“(8) He that committeth sin is of the
devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of
God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (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.” -1 John 3:8-9
Please, allow me for just a moment to talk about first John, and
sin. Specifically, first John chapter
three, the eighth and ninth verses.
Sin, pertaining to man, as detailed in the Bible, is in two
parts that make a whole. The first part
is committed sin. You see this
throughout the scriptures. Eve eating of
the tree in Genesis, Cain murdering Able, David and Bathsheba; these are those
who knew what was right in God’s eyes and willing chose to disobey. They made a conscious choice; intentional
transgression against a personally known law of God. Committed sin, this is the first pillar upon
which the hideousness of sin has perch throughout generations of mankind. The second part, or pillar if you please, is carnal
sin. The driving force behind it
all. The reason that “in Adam all die;” carnal sin is that
inbreed nature that was passed down from Adam.
It is the reason we are “bent” to disobey God; as it is in a dog’s
nature to chase a cat, so it is in man’s nature to disobey God. From birth, we find ourselves wanting our own
way, our own wishes, our own will; this often leads to open rebellion against
God and committed sin. The root is
corrupt, therefore the fruit is corrupt.
Now, with this in mind, we can now address the first part of above text “he that comitteth sin is of the devil for
the devil sinneth from the beginning.”
John understood that the fruit of man (in this case committed
sin) was only one part of a two part problem, and from that understanding he
could readily deduce the following: he
that committeth sin was of the devil (for Christ said the same, John 8:34-44).
When you see someone steal, they commit sin, and within them is the seed
of sin (therefore the devil). The fruit
bares that out. When you see a man
staggering drunk, cursing and swearing, that is simply the fruit of a corrupt
heart. A heart that finds itself with
and possessing the same attributes of the devil himself. We don’t like to think about like this,
preachers don’t want to preach about it in these terms, but that doesn’t make
it any less true. I believe that if we
were able to fully grasp the TRUTH of this scripture, and sinners could see the
blackness and depravity that reigns within their hearts; it would cause them to
fall broken in repentance before God. We
all come into this world as sinners, but we each have a choice to leave this
world as: holy, sanctified, children of God.
The majority of Christianity in America harps on the former, but is silent
on the latter. However, the truth is
truth, and He that committeth sin is of
the devil; thanks be to God that he did not leave us without a way out.
There’s a cell phone app out there today called “Funhouse mirror”;
it’s an app that makes the camera on your phone distort whatever you point it
at. Unfortunately, the ninth verse in
the third chapter of first John has had a lot of theological “Funhouse mirrors”
pointed at it. Out of the distortions
rose the now accepted theology of “once saved always saved”; the distortion is once
saved you are born of God, and God looks at you and sees only Christ, instead
of your sinful life (because of this you cannot sin). John is not contending for this! Rather, he is striking a dividing line; the
same line that the cross of Christ entrenched whilst it was still stained with
His own blood (Rom 8:3-4). You are
either in the sinning camp with the devil, or the righteousness camp with
Jesus. You cannot be in both.
The Son was manifested to DESTORY the works of the devil, within
and without. God wishes to uproot sin
from inside you. He desires that within
you is planted the seed of righteousness that it may grow up and yield fruits
of righteousness. Through his power,
your life, can be a garden of goodness, free from sin (Rom 6:22).
