Weekly Devotional 6-4-12 Abiding in Christ
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:5-10).
Who in their right mind would say, “I have not sinned?” Since Adam, sin has been in the world and everyone has sinned, but later in the letter John wrote, “6Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1st John 3:6-9).
Many Bible commentators and students of Scripture believe that what John is saying in 3:6-9 does not contradict what he said in verses 1:5-10 “that all sin” as some have contended. John Macarthur and others believe that in these later verses (3:6-9) John is saying that a person who has truly been born again will not practice sin. Others hold that John is saying that one cannot sin in his (or her) new nature. That sin is of the flesh. One thing is clear, John wrote, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin” (3:6). So, a condition is given. He who abides in Christ does not sin “while abiding.” This should be comforting to us all. There is relief from sinning and that is found in abiding in Him.
Turning to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible we find that the word “abideth” is translated from the Greek word meno (Strong’s Hebrew/Greek concordance # 306), a primary verb; with a meaning of to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy); — (such English words as continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand and tarry are appropriate synonyms of abide (abideth) and are applicable to the text. As we abide in Christ and He in us there is a desire to live righteously, to abstain from sinning, and in fact, while abiding we will not sin. Sinning is not the character of the “new man” but is of the flesh, the old nature.
To be remembered, John’s letter was a letter of encouragement. He knew that his readers would become discouraged when they realized they had committed a sin. He testified that when they became convinced of a sin they were to confess it and repent of it (1:8-10). He reminded them that they had an advocate with the Father (2:1) and that He (Jesus) was their propitiation for sin (2:2). Before he closed the letter he reminded them that because they had trusted in Jesus for those things they have eternal life (5:10-13).
“10He who believes in the Son of God has the witness (God’s testimony) in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God”.
Oh, that I (that you) might abide in Him that we might live righteous lives.
Steve