The divine indicative always precedes the divine imperative. Which is just a fancy way of saying that what we do reflects who we are. We already are the children of God. “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” We don’t need to do anything in order to have our identity as part of God’s family. What we do (keep the commandments, say our prayers, act in charity, etc.) does not earn us our place as children of God but rather reflects our identity as children of God. We keep ourselves pure, St. John says in his epistle, to embody the dignity that we already possess as beloved children of God.
