Bird's-eye view
In this potent section of his first epistle, the apostle John draws a series of sharp, black-and-white contrasts to fortify believers against the insidious lies of early Gnostic teachers. The central issue is the nature of a true child of God. John is not writing to give sensitive saints a new reason to doubt their salvation; he is providing a set of objective tests to expose the false teachers who were denying the incarnation and promoting lawlessness. The argument is straightforward: sin is lawlessness, and Jesus came to destroy it. Therefore, a life characterized by the practice of sin is fundamentally incompatible with a life that is in union with Jesus Christ. John establishes two spiritual lineages, the children of God, who practice righteousness, and the children of the devil, who practice sin. The defining characteristic of the believer is the abiding presence of God's "seed," which makes a life of settled, ongoing sin an impossibility. This passage is a call to doctrinal clarity and moral seriousness, reminding the church that our ethical behavior is a direct manifestation of our spiritual parentage.
John's language is absolute and uncompromising. He says the one who sins "has not seen Him or known Him," and the one born of God "cannot sin." This is not to teach a doctrine of sinless perfectionism, which the rest of Scripture and John's own earlier statements (1 John 1:8, 10) contradict. Rather, he is speaking of the settled character, the defining principle of a life. The Christian life is one of warfare against sin, not peaceful coexistence with it. The Gnostics claimed a spiritual knowledge that divorced them from moral obligation. John reconnects them with a sledgehammer: what you do reveals who you are, and whose you are. The purpose of Christ's appearing was to dismantle the entire program of the devil, and the life of every true believer is a beachhead in that glorious campaign.
Outline
- 1. The Defining Nature of Sin and Salvation (1 John 3:4-10)
- a. Sin Defined as Lawlessness (1 John 3:4)
- b. Christ's Purpose: To Take Away Sin (1 John 3:5)
- c. The Incompatibility of Abiding and Sinning (1 John 3:6)
- d. The Righteousness Test: Doing Reveals Being (1 John 3:7)
- e. The Devil's Work and Christ's Counter-Work (1 John 3:8)
- f. The Regenerate Nature: The Abiding Seed (1 John 3:9)
- g. The Manifestation of Two Families (1 John 3:10)
Context In 1 John
This passage is the heart of a larger section (2:28-3:10) where John elaborates on the practical evidence of being "born of God." He has just spoken of the believer's hope in the appearing of Christ and the purifying effect of that hope (3:1-3). Now, he pivots to address the great threat to that purity: sin. The epistle was written to combat a specific heresy, likely an early form of Gnosticism championed by figures like Cerinthus. These teachers separated the spiritual from the material, denying that Jesus had come in the flesh. This dualism had ethical consequences: they taught that what one did in the body was irrelevant to one's spiritual state. They could claim to "know God" while living in flagrant sin. John confronts this head-on. Throughout the letter, he provides three interlocking tests of genuine faith: the doctrinal test (believing Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh), the moral test (obeying His commandments), and the social test (loving the brethren). This passage is the core of his argument for the moral test. It defines sin, explains Christ's mission against it, and draws a clear, bright line between the children of God and the children of the devil based on their relationship to sin and righteousness.
Key Issues
- The Definition of Sin as Lawlessness
- The Purpose of the Incarnation
- The Meaning of "Abiding in Him"
- The Interpretation of "Does Not Sin" and "Cannot Sin"
- The Distinction Between the Children of God and the Children of the Devil
- The Nature of the "Seed" of God
- The Relationship Between Righteousness and Regeneration
Lawlessness is the Point
When John defines sin, he is not just offering a theological dictionary entry. He is identifying the very essence of the rebellion he is confronting. Sin is anomia, lawlessness. This is not simply the breaking of a rule, like a traffic violation. It is the rejection of the entire principle of law itself. It is the creature setting himself up as his own ultimate standard of right and wrong. The serpent's temptation in the garden was precisely this: "you will be like God" (Gen. 3:5). You will be your own lawgiver. This is the foundational lie of all sin. The Gnostic teachers, with their claims to a secret knowledge that placed them above the moral law, were peddling this same ancient poison. They were promising a shortcut to divinity that bypassed the need for obedience.
John's definition cuts the legs out from under this. To practice sin is to practice lawlessness, which is to set yourself up in opposition to the God whose very character is the law. Therefore, to claim fellowship with God while living a life of lawlessness is a straightforward contradiction. Jesus Christ was manifested to uphold and fulfill the law, and ultimately to take away our lawlessness. To embrace Him is to embrace His mission. To continue in lawlessness is to align oneself with the first lawless one, the devil.
Verse by Verse Commentary
4 Everyone who does sin also does lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
John begins with a foundational definition. The Greek construction is emphatic, connecting the practice of sin directly to the practice of lawlessness. The verb "does sin" is in the present tense, indicating a habitual, ongoing practice, not an isolated act. This is the person whose life is characterized by sin. And what is this sin? It is lawlessness. It is the declaration of autonomy from God. It is setting up your own will, your own desires, your own standards as the ultimate authority. This definition is crucial for everything that follows. Sin is not a mere mistake or a weakness; it is rebellion against the throne of God.
5 And you know that He was manifested in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.
Having defined the problem, John states the solution. "He was manifested" refers to the incarnation, the coming of Jesus into the world. And why did He come? The purpose statement is crystal clear: "to take away sins." Christ's mission was a search-and-destroy mission against sin. He came to remove its penalty through His atoning death and to break its power in the lives of His people. John adds the essential qualifier: "and in Him there is no sin." Christ was uniquely qualified for this mission because He was entirely separate from the problem He came to solve. He was the spotless Lamb. This establishes the absolute antithesis between Christ and sin. You cannot have both as the ruling principle of your life.
6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or has come to know Him.
Here we come to John's "absolutist" language that can trouble tender consciences. Again, the verb "sins" is in the present tense, referring to the characteristic practice of a life. To "abide in Him" means to live in a state of vital, ongoing communion and dependence upon Christ. The two are mutually exclusive. A life defined by union with Christ cannot also be a life defined by the practice of sin. John then states the inverse, and it is a sharp blow to the Gnostic pretenders. The one whose life is characterized by sin gives evidence that he has never truly "seen" Christ with the eyes of faith or "come to know Him" in a saving, personal way. The Gnostics boasted of their special knowledge, but John says their lawless lives prove they know nothing of Him at all.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
John pauses to issue a tender but firm warning. "Little children" is his affectionate term for the believers. He knows that the false teachers are clever and their deceptions are subtle. So he lays down a simple, practical test. How do you identify a righteous person? You look at what they do. The one who makes a practice of "doing righteousness" is the one who is truly righteous. Our actions are the fruit of our nature. This righteousness is not self-generated; it is a reflection of Christ's own righteousness. We are righteous "just as He is righteous," meaning our righteousness is derived from and patterned after His. Being is revealed in doing.
8 The one who does sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
Here is the other side of the coin. If the one doing righteousness is of God, then the one whose life is characterized by sin is "of the devil." This is a statement of parentage, of spiritual genetics. The devil is the original sinner, the one who has been sinning "from the beginning" of his rebellion. To practice sin is to follow in the family business. John then restates the purpose of the incarnation from a different angle. In verse 5, Jesus came to take away our sins. Here, He was manifested "to destroy the works of the devil." These are two ways of saying the same thing. Sin is the devil's work. Every act of sin is a little piece of the devil's kingdom-building project. And Jesus came to level that entire project, to dismantle it brick by brick, starting in the hearts of His people.
9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
This is the strongest statement of all and the theological foundation for why the believer's life cannot be characterized by sin. The one "born of God", the regenerate person, does not make a practice of sinning. Why? Because God's "seed" abides in him. This "seed" is the principle of new life, the Holy Spirit, the very nature of God imparted to the believer at regeneration. This new nature remains; it "abides." Because this divine life is in him, John says "he cannot sin." This does not mean a Christian is incapable of committing an act of sin. It means he cannot sin in the way he did before, as a settled pattern of life, comfortably and without conflict. The new nature makes it impossible for him to be at peace with sin. To continue in sin would be a violation of his most fundamental identity as one who has been "born of God." A fish cannot happily live out of water; a child of God cannot live happily in sin.
10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother.
John concludes by summarizing the test. This is how you tell the two spiritual families apart. It is made "manifest," or obvious. The one who does not have a lifestyle of practicing righteousness is not of God. It's that simple. Then he adds the social test, which he will develop in the next section. The one who does not love his brother is also not of God. The moral and the social are intertwined. A life of lawlessness toward God and a life of lovelessness toward one's brother spring from the same dark root. They are the unmistakable family traits of the children of the devil.
Application
The stark clarity of this passage is a bracing tonic for a church that is often tempted by shades of gray. John forces us to ask fundamental questions. What is the pattern of my life? Is it characterized by a struggle against sin, driven by a new nature that loves righteousness? Or is it characterized by a casual accommodation with sin, a practice of lawlessness that reveals a heart that has never truly known Christ?
This passage is not meant to be a tool for morbid introspection, leading to despair. For the true believer who is fighting sin, however imperfectly, it is a massive encouragement. It tells him that the very fight itself is evidence of the new life within. The reason you hate your sin, the reason it grieves you, is because God's seed abides in you. You are not what you once were. You are a child of God, and your destiny is to be like Jesus.
For the professing Christian who is living a double life, who practices sin in secret and puts on a righteous face in public, this passage is a terrifying warning. It strips away all the excuses and self-deception. It says that a life of practiced sin is the defining mark of a child of the devil, regardless of any profession of faith. The purpose of Jesus's coming was to destroy such works. The application, then, is to flee from all lawlessness and to run to the one who came to take away sin. It is a call to repentance, to faith, and to a life of righteousness that proves we are who we say we are: children of God.