11
The Christian’s Incompatibility with Sin
(1 John 3:4-10)
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 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. 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. 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. (3:4-10)
Throughout its history the true church has always maintained that Scripture clearly sets forth certain basic standards of belief and behavior as necessary marks of genuine saving faith. An affirmation and acceptance of the biblical gospel, and a life that is characterized by a worthy walk, have rightly been seen as accurate indicators of the work of the Trinity on a person’s heart. And when such fruit is absent in an individual’s life, the church has appropriately called into question his or her profession of faith.
In recent decades, however, that has begun to change. More and more so-called evangelicals have downplayed the significance of biblical doctrine—even such crucial doctrines as the person of Christ and justification by faith alone. Incredibly, some have even asserted that the lost can be saved apart from any knowledge of the gospel at all, arguing that if pagan people merely live up to whatever standards of religion, morality, and ethics they have, God will accept them. (See the critique of this view in chapter 20 of this volume.) Since they claim there are scarcely any doctrinal necessities, there can hardly be any behavioral ones.
The apostle John would have been appalled by such contemporary evangelical equivocation. He wrote clearly and unmistakably that saving faith involves accepting certain essential doctrines—such as the Trinity and the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross—and results in certain essential actions—including repentance from sin, obedience to the Word, a desire to walk as Christ walked (live righteously), love for the brethren, and a hatred for the evils of the world and the flesh. John and all the writers of the New Testament taught that unless a person believes and practices such truths, he or she is not saved, no matter what he or she might claim. Bad theology damns, and bad behavior reveals bad theology. Yet, in spite of the unmistakable clarity with which this is presented in both this epistle (No one who is born of God practices sin [3:9 a]) and the rest of the New Testament, a significant cross section of contemporary Christendom remains unpersuaded and confused concerning the truth.
For example, some commentators say the apostle was exhorting lawless, misbehaving Christians to rededicate their lives to the Lord and move from immature, carnal behavior to spirituality. In this way, they attempt to tone down the letter and make it less definitive or harsh. But their arguments cannot account for John’s clear purpose for writing the letter (in 5:13), which was to enable his readers to examine themselves so that they might know whether or not their faith was saving. The dichotomy John presents is not deeper faith versus shallower faith, but rather a saving faith versus a non-saving one.
Others have missed the meaning and application of the passage due to an incorrect understanding of the nature of saving faith. Some, for example, believe that repentance is nothing more than a synonym for faith, thus does not refer to turning from sin, and is therefore not necessary for salvation. Saving faith, according to this view, is nothing more than mere intellectual assent to the facts of the gospel. (To ask sinners to repent would be asking them to contribute a work toward their salvation.) Hence, salvation may make no change in a person’s doctrine or behavior. Even a lifelong state of carnality (living the same way as those who are unsaved) should not be sufficient reason to doubt someone’s salvation. (For a complete discussion of these issues and an explication of the biblical gospel and its practical ramifications, see John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988, 1994], and MacArthur, The Gospel According to the Apostles [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1993, 2000].)
Of course, none of the preceding positions can account for the New Testament’s continual emphasis on repentance and the fruit that should be expected in a heart that has been changed (1:6; cf. Matt. 4:17; 11:20-21; Mark 6:12; Luke 5:32; 13:3, 5; 15:7, 10; 18:13-14; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 2 Cor. 7:9-10; 2 Tim. 2:25).
Even those who have wrestled more seriously with the text have sometimes misinterpreted what John says about the believer’s relationship to sin. Perfectionists (usually Arminians who believe Christians can lose their salvation) assert that believers can gradually overcome sin until they become completely sinless. Having arrived at that point, they can no longer lose their salvation. But this directly conflicts with what John himself says in 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
In a similar error, others say John means only that the believer’s regenerated nature cannot sin. But that makes too great and artificial a separation between a believer’s regenerated new nature and his unredeemed humanness (flesh, or old nature) and can lead to antinomianism, since one may become comfortable with the unredeemed flesh’s being unable to do anything but sin. Every saint is a unified person, with both righteous aspirations as well as sinful tendencies. Sin comes from the flesh (Rom. 7:18, 25; cf. Matt. 26:41; Rom. 6:12; 8:3), but each believer must take personal responsibility for his or her sinful actions.
Some have attempted to explain John’s instruction here by asserting that he is just describing an ideal but unrealized goal in sanctification—though Christians cannot become perfect in this life, they at least can strive for sinlessness. The primary problem with this idealistic interpretation is that it does not fit with the down-to-earth, realistic character of John’s letter.
Another view sees the apostle’s statement applying only to willful, deliberate sin by believers. As someone commented, “A Christian doesn’t do sin; he suffers it.” But nowhere in the text does John portray Christians as helpless victims of iniquity. Believers sin because they willfully choose to yield to temptation (James 1:14-15).
The historic Roman Catholic position is similar to this view, in that it also arbitrarily divides sin into two categories. Catholicism differentiates between venial sins (less serious ones) and mortal sins (those that result in eternal damnation). According to Rome, those who commit mortal sins forfeit the grace of justification and are no longer abiding in Christ. Such a classification for sins, however, is completely foreign to the New Testament.
In spite of the numerous interpretations of this passage, a true understanding of John’s meaning is not difficult to apprehend. The correct view of John’s references here to believers’ not sinning derives from an accurate understanding of the Greek tenses. In this passage the verbs related to sin are all in the present tense, indicating continuous, habitual action. In other words, John is not referring to occasional acts of sin, but to established and continual patterns of sinful behavior. Believers will sometimes sin (Rom. 7:14-25)—even willfully—but they will not and cannot sin habitually, persistently, and as a way of life (cf. Rom. 6:4-14; Gal. 5:24; Eph. 2:10).
When the Holy Spirit draws sinners to God, regenerates them, and grants them eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, they are recreated (2 Cor. 5:17) to obey the Word, follow Christ, reject the temptations of the world, and display the fruits of righteousness in their lives (Rom. 8:6; Phil. 3:9; Col. 3:2). That is nothing more than foundational new covenant truth (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:25-27; Heb. 8:10; 10:16; cf. Ps. 119:1-5, 9-11, 97-105, 137-140).
The continuing aim of this epistle is to set forth tests by which a person’s claim to salvation can be verified or rejected. In chapter one, John refutes the claim of the false teachers to have advanced beyond any struggle with sin (1:8-10). He goes on in chapter two to make it clear that no matter what anyone might claim to believe, if he does not obey Christ’s commands (2:3) and live righteously (e.g., demonstrate love [2:9-10]), he is not a believer. In this passage, the apostle John reinforces the tests of faith he has already established. In so doing he further refutes the false teachers who minimized or denied the significance of sin. He gives three reasons that trinitarian Christians do not habitually practice sin: sin is incompatible with the law of God, it is incompatible with the work of Christ, and it is incompatible with the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
SIN IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE LAW OF GOD
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. (3:4)
The two primary biblical definitions of sin are “missing the mark” (hamartia), and “without righteousness” (adikia). Integral to both definitions is that sin is a transgression of God’s law. In this verse John explicitly equates sin with an attitude of lawlessness and rebelliousness against God (Rom. 8:7; cf. John 3:20; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 4:18; Col. 1:21). John no doubt learned this principle years earlier, during the Lord’s earthly ministry, when Christ condemned the self-righteous theology of the Pharisees:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matt. 7:21-23)
John’s description allows for no exceptions or dual standards. Everyone who habitually practices sin is living in an ongoing condition of lawlessness (James 2:10-11; cf. Rom. 4:15), which marks all who are outside the kingdom of God (cf. Rom. 1:32; Gal. 5:19-21; Rev. 21:8).
Believers, however, are not any longer marked by lawlessness. They have obeyed Jesus’ command that “if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). The truly penitent heart resolves to obey God’s law (1 Thess. 2:13), deny fleshly lusts (Rom. 13:14; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Peter 1:14), resist the world’s allurements (Titus 2:12), and willingly submit to the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ in all things (cf. Luke 6:46). Those whom God has savingly transformed have traded slavery to sin for slavery to God, as Paul wrote,
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Rom. 6:16-18; cf. 8:12-14)
It is clear, then, that believers will not habitually violate the law of God. Whereas they formerly allowed lawlessness to dominate their lives, they now love God and desire to submit to Him. Obedience to the Word becomes precious to them, as it was to David:
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Ps. 19:7-11; cf. 1:2; 40:7-8; 119:97)
SIN IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE WORK OF CHRIST
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 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. (3:5-8)
The primary reason for Jesus’ coming to earth was in order to take away sins. Therefore, it is absolutely inconsistent with Jesus Christ’s redeeming work on the cross for anyone who claims to be a Christian (one who shares the very life of Christ) to continue in sin. To do so utterly ignores the reality of the sanctifying element of salvation, whereby believers are set apart from sin to righteousness (1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 5:7-9; cf. 1 Thess. 1:5-9).
John reminds his readers that they know (a form of the verb oidd), not by mere information but by the confidence of personal perception, that He appeared. John used a form of the verb phaneroō, which in the New Testament often indicates either Christ’s first or second coming (e.g., Col. 3:4; Heb. 9:26; 1 Peter 5:4), to refer to the indisputable fact that the Lord had come. He came not only to pay the penalty for sin and provide forgiveness (the doctrines of propitiation and justification [Rom. 3:25; 4:25; 5:9, 18; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 4:10]), but also to take sins away altogether. (Away is an aorist active form of the verb airō, which means to remove by lifting away [cf. John 1:29; Col. 2:14]). As a result of Christ’s substitutionary atonement on the cross, believers have been set apart from sin unto holiness (cf. Eph. 1:3-4). The lawlessness that once characterized their lives has been removed. Because Christ died to sanctify (i.e., make holy) the believer (2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 5:25-27), to live sinfully is contrary to His work of breaking the dominion of sin in the believer’s life (Rom. 6:1-15).
The truth that Christ came to destroy sin is not just a future hope but also a present reality. John is not saying merely that believers will be delivered from sin when they die, and in the meantime will be as sinful as they were before their conversion. At salvation believers experience a real cleansing of and separation from their sins (cf. Eph. 5:26; Titus 3:5; Heb. 10:22), which on a practical level continues to occur as they become more and more conformed to the image of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Thess. 4:1; 2 Peter 1:5-11). Titus 2:11-14 summarizes well the present and eschatological aspects of sanctification:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (cf. Eph. 2:10; 1 Peter 2:24)
John concludes verse 5 with the phrase in Him there is no sin. Jesus Christ is the absolutely sinless One (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Peter 1:19), a truth that has immense practical ramifications. “If you know that He is righteous,” John wrote earlier in this epistle, “you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him” (2:29). In 3:6 the apostle reiterates the principle that no one savingly connected to Jesus Christ can continue to live in sin: No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Years earlier Paul taught the same truth to the Roman believers,
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Rom. 6:4-7; cf. vv. 20-22)
Again, that outlines key provisions of the new covenant, which Paul further elaborates: “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17-18). The emphasis of the apostle’s statements is on sanctification, with true Christians having the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:12-17), receiving a new heart (Acts 16:14; cf. Ezek. 36:26; Heb. 10:16-17), complete forgiveness (Col. 1:14), and a transformed life (Col. 3:5-10)—all evidenced in their new ability to obey the law of God.
Thus John taught that no one who sins (the present tense of the verb again denotes the habitual action of defiance and rebellion by a fallen heart) can also abide in Christ. It is not that people who become Christians will never sin again (1:8), but they will not live as they did, because no one who sins consistently or habitually in the pattern of the unregenerate has seen Him or knows Him.
John further cautioned his readers that they should make sure no one deceive[d] them concerning a correct understanding of sanctification. Despite any deceptive teaching to the contrary, only the one who practices righteousness can have any assurance that he is righteous, just as He is righteous.
The Lord Jesus came to earth to take away the sins of all who trust in Him, thus placing them on the path of sanctification. In contrast, the one who practices sin is of the devil. Diabolos (devil) means “accuser” or “slanderer.”
The expression the devil has sinned from the beginning likely refers to the moment of Satan’s rebellion against God (cf. Luke 10:18), because God originally created him as a perfect angelic being (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:12-17). Satan is the prototypical rebel, the leading antagonist against God, and the ruler of this sinful world system (Eph. 2:2). Because he opposed God and His plan (Gen. 3:1-14; cf. Zech. 3:1; Matt. 4:1-11; 13:19; 1 Thess. 2:18) and instigated the original rebellion against God’s law, all unsaved sinners are in a sense the Devil’s children (cf. John 8:44; 2 Cor. 4:3-4; Eph. 2:1-3).
John makes the obvious conclusion that because the Son of God appeared … to destroy the works of the devil (Gen. 3:15; cf. John 12:31; Heb. 2:14), it is impossible and unthinkable that true believers would continue in devil-like behavior. Today Satan is still opposing the plans and people of God (1 Peter 5:8), but believers are no longer his children or under his rule, nor are they bound to do his works.
The phrase the works of the devil encompasses various satanic activities such as instigating sin and rebellion, tempting believers, inspiring unbiblical ideologies and false religions, persecuting and accusing believers, instigating the work of false teachers, and wielding the power of death (e.g., Luke 8:12; John 8:44; Acts 5:3; 1 Cor. 7:5; 2 Cor. 4:4; 10:3-5; Eph. 6:11-12; 1 Thess. 2:18; Heb. 2:14; Rev. 12:10). None of those works can ultimately defeat the saints, who have been delivered from his Kingdom (Col. 1:13).
SIN IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
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. 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. (3:9-10)
The new birth (being born of God) epitomizes the work of the Holy Spirit:
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8; cf. 1:12-13)
The Holy Spirit implants in those He regenerates the principle of His divine life, which John pictures as a seed. Just as a human birth results from an implanted seed that grows into new physical life, so also spiritual life begins when, at the moment of regeneration, the divine seed is implanted by the Spirit within the one who believes.
The instrument by which the Spirit gives new birth to sinners is the Word of God. The apostle Peter explained to the readers of his first letter,
You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:23-25; cf. Ps. 19:7; 2 Peter 1:4)
The new birth is from imperishable seed, securing the believer’s salvation for eternity. It enlightens the mind so one can discern spiritual realities (John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:10, 13-14; cf. Isa. 40:13-14). It gives believers the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) so they can understand the thoughts of God. It liberates and energizes the enslaved will, previously unable to obey God but now freely able and willing to do so (John 6:44, 65; Col. 2:13; cf. John 5:21b). The new birth signals the end of the sinner’s old life; those who were hopelessly corrupt become new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), buried with Him and raised unto a new life of righteousness (Rom. 6:4; Eph. 4:24). Therefore he states again that believers cannot practice sin, because they are born of God.
The new birth is also a monergistic operation, which means God’s Spirit alone accomplishes it. (It is not synergistic, which means that human effort would also play some part in the process.) Paul’s language in Ephesians 2:1-6 is unmistakably clear in this regard:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (cf. Titus 3:5; James 1:18)
Because unregenerate people are spiritually dead, they are unable to respond to divine truth. This doctrine of total depravity—better stated, total human inability—does not mean that the unredeemed are all as sinful as they possibly could be. Rather, it means that their fallen, sinful natures affect every area of life and render them incapable of saving themselves. Thus the spiritually dead person needs to be made alive by God alone, through His Spirit. That same power energizes every aspect of Christian living (cf. Rom. 6:11-13).
John concludes this section with the summary statement, By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God. There are only two groups of people in the world (cf. Prov. 15:9): the children of God and the children of the devil. The first exhibits God’s righteous character through obeying His law (cf. Luke 1:6); the second exhibits Satan’s sinful character by disregarding the Word and habitually sinning (cf. Pss. 36:3; 119:150; Rom. 2:8). No matter what people may profess, or what past religious ritual or experience they may point to, anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
The final phrase of this section, nor the one who does not love his brother, reaffirms to readers another aspect of John’s moral test to identify true believers, namely the test of love (cf. John 13:34-35). For the apostle, it was also obvious that anyone claiming to be a Christian but not demonstrating brotherly love could not really be in Christ. He develops this argument in the remaining portion of chapter 3.