Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Monday, 05 August 2024 09:08

Praying for Sinful Brothers

by Sarah Wootten Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

One of the basic truths of the Christian faith is that all sins deserve the punishment of death (Romans 6:23). Because God is holy, just, and righteous, all sin must be punished. No disobedience is small enough to escape God’s wrath. However, John wrote, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; l do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death,” (1 John 5:16-17, ESV).
So some sins don’t lead to death? Isn’t that a contradiction to Romans 6:23? Initially, we may wonder if John is in agreement with the rest of the Bible, but when we consider the entire letter, the meaning becomes clearer.
Throughout 1 John, we have read time and time again that the Christian life is one of obedience. We saw that whoever claims to know God, but disobeys His commands, is a liar and doesn’t know the truth (2:4). Those who love worldly sins and pleasures do not love the Father (2:15). Whoever practices unrighteousness is called a child of the devil (3:10). In each of these scenarios, John has in view someone who professes to be a believer, but actually isn’t. Remember, John is writing so that his readers may know that they have eternal life; therefore, he is helping them distinguish between those who have genuine faith and those who only claim to have faith.

Going back to 1 John 5:16, notice that John used the word “brother.” John is still writing about those who profess to know Christ. Professing believers may commit sin that doesn’t lead to death, or they may commit sin that does lead to death. How do we know the difference?
In Biblical Greek, indefinite articles do not exist (think “a” or “an”). If I told you to bring me a shoe, you can bring me any shoe and follow my command. Indefinite articles aren’t specific. When we read verse 16 in the English translation, it appears that there is a category of sin that doesn’t lead to death. It would become our job to determine which sins fall into this category and which do not. But that’s not what John is referring to. Instead, read the verse without the article. “If anyone sees his brother committing sin not leading to death…”

In this passage, sins that don’t lead to death are the sins that genuine believers by God’s grace find forgiveness for (1:9). Sins that do lead to death are those that professing believers commit that lead them away from the truth and towards their own sinfulness and hardness of heart concerning the gospel. In other words, they become apostates. To reword one of our above examples, the professing believer who lives in sinful worldly pleasures without repentance commits sin that leads to death. His heart becomes hard to the point that he disregards the truth entirely. He may claim the title “brother,” but he doesn’t know God.

For believers, John calls us to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in sin. Out of love and concern, we should find ourselves on our knees in prayer over their spiritual state. How terrible would it be for this person to fall so far into sin that they would prove themselves not only to be a false believer, but also have their hearts hardened towards God! We can’t fix sin inpeople’s lives – only the Spirit can convict hearts and lead to repentance. Sin is serious, and professing believers fall away when they get caught in the loves of this world.
Ultimately, no genuine believer will commit sin that leads to eternal death, and this is our comfort. God knows those who are His, and He keeps them secure. This is why John can confidently write “that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but He who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him,” (1 John 5:18, ESV).