1 John Study
Lesson # 15
The Sin Unto
Death
Introduction
In scripture there are many passages that are difficult to understand & this is one of them. There are almost as many different interpretations as there are words in the passage. One thing stands out very clearly; this passage is a severe warning to all Christians about the severe consequences of sin. We must always seek to walk ever so righteously & continually trust Jesus to grant us the power to overcome sin.
1. Several passages issue a severe warning about the
dangers of sinful behavior
a. 1 Cor.3:11-15 – speaks of the loss of all reward except bare salvation of self
b. 1 Cor.5:1-5 – behavior destroys the flesh
c. 1 Cor.9:27 – causes one to become a castaway
d. 1 Cor.11:29,30 – cause death of a believer
e. Heb.2:1-3; 12:25 – merits no escape
f. Heb.6:1-4 – prohibits one from ever repenting
g. Heb.4:1 – causes one to miss God’s rest
h. Heb.10:26,27 – prohibits future sacrifice for sin & merits terrible punishment
2. The sin unto death
a. Two basic positions
concerning the sin unto death
1) The sin unto death is only committed by one pretending to be a believer
2) The sin unto death can be committed by a believer
b. Word brother – can mean one who is a true believer or one who is making a
false profession – idea is church member
c. Words life & death must correspond – if it is spiritual life & eternal life that
God gives then the sin unto death has to refer to spiritual & eternal death.
In the context the life John speaks about is spiritual, so the death must be
spiritual. – Jn.5:12
d. Problem
passages
1) Jn.10:28,29 – no one can pluck them out of my hand
2) Rom.8:29 – one God foreknew He predestined
3) Phil.1:6 – God will finish the work He has begun in you
4) 1 Pet.1:5 – we are kept by God’s power
5) 2 Tim.1:12 – Persuaded He is able to keep what entrusted to Him
6) Jude 24,25 – able to keep you from falling
7) 2 Pet.1:10 – do these things you will never fall
e. There
is a difference between sinning willfully & sins of ignorance.
1) Heb.10:26; 5:2
2) Jesus spoke of the unpardonable sin – Mk.3:29
(attributing to Satan the manifest work of the Holy Spirit)
2
f. Barclay’s definition
1) Sin which is going toward death, if continued in must finish in death
2) It means – persistent; obstinate; deliberate; cold blooded; purposeful sin
3) Committed by the person who persists in; rejoices in; has no regret in;
glories in; boasts in; is proud of & delights in that sin
4) Quote
“Now in life it is a fact of experience that there
are two kinds of sinners....So long as a
man in his heart of hearts hates sin and hates himself for
sinning, so long as he knows
that he is sinning, he is never beyond repentance, and,
therefore, never beyond
forgiveness; but once a man begins to revel in sin, and to make
sin the deliberate policy
of his life, and loses all sense of the terror and the
awfulness of sin, and also the feeling
of self-disgust, he is on the way to death, for he is on the
way to a state where the idea of
repentance will not, and cannot enter his head.
“The sin unto death is the state of the man who has listened to
sin so often, and refused to
listen to God so often, that he has come to a state when he
loves his sin, and when he
regards sin as the most profitable thing in the world”
(The Letters of John and Jude, p.142).
3. Those who say that the sin concerns only physical death
a. They sin so deeply that God must discipline them severely & take them home
b. In spite of the pull of the Holy Spirit these believers will never repent.
1) They are so rooted in sin that their service on earth is forever ruined &
they are useless to the cause of God.
2) They have brought disrepute & dishonor to the name of Jesus
3) If allowed to live they will only continue to abuse the name of Jesus
c. God knows this & He still loves him or her & has determined that no believer
will be plucked from Jesus’ hand so He lovingly disciplines them & brings
about death & takes them home.
d. Several examples of such happenings
1) Moses death – Deut.32:48-52
2) Israel & the golden calf – Ex.32:1-35
3) Man who picked up sticks on
Sabbath – Num.15:32-36
4) Nadab & Abihu – Lev.10:1,2
5) Korah – Num.16:31-34
6) Achan – Joshua 7:16-26
7) Uzziah – 2 Sam.6:1-7
8) Ananias & Sapphira – Acts 5:1-11
9) Those taking Lord’s Supper unworthily – 1 Cor.11:27-30
e. Oliver Greene says:
“What is ‘the sin unto death’? The best place
to find the answer is in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. If you will
study 1 Cor. 11 in its entirety, you will find that some of the believers were
grievously misbehaving at the Lord’s table, making gluttons of themselves and
drinking until they became intoxicated....’for
this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (are dead).’
“Paul also warned the
Corinthian Christians that if they would judge themselves, repent of their
misbehaving in the house of God and straighten up, God would not be forced to
judge them; but if they did not judge themselves, God would have no alternative
but to judge and chasten them, that they should ‘not be condemned with the
world’ (1 Cor. 11:32).
3
“The ‘sin unto death’
therefore is continually rebelling against light. When a believer knows what he
should do, when he is convicted that he should do it, and yet he refuses to
obey the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, he is in danger of committing the sin
unto death.
“We have another instance of
this in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, when immorality was found in the church. A young
man had taken his father’s wife and was guilty of fornication. There are those
who will not agree that this young man was saved and had committed the sin unto
death, but Paul clearly told the other believers in the church what action they
should take in the matter:
“‘In the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of
Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an
one unto satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the lord Jesus’ (1 Cor. 5:4, 5).
“Beloved, it is clear that
the sin unto death has nothing to do with the salvation of the soul; it has to
do with the destruction of the body. Such a person will ‘suffer loss, but he
himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire’ (1 Cor. 3:12-15). All reward is
lost, and such a one will stand before God empty handed. What that will mean, I
confess I do not know; but according to the passage from 1 Corinthians, the
person who loses his reward will ‘suffer loss’ - not loss of soul and spirit,
but loss of eternal reward” (The Epistles of John, p.211).
Oliver Greene gives an excellent
illustration in the life of Abraham:
“But ‘there is a sin unto death,’ and when a
believer has committed that sin there is no point in praying for him. In the
life of Abraham we find an illustration of a time when it was useless to pray.
In Genesis 18:20-30 God revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom
and Gomorrah. Abraham knew that his nephew Lot and his family were living in Sodom,
so he drew near to God and asked, ‘Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with
the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou
also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?’
The Lord replied, ‘If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I
will spare all the place for their sakes.’ But there could not be fifty
righteous men found in all of Sodom - and Abraham continued to pray until the
number was reduced to ten - just ten righteous people in the great city of
Sodom. And the Lord said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.’ But God knew
that ten righteous ones could not be found in the city, and Genesis 18:33 tells
us that ‘the lord went his way,
as soon as He had left communing with Abraham.’
“With God there is a
stopping place, a limit; and Abraham had reached that limit in his intercession
for Sodom. God ceased communing with him and left him. What God actually said
in departing was, ‘Abraham, there is no need to pray any longer. There is no
need for you to make further request. Pray no more for Sodom, for that city
must be destroyed!’ When a city or an individual has committed such sin, there
is no reason for any Christian to pray for that city or that individual.
“There are times when we
should no longer pray for certain people, there are times when we should no
longer witness to certain people. Concerning things spiritual Jesus said, ‘Give
not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you’ (Matthew
7:6)” (The
Epistles of John, p.210f).
1. Whatever our position, we must always remember this: the answer to sin is repentance
and confession. As long as a person is still alive, he can repent and confess his
sin and God will forgive him and restore him into the fellowship of His dear
Son. As long as we are living, there is still hope; there is assurance of
forgiveness and cleansing if we will only repent and confess.
2. God always gives us the freedom to choose. Even as Christians we are free to choose.
No one can take us out of Jesus’ hand, but we can choose to leave Him. If we
continue to sin, it brings grave consequences & we must always be alert.