Free from the Power of Sin
3:9
9. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
This verse parallels verse 6a (compare 5:18). It is a broader statement in which the emphasis falls on two items that are placed in an inverted sequence: 1. he who is [has been] born of God 2. will [can] not go on sinning; and it makes the clause "because God's seed remains in him" a link between the preceding and the following clause.
a. Born again. The phrase born of God is characteristic of John, for he uses it repeatedly (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18). It signifies that a person has been born spiritually in the past and continues in the present as God's child. That is, he finds his origin and existence in God. Whereas the person who practices sin has Satan as his father, the born-again believer knows that God is his Father. The words of Jesus are relevant: "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit" (Matt. 7:18).
"God's seed remains in him." The word seed has a figurative connotation: "God's nature" or "God's principle of life." God guards the new life he planted in the heart of the believer and causes it to develop. The Christian, then, will not and cannot yield to sin because of that divine principle in his heart.
b. Inability to sin. The translators of the New International Version have tried to reflect the Greek verb tenses by adding extra words. They write, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin,... he cannot go on sinning" (italics added). This is an acceptable interpretation of John's intention. In Greek, the verbs express continued action, not a single occurrence. Therefore, by using the present tenses of the Greek verbs, John is saying that the believer cannot practice habitual sin. "The thought being conveyed in I John 3:9 is not that one born of God will never commit a sinful act but that he will not persist in sin."
Sin does not originate with God, for "in him there is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5). A person who is born of God and possesses God's nature cannot live in habitual sin. Nevertheless, the possibility of falling into occasional sin is always present, as every Christian can testify.
Greek Words, Phrases, and Constructions in 3:9
γεγννημένος—the perfect passive participle from γεννάω (I beget) denotes action that took place in the past; its influence, however, continues to the present.
οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν—note that John writes not "able not to sin," but "not able to sin." Some grammarians take the present infinitive to be durative; others understand it as a state. That is, a Christian sins but he cannot be called a sinner. He belongs to Christ who has redeemed and sanctified him and who has destroyed the devil's work.
Baker New Testament Commentary - Baker New Testament Commentary – Exposition of James, Epistles of John, Peter, and Jude.
