Little Children, Let No One Deceive You. Whoever Practices Righteousness Is Righteous, as He Is Righteous.
The Bible is abundant with biblical examples of righteous people showing that genuine conversion necessarily involves the Holy Spirit's prior work of regeneration, producing faith and righteousness and breaking the pattern of habitual sin in those who are truly born again—in practice not perfection. Make no mistake, the unrepentant and unrighteous will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who practice sin will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, not because they fail to do works—that would be legalism—but because they're unregenerate. While it is true that "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," invoking the Lord's name demands genuine faith, not mere intellectual assent. The paradox of faith and works is easily resolved as they coexist because only authentic trust transforms; superficial belief that God exists—like the demons' acknowledgment in James 2:19—produces no spiritual change. Jesus Himself taught that no unregenerate person would enter into the Kingdom of Heaven:
Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above [Regenerated], he cannot see the kingdom of God” (NET Bible, 2019, John 3:3).The word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.sn Or born again. The Greek word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) can mean both “again” and “from above,” giving rise to Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second physical birth (v. 4).
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flowchart TD
A(((Righteousness))):::green
A ==> B(“None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10).):::green
A ==> C(“Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous” (1Jn. 3:7).):::green
B -->|<strong>Universal Unrighteousness When Taken Out-of-Context</strong>| D(<strong>Heresy of Antinomianism</strong><br>False teachers encourage sin by misrepresenting Scripture: they cite 1Jn. 1:8-10 (all have sinned) but deny 1Jn. 3:6-10 (not all practice sin), claiming universal unrighteousness while ignoring the full council of God.):::red
C -->|<strong>Self-Righteousness When Taken Out-of-Context</strong>| E(<strong>Heresy of Legalism</strong><br>False teachers who teach that <strong>you must perform</strong> righteousness in order to <strong>earn or merit</strong> salvation.):::red
B ==>|<strong>In-Context</strong>| F(<strong>Christianity</strong><br>No one is righteous enough to earn or merit salvation, but a person who “does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1Jn. 3:10). Transformation is the evidence of grace received, not the basis of salvation, and not the same as perfection.):::green
C ==>|<strong>In-Context</strong><br>• Jesus is righteous<br>• Noah and Lot are righteous—even before the cross (Gen. 6:9; 2Pe. 2:7-8)<br>• Christians who practice righteousness are righteous (1Jn. 3:7,10)| F
D -->|• They don't abide in Christ's teachings because they do not have God (2Jn. 1:9) — instead the spirit of deception (1Jn 4:5-6). <br>• They're unregenerate because God's seed is not in them (1Jn. 3:9)—They are not regenerated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.| G(<strong>Consequence</strong><br>• Children of the Devil (1Jn.3:4-10).<br>• Sons of the evil one (Matt. 13:36-43 ESV).<br>• Slaves of Depravity (2Pe.2:17-19 LEB).):::darkred
E -->|They confuse justification with the regenerating and sanctifying work of grace, making obedience the ground of acceptance rather than its fruit (Phil. 3:9; Titus 3:5).| H(<strong>Consequence</strong><br>• Severed from Christ, fallen from grace (Gal. 5:4).):::darkred
F ==>|Regeneration is effected solely by the power of the Holy Spirit, and its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith, and newness of life.| I(<strong>Result</strong><br>• Full assurance of being born again (1Jn. 2:29).<br>• Full assurance that we know Christ (1Jn. 2:3-6).<br>• Full assurance of genuine faith (2Cor. 13:5). ):::green
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While everyone has sin (1 Jn. 1:8-10), not everyone pursues lifestyles of indulgent sin practice (1 Jn. 3:6-10). The reason for this cessation of sin—given in the ninth verse of John's first epistle (1 Jn. 3:9)—is that God's seed, which is the Holy Spirit, is credited with our transformation in the practice of righteousness. The Apostle Paul further reveals the doom of the unrighteous and unregenerate—those without the Holy Spirit:
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (NET Bible, 2019, 1 Cor. 6:9-11).
These warnings are written to people who would be listening to the New Testament epistles as they were read aloud in New Testament Churches (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 2 Cor. 13:5; Heb. 3:12; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 3:6, 9-10; 14). That means this is a warning for believers; it is a warning for you:
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God! (NET Bible, 2019, Galatians 5:19-21).
Your responsibility is therefore to guard the little ones from stumbling into unrighteousness and to call them to repentance from sin and faith in our Lord Jesus as Lord and Master. To neglect this responsibility, and thereby contribute to their stumbling, carries dire consequences. Christ Himself declared with unmistakable severity that it would be better for such a person to suffer a horrific death—drowned with a millstone hung around his neck and cast into the depths of the sea—than to cause one of these little ones who believe in Him to stumble into sin.
Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea (New Living Translation, 2015, Matt. 18:3-6 NLT; cf. Lk. 17:2 KJV).
- NET Bible: Full Notes Edition. (2019). Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
- New Living Translation. (2015). Tyndale House Publishers.
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