1 John 3:8

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. HE THAT COMMITTETH SIN IS OF THE DEVIL - in contrast to "he that doeth righteousness" (1 John 3:7). He is a son of the devil (1 John 3:10; John 8:44). John does not say, 'born of the devil,' as he does "born of God;" for 'the devil neither creates nor begets; but whoever imitates the devil becomes his child by imitation, not by proper birth' (Augustine, 'Tract.,' 4: 10). From the devil there is not generation, but corruption (Bengel). SINNETH FROM THE BEGINNING - from the time that sin b...

8_He that committeth sin, _This word, _to commit_, or _to do_, refers also to outward works, so that the meaning is, that there is no life of God and of Christ, where men act perversely and wickedly, but that such are, on the contrary, the slaves of the devil; and by this way of speaking he sets forth more fully how unlike they are to Christ. For as he has before represented Christ as the fountain of all righteousness, so now, on the other hand, he mentions the devil as the beginning of sin. He denied that any one belongs to Christ except he who is righteous and shews himself to be such by his works; he now assigns to the devil all others, and subjects them to his government, in order that we may know that there is no middle condition, but that Satan exercises his tyranny where the righteousness of Christ possesses not the primacy. There are not however two adverse principles, such as th...

3-10 The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that is, in Christ, was no sin. All the sinless weaknesses that were consequences of the fall, he took; that is, all those infirmities of mind or body which subject man to suffering, and expose him to temptation. But our moral infirmities, our proneness to sin, he had not. He that abides in Christ, continues not in the practice of sin. Renouncing sin is the great proof of spiritual union with, continuance in, and saving knowledge of the Lord Christ. Be...

Verse 8. _HE THAT COMMITTETH SIN IS OF THE DEVIL_] Hear this, also, ye who plead for Baal, and cannot bear the thought of that doctrine that states believers are to be saved from all sin in this life! _He who committeth sin is_ a child _of the devil_, and shows that he has still the nature of the devil in him; _for the_ _devil sinneth from the beginning_-he was the father of sin, brought sin into the world, and maintains sin in the world by living in the hearts of his own children, and thus leading _them_ to transgression; and persuading _others_ that they cannot be saved from their sins in this life, that he may secure a continual residence in their heart. He knows that if he has a place there throughout life, he will probably have it at death; and, if so, throughout eternity. _FOR THIS PURPOSE_] ειςτουτο. _For this very end_-with this _very design_, was Jesus manifested in the flesh,...

HE THAT COMMITTETH SIN - Habitually, willfully, characteristically. IS OF THE DEVIL - This cannot mean that no one who commits any sin, or who is not absolutely perfect, can be a Christian, for this would cut off the great mass, even according to the belief of those who hold that the Christian may be perfectly holy, from all claim to the Christian character. But what the apostle here says is true in two senses: * That all who commit sin, even true believers, so far as they are imperfect, in this respect resemble Satan, and are under his influence, since sin, just so far as it exists at all, makes us resemble him. (2)All who habitually and characteristically sin are of the devil.” This latter was evidently the principal idea in the mind of the apostle. His object here is to show that those who sinned, in the se

EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 3:1 TO 1 JOHN 5:12 3. SECOND MAIN DIVISION. _God is Love._ 1 JOHN 3:1 (1) The _evidence of sonship. _Righteousness. 1 JOHN 3:1 The Divine birth is the outcome of the Divine love. 1 JOHN 3:1 BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE! Ποταπός;_ _literally, "of what country," in the New Testament always implies amazement; but,

HE THAT COMMITTETH SIN IS OF THE DEVIL,.... Not everyone that sins, or commits acts of sin, then every man is of the devil, because no man lives without the commission of sin; but he who makes sin his constant business, and the employment of his life, whose life is a continued series of sinning, he is of the devil; not as to origin and substance, or by proper generation, as some have literally understood the words; but by imitation, being like him, and so of him their father, doing his lusts, living continually in sin, as he does, and so resemble him, as children do their parents; and hereby also appear to be under his government and influence, to be led captive by him at his will, and so to belong to him, and such as will have their part and portion with him in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, so living and dying: FOR THE DEVIL SINNETH FROM THE BEGINNING; not of his creati...

I have read this chapter many times in your hearing, but we cannot read it too often, for it is full of the deepest and most important instruction. God grant that fresh light from above may shine upon it as we listen once more to the familiar words! 1 John 3:1. _Behold,_ If you never used your eyes to good purpose before, use them so now: 1 John 3:1. _What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:_ Let the truth of our adoption amaze us, the adoption of such unworthy ones as we were to so high a relationship «that we should be called the sons of God.» 1 John 3:1. Therefore the world knoweth not, because it knew him not.

IV. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LOVE AS MANIFESTED BY THE CHILDREN OF GOD Chapter S 2:28-3:18 __ 1. The children of God and their coming manifestation (1 John 2:28 -1 John 3:3) 2. Sin and the new nature (1 John 3:4) 3. Righteousness and love (1 John 3:10) 1 John 2:28 -1 John 3:3 . The address to the babes in Christ ended with the 27th verse, and now once more he speaks of the teknia, the little children, by which all believers are meant. The exhorta

To commit sin is a breach of God's law, a frustration of God's work of redemption, and the manifestation of a principle which betrays kinship with the devil. A man begotten of God will be in moral affinity with God, for which reason righteousness and brotherly love will characterise him. 1 JOHN 3:4. SIN IS LAWLESSNESS: _ i.e._ not the absence of law, but opposition to it. Law does not cease to exist for the Christian, and all opposition to it, so far from being morally unimportant, is rebellion. 1 John 3:5. he was manifested: _ i.e._ at His Incarnation. Righteous Himself, the work of Christ is to make us righteous too (_cf._ 1 John 3:8)....