1 John 3:9 - Explained
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.
The Bible uses the phrase born of God, which refers to someone who has been born again — a child of God, someone who has believed on Christ. And the Bible says if you have believed on Christ, if you have been born into God's family and received everlasting life, that person doth not commit sin. And it says he cannot sin because he is born of God.
Now, the wrong teaching that people will have when they look at this verse is: see, if you are truly saved, you will become a good person and make some changes in your life and become more godly. But the Bible does not say that you are going to make some changes. What it says is doth not commit sin. It does not say doth not commit much sin. It says you do not commit any sin. And it says he cannot sin — not that he cannot live ungodly, but that he cannot sin. The Bible is saying that you are going to be sinless. You are going to be perfect.
Of course, this leads to confusion when you think of characters like Paul the Apostle, who spoke about after being saved how he would be worldly sometimes and carnal, and the things he did not want to do he did and vice versa. So the question is, why would the Bible say that if you are a child of God you are going to be sinless? Because none of us are sinless. The Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin, and all of us think foolish thoughts or are prideful sometimes or bitter. None of us are perfect, even if we have made a lot of changes.
What the Bible is speaking about here is not the fact that you are physically perfect. The Bible is speaking about the fact that spiritually you are perfect. When you get saved, you get the new man. And the Bible speaks about this battle between the flesh and the spirit. Unfortunately God has to command us to walk in the spirit, because if we do not walk in the spirit we are going to fulfil the lusts and desires of the flesh. And unfortunately, in our free will, sometimes we choose to walk in the flesh and sometimes we choose to walk in the spirit. Nobody always walks in the spirit perfectly. All of us are sinners. Even Paul the Apostle speaks about that.
But what the Bible does show us here — which is actually a great proof of eternal security — is that when you get saved, it is impossible for you to commit sin in God's eyes. Why? When you get saved, you get imputed with the righteousness of Christ. And even though you are still a sinner in your flesh and in this life, and you will be judged for it, in God's eyes you are 100% perfect because spiritually you are perfect.
So when you die, you do not have to worry about whether you did enough good to go to heaven, because God looks at you as sinless. There is nothing to punish you for, because you are imputed with the righteousness of Christ even though you will remain a sinner until the day you die.
1 John 3:9 is therefore actually a great proof of eternal security — because it is impossible to sin in God's eyes after getting saved, you cannot lose your salvation.
Pastor Matthew Stucky
