“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
1 John 3:8-9 KJV
If you look for the fuller meaning of this in Jesus’ sermon recorded in John chapter 8 you see that the reasoning is that lies are not God’s way, but are the norm for Satan, so lies are a clear example of sin where those who lie as their norm are seen as bearing the makings of Satan rather than God. He goes on to include murderous hatred - hatred without due cause and hatred manifesting in enjoyment of harm and causing death - as the kind of sin which characterises Satan and those whose behaviour is outcome of Satan’s doing.
Obviously the true meaning of this passage is not a lie, coming as it does from the Son of Man who received His teachings from the Father who is only light with no darkness - but how you understand it and think about it might not itself be true. Some tend to twist its meaning to seek to accuse believers of being evil.
These ferocious, yet outwardly religious students of scripture should be careful how they explain the passage because it is easy to misinterpret it as saying that any wrong-doing at all means you are not a child of God.
We need to understand how people like John were writing, that it was not how people of western cultures write. It was more rhetorical: More about setting one viewpoint against another, less about being definitive.
John in the same epistle stated how to deal with children of God sinning so he was not saying children of God who sin are children of Satan. It is important to learn (from God) how to see it the way John saw it (John had learned it from Jesus and the Holy Spirit).
God does not approve of His children sinning. He does not endorse it. He is not accepting of it. He sees the devil’s influence in causing it. If all you do is sin then you are totally under Satan’s influence and control, like the world is. If you are born of God that level of sin will be gone from you. It is not to say it is so complete that you never sin. Jesus said about how bad it is if someone causes a child of God, a true disciple to sin. You can be caused to sin. It is possible. But sin is not permissible for you and must not be allowed to characterise you and if it does you are slave to that sin and need to be freed. The Son of Man sets people who believe free if they hold to His teachings which are liberating.
There are some who use this passage as accusers of the brethren, like their father the devil, but if they believe that Jesus is the Christ and hold to His teachings, they too will be set free by Him.
1 John 3:8-9 KJV
If you look for the fuller meaning of this in Jesus’ sermon recorded in John chapter 8 you see that the reasoning is that lies are not God’s way, but are the norm for Satan, so lies are a clear example of sin where those who lie as their norm are seen as bearing the makings of Satan rather than God. He goes on to include murderous hatred - hatred without due cause and hatred manifesting in enjoyment of harm and causing death - as the kind of sin which characterises Satan and those whose behaviour is outcome of Satan’s doing.
Obviously the true meaning of this passage is not a lie, coming as it does from the Son of Man who received His teachings from the Father who is only light with no darkness - but how you understand it and think about it might not itself be true. Some tend to twist its meaning to seek to accuse believers of being evil.
These ferocious, yet outwardly religious students of scripture should be careful how they explain the passage because it is easy to misinterpret it as saying that any wrong-doing at all means you are not a child of God.
We need to understand how people like John were writing, that it was not how people of western cultures write. It was more rhetorical: More about setting one viewpoint against another, less about being definitive.
John in the same epistle stated how to deal with children of God sinning so he was not saying children of God who sin are children of Satan. It is important to learn (from God) how to see it the way John saw it (John had learned it from Jesus and the Holy Spirit).
God does not approve of His children sinning. He does not endorse it. He is not accepting of it. He sees the devil’s influence in causing it. If all you do is sin then you are totally under Satan’s influence and control, like the world is. If you are born of God that level of sin will be gone from you. It is not to say it is so complete that you never sin. Jesus said about how bad it is if someone causes a child of God, a true disciple to sin. You can be caused to sin. It is possible. But sin is not permissible for you and must not be allowed to characterise you and if it does you are slave to that sin and need to be freed. The Son of Man sets people who believe free if they hold to His teachings which are liberating.
There are some who use this passage as accusers of the brethren, like their father the devil, but if they believe that Jesus is the Christ and hold to His teachings, they too will be set free by Him.
