1 John 3:9

Many English translations interpret the Greek present tense as saying no Christian habitually sins, as in 1 John 3:6. For example, the NASB has, "practices sin;" the Living Bible, "does not make a practice of sinning;" the Amplified Bible, "[deliberately and knowingly] habitually practices sin;" and the NIV, "continues to sin." However the Greek present tense does not always indicate habitual action, as pointed out previously. [Note: Marshall, p. 180; Dodd, p. 79.] Frequently it describes absolute action. The New King James Version takes the Greek present tense this way and renders the clause, "Whoever had been born of God does not sin." The NET Bible is inconsistent: it translates 1 John 3:6, "does not sin," but 1 John 3:9, "does not practice sin." Since earlier John wrote that the Christian does sin habitually (1 John 1:6-10; cf. 1 John 2:1) the idea that the Christian does not sin habitually is unacceptable. [Note: See Robert N. Wilkin, "Do Born Again People Sin? 1 John 3:9," Grace Evangelical Society News 5:3 (March 1990):2-3.]

". . . the ’tense solution’ in 1 John 1:9 is in the process of imploding in the current literature. It was shrewdly questioned by C. H. Dodd in his commentary in 1946 and dealt a major blow by S. Kubo in an article entitled, "1 John 3:9: Absolute or Habitual?" published in 1969. [Note: Footnote 16: Sakae Kubo, "1 John 3:9: Absolute or Habitual?" Andrews University Seminary Studies 7 (1969):47-56.] It has since been given up by the three major critical commentaries published since Kubo’s article; namely, I. Howard Marshall (1978), Raymond E. Brown (1982); and Stephen S. Smalley (1984). It seems quite clear that the ’tense solution’ as applied to 1 John 1:9 is an idea whose time has come-and gone!" [Note: Hodges, The Epistles . . ., p. 144.]

The reason one born of God does not sin is he has been born of God. John could say the Christian is sinless because a sinless Parent has begotten the Christian. The Christian becomes a partaker of God’s divine sinless nature when he or she experiences the new birth. The Christian sins because he also has a sinful human nature. However in this verse John was looking only at the sinless nature of the indwelling Christ that we possess. Jesus told Nicodemus that people need to experience a second birth (John 3:5-7). Every Christian has been born twice, once physically and once spiritually. John was looking at the consequence of our second birth in 1 John 3:9.

"As a total person, we do sin and can never claim to be free of it, but our ’inward self’ that is regenerated does not sin. . . .

"Sin does exist in the Christian, but it is foreign and extraneous to his regenerated inner self, where Christ dwells in perfect holiness. Put into Johannine terms, since Christ is eternal life (1 John 5:20), the one who possesses that life cannot sin because he is born of God." [Note: Ibid., p. 141.]

Again, if we were able to abide in Christ without interruption, we would never sin (cf. 1 John 3:6). The sinless nature of Christ controls the abiding Christian whereas the sinful human nature controls the non-abiding Christian (cf. Romans 6:16).

"That is, sin is never the product of our abiding experience. It is never the act of the regenerate self per se. On the contrary, sin is the product of ignorance and blindness toward God [cf. 1 John 3:6 b].

"To view sin as intrinsically foreign to what we are as regenerate people in Christ is to take the first step toward spiritual victory over it." [Note: Idem, The Gospel . . ., pp. 60, 61.]

John was saying that when a Christian abides in God he will behave as his heavenly Father, and others will recognize that he is a child of God. [Note: See Harris, p. 221.]

"If someone says, ’A priest cannot commit fornication,’ one cannot deny that as a man he can commit it; but priests, functioning as priests, do not do those things. The Bible uses language in a similar way, ’A good tree cannot produce bad fruit’ (Matthew 7:18). Of course a good tree can produce bad fruit, but not as a result of what it really is, a good tree. Also Jesus said, men ’cannot’ fast while the bride groom is with them (Mark 2:19). They can fast, but to do so is incongruous and unnatural.

"Similar notions are found in Pauline thought. Paul says, ’I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me’ (Galatians 2:20). If a Christian sins, his sin cannot be expression [sic] of who he really is, because his true life is that of Christ in him [cf. Romans 7:20-25].

". . . when a Christian sins (and John believes he can and will, 1 John 2:1), in that act he is behaving like a child of Satan. Who he really is is not being made evident. To use Paul’s phrase, he is walking like a ’mere man’ (1 Corinthians 3:3)." [Note: Dillow, pp. 168, 169, 172.]

A different explanation and one that is commonly held, though it is inconsistent with both what John wrote earlier (1 John 1:6-10; 1 John 2:1) and with experience, is the following.

"Only the unconverted and the counterfeit will practice a self-seeking, self-asserting life of sin." [Note: Gleason L. Archer, An Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, p. 429.]

Note the chiastic structure of 1 John 3:9. 1 John 3:6; 1 John 3:9 also form an inclusio.

“A No one who abides in Him sins (6a)

B Everyone who sins . . . (1 John 3:6 b)

A The one who acts righteously (1 John 3:7)

B The one who commits sin (1 John 3:8)

A No one who is born of God sins (1 John 3:9).” [Note: Smalley, p. 171.]