Verse 18: We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. [ESV]
The first part of this verse was discussed in the previous post directing the believer that they are not to keep on sinning, that they should avoid every inducement to sin in thought, word and deed and to firmly resolve not to sin.
The Believers’ Protector
Next, John asserts that we have a protector: He who was born of God. What he is presenting is a precise reference to the Lord Jesus Christ: “the only begotten from the Father” (John 1:14); “His only begotten Son” (John 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). This is John’s affirmation of the unique person of Jesus Christ—both God and man; and his unrelenting opposition to the Gnostic heresy, a heresy which continues even today, alleging that Our Lord was merely a “good man” thus denying His deity.
Jesus Christ continuously keeps him, the believer, by watching over and guarding1 him during his life on earth. How exactly does He accomplish this? First, by keeping the believer eternally secure:
And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. (John 10:28)
But He also keeps the believer from the power of the evil one. Who is the evil one? The Greek word for evil (poneros) in our passage means evil in an active sense “which corrupts others, evil–disposed, malevolent, malignant, wicked.”2 By a comparison of the Parable of the Sower in the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, it can be established that he is none other than Satan.
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.” (Matthew 13:19)
“These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.” (Mark 4:15)
“Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.” (Luke 8:12)
We find that Matthew uses this same word that John does, but in the parallel passages Mark uses Satan (Satanas) and Luke uses devil (diabolos). In these gospel passages the inspired authors each used a different Greek word to describe the active wickedness of Satan. Evil doesn’t come from nowhere or from something inanimate; it originates from this one person who is actively antagonistic and opposed to the God of the universe: Satan.
The Aim of the Evil One
The evil one’s intention is not to achieve “a mere superficial touch”3 but rather to secure a firm grasp. But since he cannot snatch the believer out of Our Lord’s hand (John 10:28-29), he will do all that he can “to sever the vital union between Christ and the believer”4 by destabilize believers with false teachers and heretical doctrines.
As the believer’s protector, Our Lord prayed to His Father just prior to His death to keep (protect) His disciples from the evil one, Satan.
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15)
He then specified the manner by which they should be protected, praying: “Sanctify them in the truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17). The word sanctify implies “the separation of the believer from the world in his behavior—by the Father through the Word.”5
In the same context, prior to when Jesus offered this prayer, He had forewarned the disciples that “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). The sifting of wheat is the process of separating the choice grain from the chaff, the worthless coating over the seed. Our Lord was predicting how the disciples will be tested when Satan sifts them, meaning to agitate and establish by trials and afflictions6 to determine if they are truly “of the truth” (1 John 3:19). For their response to testing ought to be a complete reliance upon their faith, a resting upon the truths of God’s Word that they have been taught. If the testing causes them to fall to pieces, then it will prove that they are abysmally lacking in biblical truth—a condition as worthless as chaff.
In Luke 22:32, Jesus further requests of the Father that “your faith may not fail.” The word faith refers to “that which is believed, body of faith or belief, doctrine.”7 For it is the knowledge of the doctrines of God’s Word that empowers the believer to overcome all trials and testing. When we consider how our Lord interceded for His disciples that their faith would not fail them, we can be assured that in His present ministry today at the right hand of God He “also intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25).
It is imperative that we who believe in Jesus Christ, should understand that Scripture is the only source of absolute truth; designed by God to enable us to distinguish the error of false teachings instigated by the evil one.
[1] Thomas, R. L. (1998). τηρέω. In New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., G5083.
[2] Zodhiates, S. (2000). πονηρός. In The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G4190.
[3] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1 John 5:18.
[4] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). ἅπτω. In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 638). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.638.
[5] Vine, W. E. (1996). Collected Writings of W.E. Vine. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
[6] Zodhiates, σινιάζω, G4617.
[7] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). πίστις. In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 664.
© 2026 David M. Rossi