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.
Previously, in the last post, it was discussed how the faithful believer is to pray for a fellow brother in Christ who may be entangled in sinning. It is important that they not ask God to coerce the erring brother but that the Lord might appeal to his will in order that the erring brother might confess and seek to be restored to fellowship with God.
What follows in the remainder of this verse is a truth that many have found difficult to comprehend. Since the Holy Spirit led the apostle John to write this text, we must endeavor to understand its full import of how it applies to us today.
Sin Resulting in Death
In the final phrase of this verse, John assures us that there is indeed a sinful condition that will result in the physical death of the believer. Again, as in the opening phrase of this verse, the English translation reads a sin but the Greek text does not specify one particular sin. Instead, this implies a continual state of sin in which the believer is abiding while persistently refusing God’s summoning to repentance and restoration to abiding fellowship with Him. James describes this believer as one who “strays from the truth…the error of his way” (James 5:19–20). The apostle Peter portrays them as “forsaking the right way, they have gone astray” (2 Peter 2:15). The right way which Peter refers to is “the way of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:21), which is synonymous with being in fellowship—walking in the Light (1:7).
So what John is telling us is that believers who continue to live in a status of sin, the longer they prolong their rebelliousness to the will of God for their life that at some point the Lord will remove them by death. We have no idea of how long the Lord will allow the erring brother to maintain their sinful status before He administers this final discipline. This means that we need to continue intercessory prayer that the Lord preserves their life.
But when the unfortunate event of the final disciple occurs—the removal of the sinning brother by the Lord in death—John states that we should not make request for this. Here the Greek word for request, erotao (ἐρωτάω), is different than the Greek word for ask, aiteo (αἰτέω), that John used earlier. This word (erotao) normally “provides the most delicate and tender expression for prayer or request with the one asking and the one being asked being on an equal level, such as the Lord Jesus asking of the Father”1 (cf. John 14:13, 14). Trench states that this is the only passage in the New Testament that seems to contradict the normal usage of this word erotao and that in no other instance is it “used in the New Testament to express the prayer of man to God, of the creature to the Creator.”2 Whereas, aiteo generally indicates a request made by “one who is lesser in position than he to whom the petition is made; e.g., in the case of men in asking something from God.”3
Therefore, we are discouraged from making an appeal to God for “intercession for any believer who has experienced divine judgment in the form of death. Such prayer for the dead would be contrary to God’s will.”4 This indicates that we must leave the matter in God’s hands. Also, we should consider these two biblical truths pertaining to this particular divine judgment: there are no Scripture that authorizes praying for those who are dead, and that what we ask for in our prayers must be according to His will (v. 14); thus the discipline dispensed by the sovereign will of God cannot be reversed by a believer’s prayer.
A Final Note
We ought always to be mindful of the spiritual well-being of our fellow believers. But if we become aware of a brother entangled in sin then we “who are spiritual” (free from unconfessed sin, walking in fellowship) are to follow the apostle Paul’s command “to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1). This would imply that any confrontation should to be tactful and in private. However, it isn’t possible or even practical to be aware of every sin of our fellow brother. For outside of our immediate family, we should be cautious and not become arrogant and overly absorbed in or actively intruding upon the privacy of other believers, thus becoming a spiritual busybody.
[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G2065.
[2] Trench, Richard (1975). Synonyms of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, p. 145.
[3] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.40.
[4] Harris, Murray J. (1986). In The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Brown, Colin, Ed.), Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 3.1205–1206.
© 2026 David M. Rossi
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