And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
All Commentaries on 1 John 3:19 Go To 1 John 3
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
If ye remember, brethren, yesterday we closed our sermon at this sentence, 1 John 3:18-20 which without doubt behooved and does behoove to abide in your heart, seeing it was the last ye heard. My little children, let us not love only in word and in tongue; but in deed and in truth. Then he goes on: And herein we know that we are of the truth, and assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart think ill of us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. He had said, Let us not love only in word and in tongue, but in work and in truth: we are asked, In what work, or in what truth, is he known that loves God, or loves his brother? Above he had said up to what point charity is perfected: what the Lord says in the Gospel, Greater love than this has no man, that one lay down his life for his friends, John 15:13 this same had the apostle also said: As He laid down His life for us, we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16 This is the perfection of charity, and greater can not at all be found. But because it is not perfect in all, and that man ought not to despair in whom it is not perfect, if that be already born which may be perfected: and of course if born, it must be nourished, and by certain nourishments of its own must be brought unto its proper perfection: therefore, we have asked concerning the commencement of charity, where it begins, and there have straightway found: But whoso has this world's goods, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of the Father in him? 1 John 3:17 Here then has this charity, my brethren, its beginning: to give of one's superfluities to him that has need to him that is in any distress; of one's temporal abundance to deliver his brother from temporal tribulation. Here is the first rise of charity. This, being thus begun, if you shall nourish with the word of God and hope of the life to come, you will come at last unto that perfection, that you shall be ready to lay down your life for your brethren.
But, because many such things are done by men who seek other objects, and who love not the brethren; let us come back to the tes timony of conscience. How do we prove that many such things are done by men who love not the brethren? How many in heresies and schisms call themselves martyrs! They seem to themselves to lay down their lives for their brethren. If for the brethren they laid down their lives, they would not separate themselves from the whole brotherhood. Again, how many there are who for the sake of vainglory bestow much, give much, and seek therein but the praise of men and popular glory, which is full of windiness, and possesses no stability! Seeing, then, there are such, where shall be the proof of brotherly charity? Seeing he wished it to be proved, and has said by way of admonition, My little children, let us not love only in word and in tongue; but in deed and in truth; we ask, in what work, in what truth? Can there be a more manifest work than to give to the poor? Many do this of vainglory, not of love. Can there be a greater work than to die for the brethren? This also, many would fain be thought to do, who do it of vainglory to get a name, not from bowels of love. It remains, that that man loves his brother, who before God, where God alone sees, assures his own heart, and questions his heart whether he does this indeed for love of the brethren; and his witness is that eye which penetrates the heart, where man cannot look. Therefore Paul the Apostle, because he was ready to die for the brethren, and said, I will myself be spent for your souls, 2 Corinthians 12:15 yet, because God only saw this in his heart, not the mortal men to whom he spoke, he says to them, But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or at man's bar. 1 Corinthians 4:3 And the same apostle shows also in a certain place, that these things are oft done of empty vainglory, not upon the solid ground of love: for speaking of the praises of charity he says, If I distribute all my goods to the poor, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3 Is it possible for a man to do this without charity? It is. For they that have divided unity, are persons that have not charity. Seek there, and you shall see many giving much to the poor; shall see others prepared to welcome death, insomuch that where there is no persecutor they cast themselves headlong: these doubtless without charity do this. Let us come back then to conscience, of which the apostle says: For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience. 2 Corinthians 1:12 Let us come back to conscience, of which the same says, But let each prove his own work, and then he shall have glorying in himself and not in another. Galatians 6:4 Therefore, let each one of us prove his own work, whether it flow forth from the vein of charity, whether it be from charity as the root that his good works sprout forth as branches. But let each prove his own work, and then he shall have glorying in himself and not in another, not when another's tongue bears witness to him, but when his own conscience bears it.
This it is then that he enforces here. In this we know that we are of the truth, when in deed and in truth we love, not only in words and in tongue: and assure our heart before Him. 1 John 3:19 What means, before Him? Where He sees. Whence the Lord Himself in the Gospel says: Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward with your Father which is in heaven. And what means, Let not your left hand know what your right hand does: except that the right hand means a pure conscience, the left hand the lust of the world? Many through lust of the world do many wonderful things: the left hand works, not the right. The right hand ought to work, and without knowledge of the left hand, so that lust of the world may not even mix itself therewith when by love we work anything that is good. And where do we get to know this? You are before God: question your heart, see what you have done, and what therein was your aim; your salvation, or the windy praise of men. Look within, for man cannot judge whom he cannot see. If we assure our heart, let it be before Him. Because if our heart think ill of us, i.e. accuse us within, that we do not the thing with that mind it ought to be done withal, greater is God than our heart, and knows all things. Thou hidest your heart from man: hide it from God if you can. How shall you hide it from Him, to whom it is said by a sinner, fearing and confessing, Whither shall I go from Your Spirit? And from Your face whither shall I flee? He sought a way to flee, to escape the judgment of God, and found none. For where is God not? If I shall ascend, says he, into heaven, You are there: if I shall descend into hell, You are there. Whither will you go? Whither will you flee? Will you hear counsel? If you would flee from Him, flee to Him. Flee to Him by confessing, not from Him by hiding: hide you can not, but confess you can. Say unto Him, You are my place to flee unto; and let love be nourished in you, which alone leads unto life. Let your conscience bear you witness that your love is of God. If it be of God, do not wish to display it before men; because neither men's praises lift you unto heaven, nor their censures put you down from thence. Let Him see, who crowns you: be He your witness, by whom as judge you are crowned. Greater is God than our heart, and knows all things.
