“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.” (1 John 3:4-7 ESV)
In the first chapter of John’s epistle, he explicitly denies the doctrine of perfectionism. He says, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1:10). He knows that every believer will continue to struggle with sin in this life because sin is still present in our fallen, though regenerated, natures. We are free from the dominion of sin, but we will not be free from the presence of sin until we reach glory.
Even though we cannot achieve perfection, we should still strive for it. The fact that we cannot attain moral perfection does not mean that moral purity is not worth our time. It does not mean that we throw in the towel on holiness and give up our daily labor to reflect Christ.
As John says in this third chapter of his epistle, “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.” The phrase “keeps on sinning” must be understood in correlation with the “practice of sinning.” John is not referring to believers who continue to struggle with sin while the Holy Spirit carries out the work of progressive sanctification in us but to someone whose life is primarily characterized by sin.
He is directly contrasting those living in their sin with those who purify themselves as an outflow of their hope in Christ. In short, the believer “practices righteousness” and the unbeliever “practices lawlessness.” This is the great divide in humanity—those who are children of the Father and those who are children of the devil. Throughout his first epistle, John continually draws lines in the sand. He describes what God is and is not, how believers should behave and not behave, and what false teachers are and are not. These distinctions help us understand spiritual realities because we serve a God of moral binaries.
God did not leave us to follow his moral law in our own strength. He took on human flesh that we might be redeemed. John says, “[Christ] appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” The holiness of God’s people is not a mere side effect or byproduct of redemption; it is one of the explicit purposes for Christ’s coming. He took away the penalty of our sins through his perfect work of atonement, and he progressively takes away the sin in our lives as his Spirit works in us to conform us to himself.
Christ came to take away sins. That is the message the world needs to hear. We do not preach a gospel of moral reformation, as if our practice of righteousness is all that is necessary or all that God intended. Certainly not! Christ came to “redeem us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13), and as a result of that prior work in us, he commands, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
The people of God should never look like the world because the world does not know him, but we do. We are saved that we may glorify God and enjoy him forever, and a vital part of that is reflecting his righteousness by practicing it before the watching world. We cannot preach the gospel without words, and our conduct can never replace our message, but our conduct does communicate something significant. May the practice of our lives always reflect and honor Christ who came to take away our sins.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for sending Christ to cleanse us, and thank you for sending the Spirit to conform us to the image of your Son. Teach us to practice righteousness that all who see us might know we are children of God and abide in Christ.
For his sake, amen.
Prayer Requests:
- Tuesday: Pray for missionaries serving through curriculum and printing ministry in Papua New Guinea.
- Wednesday: Pray for missionaries in Togo serving through a well-drilling ministry.
- Thursday: Pray for missionaries working with Reaching Africa’s Unreached in Uganda.
- Friday: Pray for the staff and students at a Christian International School in North Africa.
- Saturday: Pray for the ministry of the Worthy of Life Prenatal and Family Counseling Center in Peru.
- Sunday: Pray for missionaries serving through camp ministry.
- Monday: Pray for missionaries serving in Mexico.
Featured Opportunity to Serve:
Healthcare Personnel
Location: Bangladesh
A variety of medical personnel, including physicians, surgeons, nurses, and physical therapists are urgently needed to serve at our partner hospital, Memorial Christian Hospital, in Bangladesh. Both short-term and long-term opportunities are available.
