Christians Do Not Sin - 1 John 3:9

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9)

This verse is straightforward, clear, and easy to understand. People who are born of God do not commit sin. And who is born of God? The same epistle answers the question:

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. (1 John 5:1)

Therefore, all believers in Christ do not commit sin. That should settle the matter. Christians don’t sin. Yet, the vast majority of the church today flatly rejects this biblical truth. In fact, most say almost exactly the opposite, that all Christians will sin until they die. Some go so far as to say that all Christians will sin every single day in thought, word, and deed.

How did so many come to reject a biblical truth that is so clearly stated by the apostle John? Perhaps some want to hang on to their sins and still feel secure about going to heaven. Others have simply been blinded by the teachings of others, and since they have never been told about this truth and have seen it denied time and again, they just accept the teachings that contradict John’s clear declaration.

Since those who deny holiness in believers still claim to believe what the Bible says, they have to somehow answer what this verse says. The most common method is to alter the text. This altering has become so ingrained in the church culture that modern Bible translations have incorporated the additions, even though the original language cannot support the alterations.

Here is one example from the New American Standard Bible:

No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

The Greek word for “practices” is prasso, but that word in not in this verse. The word here is poieo, which means “do” or “commit.” Therefore, the verse is not saying that believers don’t practice sin. It says that they don’t commit sin.

The New International Version says:

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

This version adds “will continue to” which is not in the Greek text.

Since John’s intent is to make a statement about the absence of sin in a believer, what good would it do to talk about “practicing” sin or “continuing” to sin? What frequency of sin does it take to “practice” sin? What does it mean to continue to sin? If we try to employ these alterations, what has John said that provides us any useful information? Does he mean that Christians don’t sin more than three times each day? Five times each week? Without a clear definition of what constitutes practice or continuing, he has communicated no information at all. Everyone would draw a different line.

Some people claim that the present tense verb “poieo” indicates ongoing action. It is true that the Greek present indicative can have an ongoing aspect. Some call it “present durative.” The present indicative can have this aspect but certainly not in all cases. There are other possible aspects for this tense: iterative, gnomic, historic, futuristic, among others. In order to determine the proper aspect, we have to examine the context. It is wrong to assign the present durative as a default.

Let's look at the logic to see this. If someone claims that verse nine allows for some sin in a Christian, then we lose the purpose of the passage. In context John uses this statement to give us a way to determine who the children of God are. Here is the verse with it's immediate context:

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (1 John 3:7-10)

If any sin is allowed in a believer, how is it manifest who the children of God and the children of the devil are? If Christians sin until they die, how are we to tell them from the children of the devil? Do children of the devil sin more often? How often is that? Do some children of the devil sin less often than brand new Christians? How many sins are allowed in a child of God and with what frequency? With any sin allowed in a child of God, how can their identity possibly be manifest?

The only way the identification is manifest is when we apply the only clearly defined line. Children of God don't sin at all while children of the devil do sin.

That's why poieo in verse nine must be “gnomic” rather than durative, because it creates a postulate by which we can make judgments. That's what a gnomic present tense does. Therefore, we must translate and understand verse nine as the King James version has rendered it – “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

Some alter the meaning of the verse to say something like, “Christians don’t sin without feeling guilty about it” or some other qualification. Yet, there is nothing in the Greek whatsoever that says anything about "without feeling guilty." Such alterations are pure fabrications that are added to satisfy a preconceived doctrine.

Even if we were to allow such alterations, the passage would make no sense, because many unbelievers feel an immense sense of guilt after committing a sin, so John wouldn’t be saying anything. We could say, “So what if believers don’t sin without feeling guilt? The same is true of many unbelievers.”

And even if one were to deny that unbelievers feel guilty when they sin, such an idea runs again into the same problem with verse ten. If both groups, children of God and children of the devil, commit sin and the only difference is that the children of God feel guilty, then how is it manifest which group is which? How can you tell which group is feeling guilty? The test John provides would be worthless.

John indicates in other parts of his epistle that Christians have no sin at all, thereby proving that verse nine ought to be interpreted as allowing for no sin. Verse seven is an example:

“Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.”

How righteous? As righteous as Jesus is. That would mean no sin at all.

Look at 1 John 4:17:

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We are as Jesus is in this world. Does that allow for any sin? It cannot.

The righteousness that John teaches for believers is complete. If any sin at all is allowed, then we would not be "as he is righteous." We would not be "as he is."

Summary:

1 John 3:9 sets up a principle: Believers in Christ do not sin. Some claim that since John used the present tense, he had in mind “continuing sin” or some other practice of sin that persists in a durative manner. Actually, the verb “commit” must carry a gnomic aspect and cannot be translated or interpreted with an understanding that any sin is allowed. This principle is used as a test in verse ten to judge who is and who is not a child of God. If any sin is allowed, then the test is worthless. No one would be able to tell who is and who is not a child of God.

John stated that Christians do not sin in a straightforward and clear manner. He used the present tense because that is the only tense he could employ to state the principle as being true in a present sense.

Because of this, and because of the fact that John confirms in other parts of the epistle the idea that Christians don’t sin at all, we must conclude that 1 John 3:9 should be translated and interpreted to mean the same - that Christians don’t sin at all.

(Some claim that this idea contradicts 1 John 1:8 and 10. I have refuted that claim in the following essay - http://oraclesoffire.blogspot.com/2009/02/cleansed-from-all-sin.html)