What does it mean that whoever is born of God does not sin (1 John 3:9)?

This is strongly answered in verse 9: “Whosoever is begotten of God doth not practice sin, because His seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God” (Numerical Bible). It should be perfectly clear that the apostle speaks here strictly of the nature that is born of God. New birth provides a nature that is incapable of sin. The seed of the Word of God has been planted permanently in the soul, and that seed can only produce according to its character of spotless purity. The believer therefore cannot practice sin: if he does at any time sin, this is an act foreign to his proper nature, the product of the flesh, which remains in him, though he is “not in the flesh” (Romans 8:9). There is a remedy for this, as we have seen in our epistle (ch.2:1), but no excuse whatever, for the least sin is contrary to our proper nature as born of God. Our verse does not then teach anything like perfection in the flesh, but it does teach perfection in the seed of the Word of God and its results in the newborn soul.

“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” It is a matter here of testing the claims of one professing to be Christian. The tares, planted by an enemy (Matthew 13:25) among the wheat, are said to be “the children of the wicked one.” It is the enemy’s effort to paralyze all true Christian testimony by the introduction of what is evil and poisonous. It is evidently a mistake to brand all unbelievers as “children of the devil,” for in those instances that Scripture records, the term is applied only to those apparently sold into the service of Satan, religious, yet actually anti‑christian, however cunningly this is covered. On the other hand, all unbelievers are called “children of wrath,” “children of disobedience,” because children of Adam. But mere deceitful profession of Christianity is a dreadful position for one to take. If haughty self‑will and self‑pleasing is evident in this, the case is all too likely that of a child of the devil. Far better not to know the way of righteousness, than after having known it, to turn to the corruption of callous deceit (2 Peter 2:21,22). The two marks then must be present, righteousness of practice and love of the brethren, or the profession is false; true life is not there.

A "law of sin in the members" is not what is proper to the Christian, as we have seen. If on the one hand the apostle's language is, that "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," on the other hand he says, "These things write I unto you that ye sin not; and if any one sin" — he supposes this possible, but not normal. Again — "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit [or better, practice] sin; for His seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin [or, be sinning], because he is born of God" a John 3:9). The force of these words is, not that a believer cannot commit a sin, (a thing contradicted by Scripture and experience alike,) but he cannot practice it, or be sinning, as he once was; and over and over again this is asserted: "Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that practiceth sin is of the devil" (ver. 6-8).

Children bear the moral impress of the parent who has begotten them. The devil was the first liar, and he was a murderer from the beginning. In the first epistle of John we read: “He that practises sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning”; that is, from the beginning of sin: he originated sin, lying, and murder. The one born of God does not practise sin; for His seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In his practical life down here the one begotten of God does not practise sin; that is, he is not characterized by it, because viewed as begotten of God, apart from his mixed condition on earth, he cannot sin at all. A believer can sin, but is exhorted not to, but “begotten of God” only takes in the work of God in his soul, and sin can never proceed from this. “Like father, like son” must ever be true.

This, of course, is looking at the believer abstractly as “born of God,” and not as in his mixed and complex condition with sin in him, and liable, if not watchful, to failure. He is viewed here simply as born, or begotten of God, excluding for the moment from the thought, that as long as we are down here, the flesh and sin are in us, and that we need to be constantly on the alert lest these evil principles be set in motion. We need to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ, or we may soon find out to our sorrow that we are quite capable of sinning. But here, as I have said, we are viewed abstractly as begotten of God; and considered in this light only, we can easily understand the statement, “he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

He says that they sin not who are born of God. Now, we must consider, whether God wholly regenerates us at once, or whether the remains of the old man continue in us until death. If regeneration is not as yet full and complete, it does not exempt us from the bondage of sin except in proportion to its own extent. It hence appears that it cannot be but that the children of God are not free from sins, and that they daily sin, that is, as far as they have still some remnants of their old nature. Nevertheless, what the Apostle contends for stands unalterable, that the design of regeneration is to destroy sin, and that all who are born of God lead a righteous and a holy life, because the Spirit of God restrains the lusting of sin.

But still — and this is the only question we need further ask at present — may not the "spirit" here refer to the new and spiritual nature, which, confessedly, the child of God has? I answer that, as far as this passage is concerned, the fact that the apostle prays for the sanctification of the spirit, is proof positive that the new nature is not meant.* For the Scripture doctrine is that, inasmuch as "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," "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." I am well aware that I touch here upon ground not familiar to many a Christian; nor can I do more than touch upon it either. I would only say that the one born of God is here looked at simply in his character as so born. The flesh is not seen, being, indeed, in the believer, but as a foreign thing: "Sin that dwelleth in me" (Rom. 7:17), in that sense, not myself. The new nature owns no brotherhood with it. As born of God the believer does not sin — cannot. The new nature thus, as proceeding from God, is altogether according to God. He could not communicate a half-evil thing: "that which is born of the spirit is spirit" — partakes, i.e., of the nature of Him from whom it came. Mr. Morris himself says of it most truly "All the moral qualities of it answer to the moral perfections of God." If so, sin cannot come from it, because it is of God; and, as born of God, we cannot sin. Therefore you cannot talk of sanctifying it. It is of God: therefore already wholly good.

Verse 9. "Whosoever is born of God doth not practise sin." In interpreting this passage some make the words "commit sin," mean "live in sin," but this weakens its bearing. These words have reference to something absolute, to the nature of Christ within us. So John does not say, That which, but "whosoever is born of God," thereby meaning a being and not a thing, and that being does not practise sin. Doubtless not to practise sin is the characteristic of the child of God. The Christian does not live in sin, and this because he has a holy nature which spiritually constitutes the individual.

The first feature to be adduced is found in 1 John 3 — "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." (v. 9; also 1 John 5:18.) The difficulty in this statement disappears when the manner of the apostle is observed. He states the truth, as is often observed, in an abstract, and therefore — absolute, way; that is, he confines his attention, to the exclusion of all else, to the one thing before his mind. Thus in this scripture he speaks only of what is characteristic of the new nature, which is born of God, without considering the fact that the children of God possess also the old nature, which is so utterly evil that the apostle Paul expresses its character by the term, "the body of sin." (Rom. 6:6.) Every believer has these two natures, and John speaks only of that which is divine, and therefore since the old is regarded as done with for ever judicially in the cross of Christ, though this be not his subject, he says, "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not." It is the new nature, and not the old, that marks out our existence before God; and thus in this absolute way he writes, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." (1 John 5:18.) It does not mean therefore that the child of God never falls into sin (for who, alas! could assever that he never sins?), but simply that the character of the new nature is, that it sinneth not. For how indeed could that which is born of God sin? Thus the angel said to Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35.) So absolutely — as to the nature derived in the new birth — whosoever is born of God doth not sin.

It is strange that any should plead that this belongs to a certain class of Christians, that it is, in fact, an attainment, and not that which is true of all. It is of every one that is begotten of God that the apostle says, "He cannot sin, because he is begotten of Him;" and here is the indefectibility of the nature which he has received: "his seed abideth in him." That is the engrafted Word by which he has been made partaker of a divine nature. Nothing can grow out of this seed but that which is according to it. Every seed, as we know, brings forth the plant and the fruit that are proper to it. As James has said, "a fig-tree cannot bear olive berries, nor a vine figs." The Christian is characterized, thus, by what is Christian, and by nothing else. The apostle is speaking, as we see always, characteristically. He will not dishonor the Father by allowing aught as coming of new birth but that which is worthy of Him. We have learned of another apostle to distinguish that which may be in us as, nevertheless, no more truly ourselves; and the faith which thus identifies us with that which is of God and good is of necessity a holy principle, and admits no laxity.

(3) But now we are to see the full image of God in His children, and here we shall not find righteousness alone, but, as already said, love also. "Whosoever practiseth not righteousness is not of God; nor," on the other hand, "he who loveth not his brother." Notice that with John it is always love of the brethren of which he speaks. We are not to take this as if it meant his brother man simply. The example that he gives immediately here might seem to imply this. Cain was of the wicked one and slew his brother — of course, his brother naturally. He slew him because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous; and this is an illustration of how it is that the world hates the people of God; but we find elsewhere the careful definition on the part of the apostle as to what he means by "brethren." "He that loveth Him that begat," he says, "loveth him also that is begotten of Him." It is the new nature which produces this real kinship, and it is faith that, having introduced into the blessed knowledge of God, of necessity produces in us this love to those who manifest the divine nature. Yet, of course, when he says, "He who loveth not his brother abideth in death," he is merely dealing with men according to their profession, as everywhere through the epistle. He credits them, as it were, with this relationship which they profess to have to the people of God, and he presses the responsibility, therefore, which springs out of this relationship. But he is careful to distinguish. It is true, of course, that he who in the true sense loves his brother has not reached the limit of love in this way. As the apostle Peter has told us, we are to have "in brotherly love, love." This is the full development of the divine nature. Love is the divine nature itself. God is love. But while this is true, it is important, nevertheless, to distinguish this love to the brethren from that which might be more what men think of as benevolence. There is, in the love of which he is speaking, a recognition of God and real manifestation of our love to God Himself, for "he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" He has seen God in his brother. If he does not love Him there, how can he speak of loving Him where he has not seen Him? It is an unpractical profession merely, which hangs in the air.

(V. 8). In contrast with the one that does righteousness and is born of God, the one that “practises sin is of the devil” (N.Tn.). Alas! through carelessness the believer may fall into sin, but the one that lives in sin shows clearly that he has the same nature as the devil, who sins from the beginning of his history. The Son of God was manifested to undo the works of the devil in order that believers, with a new nature, might come under the sway of Christ, and, abiding in Him, act in righteousness, even as He is righteous.

(V. 9). In contrast with the one that shows he is of the devil by practising sin, the one that is born of God does not practise sin. There is in him a new seed — divine life — and that life which he has, as born of God, cannot sin. It is true that the flesh is in the believer; but the new nature is a sinless nature, and the believer is viewed as identified with the new nature.