John 1:12
About this verseTo everyone who welcomes Jesus and trusts in his name, God gives the right to become his children.
1 John 3:1
John marvels at how lavishly the Father loves us — enough to call us his children, which is exactly what we are.
Consider the kind of love the Father has given us: we are called children of God, and we really are his children. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
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Say the verse aloud, filling in each blank. Tap a blank for a hint.
What 1 John 3:1 means
John begins with an imperative to look: *consider*. He treats God’s love as something to be stared at rather than assumed, and the phrase ‘the kind of love’ carries a note of astonishment — love of a foreign sort, unlike anything on offer elsewhere.
Then he adds three words that refuse to let it stay theoretical: and so we are. Not called children as a courtesy, but actually made them. He goes on to explain why the world does not recognise believers — it did not recognise him either.
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Questions about 1 John 3:1
What does 1 John 3:1 mean?
It calls readers to marvel at the kind of love the Father has lavished on them — love that names them children of God and genuinely makes them so.
Why does John add ‘and so we are’?
To close off any sense that ‘children of God’ is only a title or a figure of speech. The status is real, not honorary.