2:29–3:3 As those taught by the Spirit, believers know an entire system of truth and life that remains hidden to those who are in the world. Essential to this is knowing that although for the time being it may not be outwardly recognized, we can still be sure that we are “children of God” and “born of him.” The public revelation of this truth waits for the public revelation of God Himself “when he appears,” at the Second Coming. True children of God will bear the family likeness, both now, as our hope lends our lives a focused purity resembling His, and at the end, when “we shall be like him.” Only then will our knowledge of Him be complete, but even now our knowledge that “he is righteous” will bring increasing righteousness to our own lives.