Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 11, NKJV)
If I am on God’s side I am to choose to do good and the grace will be there. If someone does not do good they have never seen God? Or have rejected him? If anyone truly sees God they would want him? Or can some see him and actually choose to reject? Maybe God is only showing his true self to some and they will respond. The rest do not get to see God and respond?
Catholic teaching interprets 3 John 1:11 as a moral exhortation linking one's actions to their relationship with God: those who persistently do good are united to Him through grace, while those who do evil demonstrate a failure to truly know or abide in Him. "Seeing God" here refers not merely to intellectual awareness but to an intimate, transformative encounter that produces fruits of righteousness; evil actions reveal either a rejection of this light or its absence through resistance to grace. God offers sufficient grace to all for salvation, eliciting free cooperation, but human freedom allows for refusal, without God predestining anyone to evil.
### The Meaning of "Seeing God" in Scripture and Tradition
Scripture uses "seeing God" in layered ways, from natural knowledge available to all, to the supernatural vision of faith, culminating in the beatific vision in heaven for the purified soul.
- **Natural knowledge**: Every person can know God through creation and reason, common to believers and unbelievers alike. Evil people possess this dimly but suppress it through sin.
- **Knowledge by faith and grace**: True "seeing" involves encountering God's light in Christ, which reproves sin and draws one to good works. As St. Thomas Aquinas explains in his *Commentary on John* (ch. 3), evildoers "hate the light" because it exposes their deeds; they persist in darkness despite the light's arrival.
- **Beatific vision**: Only those who die in God's grace "see Him as He is" face-to-face, perfectly united to Him. No evil person attains this, as heaven excludes unrepentant sin.
3 John 1:11 aligns with 1 John 3:2 and John 3:19–21: good works manifest union with God; evil indicates one "has not seen" Him in this life-giving way, either never responding to grace or actively rejecting it.
> "For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be reproved."
St. Thomas notes unbelievers may perform seemingly good acts from natural disposition (e.g., temperance without concupiscence), but these lack supernatural virtue rooted in love of God—they fail to worship Him fully or persevere against vice.
### Doing Good as Evidence of Being "from God"
If you are "on God’s side," grace empowers your choice to do good, as divine initiative precedes and perfects human freedom. Good works are fruits of justification, meriting eternal life as a grace and recompense for the faithful.
- Persistent failure to do good signals one "has not seen God" intimately, meaning no transformative encounter via grace has taken hold—or it has been rejected.
- This does not mean zero exposure to God; all receive more grace than deserved, but some permit defect through non-cooperation.
- Catholic doctrine rejects predestination to evil: post-baptism, all can fulfill salvation through Christ's help if they labor faithfully.
As Anselm of Canterbury teaches, grace and free choice cooperate for the just; salvation requires upright will empowered by grace.
### Can One See God and Still Reject Him?
Yes, true seeing—encountering God's light—can be rejected due to free will. Grace is *sufficient* and *resistible*, moving the will toward good unless refused. Evildoers "love darkness more than the light" despite Christ's coming (John 3:19); they hate rebuke and hide sins.
> "Whoever does evil has not seen God."
This "not seen" implies persistent rejection: one who truly abides in the light repents and does good. Even pious unbelievers face greater punishment if unbaptized, as works without God's command lack excellence.
### God's Universal Call vs. Selective Revelation
God desires all to be saved, offering graces that elicit free response—no one is deprived of opportunity. He does not "hide His true self" from some arbitrarily; natural knowledge is universal, and supernatural graces suffice for all who do not resist. Reprobation (permission of final impenitence) fits a world of free creatures but takes nothing from their responsibility; all receive superabundant aid in this life.
The Church teaches beatitude comes through "right conduct freely chosen, with the help of God's law and grace." Your instinct aligns: choosing good under grace confirms union with God; refusal reveals self-chosen blindness.
In summary, 3 John 1:11 calls you to imitate good as God's child, empowered by grace. Evil-doers have rejected the light offered to all; true seeing transforms the will to desire Him. Respond freely to grace through prayer, sacraments, and charity for deeper union.
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