The Epistle of 1 John – Part Sixteen

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

This is the sixteenth part of a series on the epistle of 1 John written by John the apostle. In this series we will cover the basic concerns John had for writing this letter to Christians. Included are the fourteen reasons he wrote these epistles of 1, 2 and 3 John as well as the eleven assurances we have that establish our salvation as a Christian.

 

1 John 5:9-10

“We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which He has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.”

 

In the scripture passage before this we see the testimony of Christ’s birth, His crucifixion on the cross and the witness of the Holy Spirit that testify that Jesus was God in the flesh and Savior for our sins. In the passage above John makes a point that we often believe what we hear from neighbors, family members, and friends but we need to trust and believe God’s testimony regarding His Son Jesus Christ more because His testimony is without error, corruption, distortion or fault. People can be misinformed and incorrect at times but God never is.

 

If we question God’s witness and testimony concerning His Son Jesus Christ, we in essence are calling Him a liar. We are accusing God of lying to us because we fail to believe the Truth God has placed before us in His Word, in the witness of those who have believed Him, in Creation that testifies to His existence and in the proof the Spirit lays before us as He witnesses to us. John tells us that if we believe Jesus is the Son of God that He died for our sins, was raised from the grave and that He continues to rule from Heaven then we have God’s testimony in us and we can be assured of our salvation.

 

1 John 5:11-13

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

 

The testimony that God presents is that God gives eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ.

 

Whoever has the Son, in other words, whoever accepts Him as Savior, believes in His deity as well as His humanness, loves God and others and obeys His commands has eternal life. On the other hand, whoever does not accept these tenets of the Christian faith and does not obey the commands of Christ as well as Holy Scripture does not have eternal life.

 

John is writing these words to the Christians in Asia Minor so that they can be firmly established in the knowledge that they are saved and have eternal life because of the testimony of their obedience to the Lord and love for others.

 

1 John 5:14-15

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him.”

 

John wishes to also communicate that because we as believers have eternal life through Christ we can have a godly confidence in approaching God in prayer.

 

In our prayers we can ask anything “ACCORDING TO HIS WILL” and God will hear us. We will also know that we will receive whatever we ask for that is in accordance with His will as well. While we may pray for many things and make numerous requests that would be according to “our will,” only those things that are accordance with God’s will will be granted. While we often know God’s will, we cannot always know accurately and completely the will of God. His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

 

1 John 5:16-17

“If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.”

 

While sin is sin in God’s eyes, John talks here in this passage about two types of sin, one that does not lead to death and one that does. The sin that does not lead to death is explained in verse 17. All wrongdoing is sin and this sin does not lead to death but can be forgiven through repentant prayer. This would be done at conversion when someone accepts Christ as Savior and Lord. It should also be done as well when a Christian is convicted they have sinned.

 

There is much debate about what John is discussing here in regards to the sin that leads to death. There are many theories as to what this sin is. I will share two of these more common possibilities.

 

Possibility 1: The sin that leads to death may be one of a non-Christian leading to eternal spiritual death. This would be their consistent and absolute rejection of Christ. This may be related to the sin committed by those who attributed Jesus’ miracles to the power of Satan in Matthew 12.

 

Matthew 12:22-32

“Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

 

When we attribute the works of God to demons and satanic powers we are blaspheming God and this is an unforgivable sin. When a person makes these false claims of God’s miracles and work, he is calling God not only a liar but is stating that God is evil. This is the ultimate rebellion and verifies that the person is unredeemable. This type of behavior and attitude could fall into the category of the “sin that leads to death.”

 

There are some individuals who hate God with a vengeance. They have anger towards Him and disdain all He represents. They degrade His character and His Word. They speak against Christians and even threaten them physically. They revel in their enjoyment of sin and have no intention of even considering the grace available to them in the gospel. Such people live in a state of “a sin that leads to death” because they have no inclination whatsoever of considering the salvation God offers. John is not discouraging Christians from praying for such individuals, but he is not encouraging them to do so either. Sometimes people who are so established in their sinful rebellion against God can only be left in the hands of the Lord because prayer for them would be hopeless. The point is, whether it is someone who is tenaciously hostile to God, or whether they are attributing godly works of the Holy Spirit to Satan, such individuals are beyond the efforts of human prayer. Again, John is not saying not to pray for such individuals, he is just saying that he is not instructing people to pray for them.

 

Possibility 2: The sin that leads to death may also be speaking of a believer in Christ who sins so great that God takes their life, such as in the case of Anaias and Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11). Paul also wrote about a similar situation in the church at Corinth where people were abusing the observance of the Lord’s Supper.

 

1 Corinthians 11:29-32

“For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”

 

So the “sin that leads to death” could be a sin of such strong rebellion that a non-believer has no hope of ever coming to God OR it could be that of a Christian who is in sinful disobedience so obvious and blatant that the Lord takes their life as a form of discipline. We can always pray for non-believers with the hopes that they will come to Christ and repent of their sin and we should always pray for each other as Christians. But there may be times when we need to let God deal with them as He chooses without our prayerful input.

 

A key word here in this passage of 1 John is “brother.” The great pastor and theologian John Stott feels that John is using this word in a broad sense, not just identifying Christian brothers but also non-believers. We are called to lay down our life and minister to the needs of all people, not just Christians, as is the example of Christ. Jesus also taught this broader application as well. Matthew 5:22-24; 7:3-5. James also implied this in James 5:19-20.

 

Stott also adds as an aside that verse 16 states to pray for this brother so that he might receive life, this infers that he is dead and a true Christian brother is never dead for he has received life in Christ. Therefore there are nonbelievers who commit sins not leading to death that can be prayed for with possible results of repentance and salvation and others who are so hardened and rebellious that prayers are very likely useless for they have established themselves in the sin that leads to death.

 

So we have learned that we should always respect God’s Word and His testimony for it is stable, true, consistent and reliable. We know we are saved because we believe in Jesus is God in the flesh and that He died for our sins and therefore there is eternal life in this faith and belief. We can be assured that God hears our prayers and can have confidence that whatever we ask that is in His will, will take place. We are also encouraged by John to pray for everyone, especially those who are in sin, whether they be our Christian brothers or non-believing friends or relatives. While John does not encourage us to pray for persistent rebellious ungodly people, I would say we should, and hope that God would work in their lives.