"No one
who is born of God practices sin,
because His seed abides in him; and he
cannot sin, because he is born of God.
By this the children of God and the
children of the devil are obvious;
anyone who does not practice
righteousness is not of God, nor the one
who does not love his brother." 1 John
3:9-10
God has crucified our flesh with Christ
and by the Spirit has transferred us
into the risen Christ. We are now
children of God, born of the Spirit and
partakers of the divine nature, -"For
by these He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, so
that by them you may become partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world by
lust." (2 Pet.1)
Until we were born again we were
partakers of Adam’s corrupted nature.
Adam’s nature is one of good and evil,
though the evil tends to corrupt the
good. Looking back we can see that as
children of Adam our lives bore the same
fruit as the forbidden tree - good and
evil. With the same mind we entertained
noble thoughts and lustful desires. We
used our tongue to bless and to curse.
We loved and we hated. We sometimes were
moved by compassion and yet inside found
deep-seated selfishness.
A son of Adam has the capacity to love,
share, forgive others and can even be
moved to worship and praise God. Even
Adam’s corrupted nature has the ability
to do a righteous act.
But it is simply not in his nature to
practice righteousness. Not only does a
son of Adam not have the power to
produce a worthy righteousness, but he
cannot practice righteousness because he
is not of God and still lies in the
power of Satan, -"We
know that we are of God, and that the
whole world lies in the power of the
evil one." (1 Jo.5) But
thanks be to God, where the first Adam
failed the last Adam succeeded as a
life-giving Spirit to all who would
receive His Seed.
The two seeds, the fleshly and the
Spiritual, are in opposition to each
other. Though
he is capable of doing good, a person
born only of the flesh is not capable of
being good -his
flesh will war against the Spirit, -"For
the flesh sets its desire against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh; for these are in opposition to
one another." (Gal.5)
This is why today’s text says that we
can see who is of God and who is of the
devil by who is exhibiting the ability
and the desire to practice
righteousness. We initially receive the
righteousness of Christ (2 Cor.5) as a
gift, but abide in Him by practicing
righteousness. Jesus said -"If
you keep My Commandments you will abide
in My love; just as I have kept My
Father’s Commandments and abide in His
love." (Jo.15)
Now, a person who has been
born again of the Spirit and is in
Christ has a divine nature which cannot
practice sin. In fact, he is dead to sin
because the sinner he once was has been
crucified with Christ. Sin itself is
still present and given the opportunity
will try to bring him back under its
power. But sin can only be actively
practiced in the sinner and since the
sinner has died it has lost the only
vehicle that can take him into the
practice of sin. Sin
is much like a deadly disease - it can
only live and strive in a living host.
A Christian is alive in Christ but
dead to sin, sin has lost its host and
cannot effectively operate in the divine
nature of His Body. Can a child of God
commit a sin? Yes, but he cannot
practice sin because it is simply not in
his nature. Sin is foreign to him and he
is repulsed by it. Sin, the old master
is still around but the slave who served
him is dead and had been born again as a
slave of righteousness, "But
thanks be to God that though you were
slaves of sin, you became obedient from
the heart to that form of teaching to
which you were committed, and having
been freed from sin, you became slaves
of righteousness." (Rom.6) Dearly
beloved, we need not strive against sin
by our own power, but put our faith in
our divine power in Christ.