Okay, I’ve got to admit there is a bit of cognitive dissonance in this reading for me regarding sinning and not sinning. Back in 1 John 1:8, the apostle wrote, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Right? Do you remember that? Now today we read, “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, . . .”
Huh? Which one is it? Do I sin? (Yes.) So does that mean I’ve not been born of God. (No.)
And while we’re asking questions; what is this sin leading to death or not leading to death that we should or should not pray about?
Sin, first and foremost, is failing to do God’s will. It is actually an archery term that means, “to miss the mark.” God’s Law is the standard by which we, as His children, live. If you or I haven’t kept that Law perfectly we’ve missed the mark. We’ve sinned. I believe that each of us can recognize times that we have missed the mark – even on a daily basis. It may not be the same sin each time, but it is still sin.
Yet as people of believe in Jesus that sin has been removed from us. Jesus has taken it to Himself to pay the penalty for it. John witnessed that day of atonement and he states that God’s Spirit has testified regarding this salvation, and the blood and water of Jesus’ crucifixion and baptism testify that He has stood in our place and transferred our sin from us, to Himself, and finally to the cross, leaving them in death.
As we live in faith we live continually washed by the water of Baptism and, through Baptism, we are washed by Jesus’ blood. We freely and fully confess our need for forgiveness, but at the same time we can freely and fully take hold of that forgiveness through the work of God’s Spirit, the water and the blood. Even as we miss the mark of God’s will, we live in the forgiveness Jesus won for us. We are at the same time sinners and sinless. Sinners in our own actions and behaviors. Sinless in Jesus cleansing flood.
Knowing this, we should also recognize a danger. People often develop an attitude that says, “If Jesus forgives all my sins, it doesn’t matter what I do, so I’ll just keep on sinning!” This is what John is talking about when he says, “there is a sin that leads to death.”
Some people have used this line to imagine there are deadly sins – seven of them in fact. (Pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth are the traditional list.) Then they believe there are venial sins – that is forgivable sins. The truth is that all sins can lead to death. But the sin that leads to death is this – refusing to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, has paid the price for our sins, and therefore refusing to repent.
It is in repentance – the constant turning to Jesus as our savior as we also turn away from our sin – that we find 1 John 5:18 to be true, “everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning.” It’s true because as God looks upon us, He sees Jesus protecting us, and the evil one cannot touch us, and no accusation against us can stand because we are washed in Christ.
Lord Jesus, thank you for washing me in the waters of baptism. Help me to live in your forgiveness, and turn away from sin, trusting only in You every day. Amen.
Huh? Which one is it? Do I sin? (Yes.) So does that mean I’ve not been born of God. (No.)
And while we’re asking questions; what is this sin leading to death or not leading to death that we should or should not pray about?
Sin, first and foremost, is failing to do God’s will. It is actually an archery term that means, “to miss the mark.” God’s Law is the standard by which we, as His children, live. If you or I haven’t kept that Law perfectly we’ve missed the mark. We’ve sinned. I believe that each of us can recognize times that we have missed the mark – even on a daily basis. It may not be the same sin each time, but it is still sin.
Yet as people of believe in Jesus that sin has been removed from us. Jesus has taken it to Himself to pay the penalty for it. John witnessed that day of atonement and he states that God’s Spirit has testified regarding this salvation, and the blood and water of Jesus’ crucifixion and baptism testify that He has stood in our place and transferred our sin from us, to Himself, and finally to the cross, leaving them in death.
As we live in faith we live continually washed by the water of Baptism and, through Baptism, we are washed by Jesus’ blood. We freely and fully confess our need for forgiveness, but at the same time we can freely and fully take hold of that forgiveness through the work of God’s Spirit, the water and the blood. Even as we miss the mark of God’s will, we live in the forgiveness Jesus won for us. We are at the same time sinners and sinless. Sinners in our own actions and behaviors. Sinless in Jesus cleansing flood.
Knowing this, we should also recognize a danger. People often develop an attitude that says, “If Jesus forgives all my sins, it doesn’t matter what I do, so I’ll just keep on sinning!” This is what John is talking about when he says, “there is a sin that leads to death.”
Some people have used this line to imagine there are deadly sins – seven of them in fact. (Pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth are the traditional list.) Then they believe there are venial sins – that is forgivable sins. The truth is that all sins can lead to death. But the sin that leads to death is this – refusing to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, has paid the price for our sins, and therefore refusing to repent.
It is in repentance – the constant turning to Jesus as our savior as we also turn away from our sin – that we find 1 John 5:18 to be true, “everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning.” It’s true because as God looks upon us, He sees Jesus protecting us, and the evil one cannot touch us, and no accusation against us can stand because we are washed in Christ.
Lord Jesus, thank you for washing me in the waters of baptism. Help me to live in your forgiveness, and turn away from sin, trusting only in You every day. Amen.
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