BECAUSE OF THE various ministries I’ve participated in over the years, I’m something of a public person. People whom I don’t know may nevertheless know who I am, because they’ve seen me on a stage or in the pulpit. Moreover, the steady march toward online education has added a new wrinkle. Now, whenever I have a chance to meet the spouse of one of my students, they’ll often say, “Oh, I recognize your voice!” — because they’ve been in the room while the other spouse spent hours watching my lecture videos online.

All of that to say that I can be a bit self-conscious in public. It’s not that I’m an inherently testy person and need to keep myself in check. That’s not my nature. But I’ve been approached many times by people who knew me and wanted to say hello, people who up to that moment were complete strangers to me. And because of this, I always have a background sense that someone may be watching.

But it’s not just me. Every believer should have at least a little of that sense. If we care about the gospel, we need to remember that what others see in us matters. We don’t want to be accused of hypocrisy. We don’t want people to mock us for our bad behavior, saying, “And you call yourself a Christian?” The problem is that we’re far from perfect and we know it. And some people may indeed be watching to see if we fail or stumble, waiting to pounce on our mistakes in order to bolster the belief that they’re right and we’re wrong.

I imagine that some similar tension had gripped John’s community, as people debated the truth about Jesus, or possibly even what John himself had written in his gospel account. Who was right? Who was wrong? It wasn’t an academic question but a matter of identity: who in the community could legitimately consider themselves to be true followers of Christ? That’s why John has been trying to reassure his readers: Yes, you are children of God. Yes, you belong to the truth, despite your doubts. Have confidence in God.

And throughout chapter 3, his emphasis has been upon love as a mark of discipleship. He opens the chapter by marveling at God’s love. Then in verse 11 he reminds his readers of something they’ve known since they first became Christians: that Jesus commanded his followers to love one another. On the cross, Jesus showed us the meaning of sacrificial love, giving us an example to follow. Does that mean that all of his followers must also be crucified? No, but it does mean being moved to do something about the needs of our brothers and sisters.

Now, at the end of the chapter, John circles back to the theme of verse 11, reminding his readers again of the command Jesus gave to his disciples in the Upper Room:

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. (1 John 3:23-24, NIV)

Most of this should sound familiar by now. There is the obvious emphasis on Jesus’ command to love one another; John uses the word “command” three times in these two verses. There is the theme of abiding, which the New International Version translates here as “lives”; John says that those who keep God’s commands (particularly the command to love) abide in him and he in them. And as before, John asks how one might know that a person did indeed have such a relationship with God.

What’s new here is the way John answers that implied question. “We know it,” he says, “by the Spirit he gave us.” Though the word “spirit” is used nearly 400 times in the New Testament, this is the first time it shows up in John’s letter (and it won’t be the last). There are some questions, though, about what John means.

First, by “spirit,” does he mean the Holy Spirit, or the human spirit? The Greek can be read either way. Most English translations take it as a reference to the Holy Spirit, and I would agree. At the same time, however, we shouldn’t make too hard and fast a distinction, because in a relationship of mutual abiding we should expect the Holy Spirit to be constantly transforming our spirit, our motivations, our goals, our perceptions.

Second, when John says that we know that he lives in us because of the Holy Spirit, does he mean that (a) it is the Holy Spirit who gives us the insight we need, or (b) the Holy Spirit is the evidence that proves the point?

Again, we don’t have to choose; both can be true. In situations of conflict and doubt, in the face of the questions we may have about our Christian identity, it is the Holy Spirit who reassures us that, yes, God lives in us. Furthermore, we know that God lives in someone when we see external evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life.

What is that evidence? Love.

As he said in the Upper Room, Jesus had no intention of calling his disciples out of the world. They were to remain in the world while obeying his command to love one another. He sent them the Holy Spirit to encourage and empower that love. He seemed to think that others would be watching to see how they live, to see what kind of communities they would form.

They’re still watching. What will they see?