Doesn't John say whoever is born of God does not sin?
1 John 3 and 5, Romans 7, and Galatians 5.
The short answer Settled
Yes, and a believer who sins is still born of God. The new life God gives does not sin. When a believer sins, the sin comes from his flesh, which he still has.
What John says
"Whoever 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" ().
John gives his reason: God's seed remains in him. The life God gives is His own, and it does not sin. John does not say a believer never sins. In the same letter he says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (), and "if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father" ().
Near the end of the letter he puts the two side by side: "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life" (). Two verses later: "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin" (). The brother is sinning, and he is still a brother.
Where a believer's sin comes from
Paul says it plainly: "it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me" (), and "in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells" (). The flesh is what remains in a believer that is not born of God. Every believer has it: "the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" ().
So when a believer sins, the sin comes from his flesh, not from the new life. He is still God's child.
The usual objection
"He who sins is of the devil" (), and "Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God" (). On this view "does not sin" means does not keep on sinning, and John gives a test: a person who keeps on sinning shows he was never born of God.
John uses the same verb, in the same tense, for the brother who is "sinning" () and for the one born of God who "does not sin" (). Read as a way of life, those verses would contradict each other. And he cannot mean that every believer who sins is the devil's, because he has said every believer sins (). "Of God" and "of the devil" say where a deed comes from, not whether a person was ever saved. Sin comes from the devil, righteousness from God, and what a person does makes plain which is at work.
The words behind it
| Word | Where | Form | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει hoti sperma autou en autō menei, "for His seed remains in him" (Strong's 4690, 3306) | Noun; present indicative | The reason: God's own life is in him. | |
| οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται ou dynatai hamartanein, hoti ek tou theou gegennētai, "he cannot sin, because he has been born of God" (1410, 264, 1080) | Present infinitive; perfect passive indicative | What God fathers does not sin. | |
| ἁμαρτάνοντα hamartanonta, "sinning" (264) | Present participle | A brother, sinning. | |
| οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει ouch hamartanei, "does not sin" (264) | Present indicative, negated | The same verb, the same tense. | |
| ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία hē oikousa en emoi hamartia, "sin that dwells in me" (3611, 266) | Present participle with noun | Where a believer's sin comes from. |
Textual note. No textual variants affect the conclusion.