"If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death." 1 John 5:16-17
In regards to this scripture, I have been dwelling on it all week...its been interesting. At first glance, I immediately thought about venial and mortal sins I have learned about in the Catholic Church. Basically, they believe there are certain "levels" of sins. It goes back to the age of Medieval church that collected indulgences; they would rank sin and the worse it was, the more money the people would have to pay. I do not know if I believe in hierarchy of sin, I definitely believe in different types of sin, but sin is sin is sin is sin. Anyways, I dont really want to get into that, back on track...
I have heard it said this sin that "leads to Death" is the sin of turning away from God. BUT, I just do not know if anyone could/would turn away from God if they ever experienced him in the first place! How/why would anyone who has actually, truly experienced God turn away from him? We were created to desire Him, so why on earth would we ever turn away from Him if we actually tasted even a bit of the Love we were created to crave relationally. This is why I think anyone who "turns away from God" never actually ever fully opened their heart to Him in the first place. Not entirely sure.
"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him and he CANNOT keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." 1 John 3:8-10
I think we really have to read the whole context of this book to understand what John was trying to say, so I have been reading it a lot. Heres an excerpt that stuck out:
"By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we BELIEVE in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and LOVE one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever KEEPS his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." 1 John 3:19-24
John is not emphasizing how he wants us to dwell on figuring out levels of sin or judging the sins of others. The simple fact is, I think he wants us to see and know the Hope of Christ as our Advocate and propitiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1-6). Although we were created "of the truth," God knows we have fallen and have sinful nature...He is asking us to realize we are sinners and to acknowledge and seek help from each other for accountability, but more importantly from Christ. Back to 1 John 5:16, we have to be willing to love someone by calling them out and/or praying on behalf of them for God's grace and forgiveness. Simply put, we must BELIEVE in his Son's grace and forgiveness and therefore, LOVE each other because He first loved us.
Furthermore, our job is to define and discover exactly what "believing in Jesus" and "loving one another" looks like for each of us. There is not always a precise easy formula for loving others and believing in God. Circumstantially, its always changing, but we always have guidelines (scripture) to find hints and clues. For instance, sometimes to "love" others best could mean hugs and kisses, ponies and fairies:), but other times it means letting someone fall so they can learn to pick themselves back up again...Tough love. But sometimes its okay to help someone up because they may need help learning...circumstances always change, but the Holy Spirits guidance is always loyal and consistent.
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