First John: 1 John 3:4-The Believer Who Practices Sin, Practices Lawlessness Lesson # 102

1 John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (ESV)

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “everyone” (2) articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb poieō (ποιέω), “who makes a practice” (3) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία), “of sinning.”

The adjective pas means “everyone, anyone” since the word pertains to totality with emphasis on its individual components and here the word is referring to any member of the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia who were the recipients of First John.

The verb poieō means, “to practice” and its object is the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun hamartia, “of sinning.”

Therefore, this verb is expressing the idea of a member of the Christian community practicing sin.

The present tense of the verb poieō is a gnomic present which is not used to make a statement of a general, timeless fact but rather is used to describe something that is true any time and does take place expressing the idea of a believer who “at any time does” practices that which is constitutes sin.

The noun hamartia is used with reference to mental, verbal and overt acts of personal sin from the perspective that these acts miss the mark of the absolute perfection of God’s character, i.e. His holiness.

Therefore, this word speaks of any thought, word or action on the part of the Christian which is in disobedience to God’s laws.

“Also practices lawlessness” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “also” (2) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun anomia (ἀνομία), “lawlessness” (3) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb poieō (ποιέω), “practices.”

The conjunction kai means “correspondingly” since the word is functioning as a marker of correspondence which means that the clause which it introduces corresponds to the previous clause which speaks of a believer practicing sin.

Once again, we have the verb poieō which means, “to practice” but its object this time is the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun anomia, “lawlessness.”

Therefore, this verb is expressing the idea of a member of the Christian community practicing lawlessness.

The present tense of the verb poieō is a gnomic present, which is used for a general, timeless fact or specifically, a spiritual axiom or an eternal spiritual truth and is used to express an absolute statement that is true all the time.

It is expressing the idea that the believer who practices sin does “as an eternal spiritual truth” practice that which constitutes lawlessness.

The noun anomia means “lawlessness” since it pertains to conducting oneself with complete disregard and contempt for the laws and regulations of the law of God that govern society.

“Sin is lawlessness” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), which is not translated (2) articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία), “sin” (3) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (4) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun anomia (ἀνομία), “lawlessness.”

The conjunction kai is epexegetical meaning that it introduces an assertion which makes explicit the previous assertion that a believer who practices sin correspondingly practices lawlessness.

The verb eimi means “to possess a particular characteristic,” which is identified by the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun anomia, “lawlessness.”

Therefore, it expresses the idea of sin possessing the characteristic of lawlessness.

The present tense of the verb eimi is a gnomic present which is used for a general, timeless fact or specifically, a spiritual axiom or an eternal spiritual truth.

Here it is used to express an absolute statement that is true all the time expressing the idea that sin is “as an eternal spiritual truth” lawlessness.

1 John 3:4 Anyone who does practice that which constitutes sin correspondingly does practice that which constitutes lawlessness. In other words, sin is lawlessness. (My translation)

If you recall, in 1 John 2:28-3:10, the apostle John taught the recipients of this epistle that they will have confidence at the rapture of the church and subsequent Bema Seat Evaluation of the church by continuing to make it their habit of practicing righteousness.

In 1 John 2:29, he taught them that if they possess the conviction that God is righteous, then they know experientially that any person who does practice that which is truly righteousness has been fathered by Him.

However, in 1 John 3:1-3, the apostle John advances upon this thought of being fathered by God in that he discusses the benefits of being children of God.

In 1 John 3:1, he solemnly charged them to carefully consider what kind of love the Father has exercised toward them, namely that they have been effectually called to God’s children.

He then emphatically affirms they are children of God and it is for this reason that the world never recognizes them as such because it never recognized Jesus as God’s Son.

Next, in 1 John 3:2, he again affirms they are God’s children but what state they will be caused to exist in, has not yet been revealed to them.

The state he is referring to is that of being perfected in a resurrection body.

Then, John states that he and the recipients of this epistle possess the conviction that whenever this state has been revealed to them, they will be caused to exist in the same identical state as Jesus because they will see Jesus in a resurrection body.

Lastly, in 1 John 3:3, the apostle John states that he and the recipients of this epistle possess this confident expectation of being perfected in a resurrection body because Jesus promised to do this for all those who trust in Him as Savior.

This confident expectation purifies the believer in the sense that it motivates them to reject sin and to experience their sanctification.

Now, here in 1 John 3:4, the apostle John transitions from this discussion of the benefits of being a child of God back to his teaching regarding the practice of righteousness by discussing that which is antithetical to it.

In this verse, he teaches the recipients of this epistle that anyone who does practice that which constitutes sin correspondingly practices that which constitutes lawlessness.

Notice that he is marking the correspondence between practicing sin and that of practicing lawlessness.

They are one in the same in that to practice sin is equivalent to the practice of lawlessness and vice versa.

John then spells this out by asserting that sin is lawlessness.

Therefore, he is teaching the recipients of this epistle that committing sin is open defiance of God’s laws.

Here in verse 4, John is teaching the recipients of this epistle that since they are children of God, the practice of sin must never characterize them.

In other words, he is reminding them that they must live in a manner consistent with the fact that they are children of God, which would require that they practice righteousness.

The believer who practices sin at any time whether habitual or sporadic is living in a manner which is inconsistent with the fact that they are children of God.

Therefore, here in verse 4, the apostle is exhorting the recipients of this epistle to reject committing sin.

Sin must never characterize their lives.

Those whose lives are characterized by sinning will be disciplined by God (cf. Heb. 12:4-11; Rev. 3:19).

In fact, church discipline must be administered in love to those whose lives are characterized by sinning (cf. Matt. 18:15-17).

Furthermore, John teaches in 1 John 3:5-10 that the children of the devil are characterized by the practice of sin and the children of God are characterized by the practice of righteousness.

Consequently, the believer characterized by sin is aligning themselves with the devil and like the devil are opposing God openly.

The child of God must be characterized by moral purity and the rejection of sin.

Notice, I interpret the present tense of the verb poieō each time it is used here in verse 4 as a gnomic present which emphasizes when a believer “does” commit sin and not how often they sin since it is expressing a spiritual axiom or spiritual principle that is always true.

In 1 John 3:4, John is not referring to disobeying the various commands and prohibitions of the Mosaic Law when speaking of “lawlessness” but rather he is referring to the law of love which was communicated to the church by Jesus and the apostles.

He is thus referring to Jesus Christ’s command to love one another recorded in John 13:34-35 and 15:12-13.

In fact, this command to love one another is the heart of First John which is indicated by the letter’s chiastic structure meaning that the text of this epistle mirrors itself.