By David Phillips
Walking in the Light
There is great assurance to be found in the words of 1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. From this verse, we understand that for the child of God who is walking in the light, the cleansing blood of Jesus works continually not only to cleanse one from past sin, but to cleanse us in an ongoing way, of sin that works its way into our lives, despite our efforts to walk in the light.
No question about it, there is no such thing as a sinless human being, not even one who has obeyed the gospel and become a child of God. No one lives without making mistakes. 1 John 1:10 makes this abundantly clear: If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
But then, when we get over to chapter 3, the story seems to change. In the King James translation, 1 John 3:9 says, 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. Is this literally true, that one who is born of God (born again, John 3:3,5) does not commit sin, cannot sin?
It turns out that in examining the verbs in the original Greek, the English rendering in the King James translation leaves a little bit to be desired. The English Standard Version makes 1 John 3:9 much clearer: No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
The matter of “not committing sin”, and of “not making a practice of sinning” are two different things. Same for one who “cannot sin” and one who “cannot keep on sinning”. Practicing sin and keeping on sinning, as in uninterruptedly, describe the old life, before being born again. One who is born again sins from time to time, but not as a normal practice. He sins, but sin is not a characteristic or descriptor of his daily life.
Walking in the light, 1 John 1:7, keeps one in constant contact with the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood, for ongoing cleansing, whenever sin occurs in our lives. One who has become a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17) by being born again, and continues walking in the light does not intentionally, purposefully or habitually sin because he is no longer a servant of sin but is now a servant of righteousness, Romans 6:17-18.
God bless.