1 John 3:9

1Jn_3:9

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 usurper deposed and the conqueror vanquished

I.

The important doctrine here asserted. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.

1. This doctrine is implied in all the precepts of the law of God, whether they relate to evils prohibited or to duties enjoined.

2. This doctrine is implied in all the injunctions of the New Testament, which are expressly enjoined on those who profess the religion of Christ.

3. This doctrine is implied in all those Scriptures which speak of holiness as the privilege of the people of God, and as indispensable to all men.

4. This doctrine is, if possible, still more plain from a consideration of what the Scriptures say concerning those who live in the practice of sin.

II. The argument by which this doctrine is established. For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin: because he is born of God.

1. The practice of sin is contrary to the nature of the man who is born of God.

2. The practice of sin is contrary to the impulse of that Divine principle which is deposited in the heart of the man who is born of God.

From this subject we learn--

1. What is the nature of the true religion.

2. What is the unfailing conduct of all those who are truly religions.

3. What is the lamentable condition of all who live in the practice of sin. (W. Lupton.)

Sonship exclusive of sin

I. The change, or the work of grace in the sinner.

1. Born of God. (See Joh_1:12-13) As water cannot rise above its fountain, so can no change in man be better or greater than its cause. If it come from the flesh it must be like it, earthly and sinful. When it comes from the Spirit, then it must be like Him, spiritual, holy, and heavenly.

2. His seed remaineth in him. It is immaterial whether his seed be understood of God or of the believer. It is that seed which God has sown in his heart. It is Gods as the author of it. It is the believers as the subject of it. How is this figure calculated to supplement and illustrate the former one. First, the sinner is born of God by means of the truth. He is left no longer ignorant of sin, but is taught to know its vileness and evil consequences. He is no longer ignorant of himself, but has been enlightened to see the depravity of his heart. Second, it is in the same way the life of faith and holiness thus begun is maintained in him. The idea is specially noticed in the text, His seed remaineth in Him. It is in its own nature imperishable. The truth ever abides the same. The believer ever sees sin as he saw it at the first, vile and ruinous. He ever sees himself as he did at the beginning, exposed to ruin if he indulges it. He ever sees the Saviour as gracious and glorious as He appeared at the first. His claims do not diminish in his view, nor does he ever find reason to change his conclusions respecting this world and the next, time and eternity.

II. The effects that are declared to result from it. He doth not commit sin, and he cannot sin. As two figures were used to describe the change, so are there two assertions to declare the results. The one is the assertion of a fact, and the other is an argument to explain and confirm it.

1. The fact--He doth not commit sin. Let it be observed this is said of every converted man. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. He does not sin knowingly, wilfully, and habitually. We say of a man versed in literature, he is learned, although he is ignorant of many things. In like manner we speak of men, and say they are strong, although in some respects they may be weak. We judge of them by that which is prominent and paramount in them.

2. The second expression, explanatory and confirmatory of this fact, is still stronger, He cannot sin, because tie is born of God. To live in sin is contrary to the new nature of which he has been made a partaker. The nature cannot and does not sin. Had he no other nature he would never sin. And there are many reasons why he cannot.

(1) It is contrary to his views. He sees sin to be the greatest of all evils, and holiness to be the highest of all good.

(2) It is contrary to his tastes; he dislikes sin and he loves holiness.

(3) It is contrary to his most determined purposes. The language of David is not strange to him (Psa_17:3). It were unreasonable to suppose such a man could live in sin.

(4) It is contrary to his habits. He has served God and found His service to be liberty.

(5) It is contrary to his interests. He knows that godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to conic. He is not the fool to sin against his own soul. (J. Morgan, D. D.)

Sins of the regenerate

Various expositions are given of this.

1. He ought not to sire Cannot indeed is sometimes taken for ought not (Act_4:20). But this is not the meaning of cannot here, ought not; for an unrenewed man ought not to sin any more than a regenerate man. But the apostle attributes here something peculiar to the regenerate, addling the reason, because he is born of God.

2. He cannot sin so easily. He may sin easily in respect of the frailty of the flesh, but not so easily in regard of the abiding of the seed in him, which helps him to bewarere of sin. Grace being a Divine habit, hath the nature of a habit, which is to incline the person to acts proper to that habit, and facilitate those acts, as a man that hath the habit of an art or trade can with more ease work in it than any other.

3. He cannot sin, as he is regenerate. A gracious man, as a gracious man, cannot sin; for grace, being a good habit, is not capable of producing acts contrary to its nature. Sin in a regenerate man proceeds not from his grace, but from his corruption.

4. He cannot sin as long as he is regenerate, as long as the seed remains in him, as long as he follows the motions of the Spirit rod grace, which are able to overcome the motions of concupiscence, but he may give up the grace: as an impregnable tower cannot be taken as long as it is defended by those within, but they may fling away their arms and deliver it up.

Sin may be considered in two ways, viz., as to--

1. The act of sin. Thus a believer sins.

2. The habit of sin, or custom in it, when a man runs to sin freely, willingly, and is not displeased with it.

Thus a believer does not commit sin. Being Gods son, he cannot be sins servant; he cannot sin in such a manner and so absolutely as one of the devils children, one born of the devil. Doctrine: There is a mighty difference between the sinning of a regenerate and a natural man. A regenerate man doth not, neither can, commit sin in the same manner as an unregenerate man doth. The sense of this cannot I shall lay down in several propositions.

1. It is not meant exclusively of lesser sins, or sins of infirmity.

2. A regenerate man cannot live in the customary practice of any known sin, either of omission or commission.

(1) Not in a constant omission of known duties.

(2) Not in a customary commission of any known sin.

I shall confirm this by some reasons, because upon this proposition depend all the following.

1. Regeneration gives not a man a dispensation from the law of God.

2. It is not for the honour of God to suffer a custom and course of sin in a renewed man.

3. It is against the nature of the covenant. In the covenant we are to take God for our God, i.e., for our chief good and last end.

4. It is against the nature of our first repentance and conversion to God. True repentance is a breaking off iniquity by righteousness (Dan_4:27).

5. It is against the nature of habitual grace, which is the principle and form of our regeneration.

6. A regenerate man cannot have a fixed resolution to walk in such a way of sin, were the impediments to it removed.

7. A regenerate man cannot walk in a way doubtful to him, without inquiries whether it be a way of sin or a way of duty, and without admitting of reproofs and admonitions, according to his circumstances.

8. A regenerate man cannot have a settled, deliberate love to any one act of sin, though he may fall into it.

9. A regenerate man cannot commit any sin with a full consent and bent of will. (S. Charnock.)

The sins of the regenerate

The apostle having exhorted the saints to whom he writes in the former chapter to abide in Christ and to do righteousness (verses 28, 29), follows on this exhortation with several arguments that a true Christian is not only bound to do so, but that he indeed doth so.

1. From that hope which hath eternal happiness for its object (1Jn_3:2-3). Where this hope is truly founded it will inflame us with a desire after holiness.

2. From the contrariety of sin to the law of God. A Christian who is guided by this law will not transgress it.

3. From the end of Christs coming, which was to take away sin (1Jn_3:5).

4. From the communion they have with Christ; abiding in Him.

5. From the first author of sin, the devil; he that sins hath a communion with the devil (1Jn_3:8), as he that doth righteousness hath a communion with Christ.

6. From the new nature of a Christian, which hinders him from sin (1Jn_3:9). (Bp. Hackett.)

Cannot sin

He cannot sin any more than a good mother can kill her child. She might be able in a thousand ways to kill the child, but her heart would forbid it and make the impossibility absolute. (J. B. Figgis, M. A.)

Cannot sin

The ideas of Divine sonship and sin are mutually exclusive. As long as the relationship with God is real, sinful acts are but accidents; they do not touch the essence of the mans being. The impossibility of sinning in such a case lies in the moral nature of things. (Bp. Westcott.)

Cannot

Some of you are men in business. I go into your shop or warehouse, and I ask you the price of a certain article. You say it is so much. I offer you one half or two thirds of what you have said is the price. You say, I cannot take it. Now, why cannot you take what I offer you? It is not the want of freedom in your will to decide on accepting my proposal; nor is it the want of physical power in your arm to accept my offer. You have both the one and the other, and yet you repeat your former statement, I cannot take it; and you speak truly. You cannot take it, because it would be unjust, because it would tend to bring ruin on your business, and to reduce yourself and family to beggary. You cannot take it consistent with your safety and happiness. Just so he that is born of God cannot commit sin consistent with his well-being. It would be rebellion against God, and would bring injury, if not ruin, upon his soul. (J. Seymour.)

The failings of Christians

With true insight into the case, quaint Thomas Fuller alleges that the failings of Christians be rather in the branches and leaves than in the roots of their performances.

Sin natural to the regenerate nature

It would, says Thomas Manton, be monstrous for the eggs of one creature to bring forth a brood of another kind, for a crow or a kite to come from the egg of a hen. It is as unnatural a production for a new creature to sin. Each creature brings forth after its own kind. Out of a doves nest we expect only doves to fly. The heavenly life breeds birds of paradise, such as holy thoughts, desires, and acts; and it cannot bring forth such unclean birds as lust, and envy, and malice. The life of God infused in regeneration is as pure as the Lord by whom it was begotten, and can never be otherwise. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:9-10 To live righteously means to live in a right relationship with God. (This is in contrast to the false teachers, who held that life in the spirit could not be contaminated by any behavior in a physical body.) This does not mean that we live perfect lives (1:8), but that we keep ourselves in a good relationship with God (1:9).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Jn 3:9. Ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ, doth not commit sin) The sentiment is immediately increased in weight: and he cannot sin. To each proposition its own because is added: to the one, in respect to the seed, or the regenerate man; to the other, on the part of God Himself.—σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει, his seed remaineth in him) In him who is born of God, there remaineth the seed of God, that is, the word, with its peculiar efficacy, 1Pe 1:23; Jas 1:18; although sin often endeavours, by a furious attack, to overthrow the regenerate. Or rather, it may be taken in this sense: the seed of God, that is, he who is born of God, abideth in God. Σπέρμα, born. Such persons are truly זרע אלהים, the seed of God, Mal 2:15.—οὐ δύναται, he cannot) The possibility of his sinning is not absolutely denied; but this is affirmed, that the new birth and sin cannot exist together. Thus, how can he, Act 4:20, compared with Rev 2:2; Act 4:20. The matter is, as in the case of an abstemious man, who cannot drink wine, and in various kinds of antipathy (i.e. natural aversion). Gataker has made this elegant paraphrase: The regenerate man does not sin: he proposes to himself, as far as possible, a life free from sin; nor does he ever spontaneously give himself up to sin. And if at any time, contrary to the purpose of his mind, he shall have offended, he neither rushes headlong into sin, nor does he continue in it; but having acknowledged his error, he immediately returns in haste to his former course as soon as, and as far as, he is able.—Posth., ch. 33; where he adds the similitude of the magnetic needle, which always points to the pole, is easily turned aside from this direction, but always reseeks the pole.—ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται, is born of God) The former words, of God, have greater emphasis in the pronunciation; and this being observed, it is plain that the same thing is not proved by the same, the beginning of the verse being compared with the words here at the end of it.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn_3:9. Antithesis of the preceding verse; yet what was there the subject is herein its oppositethe predicate, and what was there the predicate is here the subject.

πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ] Antithesis to him who is ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου (1Jn_3:8); by πᾶς the general signification of the clause is indicated (Braune); ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ] is used in the same sense as οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει, 1Jn_3:6. To be born of God and to commit sin are mutually exclusive contraries; for ὁ Θεὸς φῶς ἐστι, καὶ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεμία, chap. 1Jn_1:5; comp. also chap. 1Jn_2:29; the child is of the same nature with him of whom he is born. For confirmation of the thought, John adds: ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει. Both the deeper context and the expression itself are opposed to the interpretation of these words, according to which σπέρμα is explained = τέκνον, and ἐν αὐτῷ = ἐν Θεῷ (Bengel, Lauge, Sander, Steinhofer); for if the apostle meant to say that a child of God remains in God, he would certainly not have exchanged the word τέκνον, which so naturally would suggest itself just here, for another word, unusual in this sense. By σπέρμα Θεοῦ is rather to be understood the divine element of which the new man is produced[212] (comp. Gospel of Joh_1:13), and which, as the essence of his being, keeps him from sin. According to many commentators (Clemens Al., Augustin, Bede, Luther I.,[213] Spener, Grotius, Besser, Weiss, Ewald, etc.), this is the word of God, in favour of which appeal is made not only to the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), but also to 1Pe_1:23 and Jam_1:18. But that parable can here so much the less be adduced, as in it the reference is to the seed of plants; but here, as the allusion to the idea γεγεννημένος shows, the comparison is made to the seed of human birth, as in Joh_1:13 (Neander); and in the two other passages the word is not represented so much as the seed, but as the means of producing the new life.[214] It is scarcely to be doubted that the apostle was here thinking of the Holy Spirit; the only question is whether he means the Spirit Himself, the ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ἍΓΙΟΝ in His divine personality (so Beza: sic vocatur Spiritus sanctus, quod ejus virtute tanquam ex semine quodam novi homines efficiamur; Düsterdieck, and Myrberg; also, perhaps, Lücke and de Wette), or the Spirit infused by Him into the heart of man, the germ of life communicated to his nature (Hornejus: nativitatis novae indoles; Semler: nova quaedam et sanctior natura; so also Ebrard, Braune, and others). The figurative expression is more in favour of the second view than of the first, only this germ of life must not, on the one hand, be regarded as something separate from the Holy Spirit Himself,[215] nor, on the other hand, as love (a Lapide, Lorinus), for this is the life which has proceeded from the σπέρμα, but not the ΣΠΈΡΜΑ itself.

The thought that he who is born of God does not commit sin is still further emphasized by the words ΚΑῚ Οὐ ΔΎΝΑΤΑΙ ἉΜΑΡΤΆΝΕΙΝ, whereby, of course, not the physical, but no doubt the moral impossibility of sinning is described; both ideas, ἉΜΑΡΤΆΝΕΙΝ as well as Οὐ ΔΎΝΑΤΑΙ, are to be retained in their proper meaning, and not to be arbitrarily perverted; ἉΜΑΡΤΆΝΕΙΝ must here, just as little as in 1Jn_3:6, be restricted to mortal sins (a Lapide, Gagnejus), or to sinning in the way in which they who are of the devil sin (Besser), or to sinning knowingly and wilfully (Ebrard), or even merely to the violatio charitatis (Augustin, Bede); but just as little is the pointedness and definiteness of Οὐ ΔΎΝΑΤΑΙ to be weakened and to be explained = aegre, difficulter potest, or similarly,[216] for the apostle here wants to bring out the absolute antagonism which exists in general between being born of God and committing sin (so also Braune); comp. on 1Jn_3:6. With regard to the question as to the relationship of the thought expressed here to Heb_6:4 ff., comp. the remark on chap. 1Jn_2:19.

As in the case of the first thought of this verse, so here to this second one a confirmatory clause is added, namely: ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ΓΕΓΈΝΝΗΤΑΙ; it is true, the idea of the subject seems to be here repeated (similarly Joh_3:31 : Ὃ ὪΝ ἘΚ Τῆς Γῆς, ἘΚ Τῆς Γῆς ἘΣΤΙ), but here ἘΚ ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ is put first, whereas in the subject it follows ΓΕΓΕΝΝΗΜΈΝΟς, by which that idea is strongly accentuated; Bengel: priora verba: ex Deo, majorem habent in pronunciando accentum, quod ubi observatur, patet, non idem per idem probari, collato initio verso. The sense therefore is: Because he is born of God (comp. chap. 1Jn_1:5), he who is born of God, i.e. the believer, cannot sin.

[212] Frommann (p. 170) incorrectly interprets σπέρμα of the divine light originally dwelling in man, by which he is distinguished from the rest of creation; for the subject here is not men as such, but the τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ.

[213] In his 2d edition Luther says: He calls the cause of our change a seed, not a full car of corn, but what is cast into the ground, and must first die there; from thence there now results true repentance, so that it is accordingly said: he cannot sin.

[214] Weiss appeals to chap. 1Jn_2:14; but from the fact that John there says: ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν μένει, it does not follow that σπέρμα is here = ὁ λόγος τ. Θ.; so much the less as there is no reference there to being born of God. It is more appropriate in connection with σπέρμα to refer to chap. 1Jn_2:27.

[215] Brückner inversely first interprets σπέρμα as the πνιῦμα τ. Θ., but then adds: and, indeed, in this way, that the principle of life which operates on man is at the same time regarded as the germ of life planted in man.

[216] Grotius explains: res de qua agitur aliena est ab ejusmodi ingenio; Paulus: not absolutely impossible, but: his whole spirituality and habit (!) are opposed to it.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn 3:9 . The Reason of the Impossibility of a Child of God continuing in Sin. The germ of the divine life has been implanted in our souls, and it grows a gradual process and subject to occasional retardations, yet sure, attaining at length to full fruition. The believer’s lapses into sin are like the mischances of the weather which hinder the seed’s growth. The growth of a living seed may be checked temporarily; if there be no growth, there is no life. This is the distinction between ἐάν τις ἁμάρτῃ and ὁ ἁμαρτάνων . Alexander in Speaker’s Comm. understands: “His seed,” i.e. , whosoever is born of God ( cf. Isa 53:10 ; Isa 66:22 ), “abideth in Him,” i.e. , in God. This is Pauline but not Johannine. “He cannot keep sinning,” as the seed cannot cease growing.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The holy Ghost is so called of the effect he worketh, because by his virtue and mighty working, as it were by seed, we are made new men.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Whosoever is born of God--literally, "Everyone that is begotten of God."

doth not commit sin--His higher nature, as one born or begotten of God, doth not sin. To be begotten of God and to sin, are states mutually excluding one another. In so far as one sins, he makes it doubtful whether he be born of God.

his seed--the living word of God, made by the Holy Spirit the seed in us of a new life and the continual mean of sanctification.

remaineth--abideth in him (compare Note, see on Jo1 3:6; Joh 5:38). This does not contradict Jo1 1:8-9; the regenerate show the utter incompatibility of sin with regeneration, by cleansing away every sin into which they may be betrayed by the old nature, at once in the blood of Christ.

cannot sin, because he is born of God--"because it is of God that he is born" (so the Greek order, as compared with the order of the same words in the beginning of the verse); not "because he was born of God" (the Greek is perfect tense, which is present in meaning, not aorist); it is not said, Because a man was once for all born of God he never afterwards can sin; but, Because he is born of God, the seed abiding now in Him, he cannot sin; so long as it energetically abides, sin can have no place. Compare Gen 39:9, Joseph, "How CAN I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" The principle within me is at utter variance with it. The regenerate life is incompatible with sin, and gives the believer a hatred for sin in every shape, and an unceasing desire to resist it. "The child of God in this conflict receives indeed wounds daily, but never throws away his arms or makes peace with his deadly foe" [LUTHER]. The exceptional sins into which the regenerate are surprised, are owing to the new life principle being for a time suffered to lie dormant, and to the sword of the Spirit not being drawn instantly. Sin is ever active, but no longer reigns. The normal direction of the believer's energies is against sin; the law of God after the inward man is the ruling principle of his true self though the old nature, not yet fully deadened, rebels and sins. Contrast Jo1 5:18 with Joh 8:34; compare Psa 18:22-23; Psa 32:2-3; Psa 119:113, Psa 119:176. The magnetic needle, the nature of which is always to point to the pole, is easily turned aside, but always reseeks the pole.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Whosoever is born of God] γεγεννημενος, Begotten of God, doth not commit sin: "that is," say some, "as he used to do, he does not sin habitually as he formerly did." This is bringing the influence and privileges of the heavenly birth very low indeed. We have the most indubitable evidence that many of the heathen philosophers had acquired, by mental discipline and cultivation, an entire ascendency over all their wonted vicious habits. Perhaps my reader will recollect the story of the physiognomist, who, coming into the place where Socrates was delivering a lecture, his pupils, wishing to put the principles of the man's science to proof, desired him to examine the face of their master, and say what his moral character was. After a full contemplation of the philosopher's visage, he pronounced him "the most gluttonous, drunken, brutal, and libidinous old man that he had ever met." As the character of Socrates was the reverse of all this, his disciples began to insult the physiognomist. Socrates interfered, and said, "The principles of his science may he very correct, for such I was, but I have conquered it by my philosophy." O ye Christian divines! ye real or pretended Gospel ministers! will ye allow the influence of the grace of Christ a sway not even so extensive as that of the philosophy of a heathen who never heard of the true God?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He says that they sin not who are born of God. Now, we must consider, whether God wholly regenerates us at once, or whether the remains of the old man continue in us until death. If regeneration is not as yet full and complete, it does not exempt us from the bondage of sin except in proportion to its own extent. It hence appears that it cannot be but that the children of God are not free from sins, and that they daily sin, that is, as far as they have still some remnants of their old nature. Nevertheless, what the Apostle contends for stands unalterable, that the design of regeneration is to destroy sin, and that all who are born of God lead a righteous and a holy life, because the Spirit of God restrains the lusting of sin.

The Apostle means the same thing by the seed of God; for God’s Spirit so forms the hearts of the godly for holy affections, that the flesh and its lusts do not prevail, but being subdued and put as it were under a yoke, they are checked and restrained. In short, the Apostle ascribes to the Spirit the sovereignty in the elect, who by his power represses sin and suffers it not to rule and reign.

And he cannot sin Here the Apostle ascends higher, for he plainly declares that the hearts of the godly are so effectually governed by the Spirit of God, that through an inflexible disposition they follow his guidance. This is indeed far removed from the doctrine of the Papists. The Sorbons, it is true, confess that the will of man, unless assisted by God’s Spirit, cannot desire what is right; but they imagine such a motion of the Spirit as leaves to us the free choice of good and evil. Hence they draw forth merits, because we willingly obey the influence of the Spirit, which it is in our power to resist. In short, they desire the grace of the Spirit to be only this, that we are thereby enabled to choose right if we will. John speaks here far otherwise; for he not only shews that we cannot sin, but also that the power of the Spirit is so effectual, that it necessarily retains us in continual obedience to righteousness. Nor is this the only passage of Scripture which teaches us that the will is so formed that it cannot be otherwise than right. For God testifies that he gives a new heart to his children, and promises to do this, that they may walk in his commandments. Besides, John not only shews how efficaciously God works once in man, but plainly declares that the Spirit continues his grace in us to the last, so that inflexible perseverance is added to newness of life. Let us not, then, imagine with the Sophists that it is some neutral movement, which leaves men free either to follow or to reject; but let us know that our own hearts are so ruled by God’s Spirit, that they constantly cleave to righteousness.

Moreover; what the Sophists absurdly object, may be easily refuted: they say that thus the will is taken away from man; but they say so falsely: for the will is a natural power; but, as nature is corrupted, it has only depraved inclinations. It is hence necessary that the Spirit of God should renew it, in order that it may begin to be good. And, then, as men would immediately fall away from what is good, it is necessary that the same Spirit should carry on what he has begun, to the end.

As to merit, the answer is obvious, for it cannot be deemed strange that men merit nothing; and yet good works, which flow from the grace of the Spirit, do not cease to be so deemed, because they are voluntary. They have also a reward, for they are by grace ascribed to men as though they were their own.

But here a question arises, Whether the fear and love of God can be extinguished in any one who has been regenerated by the Spirit of God? for that this cannot be, seems to be the import of the Apostle’s words. They who think otherwise refer to the example of David, who for a time labored under such a beastly stupor, that not a spark of grace appeared in him. Moreover, in the fifty-first Psalm, he prays for the restoration of the Spirit. It hence follows that he was deprived of him. I, however, doubt not but that the seed, communicated when God regenerates his elect, as it is incorruptible, retains its virtue perpetually. I, indeed, grant that it may sometimes be stifled, as in the case of David; but still, when all religion seemed to be extinct in him, a live coal was hid under the ashes. Satan, indeed, labors to root out whatever is from God in the elect; but when the utmost is permitted to him, there ever remains a hidden root, which afterwards springs up. But John does not speak of one act, as they say, but of the continued course of life.

Some fanatics dream of something I know not what, that is, of an eternal seed in the elect, which they always bring from their mother’s womb; but for this purpose they very outrageously pervert the words of John; for he does not speak of eternal election, but begins with regeneration.

There are also those who are doubly frantic, who hold, under this pretense, that, everything is lawful to the faithful, that is, because John says that they cannot sin. They then maintain that we may follow indiscriminately whatever our inclinations may lead us to. Thus they take the liberty to commit adultery, to steal, and to murder, because there can be no sin where God’s Spirit reigns. But far otherwise is the meaning of the Apostle; for he denies that the faithful sin for this reason, because God has engraven his law on their hearts, according to what the Prophet says (Jeremiah 31:33.)

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

9. This is the opposite of 1Jn_3:8, as 1Jn_3:8 of 1Jn_3:7; but, as usual, not the plain opposite, but something deduced from it, is stated.

Whosoever is born of God] Or, Every one that (see on 1Jn_3:6) is begotten of God. Note the perfect tense; ‘every one that has been made and that remains a child of God’. The expression is very frequent throughout the Epistle (1Jn_2:29, 1Jn_4:7, 1Jn_5:1; 1Jn_5:4; 1Jn_5:18) and the rendering should be uniform; all the more so, because the phrase is characteristic. The A. V. wavers between ‘born’ and ‘begotten’, even in the same verse (1Jn_5:1; 1Jn_5:18). The R. V. rightly prefers ‘begotten’ throughout: ‘born’ throughout is impossible, for in 1Jn_5:1 we have the active, ‘begat’. The expression ‘to be begotten of God’ is found only in S. John; once in the Gospel (Joh_1:13) and eight or nine times in the Epistle: comp. Joh_3:3; Joh_3:5-8.

doth not commit sin] Better, as R. V., doeth no sin (see on 1Jn_3:4): the opposition between ‘doing sin’ and ‘doing righteousness’ must be carefully marked. This strong statement is exactly parallel to 1Jn_3:6 and is to be understood in a similar sense. It is literally true of the Divine nature imparted to the believer. That does not sin and cannot sin. A child of the God who is Light can have nothing to do with sin which is darkness: the two are morally incompatible.

for his seed remaineth in him] Better, as R. V., because his seed abideth in him: see on 1Jn_2:24. This may mean either (1) ‘His seed’, the new birth given by God, ‘abideth in him’; or (2) ‘his seed’, the new birth received by him, ‘abideth in him’; or (3) ‘His seed’, God’s child, ‘abideth in Him’. The first is probably right. The third is possible, but improbable: ‘seed’ is sometimes used for ‘child’ or ‘descendant’; but would not S. John have written ‘child’ as in 1Jn_3:1-2; 1Jn_3:10, 1Jn_5:2? To resort to the parable of the sower for an explanation, and to interpret ‘seed’ as ‘the word of God’ is scarcely legitimate. The whole analogy refers to human generation, not to the germination of plants; but comp. 1Pe_1:23. Joh_3:5-8 would lead us to interpret seed as meaning the Holy Spirit.

he cannot sin] It is a moral impossibility for a child of God to sin. It is because of the imperfection of our sonship that sin is possible, an imperfection to be remedied and gradually reduced by the blood of Jesus (1Jn_1:7) and self-purification (1Jn_3:3). ‘Cannot’ of what is morally impossible is frequent in S. John’s Gospel (Joh_5:30, Joh_6:44; Joh_6:65, Joh_7:7, Joh_8:43, Joh_12:39, Joh_14:17); comp. 1Jn_4:20.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whosoever is born of God,.... In a figurative and spiritual sense; who are regenerated, or born from above; who are quickened by the grace of God, and have Christ formed in them; who are made partakers of the divine nature, and new creatures in Christ; which spiritual birth is not owing to men, to the power and will of men, but to the grace of God; and is sometimes ascribed to the Father, who of his own will and abundant mercy begets souls again to a lively hope, and saves them by the washing of regeneration; and sometimes to Christ, who quickens whom he will, whose grace is implanted, and image stamped in it, and by whose resurrection from the dead men are begotten again; and chiefly, to the Spirit of God, who is the author of regeneration, and of the whole of sanctification: and such as are born of him are alive through him, the spirit of life entering into them, and live to God and upon Christ, and breathe after divine and spiritual things, and have their senses to discern them; they see, hear, feel, taste, and savour them; and desire the sincere milk of the word, for their nourishment and growth; and have every grace implanted in them, as faith, hope, and love: and of every such an one it is said, he

doth not commit sin; does not make it his trade and business; it is not the constant course of his life; he does not live and walk in sin, or give up himself to it; he is not without the being of it in him, or free from acts of sin in his life and conversation, but he does not so commit it as to be the servant of it, a slave unto it, or to continue in it; and that for this reason:

for his seed remaineth in him; not the word of God, or the Gospel, though that is a seed which is sown by the ministers of it, and blessed by God, and by which he regenerates his people; and which having a place in their hearts, becomes the ingrafted word, and there abides, nor can it be rooted out; where it powerfully teaches to avoid sin, is an antidote against it, and a preservative from it: nor the Holy Spirit of God, though he is the author of the new birth, and the principle of all grace; and where he once is, he always abides; and through the power of his grace believers prevail against sin, and mortify the deeds of the body, and live: but rather the grace of the Spirit, the internal principle of grace in the soul, the new nature, or new man formed in the soul, is meant; which seminally contains all grace in it, and which, like seed, springs up and gradually increases, and always abides; and is pure and incorruptible, and neither sins itself, nor encourages sin, but opposes, checks, and prevents it:

and he cannot sin; not that it is impossible for such a man to do acts of sin, or that it is possible for him to live without sin; for the words are not to be understood in the sense of those who plead for perfection in this life; for though the saints have perfection in Christ, yet not in themselves; they are not impeccable, they are not free from sin, neither from the being nor actings of it; sin is in them, lives in them, dwells in them, hinders all the good, and does all the mischief it can: or in such sense, as if the sins of believers were not sins; for though they are pardoned and expiated, and they are justified from them, yet they do not cease to be sins; they are equally contrary to the nature, will, and law of God, as well as the sins of others; and are oftentimes attended with more aggravated circumstances, and which God in a fatherly way takes notice of, and chastises for, and on the account of which he hides his face from them: nor does the phrase intend any particular single sin, which cannot be committed; though there are such, as sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, or denying Christ to be the Saviour of sinners, and a sacrifice for sin, and hatred of a Christian brother as such, and sinning the sin unto death, or the unpardonable sin; neither of which can be committed by a regenerate man: nor is the meaning only, though it is a sense that will very well bear, and agrees with the context, that such persons cannot sin as unregenerate men do; that is, live in a continued course of sinning, and with pleasure, and without reluctance, and so as to lie in it, as the whole world does: but rather the meaning is, he that is born of God, as he is born of God, or that which is born of God in him, the new man, or new creature, cannot sin; for that is pure and holy; there is nothing sinful in it, nor can anything that is sinful come out of it, or be done by it; it is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit of God; it is a good work, and well pleasing: in the sight of God, who is of purer eyes than to behold sin with delight; and an incorruptible seed, which neither corrupts nor is corrupted; and though it is as yet an imperfect work, it is not impure: the reason of the impeccability of the regenerate man, as such, is

because he is born of God: for that which is born of God in him, does, under the influence of the Spirit, power, and grace of God, preserve him from the temptations of Satan, the pollutions of the world, and the corruptions of his own heart; see Jo1 5:18; which the Vulgate Latin version there renders, "the generation of God", meaning regeneration, or that which is born of God, "preserveth him": this furnishes out a considerable argument for the perseverance of the saints.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9 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.

Ver. 9. For his seed] The new nature, which causeth that sin cannot carry it away without some counter buffs. The Spirit quickens the word: as there is a spirit in the natural seed that maketh it prolific; so here.

He cannot sin] i.e. Sinningly, so as to be transformed into sin’s image: cannot do wickedly with both hands earnestly, Mic 7:7-9. He sinneth not totally and finally, he cannot so fall as apostates; for the seed of God ever abideth in him. Bellarmine is forced to confess that this is the hardest place in all the Bible, urged for proof of perseverance in grace.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin - This passage must either mean that they who are born of God, that is, who are true Christians, do not sin habitually and characteristically, or that everyone who is a true Christian is absolutely perfect, and never commits any sin. If it can be used as referring to the doctrine of absolute perfection at all, it proves, not that Christians may be perfect, or that a “portion” of them are, but that all are. But who can maintain this? Who can believe that John meant to affirm this? Nothing can be clearer than that the passage has not this meaning, and that John did not teach a doctrine so contrary to the current strain of the Scriptures, and to fact; and if he did not teach this, then in this whole passage he refers to those who are habitually and characteristically righteous.

For his seed remaineth in him - There is much obscurity in this expression, though the general sense is clear, which is, that there is something abiding in the heart of the true Christian which the apostle here calls “seed,” which will prevent his sinning. The word “his” in this phrase, “his seed,” may refer either to the individual himself - in the sense that this can now be properly called “his,” inasmuch as it is a part of himself, or a principle abiding in him; or it may refer to God - in the sense that what is here called “seed” is “his,” that is, he has implanted it, or it is a germ of divine origin. Robinson (Lex.) understands it in the latter sense, and so also do Macknight, Doddridge, Lucke, and others, and this is probably the true interpretation. The word “seed” (σπέρμα sperma) means properly seed sown, as of grain, plants, trees; then anything that resembles it, anything which germinates, or which springs up, or is produced.

It is applied in the New Testament to the word of God, or the gospel, as that which produces effects in the heart and life similar to what seed that is sown does. Compare Mat 13:26, Mat 13:37-38. Augustin, Clemens, (Alex.,) Grotius, Rosenmuller, Benson, and Bloomfield, suppose that this is the signification of the word here. The proper idea, according to this, is that the seed referred to is truth, which God has implanted or sown in the heart, from which it may be expected that the fruits of righteousness will grow. But that which abides in the heart of a Christian is not the naked word of God; the mere gospel, or mere truth; it is rather that word as made vital and efficacious by the influence of his Spirit; the germ of the divine life; the principles of true piety in the soul. Compare the words of Virgil: Igneus est illi vigor et coelestis origo semini. The exact idea here, as it seems to me, is not that the “seed” refers to “the word of God,” as Augustin and others suppose, or to “the Spirit of God,” but to the germ of piety which has been produced in the heart “by” the word and Spirit of God, and which may be regarded as having been implanted there by God himself, and which may be expected to produce holiness in the life. There is, probably, as Lucke supposes, an allusion in the word to the fact that we are begotten (Ὁ γεγεννημένος Ho gegennēmenos of God. The word “remaineth” - μένει menei, compare the notes at 1Jo 3:6 - is a favorite expression of John. The expression here used by John, thus explained, would seem to imply two things:

(1)That the germ or seed of religion implanted in the soul abides there as a constant, vital principle, so that he who is born of God cannot become habitually a sinner; and,

(2)That it will so continue to live there that he will not fall away and perish. The idea is clearly that the germ or principle of piety so permanently abides in the soul, that he who is renewed never can become again characteristically a sinner.

And he cannot sin - Not merely he will not, but he cannot; that is, in the sense referred to. This cannot mean that one who is renewed has not physical ability to do wrong, for every moral agent has; nor can it mean that no one who is a true Christian never does, in fact, do wrong in thought, word, or deed, for no one could seriously maintain that: but it must mean that there is somehow a certainty as absolute “as if” it were physically impossible, that those who are born of God will not be characteristically and habitually sinners; that they will not sin in such a sense as to lose all true religion and be numbered with transgressors; that they will not fall away and perish. Unless this passage teaches that no one who is renewed ever can sin in any sense; or that everyone who becomes a Christian is, and must be, absolutely and always perfect, no words could more clearly prove that true Christians will never fall from grace and perish. How can what the apostle here says be true, if a real Christian can fall away and become again a sinner?

Because he is born of God - Or begotten of God. God has given him, by the new birth, real, spiritual life, and that life can never become extinct.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Doth not commit sin. That is, as long as he keepeth in himself this seed of grace, and this divine generation, by which he is born of God. But then he may fall from this happy state by the abuse of his free-will, as appears from Romans xi. 20. 21. 22.; 1 Corinthians ix. 27. and x. 12.; Philippians ii. 12.; Apocalypse iii. 11. (Challoner) --- He cannot sin, because he is born of God. The meaning of this can be no more, than that he cannot sin as long as the seed of grace remaineth in him, and as long as he is the adoptive son of God. But it is evident he may fall from this happy condition, and from the grace of God, otherwise St. John would not so often in this epistle have exhorted them not to sin. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To be born of God, is, (in the words of a very learned annotator, Dr. Hammond), "to have received some special influence from God, and by the help and power of that, to be raised to a pious life. Agreeably, γεγεννημενος εκ του θεου, he that hath been born of God, is literally, he that hath had such a blessed change wrought in him, by the operation of God’s Spirit in his heart, as to be translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his own dear Son; transformed in the spirit of his mind, i.e. sincerely changed from all evil to all good; from an obedience to the flesh, &c., to an obedience to God. Only it is here to be noted, that the phrase is not so to be taken, as to denote only the act of this change; the first impression of this virtue on the patient, the single transient act of regeneration; or reformation; and that, as in the preter tense, now past, but rather a continued course, a permanent state: so as a regenerate man and a child of God are all one, and signify him that lives a pious and godly life, and continues to do so," &c. To the same purpose this author also speaks, note on Joh 1:13, and in his paraphrase on that verse: "Those which live according to the will of God, and neither the natural, nor carnal, nor bare moral principle." This change, introducing the consequent course, divers texts of Scripture explain, Joh 3:3,5,6; 2Co 5:17; Eph 2:10; 4:24; Jam 1:18, &c. Now of one thus born of God, it is said, he

doth not commit sin, as 1Jo 3:8, and for the reason here alleged.

His seed; the principles of enlivened holy truth, as 1Pe 1:23; Jam 1:8.

And he cannot sin: which is not to be understood simply, as if he could not sin at all, which were to contradict what he had said before, 1Jo 1:8, and supposed, 1Jo 2:1; but he cannot commit sin, as 1Jo 3:8. And it is plain the apostle intends by these two expressions the same thing. He cannot sin, i.e. do an act of known, gross sin, deliberately, easily, remorselessly, maliciously, as Cain, 1Jo 3:12, out of a hatred of goodness: or, do not such acts customarily, or not so unto death, (as 1Jo 5:16) but that through the advantage of inlaid principles, or the remaining seed, by dependence upon the grace, Spirit, and covenant of God in Christ, he may timously recover.

Because he is born of God; i.e. inasmuch as it belongs to his temper and inclination, in respect of the holy new nature received in regeneration, to abhor from the grosser acts, much more from a course of sin; see Gen 39:9; Act 4:20; 2Co 13:8; Gal 5:17; and to his state, as he is a child of God, to have that interest in the grace of Christ, that he may implore, trust, obtain, and improve it, to his being kept from such destructive sinning. And it being evident, by his deep and thorough change, that he is born of God, and chosen to be an heir of eternal life, (as his children are heirs), he may and ought (not in a way of presumptuous negligence, but of vigilance and humble dependence) certainly to expect being so kept. Nor is it strange so much should be affirmed, upon so unspeakably better grounds, of the Christian state, when such boasts are to be read concerning some among the pagans, that one might as soon divert the sun from its course, as turn such a one from the course of righteousness. Though we may also suppose this form of speech might be intended by the apostle to be understood by the more superficial professors of Christianity, (who might be generally apt enough to look upon themselves as born of God, and his children), as parenetical, and more enforcingly hortatory, in pursuance of his former scope, to keep them off from the licentious courses of their seducers; q.d. It cannot be, that you, who avow yourselves born of God, should do like them. So we usually say, that cannot but be, or cannot be, which we apprehend more highly and clearly reasonable should be, or not be. Non potes avelli, & c. Such rhetoric the apostle uses with Agrippa, I know that thou believest, as if it were impossible he should not.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. His (God’s) seed—The regenerate vital principle divinely implanted remaineth as a permanent though not irremovable element in him. This definition of the seed accords essentially with the various definitions given by most commentators. So Luther, “natura spiritualis,” spiritual birth-nature; De Wette, “the power of the divine life;” Braune, “the spirit of God.” Alford less happily refers it to “the divine word of truth.” While the fixed purpose of faith abides he cannot sin, or be a regular sinner, any more than ice can bear caloric, for the two things are incompatible. The falsely regenerate Nicolaitan can grossly and continuously sin, and retain his pseudo-regeneration; but the truly regenerate cannot practise sin, because he is genuinely born of God; and while so, sin-practice is for him an incompatibility, not a volitional impossibility. Those who press the terms of this text to prove the infallible perseverance of all regenerate persons must accept them in their full literality: and then they will prove, not only certainty of not apostatizing, but an incapability to even sin, an impeccability in the regenerate. Nor can the text prove the sinlessness of merely the entirely sanctified, or the class of “perfect Christians,” for the predicates are affirmed of all that are born of God.

If the words prove that a regenerate person cannot become a sinner, then Rom_8:7 proves that no carnally minded man can ever become subject to the law of God; for the same word for cannot is there used. See our note.

Alford, Wordsworth, and others remark here again the import of the Greek perfect tense as having the force of a present; which, indeed, is well expressed in our English translation is born. The Greek aorist would be was born, and Alford remarks pointedly that in practice the force of the perfect in Christian life is sadly apt to degenerate from the is to the was; the former expressing present regenerate life, in which to practice sin is impossible; the latter the departed vitality, in which the impossible has become easy.

The verb sin, in Heb_10:26, clearly means to become a sinner, in opposition to being a Christian. In this chapter, (1Jn_3:8,) sinneth is in the continuous present, and means permanently practises sin. See note on 1Jn_5:18. But the true meaning is simply this: The Gnostic, in his false regeneration, can consistently live in the practice of sin; but a Christian cannot practice sin, for as a Christian he retains a regenerate principle incompatible with sin. He cannot practice sin and stay a Christian.

Wordsworth gives a pertinent passage from Ignatius, who was born before St. John’s death. “Let no one deceive you. They who are carnal cannot do the things that are spiritual; nor can they who are spiritual do the things that are carnal. Faith cannot do the works of unbelief, nor can unbelief do the works of faith. The works which ye do in the flesh are spiritual, because ye work all your work in Jesus Christ.”—IGNATIUS, Ep. ad Ephesians 8.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 9-12. Sin is absolutely incompatible with being born of God, as is shown by the presence or absence of brotherly love.

Having stated that every one that doeth sin is of the devil, St. John now states the opposite truth, but from the other side; not "every one that doeth no sin is of God," which hardly needs to be stated; but every one that is begotten of God doeth no sin, which is startling. Who, then, can be begotten of God? But the statement is similar to that in verse 6, and is to be similarly understood. So far as any man sins, his regeneration is incomplete. If the new birth from God were perfect, sin would be morally impossible ouj dunatai aJmartein. The new principle of life abides and grows in him, and, under perfect conditions, it entirely prevents the old unregenerate nature from rebelling. Note that St. John does not say ouj dunatai aJmartein," cannot commit a sin," but ouj dunatai aJmartanein, "cannot be a sinner." An act is different from a state of sin. This is an ideal to which every Christian is bound to aspire inability to sin. But to some extent this ideal is a fact in the case of every true Christian. There are sins which to a good man are by God"s grace quite impossible. The meaning of sperma aujtou ejn aujtw menei is uncertain: either

(1) "His seed abideth in Him," i.e., those who are born of God abide in God; or

(2) "his seed abideth in him," i.e., the new principle which he has received continues to operate in the man; or

(3) "His seed abideth in him," i.e., God"s quickening Gift continues to operate in the man. (For sperma aujtou, in the sense of "those born of God," (comp. Isa_53:10) But this is the least probable of the threeinterpretations; in this sense St. John would probably have written teknon. Note the tense of the concluding verb, gegennhtai, not ejgennhqh: his birth from God is a fact which still continues, not one that is past and gone.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whosoever is born of God - By living faith, whereby God is continually breathing spiritual life into his soul, and his soul is continually breathing out love and prayer to God, doth not commit sin. For the divine seed of loving faith abideth in him; and, so long as it doth, he cannot sin, because he is born of God - Is inwardly and universally changed.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The character of a true Christian, he is born of God; he has in the work of regeneration passed under a blessed change by the operation of the Holy Spirit, renewing his nature, and reforming his life; yet this denotes not a single transient act of regeneration, but rather a continued course and permanent state; one that is born of God is the same with him that leads a pious and godly life, and continues so to do.

Observe, 2. What is here asserted concerning him that is born of God, namely, that he doth not commit sin, and that he cannot sin.

1. He doth not commit sin, he is no evil doer, no worker of iniquity, no habitual or customary sinner; he goes not on in any way or course of sin, as the wicked does, who makes a trade of it; yea, he doth not tolerate or allow himself in any single act of sin; not that he is absolutely free from all sin.

2. It is said, he cannot sin; but how? And why? How can he not sin? Has he not a natural power to sin? Has he not corruptions within, and temptations without, inclining and disposing him to sin, as well as other men? And has he not opportunity to sin; the same expectations of advantages by sin with other men? Yes, no doubt; but he has not a will bent for sin, or a heart and mind set upon sin, as the wicked have; nay, he has a heart and will opposite to sin, and set against all sin.

A gracious person then, though he hath not a natural impossibility, yet he has a moral impossibility to sin. He that is born of God hath a power to do that evil which he hath not a will to do; he hath always a natural power, and sometimes a civil power, as being in authority; but his blood and pedigree are so high, being born of God, that he disdains to meddle with, or to trade in so base a thing as sin is.

Note, That a child of God has a blessed impotency in the unregenerate part, that he cannot sin strongly, though as yet he has not that ability in the regenerate part, as not to sin at all.

Observe, 3. The reasons assigned why a regenerate person cannot sin as the wicked sin, because his seed remaineth in him, and because he is born of God; that is, he has an inward principle inclining and disposing him to hate and oppose all sin, to wit, the sanctifying grace of God; and he has that mortifying Spirit, which causes him daily more and more to die unto sin, amd enables him to mortify the deeds of the body.

Learn hence, That although sin remaineth in him that is born of God, yet he that is born of God doth not remain in sin, either as to a sinful state, or a sinful conversation; God’s word and Spirit, by which he was regenerate, still remain in him; and so far as he is under the ruling power and governing influences of them, he cannot sin, much less live in wilful sin.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. The thought is that he does not live a life of sin. The spirit born of God, the new creation, does not sin, and cannot sin and remain God's child, but sometimes the old nature revives and for a moment exerts its power. “It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me” (Rom. 7:20). See note at end of the Epistle. His seed remaineth in him. The principle of divine life, and hence he cannot live a sinful life. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This new nature cannot sin. If we sin, it is the old nature revived. Unless at once we repent and flee to him he will depart from us.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

For now John ends this section on the new birth and the new nature which cannot sin.

Whoever has been born from God

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Whoever God has made his child" (See: Active or Passive)

God's seed

This speaks of the Holy Spirit, whom God gives to believers and who makes them able to resist sin and do what pleases God as if he were a physical seed that is planted in the earth and grows. This is sometimes referred to as the new nature. AT: "the Holy Spirit" (See: Metaphor)

he has been born of God

This can be stated in active form. AT: "God has given him new spiritual life" or "he is a child of God" (See: Active or Passive)

In this the children of God and children of the devil are revealed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "This is how we know the children of God and the children of the devil" (See: Active or Passive)

Whoever does not do what is righteous is not from God, neither is the one who does not love his brother

The words "from God" are understood in the second part of the sentence. This can also be stated in positive form. AT: "whoever does not do what is righteous is not from God; whoever does not love his brother is also not from God" or "those who do what is righteous are from God, and those who love their brothers are from God" (See: Double Negatives and Ellipsis)

his brother

Here "brother" means fellow Christians.

translationWords

born again

sin

seed

children

Satan

righteous

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

9. This is the opposite of 1Jn 3:8, as 1Jn 3:8 of 1Jn 3:7; but, as usual, not the plain opposite, but something deduced from it, is stated.

πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τ. Θ. Every one that (see on 1Jn 3:6) is begotten of God. Note the perfect tense; ‘every one that has been made and that remains a child of God.’ The expression is very frequent throughout the Epistle (1Jn 2:29; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 5:1; 1Jn 5:4; 1Jn 5:18) and the rendering should be uniform; all the more so, because the phrase is characteristic. The A.V. wavers between ‘born’ and ‘begotten,’ even in the same verse (1Jn 5:1; 1Jn 5:18). The R.V. rightly prefers ‘begotten’ throughout: ‘born’ throughout is impossible, for in 1Jn 5:1 we have the active, ‘begat.’ The expression ‘to be begotten of God’ is found only in S. John; once in the Gospel (Joh 1:13) and eight or nine times in the Epistle: comp. Joh 3:3; Joh 3:5-8.

ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ. As R.V. doeth no sin (see on 1Jn 3:4): the opposition between ‘doing sin’ and ‘doing righteousness’ must be carefully marked. The strong statement is exactly parallel to 1Jn 3:6 and is to be understood in a similar sense. It is literally true of the Divine nature imparted to the believer. That does not sin and cannot sin. A child of the God who is Light can have nothing to do with sin which is darkness: the two are morally incompatible.

ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐ. μ. As R.V., because his seed abideth in him: see on 1Jn 2:24. This may mean either (1) ‘His seed,’ the new birth given by God, ‘abideth in him;’ or (2) ‘his seed,’ the new birth received by him, ‘abideth in him;’ or (3) ‘His seed,’ God’s child, ‘abideth in Him.’ The first is probably right. The third is possible, but improbable: σπέρμα is sometimes used for ‘child’ or ‘descendant;’ but would not S. John have written τέκνον as in 1Jn 3:1-2; 1Jn 3:10, 1Jn 5:2? To resort to the parable of the sower for an explanation, and to interpret ‘seed’ as ‘the word of God’ is scarcely legitimate. The whole analogy refers to human generation, not to the germination of plants; but comp. 1Pe 1:23. Joh 3:5-8 would lead us to interpret seed as meaning the Holy Spirit. Justin Martyr may have had this verse in his mind when he wrote οἱ πιστεύοντες αὐτῷ εἰσιν ἄνθρωποι ἐν οἶς οἰκεῖ τὸ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ σπέρμα ὁ λόγος (Apol. I. xxxii).

οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτ. It is a moral impossibility for a child of God to sin. It is because of the imperfection of our sonship that sin is possible, an imperfection to be remedied and gradually reduced by the blood of Jesus (1Jn 1:7) and self-purification (1Jn 3:3). In quantum in eo manet, in tantum non peccat (Bede). Οὐ δύναται of what is morally impossible is frequent in S. John’s Gospel (1n 5:30; Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65; Joh 7:7; Joh 8:43; Joh 12:39; Joh 14:17). Comp. 1Jn 4:20. Augustine, followed by Bede, limits the impossibility in this case to the violation of the principle of love. That is the sin which is impossible to the true child of God.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. He who is begotten of God must be in character like God who begat him. Sin, which is of the Devil, finds no place in him.

ὁ γεγεννημένος] Compare and contrast Joh 1:13, ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν. Here the writer emphasizes not only the initial act, or the single act, but its permanent results.

ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ] Anarthrous and therefore qualitative. He does not do that which is sinful in character. But the absence of the article should not be pressed.

ὅτι σπέρμα] The seed which produces the new life in him (cf. Joh 1:13), as a permanent and abiding factor.1 The interpretation which equates σπέρμα with the Word of God (“semen dei, id est uerbum dei,” Bede, from Augustine, who adds, “unde dicit Apostolus, Per Euangelium ego uos genui, 1Co 4:15) receives some support from 1 P. 1:23; Jas 1:18, but is hardly in accordance with the Johannine teaching, in which the Spirit is the author of the new birth (cf. Joh_3.). Wohlenberg in an interesting paper has pleaded for the interpretation which identifies σπέρμα θεοῦ with God’s children scollectively (cf. Joh 8:33, σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ). It has the advantage of referring αὐτοῦ and ἐν αὐτῷ to the same person (God’s children abide in Him), but it makes the following clause, οὐ δύναται … γεγέννηται, very difficult both in grammar and sense. As Law has pointed out, the last clause must then have run (“and they cannot sin, because they abide in Him”). Still less can be said for Karl’s interpretation of the words as referring to Christ. Cf., however, Justin, Apol. i. 32, where we perhaps have an echo of this.2οὐ δύναται κ.τ.λ.] The fact that he has been begotten of God excludes the possibility of his committing sin as an expression of his true character, though actual sins may, and do, occur, in so far as he fails from weakness to realize his true character. Cf. Joh 8:33, Joh 8:39. Every τέκνον must reproduce the works of his father. In so far as any man is a τέκνον θεοῦ he “cannot” do the works of the Devil. The writer speaks, however, here as elsewhere, in the absolute language of the prophet rather than with the circumspection of the casuist. On the N.T. doctrine of Birth from God, see Windisch, p. 118.

πας] pr. διο αγαπητοι Ic 258 (56).

γεγεννημενος] γεγενημενος K 99. 100. 177 * jscr oscr al. pauc.

του (? 1o)] om. H δ48 (33) Ia 106 (179).

αμαρτιαν ου ποιει] non peccat sah. boh.

σπερμα] pr. το Ic 551 (216) O46 (154).

αυτου] dei sahd: om. Ia 382 (231).

αμαρτανειν] αμαρτιαν ποιησαι Ia 158 (395).

οτι] οστις Ia 264 (233).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whosoever is born [πας ο γεγεννημενος] . On the form of expression, see on ver. 4. Rev., begotten. The perfect participle indicates a condition remaining from the first : he who hath been begotten and remains God 's child.

His seed. The divine principle of life.

Cannot. See on ver. 6. Conceived as a perfect ideal, life in God excludes the possibility of sin. Compare Romans 4 throughout.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.