"Whosoever abideih in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him." (1 John 3:6)

Yesterday we considered a passage that often proves distressing to sincere Christians. Today we will look at three verses in John's first epistle that also disturb believers who are all too aware of their sinfulness. There is the verse already quoted at the top of the page. Then there is 1 John 3:9 : "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." And 1 John 5:18 : "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Taken as is, these verses might very well make any one of us question whether he is a true believer.

And yet other verses in this same letter recognize that the believer does sin, for example 1:8-10; 2:1b.

The problem is largely one of translation. In the original language of the New Testament, there is a difference between committing occasional acts of sin and practicing sin as a way of life. The Christian does commit acts of sin, but sin is not what characterizes his life. He has been freed from sin as his master.

The New International Version shows that the verbs in these verses are in what we might call the present continuous tense, as follows: "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him."(3:6). "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God" (3:9). "We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one does not touch him" (5:18).

Any Christian who says he does not sin has imperfect views of what sin is. He apparently doesn't realize that anything that falls short of God's perfect standard is sin. The fact is that we do commit acts of sin every day in thought, word and deed.

But John makes a distinction between what is exceptional and what is habitual. With the true saint, sin is alien and righteousness is characteristic.

When we see this, there is no need to torture ourselves with these verses that make us doubt our salvation. The simple facts are these: God's will is that we should not sin. Unfortunately we do sin. But sin is no longer the dominating power in our lives. We no longer practice sin as we did before we were saved. If we do sin, we find forgiveness through confessing and forsaking our sin.