Easter 4: Epistle, 1 John 3:16-24                                               

1 John 3:16-24

So very many know the wondrous truths expressed in perhaps the most well-known Bible verse in English. John 3:16 is perhaps the most memorized, most published verse as well. And it focuses us on the immense gift of our Heavenly Father realized in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son. All because of the need our sin and sins have required for a heavenly payment.

Toward the end of the New Testament, John, the apostle is credited with authorship of three distinct letters for all the people of God. The second and third letters are short, each having only one chapter. But the first of the three holds five chapters and so yes, it does include another “3:16.”

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” There it is. With a veiled reference to the better-known, this 3:16 calls us to remember the Savior laying down His life for us. But then, with that act as a backdrop, the blessed Apostle moves us toward living (and dying) likewise. Is the “lay down” that John calls for here necessarily death? Well it may be, but perhaps the dying while living is the more difficult of the two possibilities. It is one thing to give your life over to death. It is another to give your life away while your heart still beats. Both are precious and should be considered so to be. 

Paul wrote in a similar vein, “ … in humility, count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3b). To live for another, for a brother or sister to the point where the whole of life is given away is an impossible task apart from the Holy Spirit given by Christ. But with Him living the very life of the Savior through us, He shares with us the joy of what it means to lay down one’s life. I need both 3:16’s.