Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXIV) 05/01/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

With an eye for detail, David Smith (1866-1932) states that a child of God may fall into sin but not continue in it; they are not under its dominion. Why? Because while they have a vicious adversary, they also have a vigilant Guardian.^[1] Jesus, the Anointed Son of God.

As an effective spiritual mentor, Ronald A. Ward (1920-1986) sees the Apostle John making an essential point concerning being God’s child. Once you are born again and become part of God’s family, it is imperative that you cease wanting to practice sinning. In 1 John 3:9, John contributed this tendency to our new “spiritual heredity.” But now he adds another: “Those born of God do not keep on sinning because God protects them from the evil one.” In other words, Jesus’ earthy ministry toward His disciples now extends as a heavenly ministry toward all believers. With this confidence, we should all “resist the devil.”^[2] When we do, he will flee and not touch us.^[3]

With academic precision, Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) sees verse seventeen as forming a transition to verses eighteen to twenty. The idea of prayer still echoes in the phrase, “not all sin is mortal.”^[4] However, it has become secondary in John’s thought, whereas the subject of sin, which he treats further, becomes central.^[5] John now moves on from the study of Christian certainty in such spiritual activity as prayer^[6] to that of confidence in the spiritual knowledge a believer may possess.^[7]

However, after verses sixteen and seventeen, which some in heretical circles might have interpreted as encouraging an indifferent attitude toward sin (“ask, and God will give life” to the sinner; “not all sin is mortal”), John makes a climactic statement on the subject. No incentive to sin is offered; instead, it is alleged that no one born of God continues to sin since they are protected by the Anointed One from God. As members of God’s family (“born of God”), it is implied that Christians are to develop the family likeness, including proper conduct.^[8] In verse twenty-one, John issues a final warning.^[9]

An insistent believer in God’s Grace, Zane Clark Hodges (1932-2008) agrees that the Apostle John affirmed that anyone born of God is a person whose true, inward nature is inherently sinless.^[10] The additional statement about the one born of God is not, as often suggested, a reference to the Anointed One. John nowhere else referred to the Anointed One in this way, and he was still writing about regenerated people. With this view, the word “himself” should be read in place of “him.” John thus affirmed that “the one who has been born of God keeps himself” (there is no word for “safe” in the original Greek). It restates the truth of 1 John 3:9 in a slightly different form. A believer’s new man (or “new self;”)^[11] is fundamentally resistant to sin, and hence the evil one,^[12] Satan, does not ambush him.^[13]

As a capable scripture analyst, Ian Howard Marshall (1934-2015) notes that having concluded his appeal to the church members to pray for one another to be rescued from sin, the Apostle John comes to the strong statement of belief, which forms the climax of his letter. First, he takes up his keyword from verse thirteen: “I write these things to you … so that you may know.” Then, in three affirmations, he declares the content of this Christian knowledge that should characterize his readers.

It may be significant that the Greek word he uses expresses a state of knowledge rather than the action of coming to know something. Nevertheless, John is declaring what he and his fellow Christians know, and his readers should be able to include themselves in the number of those whose Christian faith is a matter of certainty and assurance.^[14]

As a seasoned essayist on the Apostle John’s writings, John Painter (1935), describes John’s explanation of why the one born of God does not sin as perplexing. The parallelism with 1 John 3:9 suggests that “the One born of God … keeps everyone born of God.” A minor textual variant shows that this was an early scribal solution to this problem. Grammatically, if we take both statements concerning the one born of God as references to the believer, then the one born of God keeps themselves.

Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that John would say that the one born of God keeps himself, even if John noted that the young men had conquered the Evil One and the one who believes has conquered a godless society.^[15] The power that gives victory is “our faith,” which is not just subjective belief but also the content of faith that Jesus is God’s Son.^[16] Nevertheless, this interpretation is attested as early as Origen (185-253 AD) and by Sinaiticus^[17] and the corrector of Alexandrinus^[18] and cannot be ruled out.^[19]

Ministry & Missions Overseer Muncia Walls (1937) says that here we have another verse presenting confusion about what the Apostle John means. Some feel that he is speaking of the person who has been born again and, as such, does not commit sin. Others, on the other hand, feel that John is referring to Jesus when he refers to the one who is born of God. But the phrase “he that is born of God keeps himself;” motivated Bible Scholars to propose at least five interpretations of this line. (1) Being born of God is what guards him. (2) The one born of God is Jesus, who guards him. (3) The one born by God (the Christian) guards himself. (4) The one born of God (the Christian) holds on to Him (God) as his guardian. (5) The one born of God (the Christian). God guards him (the Christian).

In deciding between these five interpretations, Walls feels that (1) and (4) are the weakest. The crucial point is whether the one born is the Christian (3, 5) or Jesus (2). He is inclined to favor (1) and (4) because he finds it hard to believe that if the Johannine writers thought that God had begotten Jesus, they would never elsewhere have used that language in the many passages on the subject.

As for the issue of whether the Christian guards himself or God guards him, my translation “is protected” leaves that undecided. It does not make much difference, for only the Christian’s status as a child of God enables him to protect himself. The idea that John is conveying in this verse is not that once you are born again, you will never sin again. But he is saying that those born again will not continue sinning. It is because the Lord now lives in his life through the Spirit to guard him against the temptations to sin. ^[20]

As an articulate spokesman for the Reformed Faith movement, James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) states that the Apostle John’s first affirmation is that the one who is born of God does not sin. At first glance, this statement seems contradictory to John’s repeated declaration in chapter one that anyone who says they do not sin or has never sinned is either seif-deceived or a liar, just as 1 John 3:4-10 seems contrary to those same statements.

But the conflict is only apparent, and our discussion of the earlier passage indicates how we should deal with this one. Here, as in 1 John 3:4-10, the verbs are in the present tense, meaning habitual or continuous action. So, the statement is not that the Christian cannot fall into sin; indeed, he can and does. But instead, while he may fall into sin, he cannot continue in it indefinitely. In other words, if the individual is genuinely born of God, the new birth will result in a new behavior. ^[21]

After scrutinizing the Apostle John’s subject theme, William Loader (1944) states that there seems to be a contradiction in the first reading between 5.16-17 and 18. In the former, the Apostle John has been instructing Christians on what to do when they see fellow Christian’s sinning. In verse eighteen, Christians do not sin: no child of God sins. John is picking up the assertion made already in verses seventeen to twenty. The comments on these verses discuss the matter in detail. In effect, John thinks in terms of systems of cause and effect. The child of God (literally: “the person born of God”) belongs within a system of relationships that has fruit, not sin but goodness and love. It begins and ends in love.^[22]

Great Commission practitioner David Jackman (1945) notes that verse eighteen and the following two verses begin with a shout of confidence, we know! They continue with a closing emphasis on some of the great assurances already expounded more fully elsewhere in the letter. Here is actual knowledge. It is the birthright of the humblest Christian by the Spirit through God’s Word, compared with the spurious theorizing of the false teachers based solely on their inflated egos and ingenious imaginations. True believers know these things from the beginning and from which they need never be shaken. ^[23]

After studying the context surrounding this verse, John W. (Jack) Carter (1947) believes that the word that John uses for sin in this verse refers to one immersed in a sinful lifestyle. Christians do not pursue wrongdoing; it is not their nature.  Those born of God do not seek out and practice sin as their basic lifestyle.  Because the Holy Spirit is working in them, their desire is not to sin, and though they stumble and fall, they continue to press toward the mark of the high calling of Jesus the Anointed One. This is the nature of grace: though we do not deserve it, the LORD has provided forgiveness for missing the mark.

Consequently, through the LORD’s grace, those who have come to Him in faith find forgiveness for sin and are assured eternal salvation. By making this choice of faith, the believer has been given everlasting protection against the evil one who would otherwise seal the eternal fate of death. Though the evil one has considerable influence over the life of the believer through both our natural desires and through the wicked behavior of others, he cannot take away the salvation of the faithful. He has no power to touch the promise of God. He has no authority over the Holy Spirit.^[24]

A man who loves sharing God’s Word, Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) is convinced that the Apostle John draws heavily on truths he already stated. He begins by reassuring readers that his counsel may have been perplexing regarding sin and death in previous verses. If they are born of God, they do not sin – that is, they do not persist in the sorts of sin that John writes this epistle to criticize and correct. Deadly sins on their part are of no concern. Why? Their assurance is founded on the atoning work of the Anointed One. “The one born of God” comes to their aid.

By now, such a phrase is shorthand for the numerous ministries performed for believers by Jesus: coming to bring eternal life,^[25] cleansing from sin,^[26] interceding in the Father’s presence,^[27] dying a conciliatory death,^[28] confirming knowledge,^[29] destroying the devil’s works,^[30] teaching believers the meaning of love.^[31] In the first two clauses of verse eighteen, John emphasizes that faithful readers need not be anxious despite the dire warnings implicit in previous verses.^[32]

Skilled in Dead Sea Scroll interpretation and Final Covenant writings, Colin G. Kruse (1950) notes that the Apostle John restates something written earlier in the letter about anyone born of God does not continue to sin.^[33] His readers, unlike the secessionists, have been born of God, so they will not continue in sin. By using a present tense form of the verb “does not,” John portrays the sinning here (as in 1 John 3:9) as an ongoing process. In 3:9, the basis for the readers not continuing to sin was that they were born of God, and God’s “seed” remains in them. In verse eighteen, the basis of their not sinning is put differently: the one who was born of God keeps himself safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.^[34] In this epistle of John, most references to being born of God relate to believers.

However, in verse eighteen, “the one born of God” is best interpreted as a reference to Jesus. This appropriate interpretation is supported by the fact that in John’s Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as the one who keeps His disciples safe. In Jesus’ prayer, He speaks of having kept secure all those whom God had given Him^[35] (except Judas, who was doomed to destruction) and prays, not that God will take them out of a godless society, but that “He will “protect them from the evil one.”^{[36] [37]}

Believing that Christians can fall away from the faith, Ben Witherington III (1951) says that after the repetition of key phrases about confession: the unseen God, the child of God, and agápē, verses thirteen to seventeen round out the rest of the discourse, leading up to the speech, which begins in verse eighteen. In this section, the author’s use of a rhetorical device that “consists in dwelling on the same topic and yet seeming to say something ever new” is undoubtedly foremost in John’s mind as he continues to switch the subjects of love and true confessions.

In neither John’s Gospel nor his first epistle, such remarks indicate that a customary closing of his letter is in progress or about to happen. They are not even a familiar feature of expository. They are simple purpose statements that can occur in literary documents and at various junctures (though usually toward the end). In any case, the actual closing of this document will not commence until 1 John 5:18, when we have a relatively standard lecture displaying rhetorical or oratorical skills.^[38]

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[1] Smith, David: The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1 John, op. cit., pp. 198-199

[2] James 4:7

[3] Ward, Ronald A., The Epistles on John and Jude, op. cit., p. 59

[4] Cf. 1 John 5:16

[5] See Ibid. 3:6, 9; 5:18

[6] Ibid. 5:14-17

[7] Ibid. 5:18-20

[8] Cf. 1 John 2:29; 3:1-10; 4:7; 5:1-4

[9] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, 1,2,3 John, op. cit., pp. 301-302

[10] Cf. 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4

[11] See Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10

[12] Cf. 1 John 2:13-14; 3:12

[13] Hodges, Zane C., Biblical Knowledge Commentary, op. cit., loc. cit.

[14] Marshall, Ian Howard: The Epistles of John (The New International Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., p. 251

[15] See 1 John 2:13-14

[16] Ibid. 5:4-5

[17] Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in a godless society. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. Its heavily corrected text is of outstanding importance for the history of the Bible and the manuscript – the oldest substantial book to survive Antiquity – is of supreme importance for the history of the book.

[18] Copied in the 5th century, Codex Alexandrinus is one of the three early Greek manuscripts that preserve both the Old and the New Testaments together. Its name (‘Book from Alexandria’) derives from the city of Alexandria in Egypt, where it was preserved before the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria, Cyril Lucar (d. 1638) brought it to Constantinople in 1621

[19] Painter, John. Sacra Pagina: 1, 2, and 3 John: Volume 18, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[20] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., pp. 94-95

[21] Boice, James Montgomery: The Epistles of John, An Expository Commentary, op. cit., p. 145

[22] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., p. 78

[23] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Epistles, op. cit., p. 167

[24] Carter, Dr. John W. (Jack). 1,2,3, John & Jude: (The Disciple’s Bible Commentary Book 48), op. cit., pp. 135-136

[25] 1 John 1:2

[26] Ibid. 1:7

[27] Ibid. 2:1

[28] Ibid. 2:2

[29] Ibid. 2:20

[30] Ibid. 3:8

[31] Ibid. 3:16

[32] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 315-316

[33] Cf. 1 John 3:9

[34] 1 John 2:29; 3:9^2x; 4:7; 5:1, 18^x2

[35] John 17

[36] Ibid. 17:12-15

[37] Kruse, Colin G., The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary), op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[38] Witherington, Ben III., Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXIII) 04/29/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

Thus, a Christian’s characterizing, fulfilling, and conquering human nature is holy as God is holy to explain this case further. The doctrine is inserted again here, not only as a chief and concluding point in the Johannian faith, but to save his readers from inferring that because a spiritual brother or sister sins^[1] and needs intercession, they, therefore, are under a continuous tendency to sin, or their new and ultimate nature is otherwise than perfectly holy and utterly apart from Satan.

It is a notable illustration of the complemental and mutually balancing relation of parts of Scripture to be remembered by an interpreter, student, and teacher. But he that is born of God keeps himself pure. The Revised Version renders it “He who was born of God keeps him,” as the critical text requires. And as far as the structure of the sentence is concerned, the most natural reference of “him”’ is to God,^[2] and the thought is that the regenerate believer keeps God – that is, preserves them in vital union with themselves. The new birth contains God’s nature as partners with Him. Here is the true secret and reason for the “perseverance of the saints,”^[3] and the assertion of the fact is beyond arguing.^[4]

Noting the Apostle John’s doctrinal implications, John James Lias (1834-1923) says that the first point to be noticed here is the threefold repetition of “know” in this and the two following verses. It gives a special meaning to this conclusion of the Epistle. Three things are specially singled out as recognized by the Christian consciousness. (1) The knowledge that an inward power enables the Christian to preserve himself from sin.^[5] (2) The knowledge that this inward power results from our new birth from on high and our severance from a godless society.^[6] (3) The knowledge that this new birth inspires our understandings and keeps the vision of Him that is true before us.^[7]

Thus, the Apostle John summarizes three main aspects and points of his teaching which pervade more or less the various sections of his Epistle – our obligation and prerogative of holiness; our opposition to a godless society; our relation to the Person of the Anointed One.”^[8]

A tried and tested biblical scholar who believes in building up of the Christian life, Robert Cameron (1839-1904) states that from this point on, the Apostle John proceeds to speak of certain things we know. He uses this term four times in these closing verses. “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin;”^[9] “We know that we are children of God,”^[10] and “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true.”

In other words, “He that is born of God” his mind and understanding enlightened by the “Word,” which was used in his new life, and by the Holy Spirit, who imparted the life through “the incorruptible seed” of the Word. Moreover, the new life has its instincts and tendencies, and “self-preservation is the first law of nature.” Through these new impulses, called the “new heart,” the one who has had a second birth is alive to his spiritual interests and keeps himself – “keeps an eye on himself” – with a view to the preservation and development of his new life derived from God.^[11]

Manifestly and distinctly, Erich Haupt (1941-1910) agrees with other commentators that verse seventeen marks the end of the Apostle John’s epistle. Thus, the remaining verses serve as a summation of what has been said up until now. It outlines what Christians receive for themselves, eternal life by faith, and what it confers on them for the benefit of other believers: the power to bring them into the kingdom of God by intercession.

The three verses that follow signify their connection with the thrice-repeated continuation of “know” at the beginning of the clauses. It also reviews the three constitutive elements from which the happy estate of Christians was constructed in the summary of the three previous verses.^[12]

With his Spirit-directed calculating mind, Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) says that “we know!” is a confident expression of the certainty of Christian faith at the beginning of each of these three verses and is the link that binds them together. We have had it twice before:^[13] perhaps in all cases, it is meant to mark the contrast between the fundamental knowledge of the believer, based upon Divine revelation in the Anointed One, and the false knowledge of the Gnostic, solely based upon human logic. The quadruple “we know” at the Epistle’s close confirms what the Apostle John said in his Gospel^[14] about being the author, not something added by the Ephesian elders. Verse eighteen is a return to his statement in verse nine.^[15]

Once more, the Apostle is not afraid of an apparent contradiction.^[16] He has just been saying that if a Christian sins, other believers will intercede for them, and now he says that the child of God does not sin. One statement refers to possible but exceptional facts: the other to the chronic state. A child of God may sin, but their normal condition is one of resistance to sin.

However, “He born of God keeps him” should read, “those born of God keep them through intercession.” The first change depends upon a question of interpretation, the second on one of reading, and neither can be determined with certainty. The latter is the easier question and throws light on the former. Nevertheless, “Him” seems to be rightly preferred by most editors. This “him” is the child of God spoken of in the first clause. But who is it that “keeps him?” Not the child of God himself, as many commentators explain, but God’s Son, the Only Begotten.^{[17] [18]}

With regal etiquette, Ernst von Dryander (1843-1922) suggests that the Apostle John does not require or imply by these words’ perfect sinlessness. He would not contradict himself and wrote in the first chapter of his Epistle: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” There can be no perfected saint on this earth. But what he means, of course, is that no child of God can willingly, purposely, insult and grieve its Father, whom it loves; it can find no pleasure in sin but must regard it as a hindrance to life, as a heavy, disagreeable burden, which causes weariness and unhappiness and suffering.

The child of God must know that anger, ambition, and lust are out of place in their heart and must be fought against and overcome; therefore, it must come to this that a child of God cannot sin a “sin deadly to eternal life;” and so the Apostle’s words apply to him when he writes: “He that is born of God keeps for Himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.” Believers guard themselves against sin as they lifeguard themselves against death; even when they suffer sin’s consequences, whichever cleaves to them, they do not deliberately sin. The wicked hungry lion^[19] finds in them no prey, for he has no power over them.^[20]

After scrutinizing the Apostle John’s urging to live in God’s Light of understanding, Aaron M. Hills (1848-1931) says that the argument drawn by some from verse eighteen may lead to the belief that there is no need for a second work of grace to keep us from sinning; that those born of God don’t sin, and this itself is pure and holy living. We reply that we have never asserted that we need sanctification to keep us from sinning; regeneration alone can do that. The work of sanctification goes deeper and takes the “prone to wander” and “want to sin” tendency out of us. Regeneration saves us from the guilt and power of sin, but sanctification delivers us from the inclination to sin.^[21]

As a prolific writer on the Final Covenant Epistles, George G. Findlay (1849-1919) also sees verse eighteen as the seal of the Apostle John set upon the work of his life, now drawing to a close; it is, in effect, a seal placed upon the entire fabric of the Apostolic doctrine and testimony by this last survivor of the Twelve and the nearest to the heart of Jesus. Extracting the essential part of the confession, the three short sentences introduced by the thrice-repeated We know, we have John’s creed briefly, in three articles:

“We know that whosoever is begotten of God doth not sin.

We know that we are of God.

We know that God’s Son has come.”

In other words, “I believe in holiness,” “I believe in regeneration,” and “I believe in the mission of God’s Son.” Here we find the triple mark of our Christian profession, the standard of the Apostolic faith, and life within the Church – in recognition of our sinless calling, our Divine birth, and the revelation of the true God in Jesus the Anointed One His Son. These are great things for any man to affirm. Nevertheless, it is a grand confession that we make who endorse the Apostle John’s manifesto; it requires a noble style of living to sustain the declaration and prove oneself worthy of the high calling it presumes.^[22]

With his stately speaking style, William M. Sinclair (1850-1917) says that there is no reason to add to any “deadly to eternal life” sin. So likewise, in the solemn close of his letter, the Apostle John firmly insists that the ideal Christian mindset has no place for willful sin. Stumbles may happen, even needing friends’ prayers, but not intentional lawlessness. Instead, he that is born of God keeps him: God’s Son preserves him so that the evil one cannot steal them out of His hand.^[23]

The last mention of the devil was in verse ten. Satan and his demons may attack but have no influence so long as the Christian abides in the Anointed One.^[24] Next, after the critical point that righteousness is the characteristic of the new birth comes the necessity that a Christian should make up their mind that they have been, or are being, born again and are different from a godless society.^{[25] [26]}

Beyond any doubt, remarks Alonzo R. Cocke (1858-1901), the Apostle John taught that divine life is hostile to all sin. Some might think too lightly of sin, so John recalls that the Anointed One stands in opposition to all sin and that one who possesses divine life, because being born of God, separates themselves from sin. How clear the duty to guard against all sin whatever, without looking at “gradational differences,” and, too, how clear the fact that those who have committed sins deadly to eternal life have not been born of God.”^[27] To insist that a born-again believer can commit the unpardonable sin is like saying that any child born of one skin color can now change the color of their skin.

Esteemed ministry veteran James B. Morgan (1859-1942) makes the point that some sacred writers discovered extreme jealousy for the holiness of believers. For example, the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to the Anointed One.”^[28] To the Ephesians, Paul writes, “the Anointed One loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”^[29]

In the same spirit, the words of verse eighteen are uttered by the Apostle John. He had spoken of the sins of believers in the preceding verse. Assuming they would fall victim to sin, he teaches the duty of intercessory prayer on their behalf. “If any man sees his brother sin a sin which is not deadly to eternal life, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not deadly to eternal life.”^[30]

John seems to have fear that such admissions might be abused by some as if they represented sin to be inevitable, and therefore, we need not be too concerned about its commission. Hence, he guards his doctrine by immediately adding, “All unrighteousness is sin.”^[31] And he proceeds to show what a complete and effectual provision had been made for holiness, saying, in the language of the text, “Whosoever is born of God does not sin; but those born of God keep themselves, so the wicked one cannot touch them.”^{[32] [33]}

In reviewing what the Apostle John says in this verse, Archibald T. Robertson (1863-1934) notes that we find “We know” here in verse eighteen as in other parts of this epistle.^[34] We also find “You know” in other locations.^[35] It includes that those born of God do not keep on sinning.^[36] Also, Satan is not just any evil man.^[37] “touching him” means laying hold of or grasping rather than a superficial touch.^[38] Here the idea is to touch to harm. The devil cannot snatch any believer from the Anointed One.^{[39] [40]}

With characteristic fundamental spiritual thinking, Alan England Brooke (1863-1939) mentions that knowledge mentioned here by the Apostle John is intuitive^[41] and comes from the nature of God and the life He has given us. The perfect tense expresses the lasting results of “being born of God.” Some who heard what John said may have excluded the possibility of sin. But following his custom, John states the truth without any modifications necessary to individual cases in experience.

The preceding section, as well as the early part of the Epistle, shows that John recognized the fact of sin in Christians. If the reading “himself” is adopted, the meaning must be that those who have experienced the new birth keep themselves from evil by virtue of the power which the new birth places within their reach. In the first clause of the verse, the permanent consequences of the initial transformation are emphasized; here, the stress is laid on the act itself. The fact of the new birth enables them to keep themselves free from the attacks of the evil one.^[42]

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[1] See 1 John 5:16

[2] The Revised English Bible has: “he is kept safe by God’s Son.”

[3] Perseverance of the saints (also called preservation of the saints) is a Christian teaching that asserts that once a person is truly “born of God” or “regenerated” by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they will continue doing good works and believing in God until the end of their life.

[4] Sawtelle, Henry A., Commentary on the Epistles of John, op. cit., pp. 62-63

[5] See 1 John 2:1, 4, 5; 3:3-10, 23,24; 5:2, 3

[6] See Ibid. 1:6; 2-9-11, 15-17; 3:14, 15; 4:1-6; 5:10

[7] See ibid. 1:3, 7; 2:20, 23; 3:1, 2, 9; 4:6-16; 5:1-4, 10-12

[8] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 413-417

[9] 1 John 5:18

[10] Ibid. 5:19

[11] Cameron, Robert: The First Epistle of John, or, God Revealed in Light, Life, and Love, op. cit., p. 247

[12] Haupt, Erich: The First Epistle of St. John: Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, Vol. LXIV, op. cit., pp. 337-338

[13] 1 John 3:2, 14; cf. 2:20, 21; 3:4, 15

[14] John 21:24

[15]

[16] 1 John 2:15

[17] 1 John 3:9, 5:1, 4; John 3:6, 8

[18] Plummer, Alfred: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, N. T., Vol. IV, pp. 169-170

[19] 1 Peter 5:8-9

[20] Dryander, Ernst von: A Commentary on the First Epistle of St. John in the Form of Addresses, op. cit., p. 245

[21] Hills, A. M., The Old Man, Ch. 19, p. 118

[22] Findlay, George G., Fellowship in the Life Eternal: An Exposition of the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 415

[23] John 10:28

[24] Cf. 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11; Revelation 3:10

[25] 1 John 1:6; 2:3, 5, 29; 3:9, 14, 19, 24; 4:7, 13, 15; 5:1, 10

[26] Sinclair, William M., New Testament Commentary for English Readers, Charles J. Ellicott, op, cit., Vol. 3, p. 493

[27] Cocke, Alonzo R: Studies in the Epistles of John; or, The Manifested Life, op. cit., pp. 135-136

[28] 1 Corinthians 11:2

[29] Ephesians 5:26

[30] 1 John 5:16

[31] Ibid. 5:17

[32] Ibid. 3:9

[33] Morgan, James B., An Exposition of the First Epistle of John, op. cit., Lecture L, pp. 498-499

[34] 1 John 3:2, 14; 5:15, 19, 20

[35] Ibid. 2:20; 3:5, 15

[36] Ibid. 3:4-10

[37] Matthew 6:13

[38] Colossians 2:21

[39] John 6:38ff

[40] Robertson, Archibald T., Word Pictures n the New Testament, op. cit., p, 1971

[41] Cf. 1 John 3:9

[42] Brooke, Alan E., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Johannine Epistles, op. cit., pp. 148-150

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXII) 04/28/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

Still, there is no pure and genuine love for God, no heavenly-mindedness in the human soul, no ennobling, and family relations to the great Father in heaven. All these have their root and origin in the birth from above and can spring forth and flourish in the renewed soul alone. Hence, the frequency with which the Scripture speaks of the necessity of being born again, of receiving a new heart, a new name, a new life, a new nature.

It contains the feeling of bitter sorrow for having neglected the Savior and served sin so long, and hence it is called repentance; it effectuates a total radical change in the entire conduct and character and therefore is called conversion; it brings us into a new world, a new life, new hopes, and aspirations after God, where there is growing conformity to the image of the Savior and is fitly called a new birth; it carries us over the boundaries of Satan’s dominions, and places us in the kingdom of divine grace and love, where the Good Shepherd leads us by the fountains of living waters, and may well be called a transformation.^{[1] [2]}

With the zeal of a scriptural text examiner, William E. Jelf (1811-1875) states that the conclusion of the Apostle John’s epistle now commences, marked by “know” in verses eighteen, nineteen, and twenty. This idea contradicts what goes before: a Christian may sin and yet not wholly lose their spiritual life. To evade this difficulty, some supply those born of God do not sin or interpret it as habitual sin, but both are arbitrary and unsatisfactory. If a person sins, it is contrary to their regenerate nature. There is something in this, but it is not exact enough. The proper solution is found by observing that the perfect “having been born” signifies the state of regeneration and equals “born of God.” 

This force of the perfect tense is brought out strongly by its contrast with “having been born” in the next verse. The meaning of it is not only that every sin is a violation of the perfect spiritual life of the Christian but also that it cannot occur without that inner spiritual life and union with God having to some degree, failed; there must have been a falling away from grace through harboring some sinful thought or desire before the Christian can sin outwardly. And this illustrates the features of sin as indicating and aggravating this internal defection of life.

In other words, the Christian must have in some way or other grieved the Spirit of Holiness and thus undid resigned so much of their spiritual life and powers. However, as long as this life and these powers remain unimpaired by sinful wishes, as long as the Christian uses the strength given, so long and so far, they are kept from sin. And this interpretation is in perfect harmony with all the phenomena of spiritual life as we find them in Scripture.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to overlook the passive force of the participle “being born” as a strong expression of past time contrasted with the form “having been born,” expressing a state continuing from the past into the present, “he who has been born of God.” And hence we perceive the difference between what is said of “having been born” and “being born” of those who have been born again and whose birth of God is in a constant state.^[3]

After observing the Apostle John’s attention to detail, John Stock (1817-1884) indicates that there is no sight under heaven so grand and so great as that of a child of God keeping Satan at arm’s length, and making ineffectual all his dire assaults; and who is on the way, with heartfelt gratitude, to exclaim, “I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course⁶.”^[4] God is not sought in vain. Omnipotence must prevail. The hosts of hell, banded in one, are as a feeble bubble before God, who triumphs over His people’s foes – giving them the victory – and rejoices as He beholds the repeated conquests of His servants.

God does not look on life’s battlefield without concern but hastens to support each and all of them that reverence Him; whose eyes run everywhere throughout the whole earth, to show Him is strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him¹; and saying, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness;” holds out to view the crown of righteousness³; the crown of glory that does not fade away – even the crown of life⁵; and affirms, “To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne⁶.”^[5]

With an inquiring spiritual mind, Johannes H. A. Ebrard (1819-1893) points out that verses eighteen to twenty form a conclusion to the preceding portion of the Apostle John’s first epistle. With a triple “know,” John summarizes three truths he explained in his letter. The first is that everyone born of God does not go on sinning because they are watchful and guard themselves so that Satan cannot touch them. Second, John unfolds its general substance in the first section.^[6] The third section is its foundation for kinship with God and regeneration and the requirement for watchfulness.^[7]

It respects security against unrighteousness in the second section and the third.^[8] The second truth, that we are of God, while a godless society yields to the evil one, had been prepared for in the first section and then formed the foundation of the second section and the second part of the third section.^[9] The third that the Anointed One is come, and has given us an understanding of the truth which John abundantly unfolds in the fourth and fifth sections. Thus, we see that John does not recapitulate the five main divisions by three main aspects and points of his teaching, which permeated the various sections of his Epistle ‒ namely, our obligation and prerogative of holiness, our opposition to a godless society, and our relationship to the Person of the Anointed One.^[10]

After contemplating the Apostle John’s train of thought, William Kelly (1822-1888) sees John’s words in verse eighteen as part of the divine conscious knowledge for every individual, which is of immediate and deep concern for a Christian’s heart. It serves as an intellectual statement, and no more, no matter how one’s faith, may accept and apply it. There is a slight difference in the expression “whosoever is born of God does not sin, but he that is begotten of God keeps himself” (KJV); “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe” (NIV) though they belong to the same person, the Christian.

The first is the continued effect of being born again. Second, there is no question about it continuing. If sin was a small matter to Gnostic eyes, ignored by them or accepted as an unpleasant necessity, it is a grave thing to God’s children as it is to God. And it was similar to a word of comfort and one of caution that a person born of God does not sin, and the wicked one does not touch them. God’s Word is living and energetic, unlike every other word, and the Holy Spirit abides in each Christian to give power, communion, life, service, and worship to fill up the life below.^[11]

Familiar with the Apostle John’s writing style, William B. Pope (1822-1903) is sure that whoever is born of God does not continue in sin and stays away from the evil one’s influence. However, the elder apostle admitted that the children of the Divine birth might sin, both deadly to eternal life and not deadly to eternal life. Then John reminds his readers of what was established earlier, that the regenerate life is inconsistent with both kinds. The characteristic and privilege of a child of God are to live without violating His law. Nevertheless, while all unrighteousness is sin, there is no death sin in the regenerated life. This is a repetition of what was said in chapter three, but John never repeats himself without some change in his thought.

Here’s a controversial statement: Not only those born of God do not sin, but those who backslide don’t sin. Again, as is his custom, John gives a specific reason for the assertion. The act of regeneration severed the Christian from Satan’s empire; and it is their privilege to stay watchful and dependent on the Keeper of their soul, from the approach of the tempter; not his approach as a tempter, but make sure that such an assault will not hurt their salvation.  It is wrong to limit this great saying by inserting “sin willfully” or “deadly to eternal life sin” or “sin habitually.” It must stand as the declaration of a privilege which is an attainable ideal. But living without that which God calls sin, John does not explain. One can only say, “He has nothing in me.”

However, sinful tendencies are still in those born of God. Why is that we might ask? While there are many answers, one of them would certainly be this: without those evil inclinations there would be no need for sanctification, and the believer would have no reason to grow stronger through resistance, proving their faithfulness to the One who saved them. So John’s warning is that they do exist, and if we are not careful, they may conceive and bring forth sin; not, however, if Satan is not involved. And the passions and lust in us will die if it has no place in our hearts and minds. This we know to be the privilege of the Christian estate, for the apostle established it in the middle of the Epistle.^[12] “We know” is not without protest against all future doubt; it is like one of the “faithful sayings” with which the Apostle Paul sealed his final doctrine.

To understand “the one is born of God” of the only begotten who keeps the saint is contrary to the analogy of Final Covenant’s language, and to suppose that the principle of regeneration protects them introduces a certain harshness without removing any difficulty. There is indeed no difficulty to the expositor who remembers that John never disconnects the Divine efficiency in humankind from their cooperation.^[13] Therefore, I take Pope’s explanation as “theoretical” rather than “practical.”^[14]

With precise spiritual discernment, William Alexander (1824-1911) takes verse eighteen as a statement of what we are: “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.” By using the plural pronoun “we,” John binds his spirit and experience with that of his readers.

There is also the matter of how the believer is kept out of the hands of the evil one. The KJV reads: “He that is born of God keeps himself, and that wicked one cannot touch him.” But the NLT renders it: “God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.” It is also in line with Jesus’ prayer to the Father, “I have given them Your teaching. And a godless society has hated them because they don’t belong to a godless society, just as I don’t belong to a godless society. I am not asking You to take them out of a godless society. But I am asking that You keep them safe from the Evil One.”^{[15] [16]}

With holiness doctrine expertise, Daniel Steele (1824-1914) makes the point that the expression “Son of God” is in the aorist participle “begotten.” If John had a regenerated man in mind, he would have used the perfect tense, as in the first clause in verse eighteen.^[17] So also, the KJV, following an uncritical Greek manuscript, leaves every newborn Christian to “keep himself.” But the best critical manuscripts, as in Westcott and Hort’s text, reads, “supply him with a keeper and protector” – not a guardian angel, but the only begotten Son of God. Hence, he does not depend on his resources in his warfare against the active and wily “evil one.” So, God’s (only) begotten (Son) keeps him, not within a prison, but with watchful regard from without, not in custody, but freedom.

When it comes to the phrase “Touch him not,” (KJV) for the soul perfectly trusting in the power of God’s Son, there is no inward point of contact for the evil one to touch. It is “safe”^[18] because the prince of this world has nothing in them. The perfectly trusting soul becomes the entirely sanctified soul. The principle of evil is not within but without. The doctrine of final perseverance cannot be built on this passage. Faith may lapse, and the person may wander from their divine keeper.

Indeed, “We cannot be protected against ourselves in spite of ourselves,” while we are free agents on probation. Suppose a person falls at any stage in their spiritual life. In that case, it is not the fault of divine grace, nor does it come from the irresistible power of adversaries, but from a relaxed hold on the omnipotent guardian to whom they are clinging.^[19]

After sufficient examination, Brooke Wescott (1825-1901) feels that a fellow Christian’s mediation power to overcome sin’s consequences might encourage a certain indifference to immorality. Therefore, the Apostle John reaffirms the elements of Christian knowledge. From this view, the first truth of which the Christian is assured is that despite the abnormal presence of sin even among the brethren, a child of God does not sin. They have a watchful Protector stronger than their adversary.

We found that John uses this appeal to absolute knowledge in two forms: “we know” and “you know.” “We know” is found fourteen times in this epistle.^[20] “You know” occurs only twice.^[21] In contrast with these appeals to fundamental knowledge, John elsewhere appeals to the knowledge brought by experience. The Apostle Paul uses the same form frequently.^{[22] [23]}

Considered a monarch in the pulpit, Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) states that as Christians, by their experience, “Know that whosoever is born of God does not sin, they know that they are of God, and we know that God’s Son arrived.” Now, that knowledge John has in mind is not merely an intellectual conviction but the outcome of life and the broad stamp of experience. Yet the average Christian who reads this text, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them,” shrugs their shoulders and says, “Well! Perhaps I do not understand it, but so far as I do, it seems to contradict life’s experiences.

Such words drive some believers and parallel ones in other places,^[24] to a presumptuous over-confidence, some of us to equally unscriptural confusion, and a great many laying John’s triumphant certainty up upon the shelf with other unintelligible things where it becomes covered with dust.^[25] But we need not be among them. God’s Word provides all the answers if we just take the time to study it.

As a commentator and translator of many German religious works, Jacob Isidor Mombert (1829-1913) illustrates that sin occurs and approaches. Still, believers withstand the assault, guarding themselves in their peculiar nature and the Divine gift of eternal life, which hinders, spoils, and drives away sin. Thus, sin destroys but by self-guarding the “seed of God” that abides in them.^[26] Like a spiritual farmer planting the seed of God’s Word, Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) states that we know (as a fact) that whoever is born (or begotten) of God does not sin. With not sinning as the law, tendency, or ideal of their regenerate nature, they belong to the sphere of light. Therefore, sinning is not an ongoing part of a believer’s nature; but something temporary, to be dropped away in fulfilling the new character.

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[1] Colossians 1:13

[2] Graham, William: The Spirit of Love, op. cit., pp. 345-347

[3] Jelf, William E., Commentary on the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., p. 81

[4] 2 Timothy 4:7-8

[5] Stock, John: An Exposition of the First Epistle General of St. John, op. cit., pp. 457-458

[6] 1 John 1:6; 2:3ff

[7] Ibid. 3:3ff

[8] Ibid. 2:13, 20ff; 27

[9] Ibid 3:13ff

[10] Ebrard, Johannes H. A., Biblical Commentary on the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., pp. 342-343

[11] Kelly, William: An Exposition of the Epistles of John the Apostle, op. cit., p. 390

[12] See 1 John 2:3, 18; 3:2, 14, 19, 24; cf. 5:2, 15, 18, 19, 20

[13] Pope, William B., The International Illustrated Commentary on the N.T., Vol. IV, op. cit., p. 41

[14] See Galatians 6:1

[15] John 17:14-15

[16] Alexander, William: The Holy Bible with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 346

[17] See 1 John 3:9

[18] See John 14:30

[19] Steele, Daniel: Half-Hours with St. John’s Epistles, op. cit., pp. 147-149

[20] 1 John 2:3, 18; 3:2, 14, 19, 24; 5:2, 15, 18, 19, 20

[21] Ibid. 2:21; 5:13

[22] 1 Corinthians 8:1, 4; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Romans 2:2; 3:19; 7:14; 8:22, 28; 1 Timothy 1:8

[23] Westcott, Brooke F., The Epistles of St. John: Greek Text with Notes, op. cit., pp. 193-194

[24] Cf. 1 Corinthians 7:36; 1 John 3:6

[25] Maclaren, Alexander: Sermons and Expositions on 1 John, op. cit., “Triumphant Certainties – 1”

[26] 1 John 3:9

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXI) 04/27/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

For example, Thomas Scott (1747-1821) a man with a heartfelt friendship with hymn writer John Newton (1726-1807),^[1] looks at the Apostle John’s words that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them because they are born of God.^[2] So let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.^[3] Thus, everything forming an essential part of Christianity is inseparably connected with being “born of God:” and it is evidently intended, that they all co-exist in the regenerated.

But, had John reversed these propositions, would he have said, “Those who don’t believe that Jesus is God’s Son, are not born of God?” Or “Individuals who do not survived living in a godless society are not born of God.” Perhaps, “People who do not live right are not born of God.” Maybe even, “Persons who commit sin are not born of God.” Even perhaps, “They who don’t love are not born of God.” Doubtless, he would. But would he have said, “Believers who have not been baptized are not born of God?” This is sufficient to expose the absurdity of baptism and regeneration, being considered the same thing, or inseparably connected.^[4]

In his captivating teaching style, Jewish convert Augustus Neander (1789-1850) teaches that while the Apostle John demands Christian sympathy and love, even for members who’ve fallen short of God’s glory.^[5] Nevertheless, John deems it necessary to avoid destroying the essential contradiction between Christian living and sinning and to summon Christians to continue fighting against sin. Why? Because we know that God’s children do not practice sinning, God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

John deems it necessary to add this warning, lest some might be led, by the distinction he made among sins, to think too lightly of any sin, lest believers suppose they had done enough if they only avoided such outbreaking sins. Here again, John refers to the principle that all sin is the same. All transgression of the divine law proceeds from selfishness as sin. Therefore, in its governing principle, it is the same thing. It is only about the outward manifestation that a difference among sins can be made to distinguish “sin deadly to eternal life” from other sins.

To this end, John reiterates that the holy living stands in contradiction with all wrongdoing; and that one born of God and possessing divine life as opposed to all sin keeps themselves separate from all evil. Anyone who faithfully cherishes the godly life received, and watches over themselves, has nothing to fear from evil temptations. Instead, it has the power to withstand all Satan’s influences. There is nothing in such a one on which the devil can fix his hold. As Satan was compelled to retire from the Redeemer, finding no access to Him with His temptations, so will he be forced to leave unharmed those who stand in fellowship with the Redeemer.

Herein are two things: first, the duty of all such as have become partakers of the divine life, to guard against all sin whatever, without regard to differences; and secondly, the proof that such as have fallen into sins which are deadly to eternal life is not born of God. From this, it is evident that if they were born of God, they could only, by neglecting to watch over themselves, have again fallen prey to the power of evil, which they must otherwise have withstood.^[6]

After spiritually analyzing the implications of the Apostle John’s conclusions at this point, Gottfried C. F. Lücke (1791-1855) says that the Apostle John shows in verse seventeen that every action and intention contrary to divine law, every infringement on God’s righteousness, is, in its essence, sin. However, there still exists a difference in the intensity and effect of corruption between nondeadly sin and sin deadly to eternal life. The faithful Christian can, according to John, not sin deadly to eternal life as long as they walk in the flesh.^[7]

Therefore, John adds this consolation, “We (also) know that everyone born of God does not sin.^[8] Those born of God (being ever intent on sanctifying themselves) keep themselves from doing so^[9] and thus are unassailable to the evil one,^[10] the prince of this world. Therefore, he maintains the cloud of darkness and death over his brood.”^{[11] [12]}

Without using complicated language, Albert Barnes (1798-1870) comments that though a believer may stumble into sin and grieve God’s family, we should never cease to pray for them. We are never to feel that they have committed an unforgivable sin and thrown themselves beyond the reach of prayer. This passage, in its connection, is sufficient proof that a faithful Christian will never commit an unpardonable sin and, therefore, will never fall from grace.

The assertion here is that “whosoever is born of God does not sin” by keeping themselves away from temptation. It does not say that they do it by their strength but will put forth their best efforts to keep from sinning and, by Divine assistance, will be able to accomplish it.^[13] The great enemy of all good is repelled in his assaults and kept from having believers falling into his snares.^[14]

With impressive theological vision, Richard Rothe (1799-1867) notes that in verse eighteen, the Apostle John ends his discussion begun in verse fourteen. That discussion also was meant to establish the general thought which occupies his attention throughout this section – the view, namely, that through faith in Jesus as the Anointed One, God’s Son, the Christian has eternal life. John returns to this general thought and utters it in verses nineteen and twenty, in all its strength and with conviction. In both verses, the chief emphasis falls upon “we know.” Between verses eighteen and nineteen, there is no direct connection but verses nineteen and twenty, as is evident from the “and” must be taken together.^[15]

Consistent with the Apostle John’s advice, Heinrich A. W. Meyer (1800-1882) says that in verse eighteen, the Apostle John describes the position of believers in brief, vigorous strokes. Although, as in verses sixteen and seventeen, John admitted that unrighteousness, and hence sin, still exist in Christians. Thus, John finds himself compelled to repeat, confirmingly, what he said about believers continuing to live in sin^[16] as a truth known to Christians. Though the tendency to sin still exists in the life of the believer born of God, it is nevertheless foreign to them, opposed to their spiritual nature, and in the strength of their faith become progressively free from it.^[17]

According to Robert Jamieson (1802-1880), Andrew Fausset (1821-1910), and David Brown’s (1803-1897) way of thinking, the Apostle John’s “we know”^[18] no one who has become part of God’s family makes a practice of sinning, for the Anointed One, God’s Son, holds them securely. The devil cannot get his hands on them. John wanted to enforce four truths – we are God’s children, do not make sinning a habit, are secure in God, and the devil cannot make us sin.  These words preface matters of the believer’s joint experimental knowledge. John warns against abusing this in verses sixteen and seventeen as justifying self-security.^[19]

With his lifework well-illustrating the biblical and reformation ideal of a pastor-theologian, Robert S. Candlish (1807-1873) theorizes that verse seventeen’s last clause, “there is sin that does not lead to eternal death,” may be read without the negative. He believes that there is sufficient authority for reading it that way. And as regards internal evidence, it seems easier to explain – and this is a good criterion – how, if not originally in the text, it might creep in, then, how, it could fall out? The insertion of it by copyists, perhaps first as a hypothetical marginal reading, can easily be explained by supposing it necessary to harmonize the statement in the seventeenth verse with verse sixteen to bring in the idea of the lawfulness of praying for life for them that sin not deadly to eternal life.

This seventeenth verse, however, points forward to verse eighteen, not backward. Do not imagine that in praying for a sinning spiritual brother or sister, you may overlook the possibility of their sin being deadly to eternal life. Do not pray for them as if you thought that God’s law might be relaxed in their case, and they, though sinning, deserve to die and continue to sin; they might not die. Beware even more for your sake than theirs. You are in danger of being led to tolerate in yourselves what you are inclined to downplay in a fellow believer. You may secretly hope there may be immunity for them, even though they continue sinning. Is there no risk of your being tempted to cherish a similar hope for yourself; and forget the great truth that “all unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin deadly to eternal life?”^[20]

An ordained deacon in the Church of England who turned towards a clerical career under Evangelical influences, including his friendship with Favell Lee Mortimer,^[21] which affected him deeply throughout life, Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) said, “It must be remembered that the greatest saint may be tempted to the worst of sins. I do not say the temptation will prevail; God forbid; but that temptations may be addressed to him; and if the saintliest minds may be tempted, how much more are we open to the incursions of temptation!” Our blessed Lord, after the devil became frustrated in his endeavor to tempt Him, began to oppose, and afflict Him. There was no hope of prevailing against Him because the prince of this world found no guilt in Him. There was no inward sin on which to work by allurements or stimulants.

Not so with us. To the end of life, we carry a fallen nature, with its taints and proneness to evil. This is mortified and kept under in those that live a holy life, but still in some sort remains within. Till the end, the prince of this godless society has something to test us with; he addresses his flatteries and persuasions. How strange it seems to us to read of Abraham’s falsehood,^[22] David’s awful and complex sin,^[23] Peter’s denials,^[24] and the contention between Paul and Barnabas!^[25]

How will we escape temptations and downfalls if such saints were tempted and overcome? It is true that, as people grow in grace, temptation loses much of its power over them. So, John says, “Whosoever is born of God does not sin; for His seed remains in them.”^[26]And again: “We know that whosoever is born of God does not sin, but those born of God keep themselves so that wicked one cannot touch them.”^[27]

In another sermon, Manning states that the perfect saint is not sinless; this, since creation, has been the prerogative of one Divine being alone. It will be saints’ inheritance in bliss on earth, so long as they are in the flesh, the original sin is a mystery to them. In some, the urge for devotion, fasting, mortification, and prayers keeps them in perpetual watchfulness. God is wonderfully keeping them; their footsteps never slide. These are they of whom John says, “Whosoever is born of God does not sin; for His seed remains in them.”^{[28] [29]}

With an inquiring mind, Daniel D. Whedon (1808-1885) sees that the Apostle John uses the continuous present tense, “sins not,” in the case of a sin committed by a believer not deadly to eternal life. It presupposes that the regenerate can and does sin. They do not live in the practice of sin as the unregenerate do. They do not, like the Nicolaitans, live in unrighteousness, and say it is not wrong. Unlike the regular sinner, they do not sin without repugnance or repentance, as if it were natural and agreeable to them. Instead, they watch and guard themselves. Unless they do this, they lose their regenerated character, which is incompatible with endless sinning. It will not allow the devil to get possession of their soul. Again, these are instances of the continuous present tense.^[30]

In line with Apostle John’s conclusion, Henry Alford (1810-1871) finds that the Apostle John repeats what he said before about those born of God do not sin.^[31] Therefore, there is no inconsistency with what he says here in verse eighteen. It expresses the enduring abidance of heavenly birth. It fits the characteristic of those who do not sin, calling attention to the historical fact of having been born of God. It also harmonizes with the fact that the wicked one cannot touch them because divine birth severed their connection with the evil prince of this world.

In addition, Alford objects to this and similar expositions and retains the reading “it keeps him,” that is, the Divine birth, adding, “it is this, and not the fact of their watchfulness, which preserves them from the touch of the wicked one.”^[32] This puzzle can be easily solved by noting that we are in Him and He in us. Therefore, we cannot keep ourselves without His help, and He will not protect us if we don’t resist sin’s approach.^[33]

As a faithful and zealous scholar, William Graham (1810-1883) says that the substance of verse eighteen may be termed the “believer’s safety.” As it is naturally divided into several particulars, we must attend to them in their order. First: He is born of God.^[34] This is the new birth of which God’s Word speaks so abundantly, as the turning point of the Christian’s life and the commencement of all holiness, loveliness, and moral excellence in the human character.

Still, there is no pure and genuine love for God, no heavenly-mindedness in the human soul, no ennobling, and family relations to the great Father in heaven. All these have their roots and origin in the birth from above and can spring forth and flourish in the renewed soul alone. Hence, the frequency with which the Scripture speaks of the necessity of being born again, of receiving a new heart, a new name, a new life, and a new nature.

Instead, it contains the feeling of bitter sorrow for having neglected the Savior and served sin so long, and hence it is called repentance; it effectuates a total radical change in the entire conduct and character and therefore is called conversion; it brings us into a new world, a new life, new hopes, and aspirations after God, where there is growing conformity to the image of the Savior and is fitly called a new birth; it carries us over the boundaries of Satan’s dominions, and places us in the kingdom of divine grace and love, where the Good Shepherd leads us by the fountains of living waters, and may well be called a transformation.^[35][36]

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[1] Newton, John: Composer of “Amazing Grace”

[2] 1 John 3:9

[3] Ibid. 4:7

[4] Scott, Thomas: Commentary on the Holy Bible, p. 413

[5] Romans 3:23

[6] Neander, Augustus: The First Epistle of John, Practically Explained, op. cit., pp. 309-311

[7] Cf. 1 John 2:1

[8] Cf. Ibid. 3:9

[9] Cf. James 1:27; 1 Timothy 5:22; see Wisdom of Solomon 10:5

[10] Cf. Wisdom of Solomon 18:20

[11] Cf. Colossians 1:15; Ephesians 6:12ff

[12] Lücke, Gottfried C. F., A Commentary on the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 286

[13] Romans 5:20-21

[14] Barnes, Albert: New Testament Notes, op. cit., 1 John 5, p. 4893

[15] Rothe, Richard: Exposition of the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., The Expository Times, September 1895, p. 560

[16] 1 John 3:6-10

[17] Meyer, Heinrich A. W., Critical and Exegetical Handbook on the General Epistles, op. cit., p. 620

[18] 1 John 3:2, 5. 14. 15. 5:13, 18, 19, 20

[19] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Testament Volume, op. cit., pp.730-731

[20] Candlish, Robert S., The First Epistle of John Expounded in a Series of Lectures op. cit., Lecture XLIII, p. 529

[21] A British Evangelical author of educational books for children

[22] Genesis 20:2

[23] Psalm 51:4

[24] Luke 22:54-62

[25] Acts of the Apostles 15:36-41

[26] 1 John 3:9

[27] Manning, Henry Edward: Sermons, Vol. 2, Sermon VII, Spiritual Presumption, p. 61

[28] See Romans 5:12, 14-17

[29] Ibid. Sermons, Vol. 2, Sermon XIX, The Longsuffering of the Anointed One, pp. 164-165

[30] Whedon, Daniel D., Commentary on the New Testament, op. cit., p. 281

[31] 1 John 3:9

[32] Mombert, Jacob Isidor: Lange’s Commentary on the New Testament, op. cit., Vol. IX, p. 173

[33] Alford, Henry: The Greek Testament, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 512

[34] 1 John 3:9; 1 Peter 1:23

[35] Colossians 1:13

[36] Graham, William: The Spirit of Love, op. cit., pp. 345-347

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXX) 04/26/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

This was how King David looked at it when he went to God in prayer and told Him that, unlike most people, if he broke any of the commandments, he did not do so like those who do it because they are cruel and evil.^[1]  This gave David the courage to pledge to God, “I will be careful about what I say. I will not let my tongue get me in trouble. I will keep my mouth closed when I am around wicked people.”^[2] It is also why the Psalmist could say, “I have avoided every opportunity that would lead to doing something wrong, so I could be in compliance with Your word.”^[3] And David’s advice to his son Solomon included this gem, “Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.”^[4]

This is only possible when the believer stays connected to the Vine, as we see in Jesus’ teaching in John 15.  The Apostle Paul preached on this same theme, but he was asked whether or not it made any difference if a converted believer sinned or not.  Absolutely, says Paul; it makes a big difference. There is no such thing as taking advantage of grace. “Why should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?”^[5] God desires to move us beyond the point where being disobedient and rebellious crosses our minds, and He has given us the Holy Spirit to accomplish this.

Will we have temptations?  Yes!  But our immediate answer should always be, “No!”  The devil may tempt us to do wrong, but God never entices us to do right.  To commit wrongdoing is not part of our new spiritual nature; doing what’s right is the core of our reborn spiritual nature.  However, when we miss the mark in being and doing God’s will for our lives, it does not result in a quick judgment and being cut off from His presence.  Back in the first chapter, John already said, “But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done.”^[6]

In this Epistle and his Gospel, John is the faithful advocate of the Anointed One’s Sonship.  Although verse seven may be dubious in authenticity to some, the two heavenly personas of Jesus the Son and God the Father are  quite conspicuous.  If this is not so, then Jesus had dual personalities, for only such a one could have prayed the prayer in John 17.  All this gives John the insight to inform the believer by staying connected to the Anointed One.

At some time in your life, you must have heard or studied about our body’s immune system. Medical Journals tell us that the immune system is composed of many interdependent cell types that collectively protect the body from bacterial, parasitic, fungal, and viral infections and the growth of tumor cells. In addition, many of these cell types have specialized functions. For example, the cells of the immune system can engulf bacteria, kill parasites or tumor cells, or kill viral-infected cells. Often, these cells depend on the T-helper (known as lymphocytes), a subset for activation signals in the form of secretions formally known as cytokines, lymphokines, or interleukins.

The purpose of the immune system is to stop the disease before it can spread and infect the rest of the body.  On the spiritual level, this is how the immune system that the Anointed One brings into our lives works.  Activated by the T-helper (known as the Holy Spirit), we receive activation signals (called convictions) that tell us that sinful ideas have invaded our hearts and minds.  Keeping our spiritual immune system strong is necessary and is done because of our connection to the Vine Jesus, the Anointed One who supplies the nutrients through the Word to make it strong.  No wonder John goes on to say their spiritual immune system is robust in the Anointed One.Of course, it doesn’t mean that the devil won’t try.  But he won’t be successful if Jesus is in charge and control of our lives; if He has first place in our thinking and actions, words and deeds. 

John told us that all unrighteousness is sin. You would think that among the faithful, this ought to be an unquestionable truth, that whatever is contrary to God’s Law is sin, and in its mortal nature; for where there is a transgression of the Law, there is sin and death. But this terrifying truth brings with it a word of encouragement. For if all unrighteousness without exception is sin, it follows that not every sin is deadly to eternal life. It is incredible that anyone would think that the slightest departure from righteousness should involve eternal damnation.

Therefore, the writer of Hebrews warns against committing a sin that has no possibility of repentance.^[7] He turned to the First Covenant sacrifice system after realizing that Jesus’ death on the cross was the ultimate sacrifice.  There is no possibility of repentance if one operates on First Covenant sacrifices because that prefers the real thing to the prototype.  However, Christians can commit a sin leading to premature physical death.  Prayer will not change this fact.

John does not want to be misunderstood by his statement in the previous verse. He is not saying there is no need to pray for the person who sins deadly to eternal life.  On the other hand, he does not want to minimize the seriousness of violating a holy God or discourage Christians from praying for all carnal Christians. Sin violates God’s objective and absolute standards for life.  “Unrighteousness” is the underlying principle for the commission of sin.  Unrighteousness is injustice – the desire to break out of God’s will, authority, and objective standards for right. Any “unrighteousness” or lawlessness against God’s standards for life is a sin.  There is no exception – “All unrighteous sin” is an occasion for intercessory prayer except for sins deadly to eternal life.

On the other hand, there is a sin “that is not deadly to eternal life.”  Intercessory prayer will change this situation, but not the sin deadly to eternal life of the previous verse.  Spiritual Christians should pray for carnal Christians who have not committed the sin leading to death.  Intercessory prayer is vital to deliver the carnal Christian from divine discipline.  Unconfessed sin always invites discipline. However, there is a limit to God’s tolerance of immorality in daily conduct.

So, how do we apply this to our lives? Since most sins do not lead to physical death, we can pray for most carnal Christians who do not commit sin deadly to eternal life. God makes distinctions in types of sin among His people. There is a classification of sin that leads to physical death, and then there is a class of sin that does not lead to corporal death. For example, Christian teachers have a greater responsibility than non-teachers regarding sin.^[8]

Although God is patient and merciful, His tolerance is limited.  God takes responsibility for who and what we are.  He will not let His people get away with what non-Christians practice. He gives us so much rope, and then, like a dog, we reach the end of our rope and jerk up short. God loves us too much to let us get away with spiritual suicide. He will not allow us to play fast and loose with a godless society too long.   

COMMENTARY AND HOMILETICS

This verse has comments, interpretations, and insights of the Early Church Fathers, Medieval Thinkers, Reformation Theologians, Revivalist Teachers, Reformed Scholars, and Modern Commentators.

With great assurance, early ecclesiastical teacher Didymus the Blind (313-398 AD) insists that when someone does what is righteous, their overcoming power comes from God. It is also true that righteousness and evil cannot live together. Therefore, it is clear that as long as a person does such things, they are righteous and do not sin. But because this ability comes by grace and is not natural, John adds that the right living person must watch out so that evil will not touch them.^[9]

With a studious monk’s spiritual insight, Bede the Venerable (672-735 AD) is convinced that anyone born of God does not commit a mortal sin. Fatal wrongdoings are understood to mean unforgiven sins which retain their force right up to the moment of death, and those born of God do not commit that kind of error. King David, for example, confessed to having committed a mortal sin, for how else can we regard such things as adultery and murder? But David was also born of God, and because he belonged to that fellowship, he did not sin up to his day of death because he was regarded worthy of receiving forgiveness after his repentance.^[10]

Respected Reformation writer, Matthew Poole (1624-1679) finds in verse eighteen an advantage for the regenerate, who, by the seed remaining in them,^[11] are furnished with a self-preserving principle, with the exercise of which they may expect that co-operation of a gracious Divine influence by which they will be kept, so as that wicked one, the great destroyer of souls, will not mortally touch them, to make them sin deadly to eternal life.^[12]

A young independent thinking theological sage, Hugh Binning (1627-1653) observes that simple idiots and blind worldlings go on headlong into sin and dread nothing, although they are punished.^[13] Most grievous plagues, punishments, and all manner of unhappiness are meant to inhibit their sinful lifestyle. Therefore, those that keep themselves pure and clean assist in saving their soul. They can pray with Job, “I would never follow their advice.”^[14]

But, because their “good” is not in their hands, their candle’s flame is often extinguished. And they resolve with Jacob not to join their secret meetings or participate in their evil plans. They have killed people out of anger and crippled animals for fun.^[15] And as the Psalmist declares, “Get rid of the proud who laugh at what is right, and trouble will leave with them. All arguments and insults will end. Love a pure heart and kind words, and the king will be your friend. The Lord watches over truth-tellers and opposes those who try to deceive others.”^{[16] [17]}

In his fiery manner, John Flavel (1627-1691) believes that we all must be in opposition to sin, as the Apostle John implies in verse eighteen. But there must also be love for God’s people.^[18] Conscious respect for both duties exist in the new creature created in the Anointed One’s righteousness and holiness.^[19] There is perseverance in the ways of God and victory over all temptations, “for whosoever is born of God overcomes a godless society.”^{[20] [21]}

From his viewpoint, William Burkitt (1650-1703) believes we are all assured that sincere Christians, begotten, and born of God, do not commit this sin deadly to eternal life, namely, apostasy from Christianity to the heathen idolatry. Instead, they protect themselves from the contamination of idolatry, by which the devil seduced a significant part of humanity.

It may be added that those born of God are partakers of divine nature and do not sin; that is, they do not allow any sin to have dominion over them but take care to preserve themselves, through the assistance of divine grace, from Satan’s deadly to eternal life wound. As the Apostle John says in verse eighteen, they refuse to let Satan touch them to leave an impression of his devilish spirit upon them.^[22]

An Anglican priest opposing the monarchy of Church and State in favor of a constitutional parliamentary system, Thomas Pyle (1674-1756), feels that the Apostle John is establishing a standard for believers to live by when dealing with sins in their lives. John puts it this way: “Every willful offense against God or our neighbor is like breaking the tablets of divine law and deserves death.” But as we know, there were degrees of violations under the Mosaic Law; some were, and others were not, punishable by immediate death, all but those covered by sacrificial atonement.

So likewise, under the Gospel dispensation, as long as there are remains of true principles and dispositions and any hopes of true repentance, there is the hope of recovery and a promise of pardon. But, in the meantime, no faithful Christian is without fault and is subject to falling into a desperate degree of sin or willful backsliding from service to the Anointed One to the slavery of Satan.^[23]

A very popular preacher in his time, Leonard Howard (1699-1767), who wrote the commentary in the Royal Bible in 1761, says that by this “sin deadly to eternal life,” we are to understand apostasy from the Christian religion to idolatry, as appears from the caution given in verse twenty-one, “keep yourselves from idols;” which has no manner of connection with what precedes it, unless we understand the “sin deadly to eternal life” in this sense: Or, if with others, we call it the “sin against the Holy Spirit,” it amounts to the very same thing; for what is that sin but a renouncing of Christianity, and denying the truth of the Christian faith, after illumination and conviction by the Holy Spirit, and maliciously persecuting those who profess it.^[24]

With all the Apostle John’s themes in mind, John Wesley (1703-1791) says that we are reminded that through faith, we are saved from the power of sin and its guilt. So, the Apostle John declares, “You know that Jesus came to take away people’s sins. There is no sin in the Anointed One.”^[25] Again, “Dear children, don’t let anyone lead you the wrong way. The Anointed One always did what was right.”^[26] So to be good like the Anointed One, you must do what is right. “Those who are God’s children do not continue to sin because the new life God gave them stays in them. They cannot keep sinning because they have become children of God.”^[27]  John again reminds us of this in verse eighteen.^[28]

With scholarly meditation, James Macknight (1721-1800) refers to the Apostle John’s Gospel, where Jesus said, “You don’t need to hold on to me! I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But tell my followers this: ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father. I am going back to my God and your God.’”^[29] Moreover, to touch signifies “to hurt”^[30] and even “to destroy.”^{[31] [32]} Skillfully, John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) agrees with the Apostle John that every disposition, thought, word, or deed, contrary to that equity prescribed by God’s law, is sinful. Still, every sin is not an unpardonable transgression. Nevertheless, those regenerated by God’s Spirit, on account of the Spirit’s continued indwelling and influence in their soul and the eternal nature of that grace implanted in them, and through their watchfulness against and hearty detestation of sin, have effectual security against being ever seduced into that unpardonable sin.^[33]

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[1] Psalm 17:4

[2] Ibid. 39:1

[3] Ibid. 119:101

[4] Proverbs 4:23

[5] Romans 6:1

[6] 1 John 1:9

[7] Hebrews 6:6; 10:26-27

[8] James 3:1

[9] Didymus the Blind: Ancient Commentary on the Scriptures, Bray, G. (Ed.) op cit., Vol XI, p. 227

[10] Bede the Venerable: Ancient Commentary on the Scriptures, Bray, G. (Ed.) op cit., Vol XI, p. 228

[11] 1 John 3:9

[12] Poole, Matthew: Commentary on the Holy Bible – Book of 1st, 2nd & 3rd John (Annotated), Kindle Edition

[13] 1 John 5:5

[14] Job 21:16-17

[15] Genesis 49:6

[16] Psalm 22:10-11

[17] Binning, Hugh: Case of Conscience, Section V, p. 516

[18] 1 John 4:7

[19] Ephesians 4:24

[20] 1 John 5:4

[21] Flavel, John: The Method of Grace: How the Spirit Works, op. cit., Ch. 25, p. 368

[22] Burkitt, William: Expository Notes, op. cit., Vol. II., p. 739

[23] Pyle, Thomas: A Paraphrase of the Epistles of the New Testament (1725), op. cit., p. 403

[24] Howard, Leonard: The Royal Bible, Vol. II, op. cit., loc. cit.

[25] 1 John 3:5

[26] Ibid. 3:7

[27] Ibid. 3:9

[28] Wesley, John, The Works of: Vol. 5, Sermon 1, Salvation by Faith, Preached at St. Mary’s, Oxford, to the Faculty, Staff, and Students, on Sunday, June 18, 1738, p. 69

[29] John 20:17

[30] John 9:19; 2 Samuel 14:10; 1 Chronicles 16:22

[31] Job 1:11

[32] Macknight, James: Apostolic Epistles with Commentary, Vol. VI, p. 124

[33] Brown of Haddington, John: Self-Interpreting Bible, N. T., Vol. IV., p. 507

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXIX) 04/25/23

^5:17 Doing wrong is always a sin. But there is sin that does not lead to eternal death.

The question then arises: what is the difference between sinning in a way that is not deadly to eternal life and a sin that is deadly to eternal life? John’s readers apparently understood the contrast since John did not elaborate further. Breaking God’s law is sin; that is, not living right is sin – including the moral sins committed by believers.^[1] The sin deadly to eternal includes deliberately denying that Jesus is the Anointed Son of God that deliberately rejects Jesus as the Anointed One, destroying faith and love. John did not forbid prayer for the one who disregards the Anointed One, nor did he encourage it.^[2]

A scholar who truly inspires Christian missionaries, Daniel L. Akin (1957), in verses sixteen and seventeen, the Apostle John gets specific regarding prayer. In the previous two verses, the subject was “imploring.”  Now, these two verses are about “intercession.” The issue is seeing someone in sin. In the original Greek text of verses sixteen to eighteen, the words hamartanō and hamartia (“sin”) appear seven times. But verse sixteen is one of the most difficult verses to interpret in all of Scripture. The best approach is to be humble, correct, and wise in translating it. It involves sins that bring spiritual death and those that do not.

When praying for those whose spiritual discipline does not lead to spiritual death, it is for restoration. When it comes to saying prayers for those who died spiritually, the Apostle John says he has no comment because he doubts it would do any good. Such mortal sins include: “Deliberate sin,”^[3] “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,”^[4] and “Total rejection of the Gospel.”^[5] Here we can see that John is saying that for those who willfully, firmly, and irrevocably reject the biblical teaching about Jesus’ atoning death and life-giving resurrection, praying for such a person is futile and useless; it won’t change a thing.^[6]

With a classical thinking approach to understanding the scriptures, Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) states that in verse seventeen, the Apostle John asserts that, while all sin is a deadly poison to eternal life, thankfully, not all sin results in spiritual death John is talking about. The second of three parenthetical references to sin^[7] here speaks in the broadest possible terms of “all unrighteousness.” Every unrighteous sin threatens the life that is ours in the righteous Anointed one.^[8] But with God, there is forgiveness.^[9]

Therefore, with Him, our sin is not deadly to eternal life because there are forgivable sins. John’s “unforgivable sin” is a hard-hitting and attention-getting way of saying, “Beware, this way leads to darkness and the death of eternal life.”^[10] The last of three parenthetical references to “sin”^[11] marks an end to John’s detour around verse thirteen. Those who heed the apostle, who believe in the name [Yeshua, meaning “Savior”] of God’s Son, who know that theirs is the gift of the life of the age to come joyfully ask for themselves and others – for they know God gladly hears when the sin is “not deadly to eternal life.” ^[12]

Great expositional teacher David Guzik (1961) admits that what the Apostle John says here in verses sixteen and seventeen is a problematic concept. Still, we have an example where the Apostle Paul says that among the Christians in Corinth, some died because of their disgraceful conduct at the Lord’s Supper (“Many in your group are sick and weak, and many have died.”)^[13] This death came not as a condemnation but as a corrective judgment (“When the Lord judges us, He punishes us to show us the right way. He does this so that we will not be condemned along with a godless society.”)^[14]

Apparently, a believer can sin to the point where God believes it is just best to have them rest in peace, probably because they have in some way compromised their testimony so significantly that they should leave for their rest early so they don’t jeopardize their soul’s salvation. However, it is certainly presumptuous to think this about every case of an untimely physical death of a believer or to use it as an enticement to suicide for the guilt-ridden Christian. Our lives are in God’s hands, and if He sees fit to send one of His children to the grave, that is fine.^[15]

An expert in highlighting the crucial part of a biblical message, Marianne Meye Thompson (1964) comments on the Apostle John’s statement that there is a sin that leads to death. He is not saying that we should pray about that. On the contrary, this statement implies that there are situations in which one is prohibited from praying, a prohibition that seems difficult to comprehend. But it fits well with John’s understanding of judgment and a specific kind of prayer. But how does one “observe” another Christian sinning? Does this mean that it is a public or visible sin? Is the elder apostle referring only to sins one can witness, such as actions, rather than thoughts?

As is typical of the Johannine literature, “seeing” probably means “perceiving” or “understanding” John does not explain how one “perceives” a fellow Christian as sinning. Nevertheless, the proper response is to pray for that person. Presumably, that person has also repented and asked for forgiveness, for if the person who is sinning and is prayed for is indeed a spiritual brother or sister, then in John’s view, they would also be characterized by confession of sin and petition for pardon. Those who do not acknowledge their sins to God are not children of God. ^[16]

Prophetically speaking, Ken Johnson (1965) takes a different view. He suggests that we should always pray for sinners to repent and be converted as well as for Christians who stumble into sin. However, we should not waste time praying for them once someone dies because their fate is sealed. No one has a second chance to be saved after death. Paul mentions some who practiced the error of baptizing the dead.^[17] This Gnostic belief of baptizing for the deceased had been around for a long time.^[18]

As a lover of God’s Word, Peter Pett (1966) indicates that the Apostle John made it clear at the beginning he knew that some Christians would continue to sin. Indeed, he insisted that all Christians recognize that this failing in them would continue.^[19] But they were not “sins deadly to eternal life,” for they could come to Him in the Light and be cleansed.^[20] Thus, he says, we should be observant of our spiritual brother or sister’s failings as well as our own. Not to gloat or to be self-satisfied but to pray for their restoration.

We may be disappointed in seeing a fellow Christian who is entrapped by sin finding release difficult. For such a believer, we are to pray to God, and God will grant us their restoration. He promises that He will accordingly restore such. God will give them life rather than eternal death without the Anointed One they would have deserved. John is stressing our responsibility to pray for our spiritual brothers and sisters in the Anointed One, especially in the church we are members of.

The early church had an all-inclusive responsibility for one another. In a sense, of course, all sin is potentially “deadly to eternal life.”^[21] But for such, there is forgiveness available in the Anointed One. Unfortunately, there is an “unforgivable sin” because those involved have so hardened their hearts that they are permanently closed to the Anointed One. They refuse to believe. They see what should convince them of the truth and refuse to accept it. They invent false arguments to avoid conversion.

Finally, such becomes an attitude of heart that nothing can change. Their opinions have solidified in their hearts so that they cannot change. They have put themselves beyond repentance. John is here concerned that we direct our prayers wisely. Our spiritual brothers and sisters in fellowship need our prayers, and our prayers will be effective for them because their ears are open to God’s voice. But some have hardened themselves and for whom our prayers will probably not be effective. Ultimately, we cannot carry the whole world’s weight.^[22]

In his unorthodox Unitarian way, Duncan Heaster (1967) finds the Apostle John urging them to accept that although sin is sin, not all sins lead to death; and the reason they don’t is that other believers can pray for the sinners, and they will receive the gift of life, the Spirit, the life of Jesus, to strengthen them. So, our responsibility to pray for others is enormous.^[23]

Bright seminarian Karen H. Jobes (b. 1968) sees that in verses sixteen and seventeen, the Apostle John instructs his readers about what they are to do when they see a Christian spiritual brother or sister sinning a sin that does not lead to death. First, they are to pray for that sinner. John recognized that some of his readers would sin in various ways and put some responsibility on the congregation’s members for the Church’s spiritual health. His appeal to “anyone” to intercede is remarkable because mediation between humans and the divine world was limited primarily to priests and prophets.

This is perhaps an expression of John’s belief in the “priesthood” of all believers.^[24] Is John being hard-hearted by instructing prayer only for those whose sin does not lead to death? At the time of John’s writing, he was likely referring to those who left his church(es) as committing the sin that leads to death.^[25] They denied that Jesus is the Anointed One who came in the flesh, refused to believe that He came by water and blood, and thereby rejected the significance of His atoning death.

In other words, they put themselves beyond the fellowship of apostolic Christian belief, so John is focusing his pastoral attention on strengthening the fellowship of those who remained faithful. There is no point in interceding for the sins of those who persist in beliefs about Jesus that prevent them from receiving God’s forgiveness. John simply says, “I am not saying that you should pray about the sin that leads to death.” He does not forbid praying for those who have left the church and are still in need of God’s transforming grace, but that is not the situation he is addressing here.^[26]

A skilled sermonizer, David Legge (b. 1969), mentions that the first certainty of eternal life is found in verse thirteen. It is the certainty of the assurance of the possession of eternal life, knowing that you’re born of God, knowing that you are saved and have partaken of salvation that the Anointed One purchased for you through faith. Then the second certainty that he mentions is found in verses fourteen to seventeen, which relates to the assurance of answered prayer. One evidence that we are born of God is the reason He hears us, and verse fourteen is essential: “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”^[27]

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

EXPOSITION

The Apostle Paul gives a good reason for the Apostle John speaking this way. Paul told the Roman believers that God’s Spirit communicates with our spirit and confirms that we really are His children.^[28] Paul was encouraged to notify the Corinthians that he lived by the same principles.  He said, “I’m so glad to report with complete honesty that I have been transparent and sincere in all my efforts. I depended on the Lord for His help and not on my human skills and wisdom alone. That is how I’ve conducted myself in front of worldly people, and especially to you.”^[29]

Paul also communicated from prison, where he was incarcerated for Jesus’ sake, by telling young Timothy, “My living and working for the Lord is the reason I’m in all this trouble. But I am not ashamed and have no regrets. I am sure that He is more than able to safely guard all that I have given Him until the day of His return.”^[30]

But Paul couldn’t say the same of others who rejected his message from God. He told the Roman believers that since they didn’t bother with God, God quit worrying about them and let them run loose. As a result, their lives became full of wickedness and sin, greed and hate, envy, and murder, fighting and lying, bitterness and gossip. They became backstabbers, haters of God, rude, proud, and boastful. They thought up new ways to sin and rejected all parental authority. They foolishly broke every promise and were heartless without pity. They thoroughly understood that they would suffer God’s death penalty for these crimes, yet they went right ahead and did them anyway and encouraged others to do them, too.^[31] As the old saying goes, “Misery loves company.”^[32]

After all, the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus was the one who gave His life to rescue us from drowning in sin. It was God’s design to keep us from being swallowed up by this evil world.^[33] When a person once born again still goes on sinning, the Apostle James says it’s like cheating on God, having an adulterous affair with a godless society. As such, you become alienated from God. So, if a person’s aim is to enjoy the immoral pleasures of the unsaved world, they cannot also be God’s closest friend.^[34]

John has a special meaning behind this statement. The system of sacrifice and stoning governed all the mortal and moral sins of the First Covenant. But now that the last and final sacrifice has been offered by the Anointed One on the cross, there is no need for sinning to continue because the forgiver is living within the believer.  Will we still make mistakes? Yes!  But they can be corrected immediately when the Holy Spirit convicts us, and we ask God’s forgiveness straightaway. That’s because we are God’s children asking forgiveness from our heavenly Father. Let me put it another way. If a neighbor’s son or some vagrant runaway breaks out your window, the law would rule your reaction. But if it was your son who broke the window, you would respond according to the dictates of your heart.

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[1] See 1 John 1:7, 9; 3:4

[2] Barton, Bruce B., 1,2,3 John (Life Application Bible Commentary, op. cit., pp. 116-118

[3] Acts of the Apostles 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 11:30

[4] Cf. Matthew 12:32; Mark 3:29

[5] 1 John 2:19

[6] Akin, Daniel L., Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (the Anointed One-Centered Exposition Commentary), op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[7] See 1 John 5:16c, 17b

[8] 1 John 2:29; 3:7, 12

[9] Ibid. 1:9; 2:1

[10] Luke 11:35; Cf. Proverbs 7:24-27

[11] See also 1 John 5:16c-17a

[12] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, 1-3 John, op. cit., p. 578

[13] 1 Corinthians 11:30

[14] Ibid. 11:32

[15] Guzik, David: Enduring Word, 1,2 & 3 John & Jude, op. cit., pp. 99-100

[16] Thompson, Marianne M., The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, 1-3 John, op. cit., pp. 143-144

[17] 1 Corinthians 15:29

[18] Johnson, Ken. Ancient Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., p. 84

[19] 1 John 1:8-10

[20] Ibid. 1:7

[21] Ezekiel 18:20

[22] Pett, Peter: Commentary on the Bible, 1 John, op. cit., loc. cit.

[23] Heaster, Duncan. New European Christadelphian Commentary: op. cit., The Letters of John, p. 80

[24] Cf. 1 Peter 2:9

[25] 1 John 2:19

[26] Jobes, Karen H., 1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament Series Book 18), op. cit., pp. 233, 236-237

[27] Legge, David: Preach the Word, 1 John, op. cit., Sermon 16

[28] Romans 8:16

[29] 2 Corinthians 1:12

[30] 2 Timothy 1:12

[31] Romans 1:28-32

[32] The term misery loves company is a proverb that appears in the play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), which reads in Latin: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris (“Solace of the wretched will have companions of pain.”). It is often ascribed to John Ray (1627-1705), an English naturalist who collected English Proverbs.

[33] Galatians 1:4

[34] James 4:4

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXVIII) 04/24/23

^5:17 Doing wrong is always a sin. But there is sin that does not lead to eternal death.

How are we to interpret John’s advice? Surely, we are to take from it a reminder that we have, in fact, become so unconcerned about the sins of our fellow Christians that we have ceased even to think about praying for them. John’s words challenge us about the quality of our intercession for others. If it is out of place for us to pray publicly about other people’s sins, at least we should be more concerned for their spiritual welfare and pray positively for it in public.

At the same time, in our private prayers, we may also intercede more specifically for those who stumble into sin.^[1] At the same time, we may note that while John says that God will certainly answer prayer for the believer who does not sin to death, He does not rule out the possibility of answered prayer for the person who commits a sin that does lead to death. Suppose we have in mind a case where, to our limited view, such a prayer seems unlikely to be answered. In that case, we may recall what Jesus said when a man refused what looked like his only chance of salvation – “For mankind, it is impossible, but not for God; anything is possible for God.”^{[2] [3]}

As a seasoned essayist on the Apostle John’s writings, John Painter (1935) finds the elderly Apostle saying that Satan, the unrighteous one, is opposed to Jesus, the righteous Anointed One, and those born of God, who live uprightly.^[4] To call unrighteousness a sin is an amplification similar to “Sin is lawlessness.”^[5] That term is identical to the man of lawlessness and the mystery of lawlessness.^[6]

The identification of sin this way has much in common with verse seventeen. By referring to every unrighteous act as a sin, John attends to social justice issues and does not allow any escape from being assessed as a sin. Nevertheless, John returns, saying, “There is a sin that is not deadly to eternal life.” The return of this theme creates a rough edge for the connection with what the Apostle Paul said but neatly ties up the discussion here in verses sixteen and seventeen.^[7]

Ministry & Missions Overseer Muncia Walls (1937) calls the Apostle John’s words a simple explanation of sin. John said that sin was a transgression of the law.^[8] Therefore, every act contrary to God’s will becomes a sin to the person committing such an act. Sin has been characterized as “missing the mark.” (Greek verb hamartia)^[9] To miss the mark of the ideal lifestyle God would have us live^[10] is to come short of the goals God has set for our lives.^[11]

Again, John informs his readers that there is a sin that is not deadly to eternal life. Just because a person may sin does not mean they die. John explained in chapters one and two that there was a solution for any sin committed: confess our sin to a merciful God who will forgive us. While none should intentionally sin, they will slip up in their walk through this world. There is one thing that would be worse than sinning: to fail to confess it and ask forgiveness from the Lord. It is terrible to fall, but it is worse to refuse to get up.^[12]

As an articulate spokesman for the Reformed Faith movement, James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) points out that after the Apostle John indicated the nature of true prayer and stated the confidence in prayer that every Christian should possess, John now moves on to the content of prayer in answer to the question; “What requests should the believer bring before God?” The first response is nearly always personal, which no doubt indicates our limited understanding of this privilege.

Indeed, we think of our need for food and clothing, a good job (or a better one), our desire for a spouse, the elimination of a vexing problem, and other things; in other words, we think of ourselves. It is somewhat of a surprise, therefore, to find that John does not think selfishly but of others and that, as a result, his first specific example of prayer is intercession.

John’s encouragement to pray for others is based on a great promise: the promise that God will hear and “give… life… [for] those whose sin is not deadly to eternal life.” In addition, John often spoke of the need to pursue righteousness as evidence that the individual involved is truly God’s child. But although the individual Christian must and will pursue righteousness, they will, nevertheless, sin and become entangled in it from time to time.

What then? Christians should confess their sin and turn from it, knowing that they have an advocate in Jesus the Anointed One and that the Father is faithful and just to forgive them based on the Anointed One’s sacrifice and continuing intercession.^[13] But it is often the case, when they are in this state, that this is what Christians find hard to do.

So, now what? Should they be left to themselves to suffer the consequences of sinning? Not at all, says John. Rather, those who are spiritual should pray on their behalf, knowing that God will hear and respond when they pray that way for others.^[14]

Expositor and systematic theologist Michael Eaton (1942-2017) remembers that the Apostle John does not want believers to be over-friendly toward false teachers. His urging them to pray only has “those who sin but whose sin is not deadly to eternal life” in mind. He is not asking them to pray for the Gnostics who encountered the truth in John’s ministry but rejected his Good News. Almost certainly, John has in mind gnostic heretics who deny the truth when he says, “There is a sin deadly to eternal life. I do not recommend that you pray for those who commit it.”

John wants them to feel sure about the possibility of restoration. The fact that John is serious concerning those who have rejected his message must not make the Christians at Ephesus think he is disappointed in them. But, on the other hand, John does not want anyone to feel wrong-doing is harmless because the Christians’ sins are “not deadly to eternal life.” So, he says: “All unrighteousness is sin, but there is a sin not deadly to eternal life.” His last word in this connection is a word of encouragement. For all sins other than rejecting Jesus, he lets them know there is forgiveness! ^[15]

After scrutinizing the Apostle John’s subject William Loader (1944) hears John expressing concern about believers who go astray. Within the context of prayer, John addresses the problem of what to do about fellow Christians who sin. Within this discussion, he distinguishes between a sin deadly to eternal life and a sin not deadly to eternal life. Before attempting to clarify the precise meaning of these terms, it will be helpful to hear what is said about them in verses sixteen and seventeen. This sheds important light on their meaning.

Then, John tells the readers that they should intercede for their fellow Christians who are committing a sin that is not deadly to eternal life. Already this raises several further questions. First, are they being asked to pray for the person who is in the act of committing a sin or for the person who has already sinned? If it were the latter, we might expect the prayer to be about forgiveness.

Confession of sin and assurance of forgiveness are themes early in this epistle.^[16] But verse sixteen is formulated to suggest the former: prayer for someone sinning. We might then understand the request to be about helping the person to resist temptation and turn from sin. Although all wrongdoing is sin, John tells us in verse seventeen, not all sin is unforgivable.

Therefore, it is time to ask what is this sin deadly to eternal life? What can be so severe that John considers those engaged in to be removed from any hope of return? If we were to ask this question of the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews, which is greatly concerned with emphasizing the Anointed One’s role in interceding for them as they face temptation and struggle with suffering, the answer would be clear. It is the sin of apostasy.^[17]

Similarly, the author of Hebrews tells us that Esau lost any chance of reversing his decision to forfeit his firstborn rights: “You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing. He wanted that blessing so much that he cried. But his father refused to give him the blessing because Esau could find no way to change what he had done.”^[18] For such people warns Hebrews, “If we continue sinning after we have learned the truth, then no other sacrifice will take away sins. All that is left for us is a fearful time of waiting for the judgment and the angry fire that will destroy those who live against God.”^{[19] [20]}

Great Commission practitioner David Jackman (1945) notes that the sinning Christian, whose active life in the Anointed One is declining, though their sin is not deadly to eternal life, will be restored by God’s grace through the Christian church family’s prayers. They will be convicted by the Holy Spirit whom they were grieving, reestablished by a renewed repentance and faith, and restored to walking in the light with God. This is an excellent stimulus for the church to pray for the complete restoration of Christians who wander or “backslide.”

It is also an essential duty, for verse seventeen reminds us that all wrongdoing is sin. Sin matters because it destroys fellowship with God and between Christians. “But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense ‒ Jesus the Anointed Righteous One.”^[21] And it is our task to speak to the same Father, through the Son, whenever we are aware that one of His children is wandering into sin. All the weight of the divine covenant commitment lies behind our expectation of faith that such a Christian will be restored. So, we must pray with boldness and confidence. ^[22]

After studying the context of this verse, John W. (Jack) Carter (1947) believes that the Gospel can persuade a faithful Christian to know that, though all sin is an expression of unrighteousness, it can no longer separate them from the LORD’s promise of an eternal home with Him. However, some taught (and still do to this day) that if a person of faith commits any sin, they are instantly declared unrighteous and have lost their salvation until they subsequently find a second forgiveness as a backslider at the altar. If they do not seek God’s forgiveness, they face eternal damnation with sinners. 

However, we find no such doctrine in the words or illustrations of the post-resurrection covenant with God. The First Covenant’s sacrificial system was simply an archetype, an example that would cause us to recognize the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Since the resurrection of Jesus, the sacrificial system is no longer needed. Forgiveness is found through faith in God, and the sacrifice of atonement paid by Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. Because of this, one is not going to lose their salvation through an act of sin. If this were possible, all people of faith would be without hope since our natural, self-centered spirit is always pressing us into thoughts and actions that fall short of God’s demand for perfection.^[23]

A man who loves sharing God’s Word, Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) finds that verse seventeen rounds off the Apostle John’s teaching on this subject of sin. The statement “all wrongdoing is sin” (Greek adikia, “wrongdoing”) is the same word used in “God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all adikia.”^[24] This verse shows that adikia is best understood as denoting specific evil deeds.

It is likely a blanket term for the transgressions that John addresses, whether they are deadly to eternal life or not. Sin brings spiritual death, and the wrongdoing that John points to is indeed sin. But John quickly adds, “there is sin that is not deadly to eternal life.” As grim and ugly as all sins are and granting that particular evil deeds can signal terminal opposition to God, there is also a sin that can be overcome through prayer, repentance, and renewed faith resulting in reform and restoration. Thus, John’s instruction ends on a cautionary but hopeful note.^[25]

Skilled in Dead Sea Scroll interpretation and Final Covenant writings, Colin G. Kruse (1950) states that in verse seventeen, the Apostle John reaffirms and reinforces the distinction he made between sins that are and sins that are not “deathly.” The highlighting of the difference between deadly to eternal life sins and those that are not, seems to assure John’s readers that although they may fall into sin from time to time, their sins do not lead to permanent spiritual death. John already emphasized that God forgives those who confess their sins and cleanses them from all unrighteousness or wrongdoing.^[26]

With her crafted spiritual insight, Judith Lieu (1951) notes that various attempts to categorize sin in other traditions illustrate that it is wrong to expect perfection from every believer. Contradictory consequences often occur under different circumstances, and the dilemmas of living in this world challenge neat theological ideals. For example, the Apostle John may have expected his readers to easily identify situations where prayer was both possible and appropriate. Still, he may also have felt this would become obvious to them.

More importantly, the emphasis here is not on the inevitable consequences of the choices made by a member of the community, the sinner, but on the exercise by the community as a whole of the privileges of having God’s ear. Within the biblical tradition, individuals can act as intercessors before God for the people as a whole.^[27] Here, in John’s epistle, that possibility is available to any Church community member. Also, as in those earlier examples, they may be forbidden to intercede because God is determined to let the punishment run its course.^{[28] [29]}

Emphasizing the Apostle John’s call to Christian fellowship, Bruce B. Barton (1954) points out that verses sixteen and seventeen describe the kind of petition God will answer. Because the believers are called to love one another, it follows that they ought to care enough to intercede with God if they see any fellow Christian sinning in a way that is not deadly to eternal life. Intercessory prayer forms a vital part of the fellowship of the Church.^[30] The faithful prayers of believers in the church can help restore the wayward or backslidden Christian. Their prayers can affect the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the person’s life and restore such ones to a wholesome Christian life.

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[1] John uses the perfect tense often, to indicate the present state of the believer

Marshall, I. Howard: The Epistles of John (The New International Commentary on the New Testament), p. 256 Eerdmans, Kindle Edition

[2] Mark 10:27

[3] Marshall, Ian Howard: The Epistles of John (The New International Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 245-246, 251

[4] 1 John 2:1; cf. 1:9; 2:29

[5] Ibid. 3:4

[6] 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7

[7] Painter, John. Sacra Pagina: 1, 2, and 3 John: Volume 18, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[8] 1 John 3:4

[9] Ibid. 5:16

[10] Ibid. 2:1

[11] Romans 3:23

[12] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., p. 94

[13] See 1 John 1:9-2:2

[14] Boice, James Montgomery: The Epistles of John, An Expository Commentary, op. cit., pp. 139-143

[15] Eaton, Michael: Focus on the Bible, 1,2,3 John, op. cit., pp. 193, 195

[16] See 1 John 1:5-2:2

[17] Hebrews 6:4-6

[18] Ibid. 12:17

[19] Ibid. 10:26-27

[20] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., pp. 74-76

[21] 1 John 2:1

[22] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Letters, op. cit., p. 166

[23] Carter, Dr. John W. (Jack). 1,2,3, John & Jude: (The Disciple’s Bible Commentary Book 48), op. cit., p. 135

[24] 1 John 1:9

[25] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 312-313

[26] Kruse, Colin G., The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary), op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[27] Genesis 18:22-33; Exodus 32

[28] Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14

[29] Lieu, Judith: A New Testament Library, I, II, & III John, op. cit., p. 228

[30] See John 20:23

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXII) 04/21/23

^5:16 Suppose you see your fellow believer sinning (a sin that does not lead to eternal death). You should pray for them. Then God will keep them spiritually alive. However, there is sin that leads to death. So, you shouldn’t pray for that kind of sinner.

After scrutinizing the Apostle John’s subject theme, William Loader (1944) believes that the Apostle John is telling his readers that they should pray (intercede) for their fellow Christians who are committing not spiritually fatal sins. Already this raises several further questions. Are they being asked to pray for the person sinning or the person who has already sinned? We might expect the prayer to be about forgiveness if it were the latter. While confession of sin and assurance of forgiveness is an early theme in the epistle, John formulated verse sixteen to suggest prayer for someone who is sinning. We might then understand the prayer to be about helping the person to resist temptation and avoid sin.^{[1] [2]}

Great Commission practitioner David Jackman (1945) claims there are several related issues here, the central one being what John means by sin that is not deadly and deadly sin. In the former case, John urges Christians to pray for a brother (or sister) whom they see as sinning; in the latter, they are not. What is the distinction between the two? Are there distinguishing features for which we should look? There is nothing about a Christian believer committing the sin that leads to death, simply the reminder that such evil does exist.

So, the first part of verse sixteen is relevant to church life in every congregation and every generation and is part of the assurance in prayer God wants all His people to have. It is an instruction about what is sadly a common event in church life. When a Christian becomes entangled in some sin, and it becomes obvious to fellow believers, it is those believer’s privilege and responsibility to pray for the erring spiritual brother or sister, with confidence and faith that they will be renewed and restored to that full fellowship with God and others, which any and every sin corrupts, which is eternal life.^[3]

After studying the context surrounding this verse, John W. (Jack) Carter (1947) states that the LORD has created us as social beings. Part of our basic needs includes a network of relationships with others. God ordained that we would have a connection with Him that would help form our relationships with one another. Sin serves to break such bonds. People of faith can become caught up in sin to the point that their communion with God has been so compromised that they can neither pray nor hear God’s still, small voice. 

Wrongdoing also serves to break our relationships with others as the character and nature of sin are often destructive to them. Since every Christian struggles with sin, the first line of support for those facing such spiritual wrestling is the caring ministry of other Christians. John reminds us of the responsibility we have to one another to provide accountability and correction.

Since the LORD calls us to love one another unconditionally, that love will lead us to seek to bring an errant believer back to a proper relationship with the LORD and others. The Christian ministry is a ministry of reconciliation.  Suppose a believer observes another Christian in the act of sinning. In that case, the loving response is to confront the individual in a wise and tactful manner to return them to a full relationship with God, with complete repentance from the practice of sin.

However, there is another word for sin that John uses here that is rendered as “unforgivable sin.”  The only sin that can eternally separate one from God for eternity is that same sin that keeps all people from eternal security:  taking their rebellion against the LORD to the grave.  These never made a sincere profession of faith in the LORD in their lifetime. It is an “unpardonable” sin.  This interprets the commandment, “You shall not take the name [YHWH (meaning “to be”] of the LORD in vain.”[4]  One who takes His name in vain (refusing to accept the nature of God in their hearts) to the grave has sinned deadly.^[5]

A man who loves sharing God’s Word, Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) says believers should offer petitions to God on behalf of those committing a sin that is not deadly. The expression occurs twice in verse sixteen, where the Greek adverb mē (“hope not” – expressing a will or thought) is used for the forgivable sin, and where we also find the Greek particle ou (“surely not – immediately preceding the word (most often a verb) which it negates) when speaking of sin that is deadly. What do these expressions signify? That John does not use the definite article and seems to stress the act of sinning rather than precisely delineate some misdeed weakens the case for seeing here one specific heinous sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.^[6]

Although Calvin speaks primarily of apostasy as the violation John has in mind, notes Yarbrough, it is a traditional popular proposal.^[7] But Jesus gives that sin a precise definition – those who attributed His earthly work done by the Holy Spirit to the powers of darkness – which is not easy to integrate with John’s language here. To see blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as something different from the unforgivable sin is not necessarily to create two unpardonable sins.

The unforgivable sin will amount to specific manifestations of unregenerate conduct for which “blasphemy against the Spirit” serves as an umbrella. Such blasphemy includes but is not strictly limited to, or identical with, transgressions that John breaks down into more refined, but not essentially dissimilar, terms appropriate to the setting he addresses. That is not the same setting that Jesus faced in his earthly days.^[8]

Skilled in Dead Sea Scroll interpretation and Final Covenant writings, Colin G. Kruse (1950) sees the Apostle John amplifying the theme of prayer by applying the general statements of verses fourteen and fifteen to the need for prayer for believers who fall into sin: The fact that the readers may “see” a fellow believer fall into sin indicates that the sin is observable, not some internal attitude.

In his appeal, John uses a future form of the verb “to pray,” but here, it carries the sense of command. John adds, “He will give them life in response to such prayer.” Thus, it is not clear whether John is saying that God will give life to the repentant believer or that the believer who prays for them will give life to them through their prayers. Either way, God ultimately gives life in answer to prayer.

Now, John speaks confidently of prayer being answered for a person whose sin does not lead to death, but not for those whose sin leads to death by advising them that prayer for those who commit this sin may not be warranted. There has been a lot of debate concerning the nature of the sin that leads to death (usually called mortal sin). Traditionally it has been defined in terms of sins for which there was thought to be no forgiveness (murder, idolatry, apostasy, adultery, etc.).

Sometimes it has been assumed that believers are also in danger of committing mortal sins and losing the eternal life that God has given them. However, believers cannot commit sins that lead to death as far as John is concerned. Unlike other apostles, such as the author of Hebrews, John does not contemplate the possibility of apostasy on the part of true believers.^[9]

Believing that Christians can fall away from the faith, Ben Witherington III (1951) asks, is the interceder able to “give life” to the sinner? This is a possible reading of the text, but in 1 John 1:1, God forgives and restores, so the second “he” in verse sixteen is more likely to be God. And what does “give life” mean? Does it imply “give new life” in the sense of the ability to repent or receive forgiveness? Perhaps. Does it mean “give renewed life” restoring a backslidden believer? Perhaps. We cannot be sure. In any case, John clarifies that all sin is a serious matter, and all wrongdoing is sin. Still, John believes that some sins are more spiritually deadly than others.^[10]

With her crafted spiritual insight, Judith Lieu (1951) concludes that the comments here in verses fourteen to twenty-one suggest that John’s requests primarily concern the community of those who make them. His general outlook makes it unlikely that he would be involved with intercession for outsiders.^[11] Though, elsewhere in the Scriptures, this is encouraged, notwithstanding the ultimate interests of those who must live among them.^[12] However, the example John gives is firmly located within the Christian community. It also appears not to be a random example but the real reason he returned^[13] to the theme of answered prayer.

The problem is not primarily how to deal with sin, which John addressed in the first part of the letter;^[14] instead, it is how to respond to encountering a fellow community member caught sinning. If sin has no place in the community of those who believe in God’s Son, who belong to the light, and who share the assurance of eternal life, what happens when it does occur there? The picture of someone seeing this and the use of the term “brother” highlights a disruption in relationships that constitute the community. The proper relationship with a spiritual brother or sister is God’s love. Although using a different verb, John condemned any failure to respond when seeing a fellow believer in need in an earlier verse.^{[15] [16]}

A scholar who truly inspires Christian missionaries, Daniel L. Akin (1957), says that verse sixteen is one of the most difficult verses to interpret in all of Scripture. However, a humble interpretation is the best way to express its intent. First, the Apostle John addresses a fellow believer breaking God’s law, but it is not worthy of the death penalty. Then he brings up the rebellion against God’s Word and will that is worthy of death. So, the crucial question is this: is John speaking of physical or spiritual death?

With a classical thinking approach to understanding the scriptures, Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) says that believers who only ask selfishly forget the accompanying fellowship that faith in Jesus inevitably involves. Therefore, interceding for a spiritual brother and sister caught in a “not deadly” sin. The scenario is not one of religious, moral police keeping each other under surveillance, helping the believer become aware of their sin.

Unfortunately, some are stubborn and fight against knowing the truth. They leave no room for improvement or hope for any correction and fruit of caution. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit is grieved,[17] and God’s children are unwilling to be judged and convicted by the Holy Spirit, this is a desperate and incurable disease.

On the other hand, to repent and believe is to live and love each other in union with the One who loved us first.^[18] Then, to see a spiritual brother or sister in need and petition God on that believer’s behalf is to live as someone who knows and practices God’s love, who owes all things to the God who is love, apart from whose love none can spiritually survive, and confirmed in the certainties of faith that can, in the end, will be known.

In his unorthodox Unitarian way, Duncan Heaster (1967) believes that “asking” God must be understood in the context of the teaching about “asking” and “receiving” in verse fifteen. Through possessing the Spirit, the Comforter, we have the Lord “doing” things in response to what we ask.^[19] For those with forgivable sin, our prayers can “work” in recovering them, for this is the Lord’s will, and all we ask according to that will shall be granted. There is an unforgivable sin.

But the Apostle John is not concerned that believers make requests for them. The allusion is to blaspheming the Holy Spirit.^[20] John is up against the problem of Judaist infiltrators who falsely claimed to have the Holy Spirit but did not openly confess the Lord Jesus as the Anointed One, God’s Son, and were consciously trying to destroy the Christian movement.^[21] Paul was up against these same blasphemers of the Spirit in Corinth and Ephesus.^[22] These men were not to be prayed for in the same sense as interceding for a weak but genuine believer.^[23]

^5:17 Doing wrong is always a sin. But there is sin that does not lead to eternal death.

EXPOSITION

The Apostle Paul echoed the words of the Apostle John when he told the Roman believers that passing so many laws against sin only produced more lawbreakers. Still, such a mound of evil deeds didn’t, and doesn’t, stand a chance in competition with the mountain of forgiveness we call grace. When wrongdoing is confronted by grace, grace wins every time.^[24] 

And the Apostle James offers this advice, humbly let God’s Spirit work His will in you. Stand up against the devil and watch him try to hide. Draw closer to God, and He will greet you right there. Quit dabbling in sin. Decide to allow holiness to take control of your life. Cleanse your mind of all worldly thoughts and pledge loyalty to God. Let your tears flow for the wrong things you have done. Sincerely repent and express your grief over being so rebellious. It is not a time to be joyful but of conviction and consecration. Let there be sadness instead of laughter and gloom instead of joy. Get down on your knees before the Master once you realize your worthlessness before the Lord; He will lift you, encourage and help you get going again.^[25]

This is similar to the message God gave Moses for the children of Israel, “You must be careful to do everything the Lord commanded you. Do not stop following God! You must live the way the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will continue to live, and everything will be fine with you. You will live a long life in the land that will belong to you.”^[26] And when they were about to enter the promised land, Moses encouraged them with these words from the Lord, “You must be careful to do everything I’ve instructed you to do.  And don’t add anything to what I’m telling you, and don’t take anything away either.”^[27] But, of course, to do such a thing would be morally wrong. Interfering with God’s way and will is an insult to Him because it involves our treatment and care of others. So, John wanted them to know there were mistakes leading to damnation. This is what God was talking about in Isaiah when He said, “Come, let’s discuss this. Even if your sins are as dark as red dye, that stain can be removed, and you will be as pure as wool that is as white as snow.”^[28]

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[1] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., p. 74

[2] 1 John 5:5-21

[3] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Letters, op. cit., pp. 162, 165-166

[4] Still to this day Jews do not pronounce יהוה‎ (YHWH) nor do they read aloud proposed transcription forms such as Yahweh; instead, they replace it with a different term, whether in addressing or referring to the God of Israel such as Most High, El Shaddai, Yahweh, Elohim etc.

[5] Carter, Dr. John W. (Jack). 1,2,3, John & Jude: (The Disciple’s Bible Commentary Book 48), op. cit., pp. 132-134

[6] Matthew 12:31; Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10

[7] Cf. Hebrews 6:4 & 10:26

[8] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 307-308

[9] Kruse, Colin G., The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary), op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[10] Witherington, Ben III, Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[11] See 1 John 2:15; also, John 17:9

[12] Cf. 1 Timothy 2:1; Jeremiah 29:7

[13] Cf. 1 John 3:22

[14] Ibid. 1:9-2:2

[15] Ibid. 3:17

[16] Lieu, Judith: A New Testament Library, I, II, & III John, op. cit., p. 225

[17] Ephesians 4:30

[18] 1 John 4:10

[19] John 14:13,14; 15:7,16; 16:23-26

[20] Mark 3:29

[21] Cf. Galatians 2:4

[22] Cf. 2 Timothy 3:1-9

[23] Heaster, Duncan. New European Christadelphian Commentary: op. cit., The Letters of John, pp. 79-80

[24] Romans 5:20

[25] James 4:7-10

[26] Deuteronomy 5:32-33

[27] Ibid. 12:32

[28] Isaiah 1:18

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXVI) 04/20/23

^5:17 Doing wrong is always a sin. But there is a sin that does not lead to eternal death.

If anyone sees a spiritual brother or sister involved in forgivable sin: already, the exception is stated, the solemnity of which requires enlargement upon it afterward. A forgivable sin should be seen as an ongoing sinful act by a spiritual brother or sister. It is the future and implies more than is expressed, the warning and repentance by the offender and joining them in prayer; these are omitted because the point here is the power of one in close fellowship with God, who is supposed in this beautiful sentence to be the very administrator of the Divine will.^{[1] [2]}

With precise spiritual discernment, William Alexander (1824-1911) puts verses sixteen and seventeen together as one verse that reads: “Suppose you see your fellow believer sinning (sin that does not lead to eternal death). You should pray for them. Then God will give them life. I am talking about people whose sin does not lead to eternal death. There is sin that leads to death. I don’t mean that you should pray about that kind of sin. Doing wrong is always a sin. But there is an unforgivable sin that does not lead to eternal death.”

The thing that concerns Alexander is the misunderstanding some people have of John’s use of the word “death.” Some scholars understand it as “physical death.” But that would lead to even more misinterpreting because it means when a person commits such a sin, they quickly die.

Therefore, most Bible scholars accept it as “spiritual death.” We can glean four tests from this passage. (a) It does not seem to be any single sin but a particular kind of wrongdoing. (b) It could only occur among Christians from the emphatic way we use the term “brother” or “sister” [fellow Christian]. Sinners cannot commit these sins because they are spiritually dead. (c) It would seem to be such a sin perceptible and visible to the observer. Not a corruption of the mind or heart but of the body. (d) According to John’s interpretation, the death spoken of cannot be bodily by God’s judgment or the mere deserved ex-communication.

Therefore, it refers to spiritual death. John mentioned this earlier when he said, “We know that we have left death and come into life. We know this because we love each other as spiritual brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love is still in death.”^[3]

With holiness doctrine expertise, Daniel Steele (1824-1914) mentions that the Apostle John’s statement in verse seventeen serves as a farewell declaration against the Gnostic doctrine that an enlightened Christian declining to follow God’s law of righteousness does not sin because sin only exists in actual actions, which always keeps the human spirit sinless. However, John’s broader scope in defining sin includes proactive transgression of the law and failures to fulfill our duty to God and one another. This is appropriately determined to be unrighteousness John already declared ample provision in the atonement to forgive actual sins and cleanse from all wrongdoing.^[4] Here is a vast field for a Christian’s intercession. John adds that there is an unforgivable sin [sin deadly] as a safeguard against despair.

For some commentators, the fact that in this verse, John asserts that there is a sin that does not destroy the spiritual life seems to be a contradiction with what he said earlier “No one who is born of God will continue to sin.”^[5] However, the perplexity disappears or is alleviated by carefully reading the Greek tenses. The perfect tense “has been born of God” implies that the regenerating efficiency of divine grace continues. Their likeness to God remains undimmed to the present moment.

In that case, while love for God rules the conduct, the person cannot be sinning or in recurring rebellion against God, which is spiritual death ending in eternal death. In this sense, there is “a forgivable sin.” But if instant repentance is not made, and a second and a third sin is committed, the law of habit comes in and strangles the spiritual life to eternal death. They have ceased to be God’s children because they discontinued being godly. Hence, the “unforgivable sin” has been committed.^[6]

After sufficient examination of the Greek text, Brooke Foss Wescott (1825-1901) concludes that the Apostle John’s words in verse seventeen are added to show the broad scope given for the exercise of Christian sympathy and intercession. Apart from such sins as are open manifestations of a character alien from God, other sins flow from human imperfection and spiritual weakness that put a Christian’s intercession to work. 

Such unrighteousness is the failure to fulfill our duty one to another, and there is abundant opportunity for the exercise of prayer in this vast field.^[7] A fellow believer’s petition may remove the consequences of this forgivable sin. John’s statement that “all unrighteousness is sin” must be compared with the comprehensive definition he gives in chapter three.^[8] Lawlessness is sin, and conversely, sin is lawlessness.

We find that sin is the general term used regarding God’s will for mankind. Whatever act, internal or external, that falls short of God’s will is spiritually considered a “sin.” God’s perfect will may be conceived of as embodied in the constitution of God’s Law. As such, it violates the law as “sinning.” Not only that, but unrighteousness is one manifestation of sin.^[9] It proves the certainty of spiritual knowledge.^[10]  The thought of sin among believers and unforgivable sin forces John to recall the assurance of faith once more. Despite the sad lessons of daily experience, John reaffirms the truths the Christian knows: the privileges of the divine birth,^[11] the fact of the divine kinsmanship,^[12] and the advance in understanding issuing from sacred fellowship.^{[13] [14]}

The author of the first scientific commentary on the Old Testament and an ordained minister in the Free Church of Scotland,^[15] Andrew Bruce Davidson (1831-1902), says that the First Covenant distinguishes between sins done out of inattentiveness and those done intentionally. The Torah comprehended that all sins do not in a spirit of rebellion against the law and ordinance of Yahweh – sins committed through human imperfection, ignorance, or human passion. These included wrongdoings due to human weakness or frailty but not formally opposed to the authority of the lawgiver.

The distinction was thus primarily a distinction regarding the state of mind of the transgressor. However, it was convenient to specify in general the offenses which belonged to the class of sins done with a high hand, and overall, they were the sins forbidden by moral law. No doubt, in certain circumstances, even these sins, if committed involuntarily, were treated as sins of error. Therefore, the penalty due to them was averted by specific extraordinary arrangements. Otherwise, the consequence of his deed would overtake him in the ordinary penalty attached to such an offense, which was death.^{[16] [17]}

Like a spiritual farmer planting the seed of God’s Word, Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) says that the Apostle John talks about definite acts being deemed sinful, noticed by the intercessor, and pardonable in verse seventeen. Because when offenses against the law are forgivable, the person committing it may be prayed for with the hope of repentance and restoration. Therefore, it must not be concluded that it is incorrect to call it violating God’s law, and offensive to sanctified living. It is a sin, though it may be called only unrighteousness, and therefore needs forgiveness. It is a grievous sin, whether committed by a believer or an unbeliever.

Though it is a sin, a violation of God’s holy law, it may be one that God can forgive because it does not restrain the Spirit of Grace, nor does it deny the spiritual nature of the Anointed One.^[18] In this closing portion of his Epistle, John briefly resumes or summarizes the chief facts belonging to the new life. The great matter to which he would conduct his readers in all this writing is realizing their union with God in the Anointed One and its call to holiness. Therefore, it is fitting that some of the last words of his letter of love and righteousness should touch on this cardinal truth of the Christian position.^[19]

With Spirit-led certainty, William Baxter Godbey (1833-1920) establishes that the Apostle John gives his second definition of sin, “unrighteousness,” which means hereditary sin. His first definition, “transgression,” means actual sin.^[20] What is this sin for which we are not to pray for pardon since there is no pardon possible in the case? John answers this question throughout his epistle. The remarkable fact of Gospel truth presented in this letter is the Christhood, out of which salvation is utterly impossible since God out of the Anointed One is a consuming fire. That is why believing and adopting the false prophets’ doctrine is an unpardonable sin if not repented of. 

When people reject Christhood, it is useless to pray for them, because they cannot be saved in their present attitude. If you can prevail on them to forsake their unchristian heresies, then they are open to conviction, subjects of prevailing prayer, and candidates for salvation. This same great, though sad, truth is brought out by Jesus in the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, denominated by the unpardonable sin.^[21]

Since the Holy Spirit is the Successor and Revelator of the risen and glorified Anointed One, it is utterly impossible for anyone to receive the benefit of the Christhood without the office of the Holy Spirit in illumination, conviction, regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. Hence, the unpardonable sin is following Antichrist and blaspheming the Holy Spirit by rejecting Him.^[22]

Noting the Apostle John’s doctrinal implications, John James Lias (1834-1923) takes the Apostle John’s word in verse seventeen that “all wrongdoing is sin, and there are forgivable sins.” There are other cases in which intercessory prayer can be applied. Wherever there is any measure of unrighteousness, there is sin and a fit occasion for intercession. Therefore, injustice (“unrighteousness”) is any act of unfairness, discrimination, or unkindness – wrongdoing. We may compare this declaration: “Everyone who sins breaks the law; sin is lawlessness,”^[23] namely, disregarding the law.

Thus, lawlessness is theoretical, and breaking the law is practical, which answers the question – what is the true character of sin? What is the principle which lies at the root of it? The former answers how I can know sin to be sin. What sort of conduct is sinful? The answer is, “Everything which transgresses the golden rule of doing as we would be done by.” Into such behavior, even the regenerate is frequently betrayed. As John reminded us, “If we say that we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves,”^[24] and God is “faithful and just” in forgiving that sin.^[25]

With his systematic spiritual mindset, Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836-1921) says that in verse seventeen, guilt is measured not by the objective sufficiency or insufficiency of divine grace but by the degree of non-receptiveness into which sin has brought the soul. It must be noted that all sin that comes short of a final rejection of the Anointed One is ignorance rather than sin and the object of no condemning sentence. Any attempt to make this a sin against the Holy Spirit is contradicted by Conscience and Scripture alike.

A growing hardness of the heart precedes the sin of final rejection. Strong informs us that in a weekly magazine called The Outlook,^[26] one of the contributors wrote, “If a man should put out his eyes, he could not see, and nothing could make him see. So, if a man should, by obstinate wickedness, destroys his power to believe in God’s forgiveness, he would be in a hopeless state. God would still be gracious, but the man could not see it and so could not take God’s forgiveness to himself.”^[27]

A tried and tested biblical scholar who believes in reinforcing the Christian life, Robert Cameron (1839-1904) points out that the “unforgivable sin” has caused much curious speculation. Much can be said in favor of two views. One is that the Apostle John was referring to spiritual death. The Greek noun thanatos, (translated as death) is used twice^[28] in the early part of this Epistle, which means spiritual death in both places. What is put in contrast with death is life.

The Greek noun zōē here, translated as life, is used in no less than ten^[29] other places in this very Epistle, and in every case, it means eternal or spiritual life. Another Greek word, meaning natural life, bios, is used twice in this Epistle.^[30] If John intended natural life, he would have used the Greek noun bios. But he has not done so. He, moreover, has just been speaking of eternal life in the thirteenth verse, and he goes on to speak of it again in the twentieth verse. If a different kind of life were meant, it would be natural to expect John to indicate it using the Greek noun psychē, used for physical life elsewhere.^{[31] [32]}

Manifestly and distinctly, Erich Haupt (1841-1910) recalls that in previous comments, the Apostle John implied different kinds of sin: unforgivable and forgivable. So now, John declares, in verse sixteen, “There is a deadly sin,” and in verse seventeen, “There is a sin not deadly.” That these two clauses are thus connected is not generally acknowledged; still, less is it the standard view that the words “All unrighteousness is sin” are to be linked with what precedes instead of with what follows. As a result, it scarcely needs any demonstration that these two clauses correspond in their construction and are in thought fitted to each other. It is, in any case, enforced upon us when we observe that the proposition “all unrighteousness is sin” cannot belong to “there is a sin not deadly.”

If it did, we should be able to see what caused John to introduce the idea of unrighteousness here. This idea not only has no organic connection with the proposition that all sin is not unforgivable but is unrelated to it and somewhat conflicting. Therefore, we should be obliged to take it in a more agreeable way: “all unrighteousness is indeed sin.” But do not think too passively concerning unrighteousness; it also is sin. However, we could expect to read, “it is not an unforgivable sin.” That, however, we do not read, but only that there is sin which is not deadly. The idea of unrighteousness is, therefore, dropped again. It is entirely irrelevant to the proposition “it is a sin not deadly. Are we indeed to suppose that the apostle felt called to occupy himself with teaching here, in an incidental way and without any necessity, the relation of “unrighteousness” to “sin.”^[33]

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[1] Cf. Matthew 18:18-20

[2] Pope, William B., The International Illustrated Commentary of the N.T., Vol. IV, op. cit., p. 40

[3] 1 John 3:14

[4] Ibid. 1:9

[5] Ibid. 3:9

[6] Steele, Daniel, Half-Hours with St. John’s Epistles, op. cit., pp. 145-147

[7] 1 John 1:9

[8] Ibid. 3:4

[9] Cf. Romans 6:13

[10] See 1 John 5:18-20

[11] Ibid. 5:18

[12] Ibid. 5:19

[13] Ibid. 5:20

[14] Westcott, Brooke F., The Epistles of St. John: Greek Text with Notes, op. cit., pp. 192-193

[15] Professor of Hebrew and Oriental languages in New College, University of Edinburg

[16] Davidson, A. B., The Theology of the Old Testament, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1904, pp. 315-316

[17] 1 John 5:18-21

[18] Sawtelle, Henry A., Commentary on the Epistles of John, op. cit., pp. 61-62

[19] 1 John 2:4

[20] Matthew 12:31-32

[21] Godbey, William Baxter: Commentary on the New Testament, Vol. II, op. cit., pp. 398-399

[22] 1 John 3:4

[23] Ibid. 1:9

[24] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 411-413

[25] The Outlook, Published in New York, from 1893-1928

[26] Strong, Augustus H., Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, op. cit., pp. 495-496

[27] 1 John 3:14; cf. 5:16, 17

[28] Ibid. 1:1, 2, 25; 3:14, 15, 5:11, 12, 13, 16, 20

[29] Ibid. 2:16; 3:17

[30] 1 John 3:16; see Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 6:9; John 10:17; Acts of the Apostles 20:10; Romans 11:3; Philemon 2:30

[31] Cameron, Robert: The First Epistle of John, or, God Revealed in Light, Life, and Love, op. cit., p. 243

[32] Haupt, Erich: The First Epistle of St. John: Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, Vol. LXIV, op. cit., pp. 331-332

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXV) 04/19/23

^5:17 Doing wrong is always a sin. But there is sin that does not lead to eternal death.

With clear spiritual eyesight, we can see, says Neal M. Flanagan (1908-1986), that the Apostle John touches on four points in this section from verses fourteen to seventeen. The first, found in verses fourteen and fifteen, is simple: Ask, and you will receive.^[1]  The door to God’s throne room of grace and mercy is always open.^[2] The second point in verses sixteen and seventeen is considerably more complex. We are encouraged to pray for backslidden Christians with the promise that God will answer our prayer. But John expresses serious doubt about the value and efficiency of prayer for those whose sin is unforgivable. He does not say don’t pray for them but cautions that it might be a waste of time and devotion. 

Consequently, in verse sixteen, we must view those whose sin is unforgivable. It might require us to think of such people as no longer Christians because they moved out of Light into endless darkness. It would have been nice if John defined what sin remains unforgiven. Some commentators have suggested murder and adultery, but it seems more in accord with identifying such sin as deliberate falling away from the faith, such as choosing “hate” over “love,” everlasting spiritual death over eternal spiritual life, and ungodliness over Godliness.

The third point, verses eighteen to twenty presents a rather black-and-white worldview. On the one side are God’s children, protected by divine power, dwelling in the Father and His Son, graced by eternal life. On the other side are the evil one and his anti-God world. For modern readers, such a contrast seems too strong, too definite because they specialize in the shadows of Situational Ethics,^[3] personal Code of Ethics,^[4] and Captain of their Soul.^{[5] [6]}

Called a great and rare spiritual thinker, Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872) points out that we are approaching the conclusion of the Epistle; the words, “These things have I written,” indicate that the Apostle John is about to explain its general purpose, if not a summary of its contents. Thus, much is evident in the first reading. His object was not to make proselytes of those who lay outside the Christian Church. Instead, he addressed himself to “those who believed in the name [Yeshua, meaning “Savior”] of God’s Son” They were baptized into that Name; they publicly confessed that Name; it was the Name which drew on them the charge of blasphemy from Jewish rulers and scribes; it was the Name when associated with the person of Jesus the Crucified, which excited the contempt or hostility of the worshippers of the Greek divinities. All acts of united worship among the disciples, all their sufferings, recalled this Name.

But if they did not need to be convinced of its worth or power, what good was an Apostolic Epistle to do them? John answers: “That you may know that you have eternal life and believe in the name [Yeshua, meaning “Savior”] of God’s Son.” You will wonder at the last clause. It sounds as if he proposed to convert them to a faith that they already possessed. But, before you determine that it is so empty of meaning, consider the first clause. That is not commonplace. “You have eternal life.” Not “you may have it,” or “sooner or later this unspeakable blessing may become yours,” or “on those who deserve it.” No! “It is yours now.” The gift has been assured. Perhaps, some Christians of John’s day and ours would rather be startled by the strangeness than by the simplicity of this assertion; they would deem it very unlike the notions which they had associated with their traditional faith.^[7]

With his lifework well-illustrating the biblical and reformation ideal of the pastor-theologian, Robert S. Candlish (1807-1873) takes the Apostle John’s words in verse seventeen as assuming that one chief use which believers will be disposed to make is their right and power to pray for others. He puts a case. You see your spiritual brother or sister sinning; they are members of God’s family. It does not necessarily imply that those who sin are faithful believers. More than once in this epistle, it has already been made clear that the relationships in God’s family have a much broader reach and range in John’s view.

It arises not so much out of the character and standing of those whom you call your spiritual brother or sister but out of the nature of the affection you have for them. In the highest regard, your fellow believers are those who, being God’s children, are spiritual brothers and sisters in the Lord. But whomever, you love them with family love; with a passion that treats them as a spiritual brother or sister; not as a mere instrument to be used or companion to be enjoyed for a day, but as one having an immortal soul saved for eternity is your Christian spiritual brother or sister.

Now, when you see them sinning, it upsets you because they are family. You cannot look on and see them with indifference or amusement or contempt as if they were a stranger, hoodlum, or homeless person. It is your spiritual brother or sister whom you see sinning. And therefore, you speak to them as to a family member about their sin, not harshly, with sharp criticism or cutting sarcasm, or cold superiority. With a sibling’s voice coming out of the depths of your heart, you earnestly caution and affectionately plead with them. However, they may turn a deaf ear toward you, and you have no power to open it.

But another ear is open to you, the ear of your heavenly Father, and He can open their ear. To your Father in heaven, you go. You intercede with Him about your sinning spiritual brother or sister’s case. You ask that spiritual life be restored to those whose sin forfeited “eternal life.” If you are persistent in asking; your insistence is in proportion to your love shown in truth and warmth; you feel almost as if you cannot talk with God about anything else. You do well in using the liberty you have to “ask anything, knowing that God hears you.”^[8]

Scottish preacher and hymn writer Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) mentions that the unforgivable sin is not the “sin against the Holy Spirit.” The people the Apostle John speaks of as guilty are different from each other. In the forgivable sin, as Scribes and Pharisees, the spiteful enemies of the Anointed One and a Christian spiritual brother or sister, their fellow believers. Thus, much depends on the meaning of the expression, “unforgivable sin.” For Bonar, death may mean either temporal or eternal, either the death of the soul or the body.

Verses sixteen and seventeen indicate a sin God would discipline by withholding healing and death, though He would not exclude its doer from His kingdom. In the case of Moses, we have this paternal chastisement involving death. The most remarkable instance is in the Corinthian Church.^[9] The three forms of chastisement visiting the Corinthian Church were weakness, sickliness, and death. These passages show the true meaning of our text. What this sin is, we do not know. It was not the same sin in all but different in each. In the case of the Corinthian Church, unworthy communication was “the unforgivable sin,” but what it was in others is not recorded.

So, the question arises, how are we to know when a sin is deadly, and when it is not deadly, so that we may pray in faith? The last clause of verse sixteen answers this question. It admits that there is an unforgivable sin put in the seventeenth verse: “All unrighteousness is sin, but all sin is not deadly.” But what does the apostle mean by saying, “I do not say that he shall pray for it” at the end of verse sixteen?”

The word translated “pray” also means “inquire” and is elsewhere translated so.^[10] If thus rendered, the meaning would be, “I say he is to ask no questions about that.” If he sees a brother sick and ready to die, is he to say he sinned deadly, or has he not?” He is simply to pray, let alone all such inquiries, and leave the matter in God’s hands.^[11]

With a spiritually activated inquiring mind, Daniel D. Whedon (1808-1885) speaks of all wrongdoing (unrighteousness) or voluntary wrong-being as sin. It may be an offense against others; it may be corrupting our nature; it may be a small act, even a thought, but in each case, it is designated by God as an offense against Him. Even a minor transgression, shortcoming, or moral error, even then, is not an unforgivable sin. There may be an underlying spirit of conviction or repentance, so it may not forfeit justification or regeneration. And even if it renders us corrupt, it is not necessarily unpardonable.^[12] Repentance may restore our fellowship with God and other believers.^[13]

In line with Apostle John’s deduction, Henry Alford (1810-1871) states that in verse seventeen, John seems to say SIN is a significant word, encompassing all unrighteous acts, whether by God’s children or the devil’s brood. But, of all the thoughts evoked by these words, unrighteousness is mild, meant to express that every slight stumble of a good Christian falls under sin, so there may be a forgivable sin. But, whatever the case, it is not one dependent on judgment but an objective fact: by not being deadly, it is something God can cleanse for all those who confess their sins.^{[14] [15]}

With the zeal of a scriptural text examiner, William E. Jelf (1811-1875) notes that for some reason, the Apostle John, probably against some notion of all transgressions of revealed or natural law being exposed to an equal degree of God’s wrath, introduces a distinction between them. Every unrighteous act is a sin, but not equally.^[16]

After checking the text closely, Richard H. Tuck (1817-1868) recalls that the Apostle John explains his purpose in writing his Gospel in verse thirteen. “I write these things to you who believe in the name [Yeshua, meaning “Savior”] of God’s Son so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Life is John’s great word, and by it, he means that life as a child of God, in loving and obedient relations with the eternal Father, which is seen in His Anointed Son and becomes ours as by faith we are linked with that Son to receive His life. When we become God’s children, we gain possession of three rights or privileges, and we ought to thankfully use them: I. The right to eternal life. II. The right to expect answers to prayers. III. The right to intercede for others.^[17]

After observing the Apostle John’s attention to detail, John Stock (1817-1884) states that from the power of prayer, which God appoints as a means to the receiving, His is ceaseless and enriching gifts, whose mercies and compassions never fail but are new every morning, for great is His faithfulness.^[18] Thus, the Apostle John passes this on to anyone who sees a fellow believer who lapsed back into sin; that they may be restored. It is sad to think this is possible – even to fall – let this be a warning for you, too, may fall into sin.^[19] We are not in heaven yet, but pilgrims and a militant Church faithful to the end. No one is above the liability of falling.^[20]

With an inquiring spiritual mind, Johannes H. A. Ebrard (1819-1893) says that in verse seventeen, the Apostle John follows the simple explanation that many unrighteous acts are called sin, but there is one unforgivable sin. The Greek esti (“it is”) is a very substantive verb that is plain from the arrangement of the words. The first words have an external resemblance to 1 John 3:4, but the likeness is only superficial. There, the matter of the idea of unrighteousness John defines as “lawlessness,” but here, the comprehensiveness of the concept is defined as “injustice.” There, the point was that sin is in its nature a transgression of God’s commandments; here, the thought is that not merely the “unforgivable sin,” but every act of “injustice” falls under the idea of “error.” while there is within this range of the fact that there is “forgivable sin.” 

So, “injustice” is, therefore, an idea altogether different from “lawlessness,” which serves as the qualitative definition and limitation of the idea of “error.” However, “lawlessness” is that which offends the specific commandments of God. So, in chapter three, verse four, it says that all sin offends against God’s commandments. “Injustice” is all that is opposed to the innermost, the most profound idea of “justice,”^[21] and it is said in our passage that every deviation from the nature of Him who is righteous and makes righteous is of itself a sin, but not every sin is deadly.^[22]

So, to put Ebrard’s commentary into perspective, he says that when we commit any sin, of which there are many, that causes us to miss the mark (hamartia) or do some unjust thing against another child of God, it is breaking the law. Therefore, God’s justice is called upon the deal with the erring believer since any act of unrighteousness is forgivable when it is not a sin for which some stubborn Christian never plans to repent.

After contemplating John’s train of thought, William Kelly (1822-1888) notices that the Apostle John touches on the delicate case where we may or may not follow John’s instructions and discuss it with God. This passage often raises difficulties because of preconceptions, such as forgetting the moral government that applies to all believers. Nevertheless, it is the question discussed in the book of Job, where his three friends noticeably failed to do so. The Final Covenant makes it plain.^[23]

It is no question of the second death^[24] but of a saint cut off in this world for a sin of such a character, or in such circumstances, that unless they repent, will take it with them to the grave. As we see of old, it might be the removal of saints previously in high honor, such as Moses and Aaron, who greatly displeased Yahweh in Kadesh,^[25] or its immediate execution, as on Ananias and Sapphira.^[26]

But the principle is explained by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian saints, many of whom were not only old and frail, but a good many already lay in their tombs. “But when the Lord judges us, he punishes us to show us the right way. He does this so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”^[27] This then was sinning deadly, the Lord’s chastening of erring saints, expressly that they should not be condemned to the second death as the world is.^[28]

Familiar with John’s writing style, William B. Pope (1822-1903) notes that the Apostle John’s transition from prayer in general to intercessory prayer seems abrupt. Still, brotherly love is identical to Christian living, and its offices strive to do God’s will. Passing by countless other objects of intercession on behalf of a fellow Christian, John at once rises to the highest peak ‒ praying for the believer who fell victim to sin’s temptations. Two phrases are still in John’s thoughts: “whatever we ask” and “eternal life,” which the born again have in themselves and may obtain by prayer for others.

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[1] Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10

[2] Hebrews 4:16

[3] Situational Ethics by Joseph F. Fletcher

[4] Saints and sinners: Completing identities in public relations ethics by Johanna Fawkes

[5] Invictus by William Ernest Henley

[6] Flanagan, Neal M., The Johannine Epistles, Collegeville Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 1026

[7] Maurice, Frederick D., The Epistles of St. John: A Series of Lectures on Christian Ethics, op. cit., Lecture XVII, pp. 285-303

[8] Candlish, Robert S., The First Epistle of John Expounded in a Series of Lectures, op. cit., Lecture XLII, pp. 518-529

[9] 1 Corinthians 11:30

[10] 1 John 1:18; See also John 1:21, 25, 5:12, 9:2, 19:21

[11] Bonar, Horatius: The Biblical Illustrator, Vol. 22, First Epistle of John, op. cit., pp.454-455

[12] See Isaiah 1:18

[13] Whedon, Daniel D., Commentary on the New Testament, op. cit., p. 281

[14] 1 John 1:9

[15] Alford, Henry: The Greek Testament, op. cit., Vol. IV, pp. 510-511

[16] Jelf, William E., Commentary on the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., p. 80

[17] Tuck, Richard H., The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary, op. cit., p. 339

[18] Lamentations 3:22-23

[19] 1 Corinthians 12:10

[20] Stock, John, An Exposition of the First Epistle General of St. John, op. cit., pp. 450-454

[21] See 1 John 1:9; 2:29

[22] Ebrard, Johannes H. A., Biblical Commentary on the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 342

[23] See, John 15:1-10; 1 Corinthians 11:27-32; Hebrews 12:5-11; 1 Peter 1:17

[24] Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8; Jude 1:12

[25] Numbers 20

[26] Acts of the Apostles 5

[27] 1 Corinthians 11:32

[28] Kelly, William: An Exposition of the Epistles of John the Apostle, op. cit., p. 387