Chapter 18
1 John 5:16-17
1 John 5:16 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; I do not say that one should pray for that.
In the last chapter we saw how John tied the need for us to align our will and thinking with God’s will and purpose when we pray (see 1 John 5:14-15). Since God’s primary purpose for us is to help others learn about God’s plan of salvation, it should not surprise anyone in seeing that John expands his discussion on prayer to include the need for us to intercede for others. John introduces this topic with the scenario of a believer witnessing a ‘brother’ committing a sin that does not lead to death. Later in this verse he also points out that there are sins that do lead to death. One can see very quickly that there are potentially many ways to interpret these verses, so let’s begin by examining each word carefully.
The Greek word, ‘adelphon’, as we discussed in previous chapters, can refer to a sibling of the same parents (or parent) as well as a fellow countryman, believer, etc. Knowing that they are committing “a sin” does not necessarily narrow down who he is talking about as the first chapter of this epistle points out that any one of us can sin (see 1 John 1:8). The word for ‘sin’ is the usual word used in the New Testament which conveys the concept of “missing the mark.” Next we see that the Greek word for death (‘thanatos’) which almost always refers to a physical death (as opposed to damnation) but it is not exclusively used in that manner so that doesn’t help in our investigation either. John makes the point that if a believer sees a ‘brother’ sinning in such a way that does not lead to death that the believer should pray and God will give them ‘life’ (which aligns with what James wrote in James 5:15; “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven;” ESV). Plus, we see that the Greek word for ‘life’ (‘zoe’) is most often used in conjunction with “eternal life” in the Bible. Sadly, knowing the definition of these words and how they are used elsewhere in the Bible doesn’t give us much clarity as to what these verses are about.
John gives us a clue with the statement, “there is sin that leads to death,” forcing us to reconcile his earlier statement about sin that does not lead to death. Is he saying that there are some sins that don’t condemn us, doesn’t all sin lead to death and damnation? Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, ESV, note that Paul used the same Greek word for ‘death’) If John is not talking about eternal life and salvation, what is he talking about? Then perhaps in an equally confusing remark, John encourages us not to pray by writing, “I do not say that one should pray for that.” Even though we know that there are times in the Bible where God explains that things are so bad that people shouldn’t bother praying as He will not listen (especially after following false gods or worshiping idols such as the Israelites did in Jeremiah 7:16-20; 11:13-17 and 14:11-12), it is hard to believe that John would ever say we should not pray for someone, especially if they are sinning. Some scholars even attempt to reverse that phrase by explaining that John is really saying we should not pray for someone to reject the Word of God or disobey God, why would any Christian pray for that in the first place?
1 John 5:17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
John offers some clarification by stating, “all wrongdoing is sin.” These words sound similar to those he wrote back in 1 John 3:4 (where he used the Greek word ‘anomis’ translated ‘lawlessness’ referring to a violation of a law). Here John uses the Greek word ‘adika’ which implies that what was done as being simply ‘wrong’. John follows by again pointing out that there are sins that do not lead to death. You can see why there are so many variations and explanations found in commentaries, it can be very confusing. Although since John did not explain what he was writing about, the meaning was undoubtedly understood by his initial audience, however that doesn’t mean it is unknowable for us. It appears that the ultimate meaning (defined as that which John intended) of these two verses hinge around the proper understanding and use of these three words: ‘brother’ (who is John referring to), ‘sin’ (what does he mean by those that lead to death and those that do not) and of course the word ‘death’ (does this mean that the sin will lead to immediate death as the result of committing this sin or does it refer to denying salvation?)
Let’s look at each of these words and phrases again starting with the word ‘brother’ which could essentially be anyone. John has previously used this word in this epistle to refer to a believer (see 1 John 3:10, 13), a blood brother (see 1 John 3:12) and a fellow human being (see 1 John 2:9-11; 4:20-21). For “sins that lead to death,” that could be a reference to some form of sin that has the potential of resulting in someone being killed (a loss of physical life, such as a drug overdose, suicide, putting someone’s life at risk, etc.) There are some theologians that believe there are degrees of sin dividing them into two primary groups, namely mortal (not forgivable with no chance of salvation) and venial (lesser and forgivable) sins. Those theologians would claim John is referring to the mortal sins. Most scholars, however, believe that all sin points to damnation and destruction, unless they are forgiven. Jesus told us the only unforgiveable sin was the rejection of God’s plan of salvation (Jesus as our Savior) thus blaspheming the work of the Holy Spirit (read Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-29; Luke 12:10 and Hebrews 6:4-6). Knowing that God will not violate our freedom to choose, John perhaps is reminding us that we should not pray for God to change the person’s mind. However, we can, and should, pray for any barriers, outside forces, and any other cause of disbelief to be removed in that person’s life so that they can receive salvation (this person may believe they are saved, or is a Christian by title alone, but has not yet taken the step to accept Jesus).
Now regarding sin that does not lead to death this could simply be any sin that does not kill anyone physically. To those that believe that there are varied levels of sins this would be considered a ‘venial’ sin (a common practice among Catholics). In the first chapter of this epistle John explained that for believers, sinning becomes a barrier between us and God. However, as believers, since our salvation is sealed (see Ephesians 1:11-14) and we are forgiven, these sins don’t lead to death but they do prevent us from enjoying a close relationship and fellowship with Jesus. Speaking of death, our final word in question is the word, ‘death’, as pointed out above ‘death’ could mean the taking the life of one self or someone else. It could also refer to damnation and eternal destruction. Some scholars believe that if a Christian sins too often or commits something so outrageous, God will call that person home to heaven by arranging their death (like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 or like those that abused communion in 1 Corinthians 11:30). Whether killed as punishment or to warn others, this scenario seems unlikely since history has shown that severe punishment for these types of sins appears to have ceased, plus it seems doubtful that John would suggest we not pray for a fellow believer (See 1 Timothy 2:1).
So far we have not been able to establish a clear understanding of these verses. There are a number of other tools we can use in this process, such as diagraming and flowcharting. For example standard sentence diagraming (such as a Kellogg-Reed diagram) is an invaluable method to aid in understanding Scripture. Knowing which words are the nouns, verbs, qualities, etc. helps us to see and apply the intended context to any verse. Christians also use a method of interpretation known as hermeneutics to guide us in interpreting the Scripture properly. However, there are verses that contain words or phrases that require closer examination before applying the principles of hermeneutics or exegesis (the component of hermeneutics that evaluates the text or words themselves).
One method is to create a flowchart to capture all of the potential possible meanings and then use what we know from the Bible to be true and then choose the best possible explanation. Below is an example of a simple flowchart for these verses, it does not convey every potential possibility but it does allow you to apply some hermeneutical logic to aid in interpretation.
After reviewing our flowchart, one way we might be able to summarize what John is talking about a ‘brother’ that was a “Christian” (by title only), referring to someone who had not yet committed to Jesus. This could have been someone that knew about Jesus, that either insincerely said ‘yes’ to appease someone else or that they are putting off their commitment in favor of their current lifestyle. Either way, since God will not overrule a person’s will and decision, we could not pray for God to force them or otherwise change their minds. However, we certainly can still pray for their salvation by asking that whatever barriers and forces that prevent the person from believing be removed. Since all sin leads to destruction and damnation, the sin that leads to death here would refer to the denial and rejection of Jesus. The author of the Book of Hebrews makes a similar, but a lot more straightforward and blunt, statement, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” (Hebrews 6:4-6, ESV)
The sin that does not lead to death refers to a sin committed after accepting Jesus preventing the person from having close fellowship with Jesus (see Chapter 2 regarding 1 John 1:5-10), a theme John will return to in the next verse.
Hopefully this level of investigation or research does not cause you to turn away from Scripture, thinking that Bible study is too complicated or time consuming. It should be understood that issues like what we found in these two verses do not occur very often. The primary message that John is conveying can easily get lost if we start digging under every word! John is calling us to look at prayer in a new way, he wants us to remember to intercede for others. If our primary commission from Jesus is to make disciples (remember the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20), then we should be praying for the people we are trying to reach as well as to pray for fellow believers so that they can be effective reaching out!
Pray and then pray again.