The book of 1 John is a battleground book regarding the issue of good works and sin. I remember in Bible college listening to a student debate with a professor about what 1 John teaches about whether or not a Christian can commit sin. Here is how the debate went (I am quoting this debate verbatim):
Student: No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God (1 John 3:9).
Professor: If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us (1 John 1:10).
Student: No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God (1 John 3:9).
Professor: If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us (1 John 1:10).
Student: No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God (1 John 3:9)
Professor: If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us (1 John 1:10)
Obviously, the professor (it was Dr. John Hart, by the way) then said something about how these verses cannot contradict, and so we would need to understand both in light of the other and the overall message of 1 John as a whole.
This is exactly right.
One of the keys to understanding the book of 1 John is to understand the word “abide” or “remain.”
“Abide” is the first word I look at in my Gospel Dictionary Online course and here is a brief summary of how a few of the texts from 1 John can be understood when we properly define the word “Abide.”
The word “Abide”
The word abide means to remain, continue, or to dwell. It can refer to living in a house or dwelling place, or to following the rules of a particular game or contest.
The Greek word for abide is menō (3531) and just like its English translation, menō means to abide, remain, stay, continue, or dwell. It does not mean “to have, own, or possess.”
1 John 2:6
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
The first use of the word abide is in 1 John 2:6. In speaking of our life as a follower of Jesus, John writes that the one “who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
John is stating the truth that if we are abiding, or remaining, in fellowship with Jesus, then we will follow Jesus wherever He leads so that we will live and love like Jesus. There is nothing here about how to know that you have eternal life, but there is much truth here about how to know whether or not you are truly following Jesus in discipleship.
So it is extremely inaccurate to translate this verse as we find it in the NIV: “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” The implication is that if you want to have eternal life in Jesus, you need to walk as Jesus did. But this verse is not about whether or not we eternal life, for that life is a free gift of God to anyone who simply believes in Jesus for it.
Instead, 1 John 2:6 is about how to follow Jesus in our earthly lives. John says that if we are following Jesus, our lives will look like Jesus. John is not saying that if we do not walk as Jesus did then this means we do not actually have eternal life. If we do not walk as Jesus did, then we cannot claim to be His follower, and therefore, we will not have fellowship with God or with one another.
1 John 2:17
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
A similar understanding can be drawn from 1 John 2:17.
Again, the NIV unhelpfully makes the reader think that doing the will of God is a requirement for eternal life (“the man who does the will of God lives forever”). But John is not writing about living forever, but about abiding forever.
If you want to remain in fellowship with God, then you must do what God says. You can be a member of the family of God without being in fellowship with God. Just as the Prodigal Son did not have fellowship with his father while he was in the far country (Luke 15:11-32) yet continued to be a son the entire time, so also, those who are children of God will stay a member of His family even when they stray into sin and rebellion, but they will not abide or remain in fellowship with God when they are away from Him.
John says that if we want to remain forever in fellowship with God, then we must do God’s will. John goes on to say that this is not only how we remain in fellowship with God, but also how we abide or remain in fellowship with each other (1 John 2:19).
1 John 3:14-15
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Astute readers may object to the explanation above that a few passages in 1 John do talk about eternal life. First John 3:14-15 is one of those.
Once again, however, the NIV translation is most unhelpful when it completely removes the word abide in its translation of 1 John 3:15. It reads “… you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.” From this verse, some people teach that a murderer can never be forgiven or go to heaven. John disagrees, as do Moses, King David, and the Apostle Paul (for they were all murderers).
John put the word abide in this statement for a reason and we must not take it out.
When a person murders, John says, it is because they were not abiding or remaining within the reality of eternal life, that is, in the reality of their life with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ would never lead one of His followers to hate or murder someone else.
So if a Christian lives in hate toward someone else (as frequently happens) or even ends up murdering someone (as occasionally happens), it is not because they are following Jesus, but because they have failed to follow Him. Jesus does not lead us toward hate and murder, but toward love and light.
That this is what John means is clearly indicated by the following context, especially in 1 John 3:17 where John writes that when the love of God abides in us and we are living in light of God’s love, we will help our brothers in need rather than hate them (Once again, the NIV unhelpfully deleted the word abide from 3:17).
John is not saying that if you hate your brother, you do not have eternal life. He is saying that if you hate your brother, you are not abiding in eternal life. In other words, when you hate others, it is not the eternal life you have from God that is leading you to do so, but is instead because you are following the principle of death which comes from this world.
So what about 1 John 3:9?
Well, it does contain the word “abide.” It talks about God’s seed “abiding” or “remaining” in the one who is born of God. Based on what you learned above, can you understand what John means? Feel free to offer your input in the comment section below, or join us in the Discipleship Area of RedeemingGod.com to learn more about this passage.
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