1 John 5

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. ¹⁸ We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. ¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. ²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Are all sins equal? Some say they are. Others say they are not. Perhaps, for instance, you have heard of the Roman Catholic idea of “mortal” and “venial” sins. Here is how The Catechism of the Catholic Church delineates these two concepts of sin:

THE GRAVITY OF SIN: MORTAL AND VENIAL SIN

1854 Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. The distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture, became part of the tradition of the Church. It is corroborated by human experience.

1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.

Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.

1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us – that is, charity – necessitates a new initiative of God’s mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:

When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor, such as homicide or adultery. . . . But when the sinner’s will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.

1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”…

1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.”

While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call “light”: if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession.[1]

Many Protestants have tended to reject such notions and to suggest that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. But is this so? And if it is not so, must we hold to some idea of mortal/venial sins? Or is possible to reject both the Roman Catholic concept of mortal/venial sin on the one hand and the idea that all sins are equal on the other?

In a sense, it is true that all sins are equal. All are disruptive and corrosive to our relationship with God. All condemn us before His holiness. None are within God’s will for His people. All sins do real damage. In another sense, however, the idea that all sins are equal in the exact same way does not, on the surface, withstand biblical scrutiny. In 1 Corinthians 6, for instance, Paul suggests that there is something quite unique about sexual sins.

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

So there seems to be a qualitative difference between some sins. What is more, Jesus spoke of an unpardonable sin in Matthew 12.

³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Whatever is meant by these two examples, it certainly calls us to at least nuance the simple statement, “All sins are equal.” Alongside these examples, we have John’s words in 1 John 5. John does reference “mortal” sin, sin that leads to death, but this does not mean that John had the concept of “mortal” sin as understood by Catholic theology, What, in fact, does John mean?

Sin leading to death…Sin not leading to death

Verses 16 and 17 of 1 John 5 are considered some of the more enigmatic and challenging verses of the Bible.

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

Let us first note that this sounds very similar to James’ words from James 5.

¹⁹ My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, ²⁰ let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

In both cases we have the idea of believers praying for or “bringing back” those who are in sin. But John introduces a distinction between “sins that do not lead to death” and “sin that leads to death.” Of the former, John says we should pray and ask God and “God will give him life.” Of the latter, John says, “I do not say that one should pray for that.” Then he makes an intriguing statement:

¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

In other words, there is a sense in which all sins are similar and another sense in which they are not. All sins are acts of rebellion but some acts of rebellion lead to death. We must recognize that John is clearly speaking of “death” here in a spiritual sense: eternal death.

But what are these sins that lead to death, these “mortal” sins and who does John say has committed them? Let us begin, first, by noting that whatever this means it seems to harmonize with Jesus’ own words about the unforgiveable sin from Matthew 12.

³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Jesus, too, says there is a sin that leads to death, there is a mortal sin, in other words. In Jesus’ words, this is “blasphemy against the Spirit” and it “will not be forgiven.” While much could be said about this, I believe there are indeed reasons to see this as the sin of calling Jesus demonic, of rejecting Christ with such finality that one attributes to Christ the works and character of Satan. It is, in other words, a heart that is hardened and bound and has no room for Christ Jesus. I would like further to suggest that John’s “sin that leads to death” is Jesus’ “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” I would like further to suggest that this is a sin that no true believer can commit.

Let us remember that, in context, John has been speaking throughout this entire letter about a group of false believers who have erroneous views about Jesus and sin and salvation and who have sought to undermine and wound the body of Christ. With this in mind, The IVP Bible Background Commentary suggests that “John is presumably saying” something like this:

God will forgive erring believers at your request, but those who have gone completely after the heresy are outside the sphere of your prayers or (on another interpretation) simply must directly repent to receive forgiveness.[2]

In the most general sense, then, we might say that believers are capable of committing sins that do not lead to death but no true believer can commit the sin that does lead to death. Furthermore, those who have rejected Christ are captive to the sin that does lead to death. For John, this was the sin of those against whom he was writing his letter.

Edward McDowell writes that John does not envision believers as possibly committing a sin that leads to death and concludes that “sin unto death” “was either the sin in which all unregenerate men live, or the sin of apostasy in which the gnostic false teachers (antichrists) lived.” McDowell goes on to argue that John must be speaking of these false teachers because:

            John would hardly discourage prayer for the unregenerate person, the ordinary, everyday sinner. But when we consider all he has said concerning the false teachers and the fact that he went so far as to label them antichrists, we need not wonder that he was of a mind that their sin was “sin unto death” and that prayer for them would be fruitless. It is to be observed that he does not command that prayer not be made for those who are guilty of “sin unto death.” He had made a very strong statement concerning the certainty that God answers the prayers of true believers. He guards against going on record as claiming that God would answer prayer for those guilty of “sin unto death.” He is confident, however, that if a brother prays for a brother who is not guilty of a mortal sin God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. Presumably the author means that in such case, the brother who is guilty of sin will be “revived,” as we say, and restored to life in the fellowship as an answer to prayer.[3]

John is speaking of those that Jesus was speaking of: those whose hearts were so hardened that they distorted the truth of Jesus into a lie and saw in the true and biblical vision of Christ a demonic image. These are indeed antichrists, men and women who have positioned themselves against Jesus and the gospel of Christ.

At this point I believe some of the ways that the church fathers viewed this might help us. I am simply going to list some of their opinions here.

St. Augustine:

I think that the sin of a brother is unto death when anyone who has attained a knowledge of God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ opposes the brotherhood and is aroused by the fires of envy against that very grace by which he was reconciled to God.

I another place I defined the sin of a brother unto death, but I should have added: “if he ends this life in a perversity of mind as wicked as this.” For surely we must not despair of anyone, no matter how wicked he is, while he lives, and we should pray with confidence for him of whom we should not despair.

Oecumenius:

Only those sins which are not repented of lead to death. Judas, for example, although he showed remorse, did not repent and was led off to his death. But whoever has given himself over to Christ cannot commit mortal sin, even though his nature remains unchanged and he still sins.

Bede:

But mortal sin can also be understood to mean sin which retains its force right up to the moment of death, and those who are born of God do not commit that kind of error. David, for example, confessed to having committed mortal sin, for how else can we regard such things as adultery and murder? But David was also born of God and because he belonged to that fellowship he did not sin up to his death, because when he repented he was regarded as worthy to receive forgiveness.[4]

These quotations are helpful and illuminating. It shows that while there was some disagreement among the fathers on what mortal sin was, there was at least an emphasis on the fact that hope is not utterly extinguished until death and mortal sins are those sins that those who should know better use against the name, the body, and the mission of Jesus Christ.

Believers: Not sinless, but not continuing in sin

We have seen earlier in 1 John that he does not deny that believers sometimes sin. What John does deny, however, is that one can be a follower of Jesus and remain peacefully in a position of sin.

¹⁸ We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. ¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

The key phrase here is “keep on sinning.” Christians do not “keep on sinning.” Why? Because the Holy Spirit gives them no peace? The person who is a child of God but attempts to avoid dealing with their sin will find himself or herself in the position of David in Psalm 32.

¹ Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah ⁵ I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

No, the child of God cannot live long in peace with his sins. He will be tormented from the inside out. He will know that he has chosen the path of death when he is beholden to the Lord of life. Furthermore, he does not keep on sinning because “God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” He is, in other words, free and no longer a slave to sin though sin continues to attempt to harass us all.

Not so “the world,” John says. It “lies in the power of the evil one.” The word “world” here appears to refer to the domain of darkness and those enslaved to it. This would be the “world” as Paul envisioned it in Ephesians 6.

¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

This is the “world” that John says “lies in the power of the evil one.” “[A]t one time you were darkness,” writes Paul in Ephesians 5:8, “but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

To “walk” as a child of light is to refuse to walk in darkness, to refuse to keep on sinning.

In Christ, in the truth

Furthermore, we are equipped to walk in the light because we (a) have understanding “so that we may known him who is true” and (b) are “in Christ.”

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

It is a beautiful way of putting it: “we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.” This image of being “in Christ” was used powerfully through repetition by Paul in Ephesians 1. Listen to how he employs this image.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Notice that Paul and John used the same image: those who have received the truth are in Christ and are therefore safe within Him. We simply must begin to think of our salvation in these terms: we are in Christ if we have been born again.

Those who are in Christ are safe.

Those who are in Christ do not keep on sinning.

Those who are in Christ cannot be touched by Satan.

Those who are in Christ will be saved.

Dear Church, walk in the light. Turn from the darkness. Live with the joy and peace and victory of Christ Jesus who has made this and all good things possible.

 

[1] https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a8.htm

[2] Craig Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p.745.

[3] Edward A. McDowell, “1-2-3 John.” The Broadman Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed., Clifton J. Allen. Vol. 12 (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1972), p.223.

[4] Gerald Bray, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Gen. Ed., Thomas C. Oden. New Testament, XI (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), p.227-228.