1 John 3:4-9, Like Father, Like Son

This passage is very important, but might seem a bit confusing at first.  Ch. 3:4-9 contains a doctrinal truth.  Ch. 3:10-18 contains the application of that truth in the matter of Jesus’ command to love one another.

I believe the passage is easier to understand if we keep the context., of course.  In 3:1-3 we just read that God has given us “sonship.”  In Creation fathers always beget sons who are like them.  Such is the case here.  In v2 we are assured that the day will come, when Christ is revealed, that it will be seen that we are like Him. 

How did God grant this “sonship?”  As v9 says, we have been “born of God.”  John is very literal about this Father/son relationship when he says “His seed remains in” the one who is born of God.  The Greek term for seed may sound familiar.  It’s “sperma.”  It is a spiritual seed, because being born again is a spiritual event.  But John it saying that the new birth brings about a new creation.  And that new “son” must bear the image of the “Father.” 

But what is John saying in between vs. 2 and 9?  He is not saying that a Christian never sins.  We already know that if we deny we have sin we are lying (1:5-10).  We should not sin but if we do we have an advocate (2:1-2).  Christ is at work cleansing us day by day so that our lives are changed (1:9).  John is saying two things here:

o   The new man, born of God, cannot sin.  There is no sin in God (v5); He is righteous (v7).  Therefore, that which He begets cannot sin.

o   The full realization of this in our lives awaits the time when Christ is revealed (v2).  So, in the meantime, having been born again, we are being purified just as He is pure (v3).

The result is that, in this life, the one who is born of God will grow in righteousness.  He will not remain in a life of consistent sin and lawlessness but will more and more practice righteousness. The present tense in words like “commit” and “practice” bears this out.  Whoever is committing or doing sin (v4) and whoever is sinning (v7) is of the devil.  But whoever is abiding in Him is not continuing to do sin (v4), is practicing righteousness (v7), and is not doing sin (v9). 

We are assured of this change because this is why Christ was manifested.  The purpose of the life, ministry and work (death, resurrection) of Christ was to take away our sin (v5), and in so doing, to destroy the works of the devil (v8). We are further assured of this change because God’s seed remains in us.  That “seed” is the life that God has imparted to us, and that life is Christ (1 John 1:1-2)!

We are children of God and not children of the devil.  Whatever struggle there might be in this life, we are assured that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him.