v1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
v2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
v3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Observations
We have been adopted as children of God!
Because of our new family (God’s family; God’s kingdom; God’s culture) we are foreigners to those who don’t know God — they don’t know us because we’re from a *very* different family
As *children* of God, we don’t yet know what we’ll grow up to be. Growing up as God’s child gives us potential that we don’t know about — He’s that good of a father to us.
He’s making us like Him
Our childhood to God is a great hope. Those of us with it do things to make ourselves more like God (more pure like God) — it happens naturally.