We should not be surprised that the world does not understand us, for it does not know God. Now this is not an excuse for being obscure or religious nuts. What it means is that the we need to appreciate that there is a clash of kingdoms: God's kingdom and the world's kingdom.
So what are we to do? John reminds us that we are children of God. After Christ returns we shall be transformed and will be totally Christlike. That transformation will only be completed when Christ returns, but it has already started. So we are to purify ourselves, we are to seek to be more and more like Christ, in attitudes and actions.
Some of the false teachers indulged in all sorts of sinful behaviour. Sin is not an option for us, for it is lawlessness. This does not mean we will never sin (see chapter 1), but sin should be something we seek to avoid. Jesus came to take away sin. He was totally without sin, so anyone who claims to follow Christ yet deliberately and persistently keeps on sinning is a liar.
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