1 John

1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 3:5 And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 3:6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him please help me understand this someone - to me the two statements don't fit. I know it is a problem with my understanding.. 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 3:9 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.

I know that the Bible has no contradictions in it so my lack of understanding with this verse is due to the fact that Im missing something in the text and/or context. Would someone please (in a spirit of gentleness) help me with this?

Thanks,

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2000

Answers

You would think that if you are "walking in the light" that you must not be sinning.... but....

but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin

It appears from this text that it is possible to walk in the light and still have sins that need cleansing.

But if we walk in the darkness, we are not "in fellowship" with Him, and if we say that we are, we are liars.

In the first passage, if you take all of the statements logically, you have two types of people...

1. People who:

Walk in the light = confess their sins = have fellowship with Him (and one another) = have their sins cleansed by the blood of Christ

2. And People who:

Walk in darkness = Lie and do not practice truth = Say they have no sin = Are deceiving themselves = Truth is not in them = Say they have not sinned = Make Him a liar = His Word is not in them

In the second passage somebody with Greek help me here, but I think it is referring to "willful continuous practice of sin" so it is saying....

"Nobody who is born of God willfully and continually practices sin..."

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2000

Chadrick,

I am going to shoot from the hip on this one. Recalling back to my meager few years of greek at Kentucky Christian College, Don Nash (amazing man in Greek) helped us to understand this passage from the standpoint of 'tense'.

"If we say we do not sin..." This is aorist tense. Defined as point action. This may be rephrased by saying, "If we say that at any point we do not sin..."

Wherein the phrase, "No one who abides in Him sins..." is linear. Defined as a continuous action. This might be rephrased by saying, "No one who abides in Him lives in a continuous state of sin..."

In other words, there are times in which we succomb to temptation and sin (aorist - at a point.) At these times we have the promise that if we (continually - linear) confess our sins, He is faithful and just to (continually - linear) forgive us our sin. As we confess (continually) and as He forgives (continually) we are not living in a continuous state of sinfulness.

Examples: 1. The cities of Sodom and Gommorah: The people there were living in a continual state of sin. 2. The world in the Days of Noah: Every imagination and thought of man was continually evil. 3. The non-Christian: They are without the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, therefore they are in a continual state of sin.

The Christian, on the other hand, has the continual forgiveness of God (with said repentance, confession and faithfulness on our part as the obvious conditions). This is why we are not in a continual state of sin.

Duane states it well in the post before this. But it really comes clear when you look to the greek tense of the verbs used. Hope it helps.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

Thank you for your responces. I will study these out and post again soon I hope. Thank you Duane for allowing us to post our best answer to what we are trying to say. Here is the answer.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

That link you just gave: "Here is the answer" only took me back to the top of this page... was that intended? If not, email me with the intended url and I will fix it for you...

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

"If we say we do not sin..." This is aorist tense. Defined as point action. This may be rephrased by saying, "If we say that at any point we do not sin..."

I was doing some thought on this and don't understand. I say at some points, "I'm living holy. I'm not sinning." That is not what you mean is it?

In other words, there are times in which we succomb to temptation and sin (aorist - at a point.) At these times we have the promise that if we (continually - linear) confess our sins, He is faithful and just to (continually - linear) forgive us our sin. As we confess (continually) and as He forgives (continually) we are not living in a continuous state of sinfulness.

I've been considering the context of 1st John. John was battling Gnostic teaching. Some of them appariently were sinning (walking in darkness) but claiming they had fellowship with God or saying "they had no sin" (wicked motives). Others were walking in the light - not hiding there actions be they good or evil, ie sinning but trying to overcome (pure motives). I'm thinking we have to study the book of 1 John with this in mind? What do you think? Am I making sence?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

If we are 'in Christ', we are seen by God as clothed in Christ and 'there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus'. We are free.

If we lament our sins without repenting and confessing them, satan has us in a defeated position, which, as the accuser of the brethren, is where he loves to have us. But the power that is in us (the Holy Spirit's power) is stronger than the power (satan's) that is in the world. And He gives us a way to escape, if we take it.

Praise God for that.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000

"If we say we do not sin..." This is aorist tense. Defined as point action. This may be rephrased by saying, "If we say that at any point we do not sin..." I was doing some thought on this and don't understand. I say at some points, "I'm living holy. I'm not sinning." That is not what you mean is it?

No, this is not what I ment. Let me try this,,,,There are "points" in our life that we do not sin. Just like their are "points" in our life that we sin. Hopefully the latter is less often and the former is more often. Isn't that for which we strive? The difference is that which state we are abiding. Do we abide (linear living) in a state of sinfulness, or do we abide in Christ (linear living) that being living in a state of being forgiven. I hope that comes across correctly...

In other words, there are times in which we succomb to temptation and sin (aorist - at a point.) At these times we have the promise that if we (continually - linear) confess our sins, He is faithful and just to (continually - linear) forgive us our sin. As we confess (continually) and as He forgives (continually) we are not living in a continuous state of sinfulness.

I've been considering the context of 1st John. John was battling Gnostic teaching. Some of them appariently were sinning (walking in darkness) but claiming they had fellowship with God or saying "they had no sin" (wicked motives). Others were walking in the light - not hiding there actions be they good or evil, ie sinning but trying to overcome (pure motives). I'm thinking we have to study the book of 1 John with this in mind? What do you think? Am I making sence?

I understand what you are saying, I think. However, whether he is taking with gnostics, agnostics or whatever, the truth of what he is saying is applicable to all. Although, I really do understand what you are saying. It helps to answer why he takes the opportunity to deal with this particular subject.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000