Born of God

 “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” I John 3:9

“…to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Eph 4:22-24

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:8-9

In these two verses, John makes an interesting assertion that a Christian cannot sin while at the same time insisting that all Christians do at times sin and have God’s forgiveness when confessed. Many theologians have suggested that the word sin in I John 3:9 should be read as habitually sinning. In other words, a Christian does occasionally sin but does not habitually stay in sin. However, the original Greek text does not justify this rendering. The statements are absolute, a Christian will not sin.

What John is referring to here is the fact that, at salvation, each Believer is given a new nature (the “new self”). This new nature is not able to sin as it is created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. The new man we become is an absolutely perfect creation. Our new man’s perfection will only be realized in full in eternity because sometimes in this life we choose not to walk by the Spirit, given to us to empower us not to sin, and we gratify the desires of the flesh. Being burdened by a weak, fallen nature that is easily tempted to sin we will, even as Christians, occasionally stumble and that is where first John 1:9 comes in to play. However, all Christians have the power of the Holy Spirit in them to live a far more holy life that most of us choose to do and we reap the consequences of what sin sows in our life.

We should rejoice in the fact that we, as Christians, are new creatures (II Cor 5:17), born of God, destined to live a sinless life in eternity to come and an increasingly more holy life before eternity. Let us resolve to walk in the Spirit, putting on our new self and putting off our old self. Then we can fulfill our potential to “not sin” more and more as we grow in the Lord and become more like the new creatures God has destined us to be.