First John: 1 John 3:6a-The Believer is Never Sinning When They Are Experiencing Fellowship with Jesus Christ Lesson # 105

1 John 3:6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. (ESV)

“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “no one” (2) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (3) dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “Him” (4) articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb menō (μένω), “who abides” (5) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (6) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb hamartanō (ἁμαρτάνω), “keeps on sinning.”

The nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas means “any one, any person” since the word pertains to any one of a totality.

The word pertains to totality with emphasis on its individual components and here the word is of any person in the Christian community.

The verb menō here in 1 John 3:6 means, “to live” since the word pertains to experiencing fellowship with Jesus Christ.

The intensive personal pronoun autos means “Him” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and is the object of the preposition en which is a marker of association expressing the idea of the believer being in the state of experiencing fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ by means of their obedience to His teaching.

The present tense of the verb menō 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.

Therefore, the gnomic present of the verb is expressing the idea of the believer who “at any time does” live in fellowship with Jesus Christ is at that moment not sinning.

The present tense of this verb is a customary present tense or stative present, which is used to signal an ongoing state.

This would indicate any believer who does exist in the state of living in fellowship with Jesus Christ is at that moment not sinning.

The verb hamartanō means, “to sin” referring to any mental, verbal or overt act of sin that is contrary to the will and law of God.

The word’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou which expresses an absolute, direct and full negation.

The present tense of the verb hamartanō is a gnomic present which is used here 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, namely that any believer who does at any time live in fellowship with Jesus Christ is as an eternal spiritual truth never committing personal sin.

Therefore, these two words are expressing the idea that any believer who does at any time live in fellowship with Jesus Christ is as an eternal spiritual truth never existing in the state or condition of committing personal sin, whether mental, verbal or an overt act of sin.

1 John 3:6 Anyone who does at any time live in fellowship with Him is never sinning. Anyone who does at any time sin, never sees Him, nor knows Him experientially. (My translation)

The two assertions contained in this verse are communicating to the recipients of First John two more spiritual principles or spiritual axioms which are related to their fellowship with the Trinity.

They are absolute eternal spiritual principles that are true at any and all times.

They are spiritual axioms.

The first asserts that anyone or any believer who does at any time exist in the state of living in fellowship with Him is as an eternal spiritual truth never existing in the state of sinning.

The implication is that if a believer does at any time exist in the state of sinning, then they are absolutely never living in fellowship with Him.

The solution to the problem is to confess one’s sins to the Father as John taught in 1 John 1:9.

This restores them to fellowship with the Trinity and which fellowship is maintained by obedience to the Word of God.

“Him” is the intensive personal pronoun autos and is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and not the Father since the former is mentioned in 1 John 3:5 which asserts that John and the recipients of this epistle possessed the conviction that He Himself was revealed in order to eradicate their sins.

However, this sin nature absolutely does not exist in Him.

John 1:14-18 asserts that the Son of God came to reveal the Father which He did during His First Advent.

He was also the member of the Trinity and not the Father who became to resolve mankind’s problem with sin in relation to a holy God.

“Live” (menō) pertains to experiencing fellowship with Jesus Christ.

It is expressing the idea of the believer being alive in Christ and is also speaking of the believer maintaining himself or herself in Christ or finding their subsistence in Him.

The concept of occupying a place or dwelling in a place is found here in this verse in that the Christian is occupying or dwelling in Christ.

The idea of attaining eternal life is also expressed here by this verb in that the Christian experiences eternal life while in fellowship with Christ.

The concept of conducting one’s life is also present in that John is saying that the believer must conduct their life in fellowship with Christ.

The idea of having a life rich in experience is expressed by the verb menō as well in the sense that experiencing fellowship with Christ or conducting one’s life in fellowship with Christ by obeying His commands is a life rich in experience.

By using this verb, John is referring back to the Lord’s vine and the branches metaphor recorded in John 15:1-16 since the verb appears in John 15:4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 16.

The language of John in 1 John 2:3-6 where he uses verbs such as tēreō (John 15:10), menō and the noun entolē (John 15:10, 12) are taken from the language of our Lord in His vine and the branches metaphor, which John recorded in his Gospel.

This metaphor used by the Lord Jesus in John 15 illustrates the importance of remaining in fellowship with Him.

The prepositional phrase ἐν τούτῳ, “in Him” that appears 2 times in 1 John 2:3-5 and ἐν αὐτῷ in 1 John 3:6 are clearly alluding to our Lord’s use of the prepositional phrase ἐν ἐμοὶ, “in Me,” which appears 6 times in our Lord’s vine and the branches metaphor in John 15:1-11.

However, we must remember that John is not using the vine and the branches metaphor here in 1 John 3:6.

In John 15:1-16 the verb menō should be translated “remain” since the Lord is using the analogy of branch “remaining” on a vine in order to bear fruit.

However, here the best translation of the verb in 1 John 3:6 is “live” since it parallels the verb peripateō in 1 John 2:6 which speaks of conducting one’s life in a particular manner.

This is not the first time that John employs this verb μένω with the prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ to express the concept of living in fellowship with Jesus Christ since he uses this expression in the same manner in 1 John 2:6 and 28.

1 John 2:6 The one who at any time does say he is living in fellowship with Him, he must himself also conduct his life in the same manner as this One conducted His life. (Author’s translation)

1 John 2:28 Correspondingly, each one of you dear children must now continue to make it your habit of living in fellowship with Him so that each one of us would possess confidence whenever He has been revealed. Consequently, each one of us would not experience shame because of Him at His arrival. (Author’s translation)

As was the case in 1 John 2:6 and 28, the verb μένω and the prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him,” in 1 John 3:6 refers to the state of experiencing fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ by means of obedience to His teaching.

Although John does not employ the noun κοινωνία, “fellowship” in these three verse, these prepositional phrases do refer to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

In fact, in both prepositional phrases the preposition en is functioning as a marker of association expressing the idea of living in fellowship with Jesus Christ.

They are synonymous with our Lord’s expression “in Me,” which appears in His Vine and the Branches Metaphor recorded in John 15.

Therefore, we must not confuse this prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him” in 1 John 2:6, 28 and 3:6 with the prepositional phrases “in Him,” “in Christ,” “in Christ Jesus,” “in the Beloved,” which appear in Paul’s epistles since the latter describe something that is permanent and the former something which is dynamic.

These prepositional phrases in Paul’s writings speak of the church age believer’s eternal union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

On the other hand, the prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ, “in Him” in 1 John 2:6, 28 and 3:6 refers to fellowship with Jesus Christ, which is a dynamic meaning that this fellowship is lost due to sin but restored through the confession of sin and maintained by obedience to the Word of God.