1 John 5:16-18
16 – 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.
17 – All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 – We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
Some try to use these verses to say that a believer can commit a certain sin that will eventually lead to death which they would say is to lose one’s salvation. Then they speculate as to what that sin or sins may be that leads to this loss of salvation. Many suggest these sins are things like rejecting your faith or wilfully living in sin. They have to speculate what this sin is that “leads to death” because John doesn’t explicitly say. The lack of clarity on what this sin is leaves these verses open for speculation. One must be careful though because you should never build a doctrine upon any scripture that is unclear.
These verses don’t actually say that a person can lose their salvation, they just say that there is a sin leading to death and that it seems possible for a brother to commit it. Now is does sound like John is saying that a brother can commit a sin that leads to death and therefore lose their salvation, however, when you understand the context you will see that it’s not what John is saying.
I believe John is making a distinction here between what is a true brother and what is a false brother. He does this in order to help these believers recognise false brothers and not be deceived by them nor allow them into their fellowship. There are some clues within these verses that reveal what John is really saying. Lets look at the clues and then we’ll put them all together to figure out the context to understand what is the “sin that leads to death”.
The first clue is that these verses seem to contradict themselves. Verse 16 says that a brother can sin whereas verse 18 says that someone who is born of God does not keep sinning.
Another clue is that there is “sin that leads to death” and there is “sin that does not lead to death”.
Then there are clues outside of this verse that help us too. In fact the entire chapter of 1 John 5 is talking exclusively about “those who believe in Christ are born of God” and “those who don’t believe in Christ are not born of God”. Verse 1 starts out by saying, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” Then verse 12 says, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
From these clues I would suggest that, when verse 16 says “brother”, it is using the term in a broad sense. In the sense of referring to anyone in the church who claims to be a brother. Not all who claimed to be brothers were in fact true brothers. This was the particular problem in this church. There were false brothers who denied Christ, who were purposely coming into the church seeking to deceive the true brothers and lead them away from Christ and into sensuality and error. John’s letter was written to help these believers distinguish the difference between true brothers and false brothers. A true brother may sin, but it doesn’t lead to death whereas a false brother sins unto death. So what is the sin that leads to death? I believe it simply is to “deny Christ”. Anyone who denies Christ is not born of God. They may come in and claim to be a brother but if they are committing the sin that leads to death, which is to deny Christ, then they are not born of God and not a true brother. If a believer sins, John says you can pray for God to “give them life” which is to help them in their sin. But if a brother is denying Christ, you cannot pray that God gives them life while they continue to deny Christ. They must first stop committing the sin of denying Christ, which leads to death, and confess Christ, then God can give them life. Then they will be born of God and will no longer sin, because anyone born of God “does not sin”. What sin? The sin of denying Christ. You simply cannot be born of God and continue to commit the sin of denying Christ. If you are born of God then it means that you have confessed Christ. Sure you may commit a sin of moral failure, as verse 16 says is possible for a believer to do, for which there is life and help from God, but you cannot continue to commit the sin of denying Christ or the sin that leads to death, which verse 18 is all about.
So there is no actual contradiction between verse 16 and 18. What appears as a contradiction is the very key that unlocks our scripture. A true born again believer can still commit moral failure, but a true born again believer cannot commit the sin of denying Christ. It’s impossible. John is effectively saying to these believers that anyone who is truly born of God cannot deny Christ, and you will see that this is consistent throughout the whole of 1 John. If someone in the church is calling themselves a brother and yet is denying Christ, do not pray for them as though they are a brother. You do not want to endorse their deception.
In conclusion, these verses are not about losing one’s salvation, they are about recognising someone who is truly born again and someone who is not regardless of if they appear to be a brother. Here John encourages the true brothers to pray for their true brothers if they see them struggling in sin and immorality. Pray for God’s strength and help. But do not pray for God to bless the deception of a false brother who is denying Christ.
Do you agree with this or do you have another take on the scripture? Let us know in the comments section below.
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God bless
Ryan
