We know that every one begotten of God does not sin, but he that has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked [one] does not touch him.
John ends his letter with three statements that begin "we know." This verse is the first of them, and it allows no exceptions. So how do such absolute words fit a Christian who knows his own failures?
The verse belongs to a set of three, and the writers read them together as the letter's summing up.
The three statements of "we know" in verses 18-20 make a grand and fitting close to the letter... Day of the worst evil as it was, what can match the calm confidence of victory over sin and Satan, of belonging to God and His nature above a lost world?
Why does John allow no exception? Dennett points to what John has in view, and to what he leaves out.
To understand John's letters, remember this. In statements like this one, he keeps to the positive character of the new nature, and leaves everything else out of sight. "Whoever is born of God does not sin." He never forgets for a moment that the believer has two natures (1 John 1:8), or that he may fall into sin. But he states it in an abstract, and therefore absolute, way, because he is thinking only of what is born of God.
What, then, about actual failure? Kelly traces it to a lapse in prayer, and refuses to soften the truth because of it.
If Christ lives in him, sin cannot come out of such a life. And if a person so blessed does sin (as in 1 John 2:1), it comes from a lack of watchfulness in prayer, which let that inconsistency in. But as a rule John does not deal with the qualifications that this mixed condition brings in. He holds to the truth in its absolute form, as grace entitles faith to do. To doubt is not only weak but a grievous error, and a wrong to Christ's work.
The verse uses two Greek words for being born of God, and they do not say quite the same thing.
Note the tenses in 1 John 5:18 and 1 John 3:9. Gegennemenos (begotten) is the state. Gennetheis (has been begotten) is the birth, and its consequence is that he keeps himself.
The two words belong to the same Christian. Kelly says what each one adds, and how the verse lands on the heart.
There is a slight difference between the word "begotten" in the first clause and in the second, though both belong to the same person, the Christian. The first is the continuing effect of having been begotten. The second is the bare fact of it, without asking whether it continues... It was both a comfort and a warning to be told that being begotten of God he does not sin, and the wicked one does not touch him.
A word about wording. The ESV reads "does not keep on sinning" and "he who was born of God protects him." Most of these writers use an older rendering: "does not sin" and "keeps himself." Kelly weighed both readings of that second clause and judged "keeps himself" the true sense (Bible Treasury).
How does a person keep himself? Dennett points first to the Lord under temptation.
Satan tried every possible temptation on Him. But He "kept" Himself by complete dependence and perfect obedience, so Satan could not touch Him... God has graciously given us the power, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, to put to death "the deeds of the body"... But to overcome his temptations needs constant watchfulness and dependence. Our Lord's words to His disciples show it: "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation."
Darby puts the practice in one line: "'Keeps himself' means you must be living in the power of the new life objectively. You must have Christ for your object" (J. N. Darby).
Why can the evil one get no grip? Darby answers from what the new nature is taken up with.
As born of God, we do not commit sin at all, we keep ourselves, and "the wicked one does not touch us." He has nothing with which to entice the new man. The enemy has nothing to attract the divine nature in us. By the action of the Holy Spirit, that nature is taken up with divine and heavenly things, or with the will of God.
Darby states the other side elsewhere: "If it is the flesh that is acting, then the wicked one can touch us. But he cannot touch the new man, he cannot entice it" (J. N. Darby).
- Born — John states the new birth in absolute terms. The nature we receive from God does not sin, and John speaks of that alone.
- Both — the believer still has the old nature and may fail (1 John 1:8; 2:1). So this is not a claim to sinless living. It describes what is born of God.
- Keeps — the fact of the new birth produces the practice. He keeps himself by dependence, obedience and watchful prayer, as the Lord did under temptation.
- Untouched — Satan finds no bait for the new nature. He gains ground only when we let the flesh act.
- Certain — this is the first of three "we know" statements. They close the letter with calm confidence over sin, Satan and a lost world.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked [one].
John ends his letter with three confident statements, and this one draws a line straight through the human race. Older translations read the last phrase "lies in wickedness," but commentators point to a person: the world lies in the power of the wicked one.
The verse opens with a claim to know. Writers say the word means settled inward certainty, not a hopeful opinion.
Three times the apostle says, "We know," and in each case the word used means inward conscious knowledge. This is not only knowledge of a fact revealed and testified to in Scripture. This knowledge is also made good in the soul in the power of the Holy Spirit. So we have the inward conviction and certainty of its truth. And as we live in the enjoyment of it, it shapes and governs us.
This certainty does more than reassure. It settles how we see the world.
Having this certainty, as every believer should, we can never be deceived about the character of the world. Knowing that we are of God, we also know that the whole world lies in the wicked one, is in his power, and morally exists in him. For everyone with this inward consciousness, a barrier stands between them and the world that cannot be crossed...
The phrase describes where our life came from. That is what sets the Christian position apart.
We know that we are of God. And we know it not in a vague way, but in contrast with all that is not us. This is a principle of immense importance. It makes the Christian position exclusive by its very nature. It is not merely good, or bad, or better; but it is of God. And nothing that is not of God — nothing that does not have its origin in Him — could have this character and this place.
Much hangs on the verb "lies." It describes the world's posture under Satan.
The verb "lies" shows a position of total helplessness — lying stretched out in the embrace of Satan. So the "wicked one" completely dominates the world-system. Three times in John's Gospel the Lord calls him the "prince (ruler) of this world."
One further difference: we know our side of the contrast, and the world does not know its own.
There is nothing vague here. Nothing softens the absolute contrast, which is drawn firmly and without hesitation. On one side we stand as the family of God. On the other stands the whole world, in its awful subjection to the wicked one... God is the source of all on the one side; subjection to Satan is just as complete on the other... We are of God, and we know it in ourselves. The whole world lies under the wicked one's bondage without knowing it, as we know all too well.
The word "whole" leaves out no part of the world. It also answers a common excuse for drifting: the size of the crowd.
The cunning deceptions of the wicked one have taken the whole world captive. It lies idle in his hands, given up to this with no energy to change it... Has God lost control? Never! But for now He has allowed Satan this dominating power, so that faith may shine all the brighter against it. If the multitude does evil, faith refuses this as an excuse to follow the evil. Weakness and unbelief argue that the great majority cannot be wrong, and so drift with the crowd.
John does not leave believers with a warning only. The next verse gives them somewhere to stand.
"The whole world lies in wickedness," and "we are of God." We sometimes shut our eyes to things that are so plain, to save a little bit of the world. But "we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ." God is revealed in Christ, and we are in Christ. So we have our place in a scene outside the world altogether.
- Know, not hope — the word means inward certainty, made good in the soul by the Holy Spirit until it shapes how we live.
- Know your source — "of God" is about origin. The Christian position is not better than the world's; it is from somewhere else entirely.
- Know the grip — "lies" pictures total helplessness — the world stretched out in Satan's embrace, under the ruler of this world.
- Know the reach — "the whole world" leaves no exception. The size of the crowd is never a reason to follow it. Faith shines brighter against that dark background.
- Know the refuge — the same "we know" carries on to the Son of God who has come. In Him we stand in a scene outside the world altogether.