If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
(Just a note before this blog is developed. The thorny part of the above verses is the “sin onto death” phrase. There are many views on this phrase. For this journal entry today, ONLY the practical lessons are going to be addressed. In another post, at another time, the “sin onto death” can be addressed.)
In the above verses we see something that the Apostle John is quite concerned about. The entire book of 1 John is to address the “assurance” we have in Christ as we walk in faith toward Christ, demonstrated by love toward our brothers. Looking at the above two verses through the author’s intent for the book, enables us to see his heart and the lesson he wants us to learn. John is very much concerned that their are among the readers of this letter, some who are claiming to be believers but do not love others and/or walk in continually sin. He has addressed both of these thoughts through chapters 1-3. Now he is addressing what the Body of Believers should do about it. What are we to do if we “see” a brother committing a sin (that means it is visual and it is continual .... the phrase is written in the “present tense” in the Greek, meaning an ongoing action)? In verses 14-15 we have just been introduced to the power the believer has in prayer. Verses 16-17 are a new paragraph in the Greek, but are never-the-less a continuation of John’s thought. Because we have power in prayer to ask, according to God’s will, anything, we should not neglect to do this asking for those in the Body of Christ. Prayer is NOT simply a tool for the individual believer. It is a corporate tool to be used to exercise in our walking with and along side other believers. If we see someone sinning in a continuous manner, we are to ask God to give him life. This life is freedom from the sin this person is committing. Yes, as stated in the note above, there are some challenges in regard to praying for someone who is committing a sin that leads to death. We are NOT being told to pray about the sin that leads to death (whatever that means). We are to pray for “wrongdoing” (doing an injustice toward God and/or His people). The key here is to remember, we don’t know what the sin unto death is. That, therefore, compels us to pray for the person we “see” committing any sin, in an ongoing manner. We are to lay them before God and God has promised to “give them life.” Whereas most commentaries get hung up on the meaning of the most complex part of these two verses, we should focus on what the author has been developing: God wants us to pray for brothers and sisters who commit sin and has promised to hear us and give that brother or sister LIFE! This is similar to how James closed his book:
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
We are to be engaged in the life of our fellow believers. We have been given power, though prayer, to actually change the life of fellow believers. We are go bring them back to obedience through that power of prayer. It will give them LIFE!!! Imagine if Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) would have had someone praying for them. We don’t know if this sin of envy and lying were ongoing or not, but they died because envied the giving of others and they lied to the Holy Spirit. What if someone saw that and prayed for them? Imagine if the young man who was having sexual relationships with his step-mother in the Corinth church (1 Corinthians 5) had someone praying for him. Imagine if someone would have been praying for Demas as he fell in love with the world and left the faith (2 Timothy 4). Our prayers for the saints can be the most powerful act of love we can do toward them. Prayer is not just for us. It is for the saints. God will give them LIFE!!!
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