Watch our Livestream 10am Sundays at 10am on Sundays Give Online
1 John 3:1–10 (ESV)
There are times when we open our Bibles and really wish that we had more information about the lives or situations of the original readers. If you remember in our study through 1 Corinthians last year, we realized that we were reading Paul’s letters to the Corinthians where he as answering some of their questions, but we don’t actually have their letters or questions to him. There were times we really wanted to know, “what exactly was Paul correcting or answering here.”
I feel a bit like that as we approach our letter from John this morning. There were definitely situations going on in the church of which we don’t know all the details. We make educated guesses based on what John writes to them, but we don’t know exactly how it landed on the original readers.
Our doctrine of the sufficiency and clarity of scripture reminds us that God has told us all that we need to know about this situation to understand what God wants us to understand.
John tells us that he is writing this letter to give his readers assurance of their eternal salvation.
We find in our text and surrounding verses phrases like:
John is attempting to help his readers rightly discern these things and have assurance. What is the problem then?
I don’t know of a single other passage of the New Testament that has caused more personal confusion concerning a person’s assurance of salvation. There are, of course, other passages that give us material for theological debate, like the so-called apostasy passages in Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-31. But, 1 John 3 has knocked many of us down at various times in our Christian lives.
Let me read two of our verses in the NKJV instead of the ESV to help us see the challenge.
1 John 3:6 (NKJV) — Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
1 John 3:9 (NKJV) — Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
I’m certainly not trying to introduce a problem to you where you’ve not seen one in the past, but I think I have to express the challenge given to us in the text so what we can hopefully rightly interpret and apply it (according to John’s own purpose) and find hope instead of despair.
I think the ESV rendering can help us with our application, but it softens what is actually very black-and-white in the original.
To state the dilemma as plainly as possible so we might pray for God’s help in understanding it:
I believe the answer is a resounding “no!” And, I hope to show you how I arrived at that conclusion. We will look at the situation in the church to which John was writing. We’ll look at other things John has said. We’ll keep the big picture in view.
One of the solutions to the tension we feel in this passage is to minimize the significance of sin. We might attempt to do this practically or theologically.
First, let’s consider how we might practically minimize the significance of sin.
We use language like:
Don’t misunderstand, it’s actually really important that we keep “goof up” or “mistake” language in our vocabulary. Not every failure or mess-up on our part is morally sinful, and we do need language to capture that. You might really “blow it” for a presentation at work, or on a school test. We don’t need to use sin-language to describe such a thing. We also do make mistakes as human creatures that are not always a result of breaking God’s moral law. We are creatures, and not God. We do forget things. We fail at good things we attempt to do. Sometimes we break things or hurt someone’s feelings unintentionally. These things are not always due to moral failures that require repentance, confession, and forgiveness.
However, we ought to be careful using such casual language to describe actual sins.
… the response must not be that “nobody is perfect” or “I made a mistake.”
One of our theological definitions of “sin” is “missing the mark.” This is fine as far as it goes, but we should not use that in order to emphasize how close we were, or that we tried really hard, but didn’t quite get it right.
Our passage gives us a few more ways of defining the significance of sin. Let’s look back at some of the verses in our text.
1 John 3:4–5 (ESV)
1 John 3:8 (ESV)
How does the Apostle John define sin?
Sin is lawlessness. He doesn’t just mean that it is breaking God’s moral laws. He’s saying that sin is acting outside of God’s rule. It is an act of rebellion against him.
Jesus came in order to take away sins. This is not just a statement about Jesus paying the price for our sins (Romans 6:23 — For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.). Jesus also came to deliver us from sin’s dominion and power. Sin is such a big deal that one of the reasons Jesus came was to remove sin from us.
Sin is one of the works of the devil. Jesus came to destroy these works.
Through our practice, rather than minimizing sin as if it’s not a big deal, we should confess our sins (agree with God about them), and be forgiven and cleansed. Remember that God has solved our sin problem through the gospel.
We may be tempted to minimize the significance of sin by creating different theological categories of sin. One of the commentaries I generally appreciate and recommend had a fascinating (but unhelpful) approach to vs. 4 and the rest of this section, saying that it was not talking about run-of-the-mill occasional sins which Christians do commit, but instead was about iniquity, a particularly egregious, rebellious kind of sin that Christians do not, indeed, cannot commit. Others connected it in the letter to 1 John 5:16 — the sin that leads to death. Their basic premise is that “lawlessness” (Greek=ἀνομία) is not just referencing a simple sense of transgressing God’s law, but rather is used to reference the deeds of false prophets or others that oppose God’s Kingdom.
It is true that one of John’s purposes in writing this section is to illustrate that the false prophets or antichrists (1 John 2:18) don’t meet the moral life-tests which John is giving. However, I don’t believe he’s trying to accomplish that by saying they’re uniquely guilty committing a particular type of sins, especially since the opposite of doing sin is simply to do righteousness.
The solution to our tension will not be found in minimizing the reality of sin, even in the believer’s life.
I’m convinced that one of the reasons 1 John is challenging to our assurance is that we have basically put “doing righteousness” out of reach. We already feel like we have one strike against us because we’ve not totally ceased sinning. Now, we’re hit with a double whammy because we don’t allow that we could do what is pleasing in his sight.
Perhaps this is connected to a mis-applied emphasis on the doctrine of “Total Depravity.” We are very good at reminding ourselves that we are fallen and broken—that every part of our being has been affected by the Fall. We find language to describe our situation in places like Romans 7 and Galatians 5.
Romans 7:21–22 (ESV) — So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Galatians 5:17 (ESV) — For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
We feel and experience this conflict. We write and sing songs about chains and brokenness and deliverance.
We are quick to identify any double-mindedness or mixed motives even in our most loving and righteous acts. Our most-quoted passages become Romans 3:10 and Isaiah 64:6.
Romans 3:10 (ESV) — as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
Isaiah 64:6 (ESV) — We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
We fear any charge of hypocrisy, so we acknowledge our imperfections and feel bad about our failures regularly.
Through this, have we lost the ability to see what John wants us to see in this passage? Have we lost the ability to look at a Christian and see the righteousness that he is doing?
I do think we can recognize this in people at a basic level. You can think of some names right now of others in the church who demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit in their lives. You’ve observed them. You’ve seen them give and serve and love. You’ve seen them forgive and bear with others patiently. Can you see that they are “doing righteousness” or as the ESV translates it, “practicing righteousness?”
Now, compare that person to the one who claims to be spiritual—so spiritual, in fact, that the same rules don’t apply to them. They live for fame, or money, or selfish ambition. They say spiritual things, but their mouth also spouts out gossip and criticism, boasting and idolatry.
Intuitively, we know these two people are not the same, but we still hesitate to call one “righteous” and the other “wicked.” Not that I think we should be going around making such judgments or declarations. That’s not the point. John is pointing out that we can see the difference, and the difference matters.
The readers of John’s letter could see the difference, and John is encouraging them not to be confused.
Of course, this is more difficult to acknowledge in your own life. Each of us is aware of the selfish motives or double-mindedness, or impatience toward others in our own hearts. We all have blindspots and occasionally need others to point them out to us, too.
But, do we have the confidence, to realize that by the grace of God, we can actually please God and live righteously?
If we do not, we’ll have a difficult time reading 1 John 3 and experiencing assurance of salvation.
Certainly, I’m not appealing for self-righteousness, but there is a place to recognize the work of God in our lives to make us new.
Philippians 2:13 (ESV) — for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV) — Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 (ESV) — Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.
It’s not as if we get to take the credit for any righteousness we do. It is only possible because we have been born of God. This is right here in our passage:
Some of you are still objecting…I can feel it. Our righteousness is not perfect. I know. But, that doesn’t turn it into wickedness or sin. John is giving us contrasts.
Perhaps Calvin can say it better.
To do righteousness and to do sin, are here set in opposition the one to the other. Then, to do righteousness is no other thing than to fear God from the heart, and to walk in his commandments as far as human weakness will permit; for though righteousness in a strict sense is a perfect keeping of the law, from which the faithful are always far off; yet as offences and fallings are not imputed to them by God, righteousness is that imperfect obedience which they render to him. But John declares that all who do not live righteously are not of God, because all those whom God calls, he regenerates by his Spirit. Hence newness of life is a perpetual evidence of divine adoption.
- John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, 215–216.
We’ve taken a look at John’s two contrasts—sin and righteousness. But, it’s still hard to see how we are to find assurance through what John is saying.
There is no doubt that John has used stark, black-and-white language. Verse 9 captures this well.
Remember we looked at this verse in the more literal NKJV as well.
1 John 3:9 (NKJV) — Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
The Christian Standard Bible translates it as “he is not able to sin…”
The plainest, simplest reading of the verse might lead us to believe that the Apostle John is teaching some version of sinless perfectionism—that true Christians get to a point where they never sin anymore. If this is necessary in order to have assurance of salvation, I think we are all in trouble.
I believe that universally, our Christian experience tells us this isn’t right—both in ourselves as well as in our observation of others. But, we must not judge the truth of scripture by our experience.
If universally, our Christian experience leads us to question the meaning of a text, we are highly motivated to see if there are other clues in the text which will help us interpret it rightly.
I’m going to point out six different clues from 1 John to help us interpret this passage correctly. I knew I was in trouble when many of the commentaries I consulted had an entire section dedicated to this tension (and they did not agree on how to solve it).1 The different solutions are either grammatical, theological, or situational.
You may find some of these clues more persuasive than others, but I would encourage you not to merely let yourself off the hook just because “nobody is perfect.” The most helpful presentation that I came across was in That You May Know by Christopher David Bass. Rather than choosing just one of these as the answer to our dilemma, he took an eclectic approach which I found quite persuasive and refreshing.
The place to begin is with John’s own purpose statement for writing, which we have gone back to over and over again. John has written this that they may know they have eternal life. We must accept, then, that he has written 3:4-10 in support of that goal, not to undermine it. If John intended to teach the requirement for moral perfection in order to have assurance, I believe that would have seriously undermined and worked against his goal.
One of our main principles of biblical interpretation is that scripture interprets scripture. There are many places we could go in the Bible, both Old and New Testament, where we would challenge a view of the believer’s impeccability (Psalm 51; Psalm 32; Prov 28:13; Matthew 6:12; 2 Tim 4:18), but we’ll just stick to 1 John for right now.
We only have to look back to the end of Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2.
1 John 1:8–2:2 (ESV) — If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
It’s clear in these verses that claiming sinless perfection is not an option for the Christian.
We need to keep in mind the situation regarding the antichrist false-teachers that have recently departed from the church community and is causing problems. They seemed to have some faulty doctrine about sin. It seems some were wrongly claiming sinless perfection in 1 Jn 1:10. It also seems that some were claiming that if you were truly spiritual, your actions don’t really matter—some form of gnostic libertinism.
John is clear, and he doesn’t want his readers to be deceived about who is truly spiritual. In order to contradict the slippery, deceptive teachings of these false teachers, John writes these absolute statements.
John is holding up the ideal. He’s making it clear what we are aiming at. We do this in our own families as well. Consider some of the absolute statements you might say about your family.
Neither of these statements should be understood in the absolute sense as if it’s impossible for boys to hit girls, or for one of us to complain about a meal we don’t prefer. What is the point then? To hold up an ideal of how we expect one another to live.
This is partially to expose the false teachers, but also to help them remember who they are. Christians don’t continue sinning; they do righteousness.
We finally get to the solution the ESV (and NIV) translators really want us to embrace. The expressions in Greek for “doing sin” and “doing righteousness” are in the present tense. This can carry the sense of continuing to do something. This is why the ESV has translated these verbs as “makes a practice of sinning” (v. 4) or “keeps on sinning” (v. 6) or “practices righteousness” (v. 7).
The idea is that Christians might occasionally sin, but if you sin continually or habitually you are not a Christian. In my view this may not help us toward the goal of assurance. If we use the distinction of those practicing sin vs. practicing righteousness at a 30,000 foot level, I think it works. However, when getting to the macro level of evaluating our hearts and motives, this gets us into trouble. When with our sensitive consciences we begin asking if our besetting sins disqualify us from having assurance, we’ve gone beyond verb tenses. At this point, we need to look away from ourselves and look to Christ, our Advocate and the one who has paid for all of our sins.
There is one more clue that we find in our passage, which I find very helpful. John is writing with our future in view. We sometimes speak about the “already-not-yet” tension in which we live. God’s Kingdom is here. It arrived at Jesus’ first advent. But his kingdom is also still coming in the future in its fullness. Our salvation has been accomplished (“it is finished”), yet we are also still “being saved” (1 Cor 1:18). Our salvation is so sure that Paul can say we are seated with Christ in the heavens even now (Ephesians 2:6), yet we must endure until the end by God’s help (Phil 1:6; Matt 24:13).
We see this at work in our passage today. There is a day coming where it will be impossible for us to sin. There is coming a day when all our deeds and thoughts will be perfectly righteous. There will come a day when we will be like Christ.
Look back at the beginning of Chapter 3.
1 John 3:1–3 (ESV) — See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
We are called children of God. and “so we are.” Not just “will be” but “are.” We are “born of him” (2:29; 3:9). God’s seed abides in us (v. 9).
This reality has implications. There is no sin in him; we are in him. Therefore, there will be no sin in us. It is certain. But, it is not yet.
When will we be like him?
… when we see him when he appears.
What about now? We are God’s children, but we’re not quite like him yet.
If this is true, what will be true about us?
Here we have another present-tense verb—“purifies.” This shatters any expectation of perfectionism until the Lord returns. The connection between what we will be (perfect, like Him), and what we are (sinners declared righteous in Christ) is this verb, “purifies.”
What does this purifying involve? First, faith! We must see him as he is—holy, sinless, but also merciful Savior. Then, putting sin to death, renewing our minds, and doing righteousness.
Therefore, we must not mistake our future for our present, lest we be discouraged.
Remember, as we’re reading 1 John, we must not put his “tests” above or even equal to the gospel promises in the pursuit of our assurance. The foundation and basis of our confidence is the gospel itself. God saves sinners through our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Look to him, put all of your hope in him alone for salvation. He is the perfectly righteous one!
Never stop being amazed by God’s grace.
If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: First, to meet some I had not thought to see there. Second, to miss some I had expected to see there. And third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.
Only then can we be strengthened in our confidence through the evidence of a changed life.
Final exhortations:
Matthew 5:16 (ESV) — In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Here are some other recent messages.
We are a church built on the Bible, guided and empowered by the Spirit, striving to make disciples, and pursuing holiness in the context of robust biblical relationships.
© 2024 Cornerstone Fellowship Church of Apex
