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OCTOBER: Walking with God

October 25

SINLESS PERFECTION?

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning....Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.
1 John 3:8-9

The man or woman who is righteous will show that by living a righteous life; the one who is not righteous shows it by not living a righteous life. That is why this reference to the devil is so significant: “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.” That is his characteristic, his nature, his habit; that is his way of living. That is the thing that is so true of the devil: He sins from the beginning; he goes on sinning. “And that man,” John says in essence, “who goes on sinning is therefore the man who is proclaiming that he has the kind of nature that the devil has. He does not have the new nature that the Christian has.”

We must remember that the apostle here is speaking about all Christians. Now some of the people who believe in sinless perfection tell us that the apostle here is only talking about some Christians. But at this point they become inconsistent, because they forget the message of verse 6; they say he is only speaking about some, but John is speaking about all Christians: “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.” If a man does not abide in Christ, he is not a Christian at all; to be a Christian means to be abiding in Christ. Now there are some who would have us believe that you can be a Christian without abiding in Christ, but surely that denies the whole doctrine of rebirth. We are in Christ or we are not, and if we are not in Christ we are not Christians at all. “If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9); if we have not been born of the Spirit, we are not Christians. You cannot be in Christ one day and out the next; every Christian is in Christ and abides in Him. John is not only speaking to certain Christians—he is speaking to all Christians.

A Thought to Ponder
We must remember that the apostle here is speaking about all Christians.

From Children of God, pp. 76-77.




Today’s devo is taken from Walking with God Day by Day © 2003 by Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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Walking with God Archive

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