Vs. 3:4 – “Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God’s law, because sin is a breaking of the law.” (GNMM) Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. (NASB).(note 1)
This seems like a change of subject: whoever practices sin... But maybe not, it is the opposite of keeping yourself pure. I see a slight difference in emphasis between the Good News for Modern Man version and the New American Standard Bible version. “Whoever sins..” is fairly stark (anyone, anywhere, at any time...it could be a single occurance), whereas "practices sin” has the feeling of habitual disobedience rather than a single act.
This is not just a one time incident, otherwise it conflicts with John’s own letter (this one), see 1 John 1:8-10. If we were truly sinless, then why would we need to confess, or admit we sin? Paul, in Rom 7:16-25 shows the wretched condition in which we live – we screw up, even when we know we shouldn’t, and when we don’t ‘want’ to screw up. We are sinners, but forgiven. Which doesn’t mean that we should continue to sin. On the contrary, we should be striving to not sin. The closer we come to God, the more we are aware of how short we come to perfection.
John is not writing about a one-time failing, but serial failings. See Jam 4:17 – knowing what is right to do, but not doing it is sin; but doing it over, and over, and over… This is a pattern of behavior. Also see Isa 48:17-18 – God tells them that if only they had paid attention, they would have ‘lived’. Moses warned they had a choice – life or death – obey or die (Deut 30:19).
“practice lawlessness” – according to the lexicon, lawlessness is describing a condition of without law by ignorance, or by violation, or by contempt and violation of law. Note: violation of the law results in lawlessness, but practicing lawlessness is a repetitive happening (contempt for the law would be the driving force, where we do not fear the consequences.)
| practice…sin Lawlessness |
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Vs. 3:5 - And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
See John 1:29; 3:16-21; Rom 11:27. In Christ we have forgiveness of sins (Col.1:14). There is forgiveness through Him and no other (Acts 10:43).
Christ, through the communion sacrament, told us to remember there is forgiveness of sins in Him (Matt. 26:28).
Forgiveness is from God (Ps. 79:9, Mark 2:7).
Jesus forgave sins while here on earth (Matt. 9:16).
Christ is pure and holy, as God the Father is holy. God is described as too pure to even look on evil (Hab 1:13).
We have a high priest (Christ) who was tempted but was without sin (Hbr 4:15).
Even the demons knew that Jesus is God (Mrk 1:24).
God the Father was pleased with Christ (Lk 3:22) – Why is this important, that God was pleased? If God, who is holy, is not pleased, then the offering is not acceptable. If the offering is not acceptable, then it cannot provide forgiveness. Without forgiveness, we have no hope to meet God’s requirements. Only Christ met all of God’s requirements.
Jesus is called the Holy one of God (Acts 4:27).
Christ presents us as holy to God – through His sacrifice on the cross, we have been made holy (Col 1:22).
His blood is the vehicle (so to speak) to bring us to holiness (God) Heb. 9:12).
| Know (why He came) No sin |
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Vs. 3:6 - No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
This is an interesting verse. Taken by itself, you could be led to a philosophy (doctrine) of “sinless perfection”; to which I cannot subscribe. There are too many places in the NT, especially the letters, where believers are warned to watch themselves so they don’t sin. Note that they are not warned that all is lost if they do sin. Even John himself, (1 John 1:7-9), warns that believers need to remember they sin, and need to confess it. "abides" – this word has the sense of to live or tarry, to not depart from where you are. To live in Christ. See John 15:4-7; which states that without Christ we can do nothing.
"Has seen Him or knows Him" – again, this must be read in context – it does not mean that if we commit one sin, then we are ignorant of God and Christ, that we have known nothing of the price paid for sins. Peter sinned, when he denied Christ, as one example, but he had ‘seen’ Christ. Paul acknowledges that he sins even though he doesn’t wish to do so, and Paul had seen Christ. John states that if he says he has no sin, he lies – John saw Christ. To see Him – to take heed, or become acquainted by experience. To know Him – to learn to know, understand, and perceive Him. I think John is indicating that if we ‘abide’ then we become so familiar, as if we spent time staring at Him.
There is a book, "The Little Book of Talent" by Doyle. It is about sports and the discipline required for excelling. Without meaning to be so, this is a very spiritual book. It is about the things to practice to become a good golfer, or tennis, or chess, or violin player also apply to walking in our faith. We often believe that successful athletes are just more talented than we. That is true, to a point. Beyond that point is hard work, discipline, time spent perfecting their craft. One of the first premises presented in the book is to find someone to model and 'stare' at him. Study that person: the way he stands, the way he holds the club or racquet, the way he moves his arms, his feet, torso, the way he finishes his follow-through. Then, emulate that style, technique. Break it down into bite-size steps. Practice and perfect them.
Doesn't that sound like learning to live the Christian life? Find a brother or sister in Christ who would be a good example. Do what they do. Do what Christ did. Let them mentor you.
| Sinning = not knowing Him. |
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Vs. 3:7,8 – Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. -
These verses (7,8) probably should be read together, since separately, verse 7 by itself doesn’t make a lot of sense. Note: verses 7-10 are about practicing righteousness. How do we know how to practice righteousness? Start by loving one another.
Who would try to deceive you by saying that practicing righteousness is not an indication of being righteous? (Well, maybe Satan, but not a lot of other takers on that one). However, it makes a pretty good lie to tell you that you can still be righteous if you continue to sin. These lies, spread by Satan, and by others who are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are other mis-directions: ‘You’re O.K. I’m O.K.’, ‘White lies don’t count…”. These idea is a great scam – “live like you want, not regarding God’s laws and requirements, and because of Christ’s payment, you can still be righteous.”
Dallas Willard, in “Divine Conspiracy”, says that he hates the bumper sticker "Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven." He thinks it is shorthand for it doesn’t matter how I act/behave because I have a free pass through Christ. The result is non-effective Christians, who can’t be discerned from non-believers.
| Don't be deceived Practice righteousness |
Don’t be fooled – you cannot be righteous and live a life of sin. Why? The Devil has been defeated by Christ Jesus. He no longer has a strangle hold on you, if you abide in Christ. Since you are no longer controlled by Satan, then living a life of sin indicates you are choosing to disobey the Lord. The book of Proverbs classifies this person as as fool - someone who knows the right thing to do, but chooses otherwise. Living in sin is antithetical to Christianity.
C.S. Lewis in "Mere Christianity" says this so beautifully: "Now the whole offer which Christianty makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which has always existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shal be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has - by what I call 'good infection'. Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else."
v. 7 - “for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” -
Not sure how this works out (time versus eternity and timelessness-wise) – God is a spirit, and lives in eternity. There is no ‘time’ for Him. Has Satan/devil/Lucifer sinned from the moment he was created (the beginning)? It appears so. We understand, that the archangel Michael contended with Satan (see Rev.). To some extent, in Ezek 28:12-14, the devil is shown in his glorious and splendid state (using the king of Tyre as imagery). In Isa 14:12-14, the king of Babylon is shown, and the devil is the power behind Babylon, and other world powers. Satan is an accuser of the saints. He is used by God for judgement of His people; and the fall of Lucifer/devil/Satan is depicted. Eph 6:12 says that we battle against the powers of darkness, i.e., the devil. He is the enemy of Christ, and will be defeated and destroyed at the end of time.
| Destroy – devil’s work |
v. 8 - "Destroy the works of the devil". – Again, see Rev 20:7-10. Complete and utter defeat. The works of Christ the Savior are vindicated. Did they need to be? No. But it completes the work started by the Lord, in order to offset the rebellion of Satan and his angel demons.
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Vs. 3:9 - No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. -
Rebirth breaks the strangle hold sin has on us. We no longer need to be habitual sinners (practicing sin). When Christ and Holy Spirit make their home, settle down, get comfortable, we will no longer practice unrighteousness. Again, John is not saying that we must experience ‘sinless perfection’. John knows we will sin, see chapter 1:7-9. Without being born again, we cannot stop sinning. We must be born again, John 3:6,7. Peter writes that it is because of God’s mercy through the resurrection of Jesus we have been reborn, and it is because of the imperishable work of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3, 23). Recently, I read in some BSF notes (note 2)that Jesus is “not merely the agent for communication of the message of salvation, but Jesus is salvation itself.” A similar thing is said by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in “The Cost of Discipleship”. In Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” This new life without sin does not come automatically without any input from us, but we must ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling.’ By the power of the Holy Spirit, with Christ living in us, we can live a life without practicing sin. Jesus said if we obey His commandments, we show we love Him, and the Father and the Son will come live in us. (John 14:21, 23).
***| born of God = not practicing sin Abiding => no sin |
Vs. 3:10 - By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
‘By this’ – I think this does not automatically look back to the previous verses, but it easily could do so. The 'by this' can either point to the last half of verse 10 - i.e., you can tell by the way they live if their life is in Christ, or it can point to the verses 1 John 2:29-3:9 -
I think vs 10a may be the end of a train of thought which started in 2:29. It is a bridge verse, tying the previous verses to the next.
This verse summarizes verses four (4) through nine (9). These verses have been about practicing righteousness versus practicing sin – who does and who doesn’t. We can know who is God’s and who is not. It’s simple: watch how they live. Do they practice sin? Then it is probable they are not God’s children. Do they practice righteousness? Then it is highly likely they are not the devil’s followers.
Either you have the Son, or you do not. If you have the Son, there is no reason for you to be a habitual sinner - in fact, you should absolutely not be a habitual sinner. Living in sin is antithetical to God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. John reiterates a statement made in chapter 2 "nor the one who does not love his brother" – linking love of a brother (and also hate) with walking in light or darkness.
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note 1: "GNMM" = Good News for Modern Man; "NASB" = New American Standard Bible.
note 2: "BSF" = Bible Study Fellowship
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