Pastor Chris’ Corona Quarantine Epistles to the Flock of AIC Ngong Road, in Dispersion and Isolation. 83rd. Edition.
Dear People Belonging to God,
In today’s passage (1 John 3:4-7), we return to the theme of sin in those who claim to be in Christ. To understand why John keeps coming back to this theme, we need to first appreciate how destructive it can be. The teaching of the false teachers was basically that as long as a communed with God “in the spirit”, what one did in the body was immaterial (pun intended). John has taken the position right from the beginning, that sin is sin. There is no such thing as a pure spirit and a sinful body.
Disregard for the Law (v. 4). The first argument against sin is the law. Anyone who sins goes against the commands of God and becomes lawless. There is no way to justify the violation of God’s law, the purpose of which is to enable us to live at peace with the neighbor and with God. It is one thing to fall into sin. It is quite another, to defend sin. John wants it to be clear that defending sin equals defending lawlessness.
Desire of the Liberator (vv. 5,7). Jesus came to set us free from sin (take away our sins). The encounter with Jesus is demonstrated in conduct that is in tandem with the character of Jesus, “In Him, there is no sin,” so those who belong to him practice righteousness.
Dismissal of the Liar (v. 6). Likewise, it is a fallacy for one to claim that one knows him or is his while living in sin. The word translated “sin” here is in the Greek present tense, equivalent to our English present-continuous, implying more a habitual, rather than one time, deed. John is not saying that falling into sin makes one of the devils, else he would be contradicting what he said earlier (1:8-10; 2:1-2).
He is saying that those who practice sin – keep on sinning, have “neither seen Him nor known Him.” This is interesting, considering that the false teachers were telling people about “knowing” God in a special way.
This later developed into the lie of Gnosticism. But John is stating categorically that any claim that one knows God, while one wallows in sin, is pure rubbish (how can rubbish be pure? English! Strange language)
Your loving Pastor Chris.