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1 John 3:2
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
By faith, through the love of God, we have been adopted into God’s family (1 John 3:1). As a result, “we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 34). John presses further into the implications of this status in today’s verse, drawing our attention to the future that awaits those who belong to the Father.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (v. 2). The verse reads as a careful balance of present possession and future hope. The Christian’s standing as a child of God is not merely promised; it is already real. Yet there is more to come, and the more is far greater than the now. What we will be exceeds what we currently see in ourselves.
John identifies the moment of this transformation as the appearing of Christ. When the Lord returns in glory, those who belong to Him will be made like Him. The Apostle Paul speaks similarly when he writes that our lowly bodies will be transformed to be like Christ’s glorious body (Phil. 3:21). What awaits the people of God is not merely an improvement on the present life but a comprehensive reshaping of body and soul into the likeness of the risen Christ.
John adds that this transformation will occur “because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). The vision of Christ in His glory will itself be transforming. To behold Him face-to-face will be to be conformed to Him. The Reformed tradition has spoken of this as the beatific vision, the final and culminating sight of God in Christ that completes the believer’s sanctification and inaugurates eternal joy. We have been promised more than the absence of suffering or the company of fellow saints, glorious as those things are. We have been promised the unmediated sight of our Savior and a transformation that responds to it.
This hope shapes the present life of the Christian profoundly. We are not yet what we will be; therefore, we live in expectation. We hold present sufferings loosely, knowing that they cannot diminish the glory to come. We pursue holiness now, knowing that it is the foretaste of the holiness that will be ours when we see Him as He is. The doctrine of the believer’s future glorification is not abstract speculation. It is the living horizon toward which every Christian walks.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The Christian’s deepest hope is not merely the cessation of suffering but the sight of Christ and conformity to His image. May this hope quicken our pursuit of holiness today, and may the prospect of seeing Him face-to-face steady us in every present trial.
For further study
- Job 19:25–27
- 1 Corinthians 13:12
- 2 Corinthians 3:18
- Revelation 22:3–5
The bible in a year
- Isaiah 59–61
- 2 Thessalonians 1