Observations on John’s use of the present tense in 1 John, part 2 – Doing

Apology: I have reread this several times and made many changes. This has been difficult for me to organize, but I hope you can follow the ideas.

The Greek verb poieō [ποιέω] may be translated as “to make, produce, create” and “to do, perform, carry out, execute.”¹ The 1995 revision of the New American Standard Bible translates this word as make, do, and practice. This verb occurs as a verb seven times and as a participle six times. Each occurrence distinguishes either the people John addresses or the unbelievers who have influenced them. Of the thirteen occurrences in 1 John, only in 5:10 is the word not in the present tense but the perfect tense. In 5:10, the idea of the verb is to make. The one who does not believe, that is in Christ, has made God a liar. Has made translates the perfect tense form of our verb, meaning this person has in the past made God a liar with the result that God remains a liar as they see Him. They refuse to believe what God has said about His Son Jesus Christ. God is not a liar, but this person treats God as a liar and says so to others.

John uses the present indicative form of poieō five times in I John. The indicative expresses reality as opposed to possibility (the Greek subjunctive), a command (the imperative), or a wish (the optative). In 1:5-10, John corrects some wrong thinking expressed by some believers. They claim to have a great relationship with God, but their conduct contradicts their claims. So, the reality is, they are not doing or practicing the Truth, and they make God a liar (1:6, 10). Both ideas of the verb are used in this verse. Both claims likely originated with the antichrists who are unbelievers. We don’t expect unbelievers to make accurate claims about God or themselves. However, some of John’s readers repeated these claims. This reminds us that repeated exposure to wrong teaching without correction tends to infiltrate truth, corrupt truth, and present error as truth. Even believers who should know better may do this. In the first case, they claim to share (present tense) or have fellowship with God but they walk in darkness. Darkness is the absence of God’s life in activity. This means either that they do not have eternal life, or they are not laying hold of that life (cp 1 Tim. 6:12). The Truth emphasizes what only God can do and includes giving us eternal life which is God’s kind of life. God uses His life, for in Him there is no darkness at all (Jh. 1:4). God has given us this life so we too can walk in light (Jh. 8:12). If one’s daily activity does show forth eternal life, such an individual is not sharing or having fellowship with God. In the second instance, one claims to have not sinned. The verb sin is in the perfect tense with the negative particle “not”. This constitutes a claim that one has not sinned and does not sin. They may mean that they ceased sinning at some point in the past or that they have never sinned. In either case, they are making God a liar because God says we are sinners, knows we are sinners, and sent His Son to deal with our problem of sin. Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8). Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 3:18). In this context, John indicates this problem is ongoing. Both individuals are not doing something that they should and are making God something that He is not.

In three texts, John uses the simple present tense sense for the actions of those who are doing lawlessness, those born from God who are not doing sin, and believers who are confident as they ask God because they are doing the things that are pleasing to Him (3:4, 9, 22). I’ll save 3:4 for later, but I’ll look at the last two verses. In 3:8 and 9, John contrasts those who are from the devil to those who are born from God. Those who are doing the sin are the devil’s children. Those who have been born from God (i.e. His children) do not do sin. In both statements, John uses a form of our verb poieō translated “do.” He does not use the verb “sin” but the verb “do” with the noun “sin”. The difference is emphasis. Doing sin stated with the present tense verb “do” views sinning as the activity or even lifestyle of an individual. 3:8 states that the devil sins from a beginning. His defining activity is sinning or rebelling against God. Those from the devil, do sin as their way of life; it characterizes them. The new birth has changed believers so that while they sin at times, sin is not their defining action. In 3:22, John helps his readers overcome the false guilt that arises from listening to the errors of the antichrists. Rather than loving the world, they do things pleasing to God, specifically loving other believers. This places them firmly within God’s will so that they ask within His will and receive from Him those things He desires for them. In these texts, the present indicative verb emphasizes a defining activity.

John uses the present participial form of the verb “do” six times in 1 John. A participle is a hybrid of a noun and a verb. I will translate these forms of the verb “do” as “doing” for clarity. In the following texts John uses these participles as substantives or nouns to define the nature of certain people. On 1 John 3:4, Lenski agrees, “The governing habitus² is referred to as this is operative and apparent in action, in doing.”³ On the same text, Curtis Vaughn states, “The Greek suggests the doing of sin as a practice, not the committing of an act of sin.”⁴

In 1 John 2:15-17, John has called the young men to stop loving the world. In this context, loving the world is more than being enamored with the acquisition of things, obsessed with appearance, or accomplishing things that are boastworthy. All those are partly true, but John is concerned that the antichrists have suggested that believers should love the world, meaning we lay down our lives for those people and dive into their methodology. This has been a regular temptation and distraction to believers and the Church throughout her history. So, in 2:17, John states that while the world is passing away (believers will never keep up with the constantly changing face of this world) the one doing God’s will be at ease into the age. John has set down in the previous verses that God’s will is for believers to love believers (2:7-11). Rather than loving this ephemeral world, we can continue loving our brothers and sisters. One cannot be at ease into the age if they love the world because its shifting state will keep them worried about whether they are keeping up with the latest fad. But loving believers never goes out of style. Within God’s plan and His family, love is always appropriate. This believer is characterized as one doing God’s will.

Those who are born from Him (i.e. God the Father) are characterized as doing the righteousness (1 Jh. 2:29). God is righteous, so His children are righteous. John defines this righteousness by contrast in 3:10, where “not doing righteousness” is further expressed as “not loving his brother.” Therefore, the opposite means, righteousness is loving our brother.

1 John 3:4 provides a succinct New Testament definition of sin. The Sin is the Lawlessness. Sin means to miss a mark. Lawlessness is more than a disregard for a legal code such as the ten commands (i.e. Mosaic Law). Lawlessness is disregard for God’s will. W.E. Vine states regarding the noun “lawless”, “Where the thought is not simply that of doing what is unlawful, but of flagrant defiance of the known will of God.”⁵ Vaughn comments, “‘Lawlessness’ suggests rebellion, a flagrant defiance of God.”⁶ So the one doing sin is not trying to hit the mark but accidentally misses it. Sin is intentionally aiming for a different mark of one’s choosing. Sin is intentional. On this passage, Vine comments, “This definition of sin sets forth its essential character as the rejection of the law, or will, of God and the substitution of the will of self.”⁷ Therefore, the opening phrase, “the one doing the sin,” defines this person by sin and further by their refusal to operate within God’s expressed will.

Believers are those who do righteousness. 1 John 3:7-10 presents ideas that contrast believers to unbelievers, God’s children to the devil’s children. Believers are those who can be characterized as doing the righteousness. Such individuals are righteous like Christ is righteous. The one doing the sin is out of the devil, meaning the devil is their source, as he moves them to this rebellious lifestyle (3:8). The devil’s children do not do righteousness (3:10). The final phrase “even the one not loving his brother” negatively defines righteousness as love. Believers do this righteousness and unbelievers do not. By using three present participial forms of “do,” John has set down the defining character for believers by what they do and the defining character for unbelievers by what they do not do.

For John, “doing” defines a person. John’s use of the present tense gives a durative sense to these activities or lack of activities. John is carefully using the present tense to help his readers consider key differences between themselves and the antichrists.

1. G. Abbott Smith, A Manual Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, p. 369. ↩︎
2. “A set of norms and expectations unconsciously acquired by individual through experience and socialization as embodied dispositions” Oxford Reference https://www.oxfordreference.com ↩︎
3. R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of I and II Epistles of Peter, the three Epistles of John and the Epistle of Jude, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961) p. 455.   ↩︎
4. Curtis Vaughn, 1, 2, and 3 John: A Study Guide Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970) p. 77. ↩︎
5. W.E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, (Mclean, VA: MacDonald Publishing Company, nd) p. 657, under ANOMOS. ↩︎
6. Vaughn, op cit. p. 77. ↩︎
7. Vine, op cit. p. 657, under ANOMIA. ↩︎