Can we really sin?

[StephenL]

I know this is going to sound like a dumb question but ca1 John 3: 3 - 9) “Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ. Any one who sins at all breaks the law, because to sin is to break the law. Now you know that He appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in Him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen Him or known Him.
can a Christian really sin?

 

[marty1818]

anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen Him or known Him.

Yes, Christians sin. This is talking about living a life of sin. Christians who live in God do not live lives that are dominated by sin. If you do live a life of sin, then you do not know Him.

 

[CatholicRaven]

“anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen Him or known Him.”

Yes, Christians can and do sin. The point is that we are not to keep on sinning, nor to stay in our sin, but to reconcile and keep trying to avoid sin. When we stay close to God (live in Him), it’s easier to avoid sin. Just like it’s easier to avoid offending a friend the better you know them and the more you care about them.

It’s not saying that if you sin once and repent, you never were really Christian, or you’re not Christian any more. It’s saying that if you don’t keep trying to avoid sin, if you choose to stay in your sin, then your sin will change your perspective, and you will not see God as you did before. You will probably begin to doubt God’s existence, perhaps doubt that you ever really knew God in any way. For instance, we might say things like, “Well, I believed in God before, but now I know that we can’t really know whether God exists or not, because we can’t prove it (scientifically).”

According to Clarke’s Commentary on this verse: “It is no unusual thing with this apostle, both in his gospel and in his epistles, to put occasionally the past for the present, and the present for the past tense. It is very likely that here he puts, after the manner of the Hebrew, the preterite for the present: He who sins against God doth not see him, neither doth he know him - the eye of his faith is darkened, so that he cannot see him as he formerly did; and he has no longer the experimental knowledge of God as his Father and portion.”

Hope that helps!

 

[CrossofChrist]

I know this is going to sound like a dumb question but ca1 John 3: 3 - 9) “Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ. Any one who sins at all breaks the law, because to sin is to break the law. Now you know that He appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in Him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen Him or known Him.
can a Christian really sin?

Yep. Those who go to Mass every Sunday and receive Communion, and consistently pray to God don’t as often though. We can’t sin and remain “in Christ”, meaning we aren’t in full communion with the Lord and should go to Reconciliation.

 

[TimothyH]

I know this is going to sound like a dumb question but ca1 John 3: 3 - 9) “Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ. Any one who sins at all breaks the law, because to sin is to break the law. Now you know that He appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in Him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen Him or known Him.
can a Christian really sin?

St. John also wrote the following in the first chapter of that same book.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

The most important think I have learned during the years I have spent reading and studying scripture is that it is a unified whole. No verse or passage can be interpreted apart from the rest of Scripture.

-Tim-

 

[MarcoPolo]

I think this proverb is useful in confirming the above replies:*for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. (Prov. 24:16)*It confirms the idea that what John would be talking about when he referred to someone who “sins” is not just someone who commits a sin and repents, but someone who “sins” in the sense of someone who doesn’t repent or “rise again” as the proverb goes.