Last night’s Bible study looked at 1 John 3:4-10, where John tells us how we can know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. A family likeness has to be developed within those who are born of God (v9, a phrase echoed in 1 John 2:29, 4:7, 5:1, 18 and reminiscent of John 1:12-13), for God’s seed remains in us. That family likeness means we must have the same characteristics as Jesus in our attitude and opposition to sin, for Jesus was both righteous and opposed sin, and in our attitude to others, showing love as He did.
This passage often seems confusing in its bold statements that the one born of God will not ‘continue in sin’, or ‘keep on sinning.’ Earlier (1 John 1:8-10), he has reminded us that we will never reach a state of sinless perfection (as some Gnostics claimed), but now he goes on to say that we must not be blind to sin or indifferent to its gravity. Christ’s sacrifice was to take away sin and His purpose was to destroy the devil’s work (see also John 1:29, Heb 9:26, 1 Pet 2:24). He paid the price for our sins, taking away the consequence of those sins (the punishment and guilt we deserved) and breaking the power sin has over us (see Rom 6:1-14, Col 2:13-15), so now we have an obligation, not to the sinful nature, but to the new nature given to us (2 Pet 1:4).
How do we nurture the new nature? Ultimately, we have to train ourselves to be godly (1 Tim 4:7), which involves discipline, prayer, reading the Word and allowing this new nature to have predominance in our lives: ‘Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.’ (Rom 13:14) We have to put off the old nature, be made new in the attitudes of our minds and put on the new nature (Eph 4:22-24, see also Col 3:9-10, Rom 6:11-14). Because of the sacrifice of Christ and the new nature given to us through this, we have been given new standing before God (justification), a new position, set apart for God (sanctification) and are born again of His Spirit (regeneration.) From beginning to end, the power of Christ’s righteousness is given to us so that we can live lives worthy of Him.
One commentary concludes this section by saying we do not continue to sin because:
- First, we are rooted in a future hope, a hope that as the children of God we shall yet become more like God.
- Second, in directing our gaze to our future hope, the statement also assumes that the same power that will remake us at that time is already at work in us.
- Third, that power is now active in the world because it was manifested by Jesus himself in his work of breaking the grip of sin on us
- Fourthly, in his own life, Jesus exemplified the self-giving love and obedience to God that is the responsibility of God’s children as well.