1 John 3:1–10

Read the passage.

The effect of our abiding in the Lord, and His abiding in us is a radical transformation, affecting the deepest parts of our being. God adopts us as His children, and we become as His begotten Son: holy, righteous, and glorified&emdash;eventually, when He returns. The end result has been fixed, and we are on the proper trajectory to reach it. This trajectory includes the practicing of righteousness and the avoidance of lawlessness. Those who do the opposite are going in the opposite direction. There is no in-between. There is no stasis. You are going to head in one direction or the other, and you will eventually reach eternal life or eternal death.

Verse 6 has caused a lot of fear and doubt in many believers, because of course they still sin. While it is good to “examine yourself” (2 Corinthians 13:5 to make certain your life reflects the reality of God’s salvation for you, they miss the context which describes the progressive nature of sanctification. “Practice of sin”, “practices lawlessness” (v. 4), “practices righteousness” (v. 7), “practice of sinning” (vv. 8&endash;9), “keep on sinning” (vv. 6,9). To practice something is to do intentionally do it as often as you can so you can get better at it. “Keep on” is used as a synonym for “practice” here. As 1 John 1:8 said, we all have sin in ourselves and must confess it. But as believers who abide in the Lord, we do not practice the things He hates so as to become better at them. We hate what we do in our flesh and seek to do it less and less, by His grace. And we love our Father and seek to do His will more and more, better and better.

Make us holy as You are holy.