“When He Shall Appear” in 1 John 3:2

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

This verse causes some readers to doubt inmillennialism. For example, a dear brother wrote, “1 Jn. 3:2b says, ‘when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.’” After quoting several other passages, he continues. “If Christ does not return in the personal manner as described above, we cannot be saved. It is upon His return that we experience the completion of our salvation – the resurrection and redemption of the body. This is why the matter of His return is of such great importance and there is the need for straightforward biblical thinking and communicating on the subject” (emphasis added).

If this reasoning is correct, inmillennialism faces a significant problem. This prophetic model asserts Jesus’s return occurred during the lifetime of some who heard him speak (Matt 16:27–28). His coming (Gk. parousia) and the Temple’s destruction were inseparable (Matt 24:1–3, 27, 37, 39). Both happened in Jesus’s generation in AD 70 (Matt 24:34).

Inmillennialism states the Lord’s “coming” (Gk. parousia, e.g. Matt 24:27) is the same as his “appearance” (Gk. phaneroō, 1 John 3:2). John¹ makes this clear: “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear (Gk. phaneroō), we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming (Gk. parousia)” (1 John 2:28). Scripture links the “appearance” of Christ to his “coming” and the Temple’s destruction.

Inmillennialism also says to “be like him” means to have a glorified body. Paul said God “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil 3:21). This will occur in the bodily resurrection.

So, inmillennialism’s problem is clear. If Christ’s appearance and coming were in AD 70, why do we not have glorified bodies? Or, we do not have glorified bodies. How, then, could Christ’s coming and appearance have been first-century events? 

How can inmillennialism be true?

Resolution and Reasons

Inmillennialism’s difficulty in 1 John 3:2 revolves around a single word—“when.” To help us talk about this problem, we will refer to “when he shall appear” as the “appearance.” And, we will speak of “we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” as our “glorification.” This “when” causes most Christians to make an assumption. Glorification and the Lord’s appearance seem to occur at the same moment. 

This assumption is not true. The Greek word for “when” (ean) does not of itself mean “at the same time.” It means “if.”

Factors outside the text itself can, on rare occasions, justify the translation “when.” In these cases ean can imply “as soon as,” “at the same time,” or something similar. Even in these cases, ean still implies an “if.” We argue that 1 John 3:2 is not a place that implies “when.” Here, it means “if.” 

This may surprise (or shock) many readers. So, we must hasten to provide our evidence. It will come from several sources.

Literal translations show John does not mean “when.” In Young’s Literal Translation John says, “beloved, now, children of God are we, and it was not yet manifested what we shall be, and we have known that if (Gk. ean) he may be manifested, like him we shall be, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Berry’s interlinear has, “if (ean) he be manifested, like him we shall be.”² William Norton has “if (ean) he shall be made manifest, we shall be like him.”³ “If” is John’s literal meaning.

Grammarians like Daniel Wallace confirm this definition. “Ei and ean are the major conditional conjunctions. They are translated if.”⁴ He shows how ean creates an “if” condition. “A conditional sentence has two parts: an ‘if’ part and a ‘then’ part.”⁵ Ean in passages like 1 John 3:2 creates a “third class” condition.⁶ This structure “is a common category of conditional clauses, occurring nearly 300 times in the NT.”⁷ He appears to omit “when” as a meaning for ean.

Lexicons give “if” as the primary (or exclusive) meaning of ean. Here are two examples: “if haply, if”⁸; “conjunction; if, if at any time, whenever.”⁹ Ean creates an “if” condition that must be fulfilled before the “then” can happen. It is “a conditional particle, which makes reference to time and to experience, introducing something future.”¹⁰ In 1 John 3:2, the saints’ glorification is after Christ’s appearance. This is all ean means.

The translations use “if” to translate ean in a large majority of other passages. This word occurs 275 times in the Received Text—the Greek basis for the Authorized (King James) Version. The translators used “if” in 199 of these. They used “when” only twice, in 1 John 3:2 and 1 Cor 14:16. Other versions—the ESV, NKJV, HCSB, etc.— have “if” in 1 Cor 14:15. So, 1 John 3:2 is a rare—the only?—instance where the versions agree on “when” for ean. The reason for this does not come from the word itself, as we shall see.

John’s other writings suggest he is not thinking of Christ’s appearance and our glorification as simultaneous actions. Below we show the structure of 1 John 3:2 using the American Standard Version. Its “if” comprises ean before a verb in the subjunctive mood. Its “then” is a future-tense verb. We then show three other examples of this structure from John’s writings.

1 John 3:2, ASV — “If (ean) he shall be manifested [subjunctive], we shall be like him [future]; for we shall see [future] him even as he is.”
John 12:32 — “If (ean) I be lifted up [subjunctive] from the earth, [I] will draw [future] all men unto me.”
John 14:3 — “If (ean) I go and prepare [subjunctives] a place for you, I will come again [future], and receive [future] you unto myself.”
John 16:7 — “if (ean) I go [subjunctive] not away, the Comforter will not come [future] unto you.”

In John 12:32, Jesus is not saying he will draw all men at the moment of his crucifixion. He will draw men during the entire messianic age. The final drawing will occur in the resurrection at the end of that age (John 6:44).

In John 14:3, the “if” part—“going” and “preparing”—cannot happen at the same time as the “then” part—“coming again” and “receiving.” Jesus said his “coming again” would occur in his generation (Matt 16:17–18; 24:34). The final “receiving unto himself” will occur in the resurrection at the end of the messianic age (John 5:28–29; 1 Cor 15:23–26).

In John 16:7, the “then” part—the coming of the Holy Spirit—would occur after the “if” part. Simultaneous action for these two events is impossible.

Inmillennialism says 1 John 3:2 follows John’s pattern elsewhere. His “if”—Christ’s appearance—does not occur at the moment of his “then”—the glorification of the saints.

Commentators who deal with the Greek text often admit ean means “if” in 1 John 3:2. One says ean here means “‘if’; expressing no doubt as to the fact, but only as to the time; also implying that on the coming preliminary fact, the consequence follows.”¹¹⁠ Another says, “As in [1 John 2:29] the conditional aspect of ean (“if” or “whenever”) does not cast doubt on the certainty of the event itself, but rather on the exact time of the event.”¹² These observations show our glorification does not, of necessity, occur at the time of Christ’s appearance.

Why, then, do most translators and commentators think ean means “when” in this verse? There is one grand reason—their prophetic models need it. One scholar makes this point clear. “We assume, therefore, that [ean phanerōthē—“when he appears”] alludes to the future parousia of Jesus Christ in glory at the end of time.”¹³ If this assumption is correct, Christ’s parousia will be the last event in history. So, no other meaning for ean in 1 John 3:2 is possible. Glorification must occur “when” Christ appears. 

Inmillennialism denies this assumption. The parousia is a state of being, not a point-in-time event. This “presence” of Christ with his churches began in the first century. It will continue throughout the messianic age. If this perspective is true, ean can keep its usual “if” meaning in 1 John 3:2. This occurrence will then match John’s other uses of ean (John 12:32; 14:3; 16:7; et al.). 

This is not the place to re-justify inmillennialism. Our goal here is to show that one cannot use the “when” of 1 John 3:2 to invalidate this prophetic model. To do so would be to use circular reasoning.

Conclusion

Inmillennialism accepts 1 John 3:2 without hesitation. But, it rejects “when” as a valid translation of ean in this place. John specified Jesus’s appearance as a condition—if he appears. 

Jesus fulfilled this condition. He returned in his generation as he promised. John’s then—our glorification—is certain.

Other Scriptures show when our glorification will occur. We will be like Christ in the resurrection at the end of the messianic age.

Let’s imagine ourselves living in the first century. Here is a way someone might have paraphrased 1 John 3:2. “If Christ appears at his coming in this generation as he promised—the Mosaic age will end. The messianic age will continue. Then—in the new age of resurrection—God will make us like Christ. He will glorify the saints in the resurrection at the end of the messianic age.”

This might have reminded us of Paul’s teaching. God raised Christ as “the firstfruits” of the dead. This first resurrection happened at the beginning of the parousia, or messianic age. “Afterwards,” at the end of the parousia, God will make the saints like Christ in the bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15:23).

Ean in 1 John 3:2 “implies a condition which experience must determine, an objective possibility.”¹⁴ Jesus fulfilled that “if” in his generation (Matt 24:34). The “then” is, therefore, certain—“we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

1. The image in this post is The Apostle John by Girolamo Troppa (1637–1710). This file (here) is in the public domain (PD-US).
2. George Ricker Berry, The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament With Lexicon and Synonyms (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), 611. Emphasis added.
3. A Translation, in English Daily Used, of the Peshito-Syriac Text and of the Received Greek Text: Greek Translation, trans. William Norton (London: W. K. Bloom, 1889).
4. Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 682. Greek transliterated.
5. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 682.
6. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 689.
7. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 696.
8. Henry George Liddell et al., A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 465.
9. T. Friberg, B. Friberg, and N. F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 124.
10. Joseph Thayer and James Strong, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Coded With Strong’s Concordance Numbers (Milford, MI: Mott Media, 1982), 162. Emphasis added.
11. Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Matthew–John, vol. 3 of A Commentary, Critical, Experimental and Practical on the Old and New Testaments, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 3:636.
12. Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38 of The New American Commentary, (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2001), 135.
13. Stephen S. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 51 of Word Biblical Commentary, eds. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Waco, TX: Word, 1984), 146.
14. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000), s.v. ἐάν eán.