I John 3

I John 3:4:
"Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Whoever practices sin is hamartia(i.e., is habitual in his sinning) also practices iniquity, anomian (lawlessness). Hamartha" means missing the mark; we are aiming in the right direction, but are faulty and careless. Anomia means against the law, anti-law. The unregenerate do not direct their lives at God's law word as their standard: their goal is the opposite direction. They are anti-law because they are anti-God. They hate God and therefore they hate his law. The godly man is not sinless, but his sinning is not based on a war against God and His law but is a failure morally to meet the standard he knows God requires of him. He aims at the mark, but he misses. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God (Westminster Shorter Catechism). Sin is disobedience to God and rebellion against Him and His law. Man's great dilemma is not his "human condition," but his sin. Sinful man usually wants to deflect attention away from his real dilemma. So he blames his ignorance, his finitude, and his environment. This is why political (and theological) liberals usually support gun control and prison systems. They believe that man's real problem is outside man, and if he can change his circumstances, he can solve all his problems. Man must be changed internally (his sin must be dealt with) if he expects to change his circumstances.

The Bible defines sin as transgression of the law (I John 3:4). Man is subject to certain desires which are essential to human nature. However, these desires are to be gratified in God's appointed ways. Adam failed to do this. Therefore, he fell and all his posterity fell in him. Temptation is outward allurement. It suggests to inward depravity the advantage of succumbing to the outward attraction. Thus, man's inward weakness is influenced to some object of natural desire. Without the restraint of the fear of God (Jer 32:40), a man will submit to fulfilling his inward evil desire. --WE Best; Christ Could Not be Tempted; 1986

JC Ryles Files

The plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Without it such doctrines as justification, conversion, sanctification, are “words and names” which convey no meaning to the mind. The first thing, therefore, that God does when He makes anyone a new creature in Christ, is to send light into his heart, and show him that he is a guilty sinner. The material creation in Genesis began with “light,” and so also does the spiritual creation. God “shines into our hearts” by the work of the Holy Ghost, and then spiritual life begins. (2 Cor. iv. 6.) - Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresies, and false doctrines of the present day. If a man does not realize the dangerous nature of his soul’s disease, you cannot wonder if he is content with false or imperfect remedies. I believe that one of the chief wants of the Church in the nineteenth century has been, and is, clearer, fuller teaching about sin. --JC Ryle; Holiness

Leslie F Church Files

"To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed, and restored to a holy rectitude of nature by the power of the Spirit of God. Such a one committeth not sin, his seed remaineth in him. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not an art, an acquired dexterity and skill, but a new nature. And thereupon the consequence is the regenerate person cannot sin. He cannot continue in the course and practice of sin. And the reason is because he is born of God. There is that light in his mind which shows him the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual disposition, that breaks the force and fullness of the sinful acts. It is not reckoned the person’s sin, in the gospel account, where the bent and frame of the mind and spirit are against it. The unregenerate person is morally unable for what is religiously good. The regenerate person is happily disabled for sin." (commenting on 1 John 3:4-10)
--Leslie F. Church, ed., Matthew Henry’s Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960)

Sabbath: Who Decides What Sin Is?
Because most people today leave God out of the picture, they take sin lightly. Mainstream Christianity teaches that "all we have to do is believe" and God will take care of the rest. This stems from not really knowing God or His purpose for us!
God created the entire universe—He set in motion, sustains, and controls every power, force and energy. He actively rules His creation. The laws that He set in motion, whether physical or spiritual, determine our well being—or lack of it.
What is sin? Scripture says, "Sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4). Whoever establishes the law is the only one who can then define what sin is. The Bible is clear that God Himself establishes law (Isaiah 33:22) and God only (James 4:12)! Thus, the laws God has set in motion cannot be undone except by Him.

I John 3:8:
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil

Christ was manifested to destroy the works of Satan. Since anyone who sins is of the devil and all men sin, it is a clear indication of the power the devil has over this world. If not for the coming of the Son of God, we would forever be in bondage to it.
The Greek word for “destroy” here used has the force of dissolving, demolishing, or breaking. In vs 5 John has given one reason for the manifestation of the Son of God; here he gives another reason. The two verses should be studied together. It is by making atonement for sin that Jesus destroys the works of the devil. The word “Destroy” occurs very frequently in the New Testament with the sense of undo, pull to pieces, destroy. The works of the devil are the sins which he causes men to commit: they are the opposite of the works of God (John 9:3). and the same as the works of darkness (Rom 13:12, Eph 5:11). The action of the man who makes sin his practice is in direct opposition to this purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God.
“The works of the devil” are still broader, however. They began with temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden (nullified by the new Adam in the wilderness temptation), and they continued through the fall, which brought in both sin and death (nullified by Christ on the cross). These and all subsequent works of the devil are destroyed, dissolved, broken up by Christ, in principle and power on the cross, and in fullness when the last enemy, death, is destroyed also.

Steve Gallagher Files

When a Christian rebels against God's kingdom by committing a willful act of sin, he is aligning himself with the enemy. The Apostle John said, "the one who practices sin is of the devil..." (I John 3:8). The primary point of this statement is, simply, that the person who habitually transgresses God;' law is in league with Satan--the great rebel himself. However, there is a secondary truth which can be drawn from this statement. As a person commits acts of sin he is opening himself up to a greater degree of influence by the enemy. Fo instance, if a Christian man enters a pornographic website, he has willfully made himself vulnerable to the devilish thoughts that will plague him for weeks to come. Once the man has "opened himself up" to pornography, devils have the "legal right " to continually attack and torment him with those pornographic images.
--Steve Gallagher; At The Idol of Sexual Idolatry

Rob Webb Files

Despite Satan’s head being victoriously crushed by Jesus Christ and ultimately destroying Satan’s work via the cross (1 John 3:8), our enemy remains determined in his hatred of the church. And since he knows the victory is certain and imminent, he’s looking to take casualties with him, prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). So, in his feeble attempt to prevent God’s kingdom from expanding (Matthew 6:10), Satan still deceives many to do his bidding and destroy our unborn neighbors, all under the pretense of “choice.”
-Rob Webb; Answers in Genesis; 5.6.22

He came to this earth to serve, not to be served. He came to be the Light of the world, and to shine upon our darkness. He came so that we, along with others, would rejoice at His coming as a gift to the world from the Father. The Bible even says that Jesus came to earth “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). He came as God’s gift to the world so that the punishment for all sins would be paid for, and the power of sin would be demolished. Anyone who places their trust in His perfect life, death, and resurrection will assuredly be saved (Acts 4:12) and be granted eternal life (Revelation 1:7, 11). This promise of eternal life is a gift that can’t be earned from our own efforts (Ephesians 2:8-9), but instead is given to us because God sincerely loves people and desires to save them (John 3:16). - Dakota Smith

I John 3:18:
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

I John 3:21: Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

James 4:17 and 1 John 3:21 tell us that if our conscience warns us that we are sinning then we are in sin. Surveys indicate that almost every Christian who practices masturbation and a majority of non-Christians feel guilty over their actions. Counselors try to convince individuals that masturbation is not sin since that is their opinion, but John 16:8 says the Holy Spirit convicts of sin. Is the Holy Spirit tell our consciouses that masturbation is sin?

I John 3:23:
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

John commands us to believe on the name of Jesus Christ. A man can be good in some sense without trusting in Jesus, but he cannot be righteous. He cannot be obedient to God if he does not believe in Jesus Christ. Belief in Jesus Christ is the foundation of a righteous life. Without faith in Christ a man is not righteous. By the way, this also means that a righteous man calls upon others to believe in Christ.