If our goal is Christlikeness, that will determine a lot about how we live.
It is noteworthy also that we purify ourselves. John emphasizes here how we become participants in the hope of Christlike holiness and love. This requires choice. Temptations will constantly bombard us, especially in our media saturated world. When temptation comes, we must choose to walk in the light as he is in the light. We learn more and more to rely on the blood of Christ which is the purifying agent by which we cleanse ourselves. This is not an either/or situation. It is not God’s work or our work. It is both. We rely on the provisions God has already offered, but we must make the choice to accept this cleansing agent and allow our hope for Christlikeness to bring us to our knees in confession.
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