For the 3rd Sunday of Easter of Series B, the three readings are Acts 3:11-21; 1 John 3:17 and Luke 24:36-49. The sermon to be preached this Sunday uses the text from 1 John 3:6, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.”
This is one of those passages that simply cannot be understood properly apart from the distinctions between Law and Gospel. The question to ask the congregation is whether any of them ever sin. If so, does that mean that you are neither abiding in Him as well as have neither seen Him nor known Him??? To make matters worse, in the SAME letter of 1 John, in chapter 1, verse 10, it is revealed that if you say you have not sinned, you are calling God a liar! These verses are a perfect example of why some consider the Bible to be filled with contradictions.
Of course, there are no real contradictions because though we have many writers of the Bible, we have only one Author–God Himself. Thus, faith assumes that what appears to be a contradiction is in reality a paradox. One of the finest works about the paradoxical nature of the Christian faith is Peter Kurowski’s “Seduction of Extremes.” It can be found at www.lawgospel.com.
So how does one go about revealing to others that what appears to be a contradiction is in reality a paradox? The principle key for that is context, context, context. Not only the immediate context but the entire book of the Bible as well as both the Old and New Testament books. To tell the truth, the apparent contradition of chapter 3 of 1 John is solved in chapter 1. Note well, that verse 9 does not say that God gets rid of your sins but rather first forgives them and then cleanses you from all unrighteousness.
It is that last phrase that is so misunderstood by theologians of self-glory who boast about being cleansed from sin by showing us their good works. This clearly confuses man’s idea of being cleansed with God’s revealed Word of what it means. To be cleansed according to Scripture is not to be rid of your sins but to be rid of the consequences of those sins. You are clean because due to the theology of the cross, Jesus Christ has taken away the punishment that should have been yours known as the curse of the Law. He paid that curse of separation from the Father (death) in order that you might never be forsaken by the Father.
The cleansing of the Holy Spirit according to Acts, chapter 2 involves not only the forgiveness of sins but also the gift of the Holy Spirit. That gift includes your body now becoming the temple of God as Jesus Himself dwells in you spiritually. In Romans 7, Paul clarifies that every Christian is both old Adam and new Man. That old Adam is the devil who does nothing but sin. That new Man is none other than Christ Himself Who does nothing but sinless good works known as the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Understanding that distinction clarifies chapter 3. For according to verse 9, that which is born of God is the new Man Who does not sin even though the old Adam continues to bring forth sin by the Christian. The Christian is at one and the same time both 100% sinner and 100% saint. That’s how God regards the believer in Christ. This simply distinction between our sinful nature and the new Man within us moves the third chapter of 1 John from contradiction to paradox. And it also comforts every believer with the knowledge of how God regards His children. Under the Law we are poor, miserable sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. But under the Gospel, in light of the cross of Christ, we are forgiven saints wearing His glorious robe of righteousness having been forgiven of every one of our sins with heaven as our sure hope!
Name:Tom Baker