Exploring 1 John: No One Who Sins has Seen Him
1 John 3:6 - We are conscious and have a conscience, which is finely tuned every day of our lives as a believer.
“No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.”
1 John 3:6 NASB1995
Well, I guess we should throw in the towel (or perhaps not). At first glance, it seems that this verse is calling for a perpetual perfectionism that isn’t physically possible with a fallen person (well, that was certainly alliterative). Even with the lifelong process of sanctification, we are going to fall down again and sin. However, let’s jump into commentary right away to help us with this difficult verse, from Enduring Word:
Whoever abides in Him does not sin: Since sin is lawlessness, a disregard for God (1 John 3:4), and since Jesus came to take away our sins (1 John 3:5), and since in Jesus there is no sin (1 John 3:5), then to abide in Him means to not sin.
It is very important to understand what the Bible means – and what it does not mean – when it says does not sin. According to the verb tense John uses, does not sin means does not live a life style of habitual sin. John has already told us in 1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. In 1 John 1:8, the grammar indicates John is speaking about occasional acts of sin. The grammar of 1 John 3:6 indicates that John is speaking of a settled, continued lifestyle of sin. John is not teaching here the possibility of sinless perfection.
“The present tense in the Greek verb implied habit, continuity, unbroken sequence” (John Stott); the NIV has the right idea when it translates these verbs with phrases such as keeps on sinning, continues to sin, and he cannot go on sinning.
Whoever abides in Him does not sin: John’s message is plain and consistent with the rest of the Scriptures. It tells us that a life style of habitual sin is inconsistent with a life of abiding in Jesus Christ. A true Christian can only be temporarily in a life style of sin.
Paul’s teaching in Romans 6 is a great example of this principle. He shows us that when a person comes to Jesus, when his sins are forgiven and God’s grace is extended to him, he is radically changed – the old man is dead, and the new man lives. So it is utterly incompatible for a new creation in Christ to be comfortable in habitual sin; such a place can only be temporary for the Christian.
In some ways, the question is not “Do you sin or not?” We each sin. The question is, “How do you react when you sin? Do you give in to the pattern of sin, and let it dominate your lifestyle? Or do you humbly confess your sin, and do battle against it with the power Jesus can give?”
This is why it is so grieving to see Christians make excuses for their sin, and not humbly confess them. Unless the sin is dealt with squarely, it will contribute to a pattern of sin that may soon become their lifestyle – perhaps a secret lifestyle, but a lifestyle nonetheless.
What is important is that we never sign a “peace treaty” with sin. We never wink at its presence or excuse it by saying, “Everybody has his own sinful areas, and this is mine. Jesus understands.” This completely goes against everything we are in Jesus, and the work He has done in our life.
Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him: To live a lifestyle of habitual sin is to demonstrate that you have not seen Him (in a present sense of the ultimate “seeing Him” mentioned in 1 John 3:2), and that you have not known Him. There are some people so great and so wonderful that seeing them or knowing them will change your life forever. Jesus is that kind of person.
The key takeaways from this commentary, in my opinion, are these:
What are your thoughts about how you react as a believer when you sin? Do you shrug and just give in to that sin and let it dominate your lifestyle or do you confess and do battle against that sin with the power that Jesus gives us?
Excusing sin by dismissing it as a human foible or making excuses for it or saying “that’s the way I’m built” are ways of making a peace treaty with sin. Believers can easily fall into the trap of hiding their sin. Now why would you hide sinful behavior, in a world that champions sinning and wouldn’t care if you did sin or would even cheer for you? It’s because YOU know it is WRONG. Jesus wants sin out of our lives because He gave His life to conquer sin.
Jesus is the best reason that I can think of to change our lives forever.
Most humans are born with a conscience to go along with their consciousness of this life. Here is how the word conscience is defined by a Dictionary:
1
a : the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good
She had a guilty conscience.
b: a faculty, power, or principle enjoining good acts
guided by conscience
c: the part of the superego in psychoanalysis that transmits commands and admonitions to the ego
2
: conformity to what one considers to be correct, right, or morally good : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
3
: sensitive regard for fairness or justice : SCRUPLE
a wealthy man with no conscience
Where does this innate sense of right or wrong come from? Sure, there are people born without it (I read somewhere that about 4% of the population is without a conscience) and they are usually known as sociopaths (or worse, psychopaths). The evolutionist would tell you that these behaviors were hard-coded over thousands or millions of years of communal experiences (bad experiences lead to good judgment and vice versa), just like knowing not to put your hand into the cave fire. But I know in my heart that God endows us with this conscience because we are His special creation.
When Steve and I were wandering in the wilderness of agnosticism and secular humanism, we both had an interesting phenomenon that occurred quite frequently. We would be contemplating some sinful act or reading heretical materials or committing acts of downright blasphemy and a fairly LOUD little voice would sound in our heads that what we were saying, doing or reading was wrong. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit abandoned us even in those evil years as God has given us a purpose and He protected us during that time. So now that little voice happens for even the little sins, like unjustified anger or belittling of someone else or turning a hardened heart and not doing something that we should be doing (sin of omission). We can’t be perfect, but we can abide in Him who is perfect and forgives us as we confess our sin and turn away as much as possible from continuing to sin. We are fine-tuning our consciences (with His help) in anticipation of the most amazing eternal consciousness abiding with Him!
One more short commentary seems appropriate. This is from a sermon by John Piper on 1 John 3:4-10, on how we have the freedom to fail but this should give us the hope to fight:
So I plead with you, let the freedom to fail give you the hope to fight. But beware! If you turn the grace of God into license, and say, "Well, if I can fail, and it doesn't matter, then why bother fighting?" - if you say that, and mean it, and go on acting on it, you are probably not born again and should tremble. But that is not where most of you are. Most of you want to fight sinful patterns in your life. And what God is saying to you this morning is this: let the freedom to fail give you hope to fight. I preach to you that you might not sin, but if you sin you have an advocate, Jesus Christ.
My next devotional examines 1 John 3:7 - Righteousness will show in our lives.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Thank you for giving me a conscience that is fine-tuned by You during my life of sanctification. I pray that when I fail with the freedom I have been granted that I immediately run to You for the hope I need to fight sin. Amen
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org.
In all cases of republishing, the following attribution must be included:
By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org