NOTE: This journal entry is much longer than any other entry I have made. This was written to help a young man overcome sin in his life. I hope it equips you to do the same:
1 John 3:6 (ESV)
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
What does this verse mean in regard to my daily walk with Christ? It has taken John a long way to get to this verse in his quest to explain sin in the life of the believer.
We must start by looking at 1 John and the issue of perfectism - Did John teach we could reach sinless perfection in this life? And, if he didn't, what does he mean in 1 John 3 and how can we overcome sin.
Perhaps the first step to pursue these thoughts is to consider where John begins.
1. WE ARE DEFINITELY SINNERS (1 JOHN 1:1-10): John fully admits our state of sin and even points out the solution even in light of the fact we have constant fellowship with Christ. Note the following: 1 John 1:5-10 (NASBStr)
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
John tells we both have sinned and that when we do sin we can come to Christ and ask forgiveness. These opening verses are the lens in which we view the rest of the book. We can't say we have "no sin" and we can't say "we have not sinned." So, settle with it: IN THIS WORLD WE ARE SINFUL AND SINNING. IT IS A CONSTANT BATTLE. No place in Scripture does it say that we can find relief from the struggle. That is the beauty of Paul's admittance in Romans 7.
The heresy of the day was for some to deny they either sinned or had no sin. One reason John is writing is to clarify this issue. In the above verses when John tells us to acknowledge sin in our lives and to plea for forgiveness it recognizes two qualities of God's character: 1) He is faithful (to His plan and promises) and 2) He is righteous (He paid for sin to assure His righteousness ... Romans 3:25). God is faithful and righteous as to forgiveness. John is telling the gnostics that their failure to acknowledge sin was, in fact, lacking in praising God for His divine forgiveness.
It should also be noted that in 1 John 1:9 that forgives is in the present tense, which literally means "He forgives" suggesting a "daily forgiveness". Later, in 1 John 2:12 we have John stating God forgives and there he uses the perfect tense, meaning God forgave the believer at the time of his/her salvation. This distinction is imperative to know as it shows our constant sinning and God's daily act of forgiveness. This doesn't give us permission to sin, but does demonstrate God's grace in the sinning.
Further, in v. 8, "if we say we have no sin" and v. 10, "if we say we have not sinned" both are met with a similar statement that we are liars. The truth is, although God is light and we are in that light, we still do sin and to claim otherwise is to make God unfaithful, unneeded and us as liars.
2. WE CAN DEFINITELY OVERCOME THE SIN IN OUR LIVES (1 JOHN 2:1-3): John, in 1 John 2:1, now lays forth, perhaps, a more important aspect of his epistle. He has just told us in convincing form we have sinned, have sin and are sinning and we ought not to try to deny it. Yet, in the opening verse of chapter 2 he states that his entire purpose is to demonstrate to us we can overcome sin when we walk in the light:
1 John 2:1 (NASBStr) My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
NOTE:
John doesn't want anyone to think, as a result of the truth of 1 John 1:6-9, that we can just keep on sinning. He wants us to know that we can overcome sin and the way to do that is through the advocate, “Jesus Christ the Righteous.” (This is now the third time John has stated we commit sin, despite our salvation ... 1 John 1:8, 10 and now in 2:1).
He doesn't leave us with our sin, however. Again, he tells us the solution. 1) An advocate (Jesus Christ). Jesus is our intercessor (Romans 8:34); The Spirit intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:25) (more about the Spirit later ... the Greek word "advocate" is "parakletos" ... someone called along side ... a work done by the Spirit).
It is significant that John says we have an advocate (parakletos) with Jesus Christ. His use of two names is important; one speaks to man and one to God. Jesus is "with us" and Christ it "Messiah". John is attacking the gnostics who taught sin in the body doesn't matter since the body and the spirit don't mix. Yet, Jesus was in the body and fully Christ. He was righteous for us so that He can represent us, relate to our every temptation and, yet, redeem us and provide propitiation for us.
SUMMARY - Although I don’t remember who wrote this, here is what one commentator said about John's attack on the heretics and, yet, making sure the believer doesn't fail to see sin in its proper sense:
"There are timeless implications in John's teaching here. He speaks to any non- Christian who wishes to discount the importance of sin, and to any Christian who maintains the possibility of becoming sinless in this life. In both cases the Johannine position is a thoroughly biblical and sensible one. We cannot avoid the fact of sin, but we can avoid its practice. If from time to time we do not, there is hope for the sinner- since God's forgiveness has been made possible through his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the one who enables us continually to "live in the light."
3. GOD'S INTERCESSION DOES NOT NEGATE THE NEED FOR OUR OBEDIENCE, GROWTH, and A LIFE IN THE SPIRIT (1 John 2:3-29) - Our walk in the light should look like the Father of Lights. Obedience in the ways of God are essential to claim our abiding in Him and are fruits of the abiding.
OBEDIENCE:
According to 1 John 2:3-6, obedience is, in itself, a manifestation of our abiding in Him and therefore one step to defeat sin in our lives. Remember, John started in chapter two his reason to write this epistle was to help believers "so that we may not sin" even though he has also said we will. Apparently obedience is best manifested in love; Obedience in his text is having a proper understanding of love for God and love for man and not for the world. He wants his hearers to "know" they are believers.
1 John 2:3 (NASBStr) By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
KNOWING is something John is saying is important to our overcoming sin. And, our knowing is found in obedience and our obedience is expressed in our love for God and others. John uses a syllogism to make his point(s):
JOHN'S SYLLOGISTIC ARGUMENT IN 1 JOHN 2:3-29
Those who know God will obey Him;
Those who obey Him will love others;
Therefore those who know God will know they do so because they love others.
Therefore that obedience of love will enable us to overcome sin.
It should be noted why John uses the word "know" in this chapter. Remember, his overall theme of the book is to make sure that he combats the heresy of the day (gnosticism) who believed that knowledge was power and it mattered not your day-to-day life. To the Gnostics your knowledge would take you to God while your morale life meant nothing; the spirit and the body were never entangled. Remember, redemption for the Gnostics is salvation from ignorance, not sin or sins of the body.
This is why the verse later in John is so important to the readers in that day and today:
1 John 5:13 (NASBStr): These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
So, the first step in combating sin is to make sure you are IN THE LIGHT (later John will use "ABIDING" in the same sense as in the light) and you can know that by seeing the fruit of love flow from you life. (1 John 2:3-11). If we say we are in the light and hate our brothers we ought not expect that we are truly in the light and therefore would have little power over sin. John's argument seems to be that true believers WILL have power over sin (that's all in this fist step) and those who aren't true believers WON'T have power over sin. And the manifestation to know this is not what you SAY, but what you DO in demonstration of your love for others and not for the world.
Therefore, our love of others is the first step in overcoming sin. Sounds odd? Agreed! Yet, that is what it says. When you think of loving others as a demonstration of our love for God we have to remember that to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and loving our neighbor as ourselves is the sum of all the law. So, if obeying (this is where John starts in this chapter) is demonstrated by loving, than it is not hard to see how loving others keeps us from sinning. Remember, sinning is loving ourselves more than God or others. We sacrificial offer food, sex, and riches to reward ourselves and glorify ourselves. Love for self is the ultimate sin. It is not a far stretch to see the connection between obeying God, manifested by loving others, and not sinning.
GROWTH:
Before we discover the second step in combating sin (GROWTH) in this chapter we ought to read the next section of chapter two. Remember, he started the chapter telling us that we CAN OVERCOME SIN. Note in particular the last verse of this section:
1 John 2:12-17 (NASBStr)
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
In this text there might be some confusion over John referring to the readers as "little children", "fathers", and "young men." There are several interpretations and, yet, none of them confuse the text. I personally think that John is simply telling them and us that in our Christian walk we will not only have LOVE (Step #1 above) but we also see Christian GROWTH in our lives. He wants us to know that believers will: 1) (Like little children) - come to the point of knowing they have been forgiven (the "perfect" tense meaning a past happening) 2) (Like fathers) - come to know Him ... a deeper knowledge of Him, and, 3) (like young men) - learn to fight and be strong, overcoming evil. (It should be noted that although the phrase "the evil one" doesn't have a definite article in the Greek and is probably personifying evil rather than referring to Satan, it does use the masculine rather than neuter and therefore probably means satan and the system of evil (that fits the rest of the text as he is about to address both the sin outside us in the world and later the sinfulness inside us.)
B. The second step to defeating sin in your life then is a journey of personal growth. We are on mission of growth and that mission or journey will demonstrate a deeper level of faith at every age and take on different meaning(s) with one ultimate goal: defeat sin (evil) in our lives.
So, the first step to overcome sin in chapter two is to love others (thus demonstrating our love for God via obedience ... obedience in itself defeats sin) and the second is to have continued growth. This is practically important. Practice of what God wants us to do will give us a deeper sense of who He is and how to live like Him. This, again, doesn't mean we get to a place where sin can leave us and we reach a maturity level only known to few (in fact, I believe that is what he is about to combat in chapter three). What it means is that as we mature we begin to see victory over sin. Not complete, but victory non-the-less. He says we will "overcome" evil. John uses this phrase "overcome" in John 16:33 and Revelation 2:7. In thinking about "overcoming" note also how John will eventually use it in this epistle:
1 John 4:4 (NASBStr)
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
1 John 5:4 (NASBStr)
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world —our faith.
John indicates, looking at all these verses together, that having begun in our walk in the light (abiding in Christ) in faith in the forgiveness of sin, it is finished in faith. Remember, the Galatians Christians were challenged as to whether they were going to start in faith and finish by works (Galatians 3:1-3). Growth in the Christian life then, as a step to defeat sin, is about growing in faith. Trusting God more and more is a necessity to overcome evil. Overcoming is NOT about works. Even loving others and growing, our first two steps, are a matter of a walk by faith. You can't love everyone. You must love them, in and through faith, knowing God will do something about the relationship if you do. Sometimes, when trying to love others we might have to pray, “Lord, You love them through me and allow me to love them through you.”
In regard to a life of faith, remember the story of the disciples who could not cast out the demon in the young child brought to them while Jesus was in the Mount of Transfiguration. They asked Jesus why they couldn't cast out the demon. Jesus said:
Matthew 17:20 (NASBStr) - And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there, ’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
So, the issue with evil and overcoming it has to do white having more faith, not more effort. This faith enables us to combat the sin in the world and the sin inside of us in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Faith conquers these but each wants us to trust us and/or others and/or something else for satisfaction. Faith conquers it all. Faith, not in my ability, but in what Christ did for me (forgiveness of sin) and doing in me (conquering evil one step at a time).
A LIFE IN THE SPIRIT:
A third step in John's plan to teach us how to "not sin" is found in the following verses:
1 John 2:20 (NASBStr)
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
1 John 2:26-28 (NASBStr)
These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
The third step is that we come to a knowledge of the Spirit's walk within us. Throughout this last portion of John's second chapter we see him talk about people who didn't grow in Christ and didn't obey him and left the faith. But, to those who did obey and grow it was not because of their own efforts but because of the anointing from the Holy One (Christ) ... the Spirit of God. This entire book is really describing what Paul calls "walking in the Spirit." John calls it abiding in Christ. He wants us to realize that if we can ever "not sin" it will be because the Spirit is in control over our lives.
It should be noted here that the ability to "not sin" is often referred to as having "self-control." We lose self-control and we sin. It would be better to realize that "self"-control is the very problem. Left to "self" man will always sin. You can buy thousands of books to teach you how to maintain self-control for food, anger, sex, etc. But, self-control is not what the Spirit needs. The old English word for self-control was "temperance.” That is how it is often translated in the Bible. In the Greek it is egkrateia. It means to have "mastery" over something. The key is to realize we can't have mastery over ourselves. Egkrateia is a fruit of the Spirit (See Galatians 5:20-22). It is NOT something I do or have ever done. It is a complete yielding to the Spirit.
In these remaining verses of John's second chapter we see that the step to overcome sin is the anointing of the Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit we are "abiding" in Him (Christ). When we abide in Him we will have confidence and do not shrink at His coming. Like Paul, John is telling us that allowing the Spirit to control us and to "produce" egkrateia is the only sure way to accomplish a state of "not sinning." The only way I can have the Spirit do that work is when I don't. Again, it is a matter of faith, not of more effort. Yielding to the Spirit is the third step to reach a place of not sinning.
BONUS ADDITION: Without forgetting that John is writing to combat a heresy that stated sin doesn't matter in our lives and how to overcome sin, since it does matter in our lives, He does provide some additional material on that subject, but via some different arguments:
1 John 2:18 - He views those who hold the teaching of the gnostics to be "anti-christ" - This does show the importance of getting this right. To oppose John's teaching was anti-christ.
1 John 2:19-23 - Those who don't follow John's teaching, may or will, go out from the main church teaching. This shows that one of the signs we are walking with Christ and abiding in Him and allowing the Spirit to walk and work in our lives is that we will have a continued desire to be with the saints who are experiencing the similar struggle with sin. Those who don't find fellowship with others will eventually put themselves in the place of denying that Jesus IS the Son of God.
1 John 2:24 - The key to avoiding the above is to hold to your faith - that which you believed on in the beginning. Remember the church at Ephesus in Revelation who were accused of forgetting their first love. A key to NOT sinning is to remember what we had from the beginning - Salvation given to us as a free gift.
All this brings us to chapter three. We can't understand chapter three until we grasp what John is teaching us in the proceeding chapters.
We also have to remember why John is writing the book. The church had been filled with heretical, traveling preachers who were bathed in gnosticism. John combats these teachers by declaring why he is writing the book:
1 John 2:1
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
1 John 2:12
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.
1 John 2:26
These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.
1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
John is writing to show us how our relationship with sin does indicate our walk with God. But, it is not to disqualify us if we DO sin. It is to show us how to overcome it on this side of glory and live with the battle.
Before we jump into the beginning of chapter three, read again the last first of chapter two:
1 John 2:29 (NASBStr)
If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.
John's point here is that it is the "practice" of righteousness that demonstrates our being born of God and NOT our perfection of righteousness. The little particle "if" here is not used in a "conditional" manner (an "if" this "than" that manner) but rather in a "suppositional" manner (like we might use the word, whereas). His point is that the person born of God will produce the fruit of such a birth. Like Father, like believer. We will produce fruit if we are in the root (John 15). This is imperative in John's argument against the Gnostics. New life brings fourth a new way of living, not just a new way of knowing or thinking.
In the verse three verses of chapter three we see John still struggling to leave the eschatological theme of his writing. He seems to want to use the appearance of Christ as one more motivation for living a pure life. Yet, he is also still caught in the most recent theme of chapter two, that we have been born of God. Hence the following transition sentence(s)
1 John 3:1-3 (NASBStr)
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Since we are born of God we will have new relationship with God and a new relationship with the world. One will pour (bestow) love upon us and the other will not. When loved by God we should not misunderstand our relationship with the world. God loves us and that should motivate us to further follow Him in obedience and faith. But, that will also cause the world to lose interest in us (and us in them).
This is not the entire background for the tough verses that following in chapter three. Let's look at them, through the lens of what John is writing about and has already told us. We will see that much of this is further statements of what he has said, further clarification and/or explanation:
1 John 3:4 (NASBStr)
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
Here is simply a clarification to make sure we know that those who "abide in Jesus" (walk in the Spirit) will not practice sinning. In 2:29 he just told us those loved by God and who love God and acknowledge Christ will practice righteousness. His point, again, is that habit of God's people is Godly living and not worldly and sinful living.
1 John 3:5 (NASBStr)
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
In verse five we have a restated purpose of Christ's coming and Chris't sinless perfectionism. The Gnostics had a hard time with this. They were arguing that either: A) we have sin and can't escape, or B) we have sin and it doesn't matter because we can escape by becoming sinless through knowledge of God. IF sin didn't matter, is John's argument, than why did Jesus come to take away sins? And, the only way to have no sin, would to be Jesus, since He had no sin.
1 John 3:6 (NASBStr)
No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
Therefore, in light of verse four saying you don't practice sin, and in light of verse five saying Jesus came to take away sin by being, Himself sinless, believers should not be sinning. The Gnostics where not and would not renounce sin in their lives. Here, John is telling us that one of the first things a believer will do, who has the nature of God indwelling them, is to renounce sin.
Remember, the heretical teaching was that either sin didn't matter, or it was inconsequential to the believer's life. John says NO WAY!! IF we abide in Him we WILL NOT sin. He doesn't mean we won't commit sins. You can only get that thought if you fail to read chapter two and three together. If you read them together we know he just told us we will sin and to say we don't makes us a liar. His point then is to recognize that the walk of the believer, abiding in Christ, is to be marked by living righteous and not by sining with no thought of consequence, no shame, no thought that a righteous life was important or necessary. John, in these three verses (4-6) is telling us that sin is lawlessness and that is not the reason Christ came. The person who is born of God will renounce sin and not be characterized by it. They will sin (chapter one and two) but they will not be controlled by it. Not if they walk in the Spirit.
I like how one commentator summarizes these three verses:
This verse (6) follows on closely from v 5, and (looking back also to v 4) describes the logical consequence of what John has just said about Jesus. If the purpose of Christ's appearing was "to abolish sins," and his eternal nature is sinless, it follows that the person who "lives in him" (ο εν αυτω μενων) should be similarly without sin. (John MacArthur)
To better understand that the person who abides in Jesus does not sin (seen in verse six and again in verse nine), we need to consider three arguments. Without these we might be thinking that if we do "a" sin we must not be believers. BUT, we must stay away from the thought that we can have sinless perfection. That is completely against what John was writing about. To better understand consider the following:
The Grammatical Argument: The verb "to sin" in verse six (and in verse 9) is hamartano. It is used in the present tense, which means John is talking about an on-going state of sin. There is no definite article here and he is not writing in the aorist (see 2:1) tense which indicates a permanent act of sining. He wants us to know by grammar that he is saying someone who abides in Christ will not have a habit of sinning without renouncing it.
The Theological Argument: John has maintained throughout the letter thus far that believers will sin. However, taking language from Paul, they have two different natures with two different desires. But, even though they have different natures and different desires, they have one body. So, that one body might sin on the one hand but practice righteousness on the other. The theological argument recognizes this fact and realizes that the new nature with a desire for righteous life will not sin. That does not mean the old nature, with the old desires, will not use the same body to do old sins (or even new ones).
The Context Argument: To me this is the main argument. It simply states that the Gnostics had so twisted the message that John felt obligated to remind the church that they will have sin, but the way to deal with it was not to avoid it and ignore it and transcend above it through knowledge. They way to get around it and deal with it and combat it was to fight it through faith in Christ. This is where verses 7 and 8 come into John's argument. He is simply saying that the person who is born of God is characterized by a life of righteousness and a person who has not sought redemption in Christ will do evil. Like the devil they will sin. Like the Father, they will not.
John was in the midst of a battle for the hearts and minds of the church. It was a popular thought then (and now) to simply disregard sin and say that now that we have reached a state of knowledge about God we need not worry about the sin in our lives. Attaining knowledge instead of a relationship with Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit was easier ... especially if it had no moral implications. Their argument is featured today in many religions. Many places don't care how you live but rather that you know the truth. Our sins are heinous to God. But, having a proper relationship with sin will show cause the world to hate us (like Christ), the lust of the flesh to still fight us (like Paul) and cause us to deny Christ and times and need to seek His daily forgiveness (like Peter).
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