Exploring 1 John: The One Who Sins is of the Devil
1 John 3:8-9; Isaiah 14:12-15 - Submit to God’s will and destroy the works of the devil.
“the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
1 John 3:8-9 NASB1995
John really gets to the negative point now in this passage. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned since the beginning. That’s quite accusatory! There is a real enemy of God who roams this world looking for weak-minded, sin-loving, prideful humans as prey and even makes them cohorts to draw in others. I looked for an appropriate picture and found the ones depicting the devil or Satan to be too disturbing, so I went with this little bit of graffiti that sums up the spiritual war that surrounds us and uses us as willing, unwilling or unknowing soldiers for one side or the other. The Son of God came for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil (and to take on our sins).
Who or what is the devil? First, let’s do a word study. Devil comes from the Greek word διάβολος or diábolos with the following Biblical usages: Strong’s G1228 is used 37 times in the New Testament. An interesting aside - this word is used as an adjective in this context:
prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely
a calumniator, false accuser, slanderer,
metaph. applied to a man who, by opposing the cause of God, may be said to act the part of the devil or to side with him
Metaphorically, if you oppose the cause of God, you are acting as a devil or siding with him. The devil accuses and slanders God. The devil, or a person acting on his behalf, can really be called antichrists.
I also found this great description on Gotquestions.org:
People’s beliefs concerning Satan range from the silly to the abstract—from a little red guy with horns who sits on your shoulder urging you to sin, to an expression used to describe the personification of evil. The Bible, however, gives us a clear portrait of who Satan is and how he affects our lives. Put simply, the Bible defines Satan as an angelic being who fell from his position in heaven due to sin and is now completely opposed to God, doing all in his power to thwart God’s purposes.
Satan was created as a holy angel. Isaiah 14:12 possibly gives Satan’s pre-fall name as Lucifer. Ezekiel 28:12-14 describes Satan as having been created a cherub, apparently the highest created angel. He became arrogant in his beauty and status and decided he wanted to sit on a throne above that of God (Isaiah 14:13-14; Ezekiel 28:15; 1 Timothy 3:6). Satan’s pride led to his fall. Notice the many “I will” statements in Isaiah 14:12-15. Because of his sin, God permanently removed Satan from his exalted position and role.
Satan became the ruler of this world and the prince of the power of the air (John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2). He is an accuser (Revelation 12:10), a tempter (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5), and a deceiver (Genesis 3; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:3). His very name means “adversary” or “one who opposes.” Another of his titles, the devil, means “slanderer.”
Even though he was cast out of heaven, he still seeks to elevate his throne above God. He counterfeits all that God does, hoping to gain the worship of the world and encourage opposition to God’s kingdom. Satan is the ultimate source behind every false cult and world religion. Satan will do anything and everything in his power to oppose God and those who follow God. However, Satan’s destiny is sealed—an eternity in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
Let’s look at those “I” verses in Isaiah:
“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.”
Isaiah 14:12-15 NASB1995
A bit prideful, wouldn’t we say? Pride is really the mother of all sins and it starts with rebellion against God, just like the “star of the morning”. We think we know better. We follow the science. We have “compassion”.
Ok, I did find a pretty good photo for this devotional. This one is entitled “Lost in the Wilderness”. That is exactly where the devil resides, in the wilderness of this world (I’m not talking about God’s physically beautiful creation). He tempted Jesus there (and failed); he tempts many people in that internal wilderness of confusion by whispering in their ear that there is no God, that doing what feels good is more than enough for this life. Just have fun and be a little naughty! He caters to their egos and “self-esteem”. He admonishes them that telling other people that they are sinning is hate speech and unloving.
It takes two to tango, as they say. If you are a believer and resort to silly lies like “the devil made me do it”, then you really do not recognize or know the power of the Son of God. You are deceiving yourself. Yes, this fallen being has power, but the power of God is so much greater that it could never be measured or contained and the devil is contained and his destiny is sealed. By the way, I thought this commentary from Pastor Steven Cole that I found in Precept Austin was rather sobering about how the devil can work on you making you think you are doing good:
Notice that five times the devil said, “I will,” in opposition to God [referencing Isaiah 14:12-15]. He was not content with where God had created him. He wanted his own way. As we saw in [I John 3] verse 4, which is parallel to verse 8, the essence of sin is rebellion against God. The sinner says, “I will! I want my way! I will not submit to the Most High God.” So whenever a person acts in line with his own will, without submitting to God’s will, he is committing the original sin of the devil. Whether it manifests itself as the humanly respectable, “I will be nice to others, so that people will think highly of me,” or as the reprehensible, “I will kill others to get what I want,” it all comes from the same source: the devil. Any action that originates in the human will that is not in submission to God is devilish, even if outwardly it is a nice, humanitarian, seemingly “good” action.
Whoa!! I can think of some denominations that have gone down this path of acting on their own will and not the will of God because they want to be “reconciling and nice and non-judging”. Definitely food for thought! If you say to yourself that you are going to be good through your own willpower, you are bound to fail and that action emulates the ego of the devil. Only by submitting to God’s will can you have the means and the power to triumph over sin. Love this thought below:
No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in them. John reiterates his thoughts about sin from earlier verses in this part of Chapter 3 of his letter. He gives us another reason by Jesus came (in addition to taking away sin). Here is what Enduring Word says about this passage:
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil: John gave us one reason why Jesus came in 1 John 3:5 (He was manifested to take away our sins). Now, John gives us another reason: that He might destroy the works of the devil.
We can just imagine the heart of God grieving over the destruction the devil has wrought over this earth, and grieving that man has allowed the devil to do it all. Jesus came to put a stop to all that by overcoming the devil completely by His life, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection.
Note the purpose of Jesus: to destroy the works of the devil. Not to neutralize them, not to alleviate them, or not to limit them. Jesus wants to destroy the works of the devil!
Many people are unnecessarily afraid of the devil, fearing what he could do against them. If they only knew that as we walk in Jesus, the devil is afraid of us! As we walk in Jesus, we help in seeing Him destroy the works of the devil!
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him: The change from being of the devil to being children of God comes as we are born of God; when this happens, our old nature, patterned after the instinctive rebellion of Adam, dies – and we are given a new nature, patterned after the instinctive obedience of Jesus Christ.
John here is simply emphasizing what it means to be born again. It means that a change comes into our lives – it is a change that will be worked out into every area of our lives as we grow in Christ, but it is a real, observable change.
It is the same message Paul preached, saying that as believers we are to put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and that we are to put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22, 24).
Does not sin… he cannot sin: Does not sin and cannot sin each has the same verb tense as does not sin in 1 John 3:6, meaning a continual practice of habitual sin. John tells us that when we are born again – born into the family of God – there is a real change in our relation to sin.
Have you submitted your will to Jesus? Or are you sneaking around doing little bad things because you think that they are inconsequential? It is vital that we are born again, so that there is a real change in our relationship to sin. I love what this commentary said above, that the devil is actually afraid of us when we walk with Jesus because we are destroying his works.
My next devotional explores 1 John 3:10-11 - Loving one another.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I humbly submit my will to Yours. I am so grateful that You came not only to take away my sins and grant me eternal life if I believe, but you also came to destroy the works of the devil. I need not fear that being as he is in Your control and his destiny is sealed. 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
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 5/14/2024 to review the lexicon for devil.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 5/14/2024 to answer the question about who is the devil (Satan).
Precept Austin was accessed on 5/14/2024 to review the commentary for 1 John 3:8-9
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Why argue about what is already written by Lord Jesus Holy Spirit? If you know Jesus by the Holy Spirit being inside of you, then love those who do keep sinning thinking they have Lord Jesus Holy Spirit in them. No one can do what only Lord Jesus can do beyond the flesh by the Holy Spirit New Creation being inside of this who are born of God.
Read Romans 6: 1-13 that proves 1 John. 3: 6-10, that clearly says whosoever born of God Holy Spirit remained in them cannot sin. Why argue with those who want to keep sinning by walking in their sinful as Lord Jesus told us will happen in this world because of Satan?