Why is prayer discouraged in this verse?

[smp501]

1 John 5:16

If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that is not a deadly sin, he has only to pray, and God will give life to this brother – provided that it is not a deadly sin. There is sin that leads to death and I am not saying you must pray about that.

Can somebody please explain this to me? I think I understand the mortal (deadly) vs venial sin thing, but what bothers me is where prayer is discouraged. I’ve been going to church (Reformed) my whole life and even went to Presbyterian school, and I’ve never heard this verse preached on. I assume this is because they teach that all sin is equal before God (Terrorism=Stealing a grape from the grocery store). The KJV uses slightly stronger language.

… There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it

What is wrong with praying for someone who is in mortal sin? Isn’t that what we are called to do? I’m so confused.

 

[GEddie]

Try the Ask An Apologist forum.

They are trained on the hard questions.

God Bless and ICXC NIKA

 

[JamestheOlder]

From the NAB (revised) on the USCCB web-site
usccb.org/bible/scripture.cfm?bk=1 John&ch=5

Prayer for Sinners.

13I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.j 14And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.k 15And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours. 16If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray.l 17All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.

18We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him.

Footnotes:

• [5:13–21] As children of God we have confidence in prayer because of our intimate relationship with him (1 Jn 5:14–15). In love, we pray (1 Jn 5:16–17) for those who are in sin, but not in deadly sin (literally, “sin unto death”), probably referring to apostasy or activities brought on under the antichrist; cf. Mk 3:29; Heb 6:4–6; 10:26–31. Even in the latter case, however, prayer, while not enjoined, is not forbidden.

---

Hope this helps. Seems like the “sin unto death” exceeds even “mortal” sin. In the case of apostasy, the person would have little help from others’ prayers (though not completely). The sin is so great that it requires special forgiveness from G-d, because it is a sin against G-d’s authority…not just against His laws.

Peace.

 

[Jesus_123]

**. . . :coffeeread: . . . **

“All sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”. Mark 3:29

All sins are forgivable with repentance. The “unforgivable sin”(Matthew 12:31-32) of blasphemy against the **Holy Spirit **is a sin committed by one who knowingly and willingly rejects the grace of conversion in this life. If one dies in this self-imposed state of unrepentance, he cannot be saved.

“Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a “right” to persist in evil—in any sin at all—and who thus rejects Redemption. One closes oneself up in sin, thus making impossible one’s conversion, and consequently the remission of sins, which one considers not essential or not important for one’s life. This is a state of spiritual ruin, because blasphemy against the **Holy Spirit **does not allow one to escape from one’s self-imposed imprisonment and open oneself to the divine sources of the purification of consciences and of the remission of sins.”

Why is blasphemy against the **Holy Spirit **unforgivable? How should this blasphemy be understood? Saint Thomas Aquinas replies that it is a question of a sin that is “unforgivable by its very nature”, insofar as it excludes the elements through which the forgiveness of sin takes place.

According to such an exegesis, “blasphemy” does not properly consist in offending against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross.

And the blasphemy against the **Holy Spirit **consists precisely in the **radical refusal to accept this forgiveness **of which he is the intimate giver and which presupposes the genuine conversion which he brings about in the conscience. If Jesus says that blasphemy against the **Holy Spirit **cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, it is because this “non-forgiveness” is linked, as to its cause, to “non-repentance”, in other words to the radical refusal to be converted.”

Dominum Et Vivificantem

*** - Peggy Frye
Catholic Answers Apologist***​

. . . all for Jesus+
. . . thank You Blessed Lord our Saviour+
. . . thank You Gracious Heavenly Father+
. . . thank You Sweet Spirit of our Holy God+​

 

[TimothyH]

What is wrong with praying for someone who is in mortal sin? Isn’t that what we are called to do? I’m so confused.

We can always pray for the conversion of sinners. But we need the sacrament of reconcilliation for forgiveness of mortal sin because mortal sin is one which breaks the covenant.

Venial sin is not “Sin unto death” becaue it does not break the covenant, and as such, it is humanly repairable. We can have sufficient contrition, pray, and be forgiven by God through our own prayer, or even through the prayer, pennance and sacrifice of another.

But mortal sin requires the sacrament.

-Tim-