Do We Sin, Or Do WE Not Sin?

[gregoryfl]

1Jn 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1Jn 2:1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a redeemer from the curse with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

1Jn 3:6,9 Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen him, neither knows him. Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can’t be sinning, because he is born of God.

1Jn 5:16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don’t say that he should make a request concerning this.

1Jn 5:18 We know that whoever is born of God doesn’t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’t touch him.

Does something seem a bit contradictory to you here? Is John maybe getting a bit old, with senility setting in? He seems to waffle, does he not, one minute saying we can sin, then the next saying we cannot? And the fact that since, to the natural mind (by the way, that is the BIG reason why these verses are so misunderstood) John appears to contradict himself, has led many to find ways to somehow "smooth out" the roughness of those statements that are too hard to believe, (I will leave you to guess which statements I am referring to) while agreeing wholeheartedly with those statements which give the appearance of being the truth of the matter.

Let me set your minds at ease, John was by no means senile when he wrote what he wrote. He simply chose to not include every little detail that would have made the difficult statements easier to understand, for he assumed that the recipients of his letter would be aware of those details. After all, he wrote to them, not us.

Make no mistake, John indeed said that believers have sin, and agree with God (confess) about it, and that it is possible to sin which is why we need a redeemer from the curse. Make no mistake that John also said that believers do not sin, in fact, cannot sin.

However, we are not left to wonder how all these statements in fact are true, for elsewhere in scripture we are given the necessary details.

[gregoryfl]

1Jn 3:1 Perceive what manner of love the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God! And we are! Therefore the world does not know us, for it did not know Him."

Let's start with the first of those "hard to believe" statements found in 1Jn 3, but back up a bit to the beginning of the chapter. He starts out by describing the amazing love that the Father has given to us, a love that speaks of us as his very children. This has nothing to do with outward appearances, because of a couple of facts he speaks of. First of all, he says that the world does not know us.

This knowing has to do with what is experienced together. Subsequently, to not know is to not experience together. For example, Adam "knew" his wife, which meant they experienced the sex act together. Until he came to her for that, he did not "know" her. It is the same here. The world refers to those without Christ, who do not believe. They do not know us because they do not experience what we do. Their experience is one of darkness. Ours is of light. Theirs is of condemnation, ours is of a clean conscience. And of course, if you read down further in the context, their experience of a father is of the adversary, producing hate, while ours is of the Father, producing love.

Now, can you look at someone and tell just by looking at them whether they are a child of God or not? No, you cannot. Who we are is something that we believe by faith to be true, for it is not fully revealed to us yet. It is inward, and as we will see, this is most important in understanding all that John is writing about us and sin.

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not as yet manifested what we shall be. We are aware that, when He should be manifested, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him according as He is."

John again states the reality that we are children of God, yet while that is true now, the ramifications of that are things we are not yet aware of. This is the second reason why this is not concerning outward appearances. Notice that what is not yet manifested is what we "shall be." He does not say what we "shall become." Both speak of something yet future, but becoming something tells us that we are not yet that something. Being something however, as far as it pertains to the future, speaks of presently being that something, but just not yet being totally aware of it. The very meaning of the Greek word manifest agrees with this, as phaneroo literally means "to be made apparent, manifestly declare."

Here is one example. Was Jesus the Son of God while on earth as a man, before he was resurrected? Yes. Of course. Yet notice what Paul wrote in Romans 1 and compare the thought there with this one in John:

Rom 1:3 concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,
Rom 1:4 who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Notice that Jesus was "declared" (although a different Greek word, but similar in idea) to be the Son of God by the resurrection. Why did Paul say this, when he knew he was the Son of God before the resurrection? Because, being in the flesh, it was not readily apparent what he was. The resurrection declared to all that this indeed was the Son of God. In the same way, we are children of God now, although it won't be until we too shed these mortal bodies that shell who we truly are inside and are seen for who we truly are, declared to be, in Christ, sons of God, and all that goes along with that.

What is it that this manifestation will reveal about us, with the result of us seeing ourselves as being that?

"We shall be like Him" [that is, Jesus].

Think about that for a moment. To be children of God is to be like God. Ever heard of the expression, "Like father, like son?" That is what John is describing here. What is it that will show this to be the truth?

"For we shall see Him according as He is."

Do you realize what John is saying here? To be able to look at Jesus, the exact representation of who God is, will be like looking in a mirror, and what do you see when you look in a mirror? Yourself! Remember though, that this is not speaking of us becoming like Him, as though it is not true yet. On the contrary, we are like him now, but neither we, nor the world, see it yet. We do see glimpses of it every now and then, but it is hazy, "as in a metal mirror." (1Co 13:12) However, when we see him "face to face," (1Co 13:12) Paul makes the amazing statement that "I shall recognize according as I am recognized also." (1Co 13:12)

Christ sees us, that is, he "recognizes" us, as we truly are. This is already our reality. We do not see that reality ourselves though, which is why we walk by faith for now. What does Christ see when he looks at you? Himself! In that day we will see him face to face, and thus in seeing him, we will see ourselves. Are we shocked at this? We should not be, for when I look at my hand, my foot, my nose, my big tummy, (Yes, I need to workout) or any other part of my body, am I not looking at myself? It is no different with Christ. Think deeply on this and allow it to sink in, for it sets the stage for what John will say next which will lend discernment to why he could say that we do not sin, nor can we be sinning if we are born from above, yet at the same time say that we can sin, and how both are possible.

[gregoryfl]

1Jn 3:3 And everyone who has this expectation in him is purifying himself, according as He is pure."

This expectation produces a reality, a statement of fact, and that fact is that we, in purifying ourselves, are doing so from the standpoint of already being pure, not from a hope of being pure someday in the future. Incidentally, this purifying has nothing to do with actions we have to take in order to keep from becoming impure. No, the cause of the purifying, which simply means to "keep yourself pure," (notice that he speaks of Timothy as already being pure) as Paul encouraged Timothy to do, is the result of a reality within us, that is, the expectation he just got through speaking of. He gives us that expectation, which produces the result he desires, purifying ourselves, that is, keeping ourselves pure.

As a side note, how pure? Not too much; only as much as Jesus is pure. Again, no big surprise when you consider that what we are, he is. I want that so much to become as clear as possible for us to grasp, because for too long we have all been beaten down with negative statements such as "We are sinners saved by grace." Sounds so spiritual, but if when we walk around thinking that we are presently still sinners, we are calling God a liar. We are pure! We are righteous! We are holy! We are as he is, and we will soon see it with our own eyes!

How can I be so sure that he is speaking about purifying ourselves as an effect and not something we have to strive in the flesh to maintain? The very next verse leaves no doubt, for they parallel each other. Notice...

1Jn 3:3 And everyone who has this expectation in him is purifying himself, according as He is pure.

1Jn 3:4 Everyone who is doing sin is doing lawlessness also, and sin is lawlessness.

1Jn 3:3 [cause] And everyone who has this expectation in him
1Jn 3:4 [cause] Everyone who is doing sin

1Jn 3:3 [effect] is purifying himself,
1Jn 3:4 [effect] is doing lawlessness also,

1Jn 3:3 [standard of proof] according as He is pure."
1Jn 3:4 [standard of proof] and sin is lawlessness."

We see another of the many contrasts John is trying to establish, of true believers verses those who are not. Looking at verse 4, ask yourself, "When a person sins, do they then have to work at doing lawlessness also?" No, it automatically is true as a reality when the sin takes place. Get this...you cannot sin without doing lawlessness. The two are inseparable. That is why he says that sin is lawlessness. It is proof of that fact.

Now, with that in mind, reread this again:

And everyone who has this expectation in him is purifying himself, according as He is pure.

Can you see it? Look through the eyes that you have of the new creation, not the dead ones of your flesh. Just as a person who does not know God does not have to work at sin, he exists in that realm in his lifestyle. It is automatic, if you will. In the same way, we do not have to work at having the expectation in ourselves, we exist in the realm of that expectation. Nowhere in the text does John speak of us "trying to do" anything. He is speaking of reality, a reality experienced by faith. Likewise, it is automatic. If you are a child of God, you automatically have this expectation in you. As a result of that, you are purifying yourself. How do we know? The proof is in looking at Christ, who is pure. We exist in that same pureness. You cannot separate the expectation from the purifying, just as you cannot separate sin from lawlessness.

Wow, this is becoming longer than I thought. But this verse just opened up to me literally for the first time as he caused me to see this, so I had to share.

[gregoryfl]

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it was not as yet manifested what we shall be. We are aware that, if He should be manifested, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him according as He is."
1Jn 3:3 And everyone who has this expectation in Him is purifying himself, according as He is pure."

1Jn 3:4 Everyone who is doing sin is doing lawlessness also, and sin is lawlessness." 1Jn 3:5 And you are aware that He was manifested that He should be taking away our sins, and in Him is no sin."

Continuing on we now see how it is that these realities are possible. The word of God, God's own expression of himself, was manifested in humanity, becoming the man Jesus. As a man in the likeness of sinful flesh, and dying as one who had never sinned, he took that principle of sin itself, and condemned it to death with him on the cross, conquering it by means of his resurrection. In this way he took away our sins, for we died with him on that day. He did this by placing the old creation in himself and killed it. The old creation is like the outer covering of a seed. When it is planted in the ground, that outer shell dies and decays. The old creation was planted in Christ, and thus died and is passing away, as John would put it.

When Christ was raised from death, he left that old likeness of sinful flesh dead, and ours with it. For it was he who was raised, with the body God had prepared for him, God himself. When he was raised, we were raised as well, a new creation was born! His spirit joined with our spirit in such a way that they are one spirit, fulfilling the shadow of husband and wife being joined as one flesh. I can anticipate someone thinking though, "But didn't John say that if we say he have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves? How can we be in Christ, who has no sin in him, if we have sin in us?

Paul gives us insight into this, when he describes how it is that we are in Christ.

Col 3:3 for you died [who we were in Adam], and your life [who we are in Christ] is hid together with Christ in God."

It is our life that is in Christ. Our life is who we truly are. Our life is our spirit, as it is our life, our spirit, that is joined with his. Christ, for this reason, is spoken of as our Life. Inseparable. Our flesh however, is not in Christ. Not understanding this is the reason I believe so many of these verses are misunderstood. As I mentioned above, Christ left his flesh dead, never to take it up again. He is no longer physical, but spiritual. He is no longer a soul, but a life-giving spirit.

Christ left his grave clothes lying in the tomb. This represents the fact that he left the old creation there, never to live again. Sin and death, part of the old creation, crucified and left to rot.

Lazarus however, came out of the tomb with his grave clothes on. This represents us, who although are in Christ, yet still can see the old creation wrapped around us. We are called to what Jesus told those around Lazarus, to take off the grave clothes, which we do by believing what he says about it, that it is indeed dead and no part of us. Even if Lazarus or others thought he was still dead because of being wrapped in grave clothes, the reality was he was not. Likewise, we are still in flesh, and can be misled by the lie that says we are still dead. The reality is however, that we are not. We are alive and what we see ourselves wrapped in has no part with us, anymore than it would with our Lord.

Following the flow of John's thought, we see that because there is no sin in him, and who we truly are is in him, not our flesh, that this is the reason John can legitimately say that we (who we truly are) do not sin. John speaks of it this way:

1Jn 3:6 Everyone who is remaining in Him is not sinning. Everyone who is sinning sees Him not, neither knows Him."

One final thought before I go to Paul's writings to provide another witness to this. Some people have said that what John was speaking of was not that we cannot commit a sin, but rather, that we cannot make it a practice, or lifestyle, of sin. They say this because the word for "sin" in 1Jn 3:9 is in the present tense. For example, the ISV renders it this way:

1Jn 3:9 No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.

However, this to me is an attempt to "fix" this troublesome verse to fit what we see around us, and match the statements which speak of believers in relation to sin. It is subtle, but in believing this, we deny the reality, which is that in Christ there is no sin, therefore, we who are in Christ cannot be sinning.

The present is not speaking about "practicing" something, but rather speaks of a timeline, in which at each moment of that timeline, something is true. In this case, the timeline is anyone born of God, and at each moment of that timeline of being born of God, we do not sin.

I believe what John means is:

1Jn 3:9 Everyone who is begotten of God is not committing sin, for His seed is remaining in him, and he can not be sinning, for he is begotten of God."

The last post will consider what Paul had to say on this...