1 John 3:4-10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Avoiding Sin. 4 Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.[a] 5 You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.(A) 6 No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him. 7 Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.(B) 9 No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God.[b] 10 In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.
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- 3:4 Lawlessness: a reference to the activity of the antichrist, so it is expressed as hostility toward God and a rejection of Christ. The author goes on to contrast the states of sin and righteousness. Christians do not escape sin but realize that when they sin they cease to have fellowship with God. Virtue and sin distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil.
- 3:9 A habitual sinner is a child of the devil, while a child of God, who by definition is in fellowship with God, cannot sin. Seed: Christ or the Spirit who shares the nature of God with the Christian.
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