Verse 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.
John is now concluding his discussion of sin, lawlessness and righteousness as they relate to the believer. He declared in verse 6 that it is impossible for believers while habitually sinning to consider that they remain in fellowship with God. Now in verse 9 he explains the reasoning behind that assertion.
The opening phrase in the original Greek is exactly the same as verse 4 and should be correctly translated: “Everyone who is born of God does not practice sin.” First we should identify what is means to be “born of God.” This is referring to the spiritual birth that Our Lord discussed with Nicodemus in John 3. Jesus stated that “You must be born again” (v.7) and that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v.3). He explained that being born again is different than child birth, instead it is a person being “born of the Spirit” (v.6). The Greek tense John uses in 1 John 3:9 emphasizes that the person who is born of God continues to be presently born again, which accentuates the eternal aspect of our salvation.
Secondly, John declares emphatically that no one who is born of God practices sin. We have previously defined this word practice as “any external act as manifested in the production of something tangible.”1 This has been at the core of John’s inquiry of believers: what is the production of our lives? Is it our intention to produce righteousness or sin and lawlessness?
We should carefully note his declarative statements: “Everyone who is born of God does not practice sin,” and in the previous verse “the one who practices sin is of the devil.” There seems to be an apparent contradiction, for if the genuinely born of God believer does not produce sin, then why would John state, concerning we believers: “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves” (1:8); “if we confess our sins” (1:9); “if we say that we have not sinned” (1:10); “if anyone sins” (2:1)? And then why would there be a need to provide believers with the divine remedy “to forgive us of our sin” (1:9) and the continuous cleansing “from all sin” (1:7)?
God’s Seed
Nevertheless, we can be assured that there are no contradictions in Scripture; this is made clear by the remainder of the verse. “His seed abides in him” refers to God’s seed, specifically, His divine nature which is given to each believer at salvation.2 The Apostle Peter affirmed that this is God’s intention for believers, to “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). This is the same nature characterized by Our Lord, “Who committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).
W.E. Vine maintains the enduring permanence of this divine nature:
The seed signifies the divine principle of imparted life in the believer, and this, once it is imparted, is unalterable; it remains in the believer.3
Born of God—The Imparted Life
The Holy Spirit is the source of our having been born of God—our new birth (John 3:6). The Apostle Paul underscores this fact stating that God “also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5) and that we are “sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13-14). Hence, the Holy Spirit indwells each believer as internal evidence of this new birth.
However, Paul warns us “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 4:30) by sinning and reverting back to the “old self” (Ephesians 4:22ff). Instead he instructs that we “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) cautioning us “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), for sin short-circuits His power source for our fellowship with God.
According to Dr. L.S. Chafer, “That ministry of the Holy Spirit which is termed His filling is the very center of the entire theme of the spiritual life.”4 For the Holy Spirit is our forever helper (John 14:16), He will teach us (John 14:26) and guide us “into all truth” (John 16:13), and He intercedes for us in prayer (Romans 8:26-27). He is our mentor and power source enabling us to live a holy, sinless life.
Something to Ponder
Taking all of this into consideration, we are now able to understand John when he states emphatically that the believer “cannot sin,” since it is impossible for the believer to sin while under the divine controlling nature of the Holy Spirit. The believer sins when he relinquishes the Spirit’s control of his life, reverting back to his old sin nature. The Apostle Paul explained this when he wrote that when he sinned he realized that it was “no longer I [the new divine principle of God’s seed in control of my life] the one doing it [sinning], but sin which dwells in me [the old sin nature/old self]” (Romans 7:17). Paul asserts that the old self is “in my flesh” (Romans 7:18) and is never removed from the believer and continues to be the wretched link to our old sin nature. It is the reason Paul commanded that we “lay aside the old self” (Ephesians 4:22) and “put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:24)—the one controlled by the Holy Spirit.
We must remember that it is the believer who initiates sin, just as James tells us, that “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:14). The lust that James infers to is the mental decision to do what I want instead of what God wants me to do—whether it is a sin of action or a sin of thought. In the millisecond that it takes for the believer to decide to give in to the old self and sin, it is at that precise moment when he is immediately no longer under the control of the Holy Spirit—the divine seed, the mark of being born of God.
Therefore, it is impossible for sin to originate from the divine nature of the genuinely born of God believer.
Conclusion
John is not attempting to provide a test for determining if another believer is truly born of God, by proof that they never sin. He has already acknowledged that believers do sin and God has provided the remedy for forgiveness and cleansing. Instead, throughout this epistle John is encouraging us, his readers, to live an obedient life, by demonstrating our decision to maintain fellowship with Him by obeying His commands and endeavoring to live a holy and sinless life. This is what the Apostle Paul so aptly explains:
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:11–14)
Do we have this attitude of obedience to God? Are we choosing to live a holy and sinless life?
[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G4160.
[2] Walvoord, J. F., & Zuck, R. B. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 2.895.
[3] Vine, W. E. (1996). Collected Writings of W.E. Vine. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1 John 3:9.
[4] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 6.42.
© 2025 David M. Rossi
No comments:
Post a Comment