Verse 16: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.
In the previous two verses, John provided the confidence we now have that God hears our prayers and answers according to His divine will. Now he illustrates an example of this principle as it applies to intercessory prayer.
John begins with if, meaning in the event that we should observe a brother committing sin. The Greek text literally reads “sinning sin” while our English text reads committing a sin, for John does not identify a specific sin. This denotes the nature or essence of sin, referring to a status rather than a specific sin. For their present status is residing outside of the sphere of abiding fellowship with the Lord, having reverted back to their sinful condition prior to salvation. But John does qualify the sin as that which is not leading to1 death, referring to physical and not spiritual death, for believers cannot lose their salvation.
In the next phrase John asserts that upon seeing such a brother entangled in sin we are to pray on their behalf for intercession. Since will give is God’s response to shall ask, hence, He [God] will give life, on the basis of him (who shall ask), to those who commit sin not leading to death. Therefore, the response to what we ask for is emphasized by what God gives: continued life rather than death, the ultimate discipline for the erring brother.
Now let us determine if this aligns with verse 14, that “if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” First, is it God’s will that all believers continually reside in an abiding fellowship with Him? Yes, for it is a mandate from Our Lord Himself: “Abide in Me” (John 15:4), in order to fulfill the purpose of having been saved to bear much fruit (John 15:5); which cannot be accomplished if the believer remains in a sinful condition. Second, what is the correct prayer for the erring brother? That God will provide an intervention in order to convince the fellow believer of the error of his ways. It is important to note that we should not pray for God to withhold His discipline apart from them returning to fellowship. Third, we should not pray that God should employ measures to coerce the believer to conform and obey. God always appeals to the believer will, that it is their personal responsibility to make a rational decision to obey or face the certainty of discipline of their disobedience. This is the true meaning of Our Lord’s statement in Revelation 3:19–20:
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”
The knock on the door is for the erring brother to respond to Our Lords summoning him to dine with Him and thus to be restored to fellowship. This favorable result is conditioned upon if anyone hears and opens the door. The opening of the door is synonymous to confession and cleansing of sin (1 John 1:9), for it is impossible to have fellowship with a holy God if we walk in the darkness of sin (1 John 1:5–6).
Therefore, it becomes important that faithful believers pray earnestly upon seeing a fellow believer who appears to descend spiritually into a state of sinfulness, recognizing that the beginning stage of their downfall is not leading to death. Although that may change depending upon how long they remain in their sinful status.
This should alert all believers to be vigilant of all personal sins and to maintain consistent fellowship with God by confessing their sins without delay.
[1] “To the point of, to the extent of,” Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). πρὸς, In Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1.692.
© 2026 David M. Rossi
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