The Sin Unto Death | 1 John 5:16-17

1 John 5:11-17 in Full Context

All right, let's turn together in our Bibles to back over to 1st John chapter 5. 1st John chapter 5. I want to read once again starting in verse 11 to get the fuller context of the passage and to help us unpack this challenging passage today.

God's Word says 1st John 5 11 and the witness is this that God gave us eternal life and This life is in his son. He who has the son has the life he who does not have the Son of God does not have that life.

These things I've written to you to you I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life and This is the confidence which we have before him that if we ask anything according to his will He hears us and if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask We know that we have the requests which we have asked from him.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin Not leading to death He shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should make requests for this all unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not leading to death.

This is God's Word. Amen so I first wanted to Wish everybody. I hope everybody had a blessed 4th of July and time of Fellow family and and fellowship and of commemorating our country's history. It's actually not irrelevant to our church because since we struck we are a free church the the day of independence is actually pretty significant because of the the First Amendment and all those things that our country sought independence for religious freedom and Rather than be tied to the state church or some state religion as it was in England at the time, so it's a it's a neat opportunity to commemorate those things and to study those things and to learn more about our country's history and our our reformed history Protestant history because a lot of these men who came over here were Protestants who wished to worship God according to their conscience and not according to what the state religion dictates so very important things to to become familiar with.

Competing Interpretations of the Sin Unto Death

Now that being said We last Lord's Day we dealt with these challenging verses in 16 through 17 of this chapter and we saw that the text is not explicitly clear about The who's and the what's and the pronouns the he's and the hymns in the passage.

So it makes it more difficult to interpret from our perspective and We're also seeing that the various interpretations of this passage tend to reveal this is very important to understand because The different ways of interpreting this passage reveal underlying religious traditions and religious biases so to speak and They can be either good or bad.

They can help us to understand the passage truly correctly. Or they can twist the passage Significantly even to our own to potentially to the to the individuals destruction. Like last week we saw the examples of mortal sin and venial sin from the Roman Catholic Church, which is Not at all biblical.

Because it's also tied to us a whole host of different doctrines that are also unbiblical in their system of religion so We can see from the sermon title for today The the focus is going to continue to be the sin unto death.

The sin unto death, but in particular I left us with a bit of a cliffhanger last time because We discarded the two interpretations that were least likely. But this Lord's Day, I want to focus on the two interpretations that are most likely that are most likely the correct ones and so.

And when I say that I don't mean like well, we can't really know what this text says. No, we can have pretty good a pretty good sense of what it says it's just that certain things are a little difficult to to fully land on because of the grammar and the the The lack of explicitness from the Apostle in this text.

So there are some challenges, but they can we can work to overcome them now the focus Therefore needs to be on the best interpretation and on the definitions. The key terms and there are several here that we have to consider like we saw last time.

Who is the brother sinning? Who is that brother referring to who are the pronouns the he's and the hymns? Who is? Who is the one sinning present ongoing right sinning unto death and sinning not unto death.

Who are those individuals? What kind of death and life are we talking about? Physical death and life or eternal death in life, etc. Who commits the sins? Who commits the sins and I apologize. I meant to say whether the.

Yeah, whether the sinning was ongoing or not and who commits the sins unto death and not unto death and What those sins actually are what are those sins unto death and not unto death. And who we should pray for and or not pray for very important to understand These to answer these questions because if we don't answer all of these questions, we are not going to understand the passage correctly we need to know and answer these questions and We began to answer some already previously if you recall that.

While we should pray for sinning brothers to Christians who sin not unto death we are not required to pray. For those who sin unto death. Even though we still have the option to pray for them. We're not we're not forbidden from praying for them, but we don't we're not required like we saw and also another important distinction that we saw is That This is another question.

Actually. Is it one sin or many sins specifically that are not unto death or unto death and We previously saw that it's not necessarily a single particular sin. It's Unto or not unto death but like the text Says literally there is sin unto death and there is sin not unto death.

It's not a particular sin it's sin in a more general sense. Because the Apostle this is very important to understand the Apostle is dealing more so with generalities sin in general than with specifics in Some sense and that's why it's a little harder to pin down because he's not being explicit or specific about Certain these things he's he's broadening the perspective more.

He's making it more general more generally Applicable in a sense Speaking in general terms, so An important question that we obviously need to ask is how do we determine the correct interpretation? Because it can't mean whatever we want it to mean.

Obviously a Has-to-mean it can only mean one certain thing one a specific thing. And so the we we see we've seen that the best interpretation is the one that fits the immediate context and the key terms consistently without making unwarranted unwarranted assumptions or deductions That are invalid that are logically invalid and with which also minimizes speculation.

Speculation is when you're just throwing things in there or throwing things out there that the text does not warrant Necessarily, and so you're just taking a guess but it's speculation because it doesn't really say it doesn't say so we want to minimize speculation and on and any get rid of any unwarranted or illogical assumptions or deductions from the text and this will make it because these things will make the Our interpretation less tenable or less likely to be the case true.

When you when you have too much speculation or Especially if you have unwarranted Deductions, which are invalid or assumptions Assumptions that cause you to misinterpret the passage or read into the passage.

What's not there in terms of eisegesis, so Logically speaking this means that we need to our interpretation must be logically consistent. It must be logically consistent within the immediate context and the context of the whole Bible.

Because words have meaning They don't just mean whatever like like I mentioned they mean something and they have to mean something that's consistent and definite in the in the immediate context and in the larger context of Scripture as a whole based on the analogies both of Scripture and of faith.

So that Scripture is consistent with the rest of Scripture and does not contradict other parts of Scripture. Nor does it contradict the doctrines that Scripture teaches us in any place. As well as the testimony of the faithful church, which helps us and guides our understanding.

Meaning that we should also not be coming up with novel Interpretations that nobody has ever come up with before that's that's more than likely a false interpretation because the church has been In existence for thousands of years so we should not Overlook what the church historic has To say and help us with in these matters.

The Third View: Physical Death for Believers

So then on to the interpretations that we are going to try to Figure out which one makes the most sense. Now also recall the pronouns he and him. What do they refer to we saw that? God is the giver of life, right?

God is the giver of life to the sinning brother. He the petitioner should ask and he God will grant life to him to the sinning brother. Namely to those who sin not unto death. So those pronouns are important to nail down Off To lay down that groundwork that we need to establish this gives us a better sense of direction of where we need to go With the rest of the passage.

So versus I Want to excuse me. I want to read from verses 16 and 17 again, which say if anyone sees his brother committing or sinning Ongoing a sin not leading to death or not unto death. He shall ask and he or God Will give life to him to those who commit sin not leading to death.

There is a sin to death. I do not say that he should make a request for this that he the petitioner should make a request for this all Unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not leading to death in a general sense.

So then We saw that the first view was Easily pretty easily discarded because it's it says that a believer commits both the sins unto death and not unto death. But that the believer That sins unto death ends up apostatizing or falling away from the faith but this as we know denies God's preservation of all true believers as The psalm says the Lord preserves the souls of his saints.

He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked and. So that's very clear. That's very clear so. Not not that's not consistent with the testimony of Scripture.

And in fact on top of that 1st John 5 18 through 19 actually parallels that psalm. Because it says we know that no one who has been born of God sins. But he who was begotten of God that is Christ keeps him Keeps him preserves him and the evil one does not touch him Does not touch him.

We know that we are of God and that the whole world by contrast lies in the power of the evil one. But we do not because God the Son the triune God and especially the Son keeps us keeps us preserves us.

Amen so we saw that the second view also is not very consistent with Scripture because It says that an unbeliever professing Christian is a perfect or a professing Christian Commits both sins unto death and not unto death.

But this one is particularly It causes the most problems because it creates two unbiblical types of both unbelieving sins and sinners. So it's not it's it just creates too many problems. Because those who sin unto eternal death by apostatizing and those who still sin but not unto eternal death they do not apostatize which sounds a Lot like the views of the Roman Catholic Church, which are simply just not they're not biblical.

They're not biblically consistent With what the Bible teaches about sin. So and I wanted to make a correction from the previous Lord's Day because I had referred to Revelation 21 8 regarding this which says but for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and Sorcerers and idolaters and all liars.

Their part will be in the lake in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. But I had I had missed I misspoke by saying that None of these sinners will inherit the lake of fire.

And of course I meant to say that they will not inherit eternal life so because all of these unrepentant sinners will will ultimately sin unto death and so the second death and Now this brings us to the the two most likely views.

The third view is that a believer commits Both sins unto death and not unto death the believer a true believer commits both sins unto death not unto death and that God may discipline the believer sinning unto death with physical death or The sin itself may lead to physical death.

So it's talking about Physical life and death in this according to this understanding and then the fourth view. The fourth view is a believer Who commits the sin not leading to death? But the unbeliever commits sin that leads to death.

So there's a distinction there between the two the ones who commit those two types of sins. Now let's go with the third one. The third one is that believers can both sin unto death and not unto death.

Right and I want to read Gordon Clarke's translation of this passage because it's a it's a more helpful rendering of What it says what did it what the passage intends? It says if anyone sees his brother sinning ongoing a sin Not unto death He the petitioner shall ask.

And he God will give him the sinning brother life. To those who sin not unto death there is sin to death. I do not say that he should ask concerning it. All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not unto death.

Right, so the true believer can be sinning either unto physical death or not Unto physical death. That's what this interpretation says and The three other views that we saw Actually affirm that life and death are both eternal in this passage.

So this view is unique in that respect it's the only view that says that it's both physical death and Not physical death or physical life as well and there are some examples of this in Scripture of Sinning brothers who end up dying as a result of their sin like Ananias and Sapphira right in Acts chapter 5.

Or the incestuous Corinthian Who was With his father's wife and Whom Paul commanded to the the church to deliver Such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

So this could also refer to physical death in that regard so that his flesh may be destroyed but that his spirit may be saved and Those and it could also refer to those other Corinthian Christians who had fallen asleep or they had died because they profaned the Lord's Supper bar by partaking in an unworthy manner and They were therefore judged with death according to 1st Corinthians 11 so this the Bible doesn't talk about these particular types of cases where sin can lead to death or it could also even be Sexual sin because the the one who sins against his sexually sins against his own body as well, right?

So we have to there's those things to consider as well and There are There are some who take this view. I think MacArthur's takes this view in particular. And And it appears it appears to be doctrinally sound it appears to be sound and Consistent and straightforward, right?

It's pretty straightforward and it also affirms God present God's preservation of the Saints because it's not saying that the believer can fall away or Lose his salvation or his faith and also It's not one particular sin, which fits the context.

It's just it could be a variety of sins that lead to death or that do not lead unto death. Which is what the text says there is sin unto death Not a sin and there is sin not unto death in the Greek it doesn't have the the definite article there a a sin and.

And furthermore This view also explains that this that the sinning Chris Christian Receives life from God in the physical sense in that he has spared from physical death when he is sinning not unto death and Because all believers all believing brothers already have eternal life.

So that makes a little more sense. Why would God give eternal life to a true believer if he already has it. So this seems to make at least in that regard make better sense that it's pointing to physical life primarily As opposed to eternal life.

So, okay that it seems to have a good good merits there and makes it seems to make good sense. So with that being said are there any objections to this view that we need to consider now? Think let's think carefully through this because this is important to to make sure that we Judge rightly and land on the correct understanding.

One of the issues. One of the problems with this understanding is that it may not be consistent with the immediate context of the passage. And in some sense with the entire thrust of John's letter when he's talking about life and death.

He is pretty much almost always referring to eternal life and death so Even though verses 16 through 17 Do not explicitly Refer to eternal life and death. But every other time just about that John pairs life and death together in this letter.

They refer to eternal life and eternal death. So there's several several verses first John 1 1 and 2 2 25 3 14 and 15 and If we see again the original the the text that we read for today Starting in verse 11.

That's why I wanted us to read it in full context because we see right there what it's pointing to. We're starting at verse 11. It says and the witness is this that God gave us what he gave us eternal life.

Right. He gave us eternal life and this life this eternal life is in his son. He who has the son has the life which life eternal life. He who does not have the son does not have that life that eternal life.

So that that's pretty clear and then verse 13 goes on. These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have what? Eternal life amen eternal life and then in.

And then further down further down. It's it says The Apostle restates it once more in Towards the end of the letter in 1st John 5 20 it says which says. And We know We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding.

So that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son Jesus Christ. This is the true God. And what? Eternal life. Eternal life so before and after the Apostle is talking about eternal life.

It's very clear. So this understanding of physical life and death therefore Does not appear to fit the context as well. So that's one issue that we have to consider and then likewise death death in in the letter also Appears to refer to eternal death primarily so such as a 1st John 3 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life Death eternally and into life eternal because we love the brothers.

Whoever does not love however abides in death abides in death and This is pointing to eternal death. Because Passing out of death and into life is referring to eternal death and life so. Okay, are there any more problems that we have to consider?

Well, yes, there's still a few more. Because if you'll find You'll see that while John identifies The first sinner as a brother You know the the brother sinning. He does not he does not on the other hand Explicitly identify the second sinner as a brother.

There's no explicit mention of him being a brother. So therefore we cannot necessarily Conclude that he is a brother. That's speculative, right? That that makes it more speculative and makes it less likely to be the case because It doesn't say explicitly it's not necessarily warranted that it is a brother that is sinning unto physical death or unto death.

So that's another issue that we have to wrestle with. But here is what's more than likely. This is this what this is what I think is the most the most difficult problem With this understanding this interpretation and this issue is what basically convinced me of it of this third view Not being the right one.

It has what you might call in Achilles Achilles heel at the end of verse 16 a Difficulty that I don't I don't think you can reconcile and that is that Verse the end of verse 16 says there is sin unto death.

There is sin unto death. I do not say that he should ask concerning it or in other words I do not say that he should make requests for this, but I do not forbid it either. He doesn't forbid Praying for those sinning unto death.

He doesn't forbid it. So the Apostle does not explicitly prohibit prayers for those who do sin unto death. However this interpretation Therefore would not explicitly prohibit prayers to sinning brothers who have already died Because they sinned unto physical death right.

So if it's okay to pray for those sinning unto death, well, then that would mean that it's okay for those brothers who sinned and died after the fact and That's a problem this this could this interpretation could lead to that implication that Would allow prayers for deceased saints who sinned unto death.

That's a big issue and this issue is the one that really the other two problems are pretty compelling, but this one just kind of this kind of just closed the book for me and That it doesn't seem to be it seems too difficult to to Properly fit into the the context of Scripture all of Scripture and what Scripture says about It is appointed for man to die once and then comes what then comes judgment.

There's no there's no pleading for for individuals after you have died Physically or eternally for that matter so That's I think a big Too big of a problem to hold on to that third view this brings us to the very last few now.

The Fourth View: Unbelievers Unto Eternal Death, Believers Unto Life

Which is that a believer? Commits the sin or the sinning on not unto death and an unbeliever commits sin or is sinning Unto eternal death, okay. Again, if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death He shall ask and he God will give him the sinning brother life to those who sin not unto death.

There is sin unto death. I do not say that he should ask concerning that all unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not unto death right, so I Forgot to mention also that all unrighteousness is sin and therefore all unrighteousness merits the guilt and the wrath of God.

So that's another important thing to consider. So this understanding does appear in some respect to fit the local context better. Because of what we just saw that the Apostle when he talks about eternal life and life and death He specifically refers to eternal life and death throughout consistently throughout the letter.

So that the sin that leads to death is any sin that an unbeliever commits. But especially that is commits by not being forgiven and with unrepentance and eventually can die and perish eternally, but Especially in the context of first John it can refer to the apostasy to a sin a Person who claims to be a Christian but then falls away and apostatizes such as the falling away of the false teachers and Antichrist.

Which is what John deals with specifically in this letter? In this letter and Because that is more apparently decisive in this life. When you when you turn away or abandon the faith? So all things considered then.

So far this appears to be the most doctrinally robust balanced and sound interpretation of this passage. Because even though believers still sin They are more characterized by their repentance confession reconciliation and so on.

Then by unrepentance or unbelief and especially not by apostasy because A true believer cannot sin unto eternal death. That's impossible. Because he who began a good work and you will finish it Psalm the psalm 97 10 again.

God preserves his saints. He preserves them to the very end and We will persevere by virtue of God's mercy and grace a means of grace so. What it's it's just as uh. It's what first John 2 19 through 20 talks about.

They the Antichrist went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they were of us, they would have remained with us. They would have stayed with us, but they went out so that it would be manifested that they all are not of us.

They never were but you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know who believe. Right, so that brings us to another question then how do we judge apostasy? How do we judge it? And how do we react?

How do we respond to it biblically? Because this is a very serious matter and There are Protestants. There are several Protestants. This is probably the main understanding of the Protestant view such as I Think it's John Cotton or Cotton Mather.

I Think it was John Cotton actually and Gordon Clark and many others who say that Knowledge and motive are the two main criteria. For for determining the the sin of apostasy. How much knowledge you had and and what your motive were?

Motives were. Did you have malice? Malintent with your actions. So that the more, you know, and the more you seek to reject and sway others with hypocrisy and or false teaching the more likely you are committing the sin of apostasy and Ironically, if you recall I read the Catechism of the Catholic Church last time which says That mortal sin is sin whose object is Grave and serious matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.

So they actually kind of state this correctly in a certain respect however, of Course sadly, it's a superficial agreement because they have a completely different gospel altogether, which is not another gospel.

There's only one true gospel and they reject it according to the Council of Trent and several other Statements that they have made officially and They further claim that you can still exercise your free will to turn back after committing mortal sin.

So that's an even bigger contradiction there. Even though the Bible clearly warns that there is no turning back from these kinds of sins from certain sins or from sin unto death unto eternal death. Like The passage says this brings us now to the warning passage in Hebrews turn with me now beloved to the chapter 6 of Hebrews Verses 4 through 8.

Let's go to Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 8 this will shed some light on this type of issue with these kinds of sins. Because the Bible does clearly distinguish Certain sins and it also Christ warned that if you commit certain sins, you will receive a stricter or worse punishment.

You can become even a twofold son of hell like he told the Pharisees and scribes so Hebrews 6 verse 4. For in the case of those once Having been enlightened They had knowledge and Having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit in some sense Not in the true sense, but in some sense because they partook in the fellowship of God's people and so on the Lord's Supper and whatever else and Having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come but What else does it say?

Having fallen away. It is impossible it is impossible notice a language to renew them again to repentance. Since they again crucify them To themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame. You cannot re-crucify Christ.

Which is also to contradict the Roman Catholic doctrine of the mass. Because they reoffer the sacrifice of Christ over and over again in order to atone for sin that is to completely violate what scripture says about The sin of falling away from the faith, which we understand they never really were in the faith.

Verse 7. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation. Useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled. Receives a blessing from God but if it yields thorns and thistles bad fruit.

It is unfit and close to being cursed and its end is to be burned. Its end is to be what is this talking about beloved this is talking about eternal perishing in the lake of fire and brimstone. It's eternal death.

Right. So this is what we have to take into consideration. So, okay, this sounds very compelling it sounds very good now. All of that being said what about the objections to this understanding this interpretation are there any that we need to consider now and.

And There are actually some difficulties so neither interpretation is without difficulty. That's just part of the nature of this passage with its with its with the grammar and all of those things the lack of explicit Statements that make it more difficult to understand rightly.

So One issue is that apostasy is not clearly mentioned in The passage in 1st John it just says sin unto death. It says sin unto death. Therefore it's implied. We're cut. It's kind of implying that there there.

That that's what it's pointing to. Even though there may be some local context that justifies it because the the letter does say hey. This is what when it's talking about life and death. It's pretty much always talking about eternal life and death.

So, okay, it's not explicit even though you could you could basically deduce it and not necessarily in an invalid or an unwarranted Way, so, okay, that's but that's a potential difficulty there now. There's another difficulty.

Here's here's a pretty significant one. What does it mean that God will give life? To the brothers who sin but not unto eternal death. What does that mean since they are already Christians who already have eternal life.

So, how could God give eternal life to a believer Who sins not unto death, but they already should have eternal life because he who believes Has eternal life now, that's what first John repeatedly says, right?

We don't have it later. We have it now. So that's a major issue with this understanding this interpretation. There's a difficulty here with how do we make sense of it pointing to eternal life? Because it's a parallel right if one of it if one of them is eternal the other one should parallel the other.

So then okay, how does how do we make sense of that? And not only that because some people try to say well, it's just reaffirming that they have eternal life. But it says that God will give life. That God will give life and therefore eternal life.

To the brothers who sin but not unto death or eternal death so and That suggests that they did they didn't have it before. Right, that could be another you could say that well, he's giving it to them because they previously did not have it.

So there's an issue there. There's a there's a struggle there that there's a there's a difficulty there that we need to reconcile but Let's consider this. For God to give life in this particular context May be rightly understood as God reaffirming the promise of eternal life.

The promise of eternal life right to the sinning brother through repentance through repentance. Resulting in leaving. In leaving the temporary blindness or darkness of his sin his on his sinning. Right and now because of repentance He clearly walks in the light of eternal life that we believers have now once again.

So you could see it potentially in that regard. That it's talking about giving life in the sense of repentance Unto life like the confessions also explain and talk about repentance unto life which not only refers to salvation but also also to ongoing sanctification and mortification of Putting sin to death and of growing in holiness.

Right, so. Okay that that sounds like it could be more a reasonable thing to understand in this passage. Right so. Because we know that you can't lose your salvation. That's just not possible and you can't you can't lose it and then regain it and that this whole He loves me he loves me not game that a lot of false churches and teachers play.

Do you like the Catholic Church says even including them but There is so okay. So this brings us to a very important lesson because this this reveals an interpretive key that helps us to understand the passage rightly and the key is The the doctrinal principle of the already and not yet.

There's a doctrinal principle of the already and not yet because Yes, we have eternal life when we believe but it's not fully realized yet. It's it's not it's already here in the sense that we have it.

But it hasn't been fully realized yet so because so then this passage in verses 16 to 17 it points to eternal realities and Destinations. But that are not yet fully realized because it's talking about Believers in the present tense in this life sinning Not unto death and to unbelievers sinning unto death.

So there's an already and not yet that it's pointing us to there's present ongoing realities, but that are pointing to ultimate realities eternal realities and And yet nevertheless they still presently evidence In the lives of believers who sin not unto death eternal life and of unbelievers who sin unto death and How they respond because they do not repent.

They do not believe and they therefore are not forgiven. So Therefore that that's what this principle helps us to see that more clearly. It's an already not yet. That's why there's a there's a there's a tension there because of the way it's describing this issue these sins.

They're ongoing present tense now but it's also pointing to the ultimate destination of these individuals and It also Shows us the cycles of our sin and how we respond to it or deal with it. Either as believers or as unbelievers either with repentance with godly sorrow leading to repentance and Mortification which is what the first John tells us to do right coughs Confessing our sin abstaining from sin walking in the light walking in the light Fellowship being with one another and with God and striving to for holiness so this is.

Okay, I think it's starting to come together now more clearly. And likewise those who do not repent when they sin and therefore sinning unto death. Because they are they have they may have sorrow but it's worldly sorrow like Esau sorrow and they do not ultimately Repent and They are not forgiven Ultimately.

But that is a set especially evident in those who apostatize or fall away from the faith. Right, so that's what we have to realize and and understand rightly. So then having established that the passage does not Explicitly keeping this in mind.

Here's another issue though. Because we know that the passage does not does not explicitly prohibit prayers for those who sin unto death. Right. It doesn't prohibit it which if it's ultimately apostasy.

Especially by those who willingly and knowingly preach a different gospel and are declared inathema by God in this life. Therefore they are condemned eternally in this life. Okay, so this is another big difficulty.

How then can we pray for them when God's? declares them to be anathema in this life. It makes less sense to pray for them in light of numerous biblical warnings and in some cases outright condemnations against such sins and apostasy.