{"id":9921,"date":"2026-08-06T10:44:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T16:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=9921"},"modified":"2026-08-06T10:44:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T16:44:44","slug":"1-john-34-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=9921","title":{"rendered":"1 John 3:4-7"},"content":{"rendered":"

4\u00a0<\/sup>Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

5\u00a0<\/sup>And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup>Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

7\u00a0<\/sup>Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

We who are living in the age of grace can apply a lot of this passage to our lives, but it must be remembered that John was writing to those in the early Acts period who had a taste of the Kingdom, and to those who will, during the Tribulation, have the law written on their hearts. To sin habitually under those circumstances was, and will be, very serious indeed.<\/h3>\n

Some commentaries read the old and new natures into this passage, but that wasn’t what John was talking about.<\/h3>\n

Paul, in 1 Corinthians, wrote to believers (saints) who were definitely sinning habitually, but who were still saved. Believers under grace have all kept the law in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21<\/span><\/a>; Colossians 2:10<\/span><\/a>).<\/h3>\n

whoever commits sin (v.4) \u2014 The tense is the present continuous and expresses a practice and not an act. [The word “commit”] is misleading. Neither here nor anywhere in this passage is the committal of an act in view. The Apostle is dealing with that which characterizes the life. \u2014 Vine, page 52.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

commits lawlessness (v.4) \u2014 The manner of life which is marked by continuing to do sin is described by the phrase “doeth lawlessness,” which is constant disregard of the Law of God. As, then, doing righteousness [as a practice] is an evidence of the new birth, so doing lawlessness [as a practice] is an evidence of not being born of God. \u2014 Vine, page 53.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

sin is lawlessness (v.4) \u2014 Sin and lawlessness are different aspects of the same thing. A section of the Gnostic teachers taught that a certain attainment of knowledge placed a person above moral law, in which case one was rendered neither better for keeping it nor worse for breaking it. The teaching of this passage therefore strikes a blow against such error. The practice of sin is shown to be entirely incompatible with being a child of God. \u2014 Vine, page 53.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

you know (v.5) = “you know as a fact” essential to the Christian faith. the Apostle’s constant appeal to the knowledge possessed by believers is set off against the knowledge in which the Gnostics boasted. \u2014 Vine, page 53.<\/span><\/h3>\n

manifested (v.5) \u2014 Christ’s incarnation, which demonstrated His pre-existence.<\/h3>\n

take away our sins (v.5) \u2014 Lit. “remove by lifting,” cp. 1 Peter 2:24<\/span><\/a>. … The point of the present passage is not the mode in which Christ took away sins but the fact that His having become incarnate in order to take them away shows that sin is incompatible with the Divine relationship of being children of God; in other words, not the nature of the atonement is here in view but the effect of it in the life. \u2014 Vine, pages 53-54.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

in Him there is no sin (v.5) \u2014 Lit., “and in Him sin is not.” He is essentially and eternally the sinless One, and this has bee proved in the days of His flesh. …\u00a0 The members of the heavenly family, so far from continuing in sin, as before they became children of God, are united to One who Himself both was the Bearer of sins and is essentially sinless. There is this also, that the approved sinlessness of Christ showed that He, and He alone, was fit and competent to take away sin.<\/span><\/h3>\n

The way in which the writers of the New Testament state the sinlessness of Christ is appropriate respectively to their characteristics. Peter, the man of action, says, “He did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22); Paul, the man of knowledge, says, “He knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21); John, the man of intimate personal acquaintance with Christ in the days of His flesh, says, “In Him is no sin.” Thus completely does the Spirit of God safeguard, in the testimony of the New Testament, the character of Christ. \u2014 Vine, page 54.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Verse 5 is one of many passages in Scripture that prove the fallacy of those who claim that Christ could have sinned but didn’t \u2014 a view they base entirely on Hebrews 4:15, claiming that He couldn’t have been tempted as we are unless He could have failed. But even that verse states clearly that He is “without sin.” Christ never stopped being wholly God, so He never could have sinned. He is also wholly human since His incarnation, but it is possible to be human and not sin \u2014 as will be the case with all of us in our glorified bodies after the resurrection.<\/h3>\n

whoever abide in Him does not sin (v.6) \u2014 Both verbs “abideth” and “sinneth” are in the present continuous tense and express the normal state. Abiding in Christ and continuance in sin are incongruous. It is true that even an act of sin is inconsistent with abiding in Christ, but, as elsewhere in this passage, the Apostle is dealing with characteristics and habits and not acts. … To abide in Christ involves the habit of communion with God and the habitual fulfilment of His will. \u2014 Vine, page 54.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him (v.6) \u2014 Every believer does sin. ye the believer is one who has seen Christ, by faith, and knows Him. What is implied here, then, is a ruling principle of life. \u2014 Vine, page 54-55.<\/span><\/h3>\n

He who practices righteousness (v.7) \u2014 habitually<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4\u00a0Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5\u00a0And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6\u00a0Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1-john"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9922,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921\/revisions\/9922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}