There are several points that John made in this text for our review. The main one is a claim that Christians do not commit sin. After we deal with the other issues, we will come back to that claim. For now, let us look at some other points that deserve our attention.
The difference between the Mosaic law of the Old Testament and the New Covenant established by Christ is significant. The law was given, not that we would have a means of forgiveness, but to indicate the definition of sin. We have broken the law at some point. The law was given so that we might know what sin is in our lives. When a person accepts Christ as Savior, he acknowledges a spiritual breach from God. To become a Christian, a person must admit his practice of breaking the law. Some people avoid becoming a Christian even though they know it is the right thing to do. They avoid it so they do not have to admit they have lived a wrong life content to breaking God’s law, and His expectations.
Jesus came for specific reasons one of which is to rescue us from sin. Every human that has ever drawn breath has committed sin. We might describe that result as a blemish, or even a hole on our soul. Regardless of what anyone would try to do, he cannot heal that stain of sin on his soul. God has wrath towards sin. He also has mercy toward the sinner. This is the reason Jesus came to earth. He was manifested to take the consequences of sin on himself. This is why we have righteousness, not on our own making but from his own personal righteousness. Christ had the ambition to destroy the works of the devil which he accomplished on the cross. This is why we serve Christ so that we might avoid the works of the devil, his evil influence in our lives.
Now, let us discuss the portion of our text we seems so remarkable. Several times in these verses we are told that whoever is born of God does not commit sin. Whoever is a child of God cannot commit sin. Anyone who reads this text could be confused because the fact is we all commit sin, Christian or not. Some of us are lost sinners needing the Savior. Some of us are saved sinners having the Savior.
The key to understanding what seems to be a contradiction concerning the nature of mankind is the realization about one who sins and one who commits sins. There is no perfect Christian! All Christians still have the carnal nature that is inclined toward sin. At any point a Christian may sin. However, the Christian does not practice the routine of sinning. Think of it as (a sinner) playing a character in a theater who says the same lines over and over with each performance. That character is locked into the display of what is unique to him. A sinner sins because he is a sinner. A Christian may sin but does not prefer the life of sin. When a Christian sins, he chooses to sin. The sinner sins because it is his nature. A person who becomes a Christian has become a new creation in Christ. It is not his nature after that point to select sin. The Christian may commit a sin. When he does, it is his desire to gain a benefit from his actions outside of what God expects.
I had a woman come to me for counseling because she was so afraid of going to hell since she could not avoid sinning. She was an actual nervous wreck. Where she went to church, she was erroneously taught this Scripture under our discussion that if she was a Christian, she would never commit a sin again. That is a lie. The misuse of this Scripture can be profound by the self-righteous. Do not be deceived.
I will repeat myself. Sinners sin because they are sinners. Christian sin because they select a moment of sin. By confessing Christ as our Savior, we have not been given a free pass that keeps us from sinning. We do, however, have a perfect Intercessor with the Heavenly Father for those times that we sin and confess. The pleasure that we have in serving Jesus is that we do not have to be perfect since that is an impossibility for any human. As Jesus said to the woman who was caught in the act of adultery, “go and sin no more.” The implication is that she still had the option to sin, but he did not want her to do it anymore. The true believer has the ambition to serve God in the most earnest way while avoiding the temptation of sin.
Christian Writer 