Attempt To Understand 1 John 3:9

[banjo71]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm new here and each time I read in 1 John I get flustered over it.

How do we join 1 John 1:8 & 10 and 1 John 4:15 and then 1 John 3:9? Because I can tell you I have sin in my life - some sin I don't know about until I realize it, and some I selfishly hold onto purposefully (I'm ashamed of these kinds BTW). So I agree with chapter 1:8 & 10. I also confess Jesus is the Christ, so I'm good on chapter 4:15.... but I get to 3:9 and I'm toast. How do we understand this one?

Ok, I hovered over 1 John 3:9, and read the explanation. What if I don't hate sin enough, and I have sinned on purpose so many times? Can I repent? Can I still turn to God? I feel so lost sometimes. I just want to repent and lay it all down at Jesus' feet right now, and I'm struggling with knowing I've played the hypocrite and deceived myself for so long.

 

[KingJ]

Hi there

Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Scripture is easier to understand when you consider yourself married to God after being saved / accepting Jesus as your Lord.

1 John 1:8 is just saying that if we are dead honest with ourselves we will grasp that we are sinners who need a Saviour. 'The truth is not in us' can also be read as Jesus in not in us. Jesus brings conviction of sin. But forgiveness and love at the same time. When we harden our hearts He can't work on them. This is when we would think we are not sinners.

1 John 4:15 Confessing Jesus is the Son of God / God is a phrase that requires close analysis!!! Scripture says that nobody can call Jesus, God unless they have received a revelation from God. That is an acid test for us Christians. 1 Cor 12:3 and Matt 16:16-17.

1 John 3:9 This verse talks to me of depth of intent. Think about it. When we get married we sink to a depth of intent in our hearts for our wife. Swearing at her (3/10), beating her (9/10) and cheating on her (9.9/10) are all against our nature / hearts intent. Likewise with God. When we first get saved / get a revelation of Jesus being the Son of God we need to reach a required depth of intent. It is now against our nature to live in sin. Not to say we won't sin...but if we do it is clearly a mistake and God knows that as He sees / remembers the depth of intent we sank too when we first got saved.

Ok, I hovered over 1 John 3:9, and read the explanation. What if I don't hate sin enough, and I have sinned on purpose so many times? Can I repent? Can I still turn to God? I feel so lost sometimes. I just want to repent and lay it all down at Jesus' feet right now, and I'm struggling with knowing I've played the hypocrite and deceived myself for so long.

If you are sincere you can repent 7x70 times a day and He will forgive you each time. We need to pay special attention to those sins we cannot repent sincerely of. Think about marriage and Jesus's advice on adultery in marriage. Jesus singles adultery out as the only grounds for divorce. See, our wives can do many bad things to us. They can even do it on a daily basis and have it annoy the living daylights out of us. But these lessor evils never take an argument to divorce status. The question is, what evils in a marriage take an argument to divorce status? As Jesus said only adultery. So how do we commit adultery on God? We need to gauge the level of inner rebellion needed for adultery. Continue in adultery / extremity of sin and we must be nervous with our wives of divorce and of us leaving God no choice but to hand us over to the devil. Rom 1:28-32 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become (look at how if a spouse commits adultery they have no problem with beating / swearing and all other evils) filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Note how Paul mentions it is people who know scripture and yet continue in such an evil manner that deserve death. As a Christian we are very accountable for our actions. We must judge ourselves daily in fear and trembling Phil 2:12. When we do this, we learn to better gauge levels of rebellion. We need to judge ourselves harshly so that God will not judge us 1 Cor 11:31.

Conclusion: When we Christians continue in an extremity of sin, we are playing with fire.

 

[Major]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm new here and each time I read in 1 John I get flustered over it.

How do we join 1 John 1:8 & 10 and 1 John 4:15 and then 1 John 3:9? Because I can tell you I have sin in my life - some sin I don't know about until I realize it, and some I selfishly hold onto purposefully (I'm ashamed of these kinds BTW). So I agree with chapter 1:8 & 10. I also confess Jesus is the Christ, so I'm good on chapter 4:15.... but I get to 3:9 and I'm toast. How do we understand this one?

Ok, I hovered over 1 John 3:9, and read the explanation. What if I don't hate sin enough, and I have sinned on purpose so many times? Can I repent? Can I still turn to God? I feel so lost sometimes. I just want to repent and lay it all down at Jesus' feet right now, and I'm struggling with knowing I've played the hypocrite and deceived myself for so long.

My friend.......John is NOT teaching sinless perfection. He is speaking here of habitual practice of known sinful acts. The true believer's actions will conform to the character of his true father, which is either Satan or God, The person born again of God will reflect this in his actions.

Nice to have you here and I hope to speak with you again.