1 John 3:8, commentary and pictures

Sin is the breaking of God's law by thought, word, and deed, and even a cherished impure thought defiles and condemns though never spoken or acted. Whoever keeps on in sin is of the devil, standing with him as his child, captive, and servant in harmony with his bidding. The devil has sinned from the beginning as the originator of sin and first rebel in heaven, who made God's law the great controversy and labors to do away with it and establish lawlessness. The verse draws the plain line between the children of God and the children of the devil, for doing righteousness which is keeping the commandments and loving the brother proves one righteous as Christ is righteous, while not doing righteousness shows one is not of God. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil and take away sins, vindicating and honoring the law by perfect obedience and sacrifice and healing soul and body, and implanting grace and the Holy Spirit in the repentant so that a holy, obedient, Christlike life is possible with no excuse for sinning.

Meaning of Sin and Devil

Sin is transgression of God's law by thought, word, and deed, and committing it is warfare against that law. Even cherished impure thoughts consummate sin without being spoken or acted out, defiling purity and bringing condemnation and God's displeasure, marking the tempter's triumph. Temptation itself does not force anyone to sin, for yielding is a person's own choice and there is no excuse for transgression. Claiming to abide in Christ, to be sanctified, to hold advanced piety and sinlessness, while living in disobedience and openly casting contempt upon the law and teaching others by precept and example that they may sin with impunity, is terrible deception and blasphemy against God.

He that commits sin is of the devil, belonging to him and standing on his side in the ranks of darkness in the company of the first great apostate. He is his child and seed, his captive and servant, in harmony with him and ready to do his bidding. To abide in Christ is not to sin, for Christ was manifested to take away sins and in Him is no sin, and doing righteousness by keeping the commandments proves one righteous as Christ is righteous. Those who claim to be Christians yet live in transgression take an active part against Christ and misrepresent Him, and unless they cease sinning will be treated as servants of Satan. Sincere obedience shown in good fruit of righteous words and deeds is necessary for union with God in heart and mind through lived experience and reverent communion, without which a person is not God's temple but is controlled by the enemy.

The devil sins from the beginning as the originator of sin and the first great rebel in heaven. By power to deceive he twisted and perverted God's words, working by accusation, fraud and deception in a crooked serpent-like course against God's straightforward truth and justice until he believed his own lies, drew many holy angels with him and made them his own, and made God's law the great subject of controversy. There was no occasion for his course, for the seeds of rebellion were within him and ruined himself and the fallen angels. Though they wept and begged to be taken back, heaven could not be placed in jeopardy by receiving them again, for their sin, hate, envy and jealousy could not be blotted out but must remain to receive final punishment. His sorrow was not repentance from seeing abused goodness nor increased love leading to cheerful submission and happy obedience to the despised law, but wretchedness at loss of privilege, forced guilt and disappointed expectation, and since the law could condemn but not pardon he is lost beyond reinstatement. All lawless work started with him, who from the beginning works to throw off restraint and do away with Jehovah's law to establish a new order of lawlessness, against which stands God's order of discipline and obedience given to all created intelligences to preserve life and prevent war, strife, oppression, murder, theft, robbery and crime, as the state of the world shows. When Christ's sanctuary work and intercession are finished, confessed sins are placed upon Satan as originator, who must suffer their punishment.

The seed of Satan is wicked men who resist the Spirit of God and who call God's law a yoke of bondage just as their father the devil does, so lawbreakers are Satan's children. God put universal, supernatural enmity between the serpent and the woman, between his seed and her seed, which was not confined to Satan and the Prince of life but extends to all mankind.

Children of God Manifest

1 John 3:8 is instruction to be received and profited by, revealing the wonderful love shown for the sinful race, and it marks the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil. Doing righteousness proves one righteous even as Christ is righteous, and doing righteousness is keeping the commandments of God. Whoever does not do righteousness and does not love his brother is not of God, and this test is addressed to all church members including Seventh-day Adventists. Claiming advanced piety, sanctification, sinlessness and perfect love while openly casting contempt upon the law and teaching others by precept and example that they may sin with impunity is terrible deception and blasphemy against the God of heaven. Those who claim to be Christians yet live in transgression take an active part against Christ, misrepresent Him to the world, and unless they cease sinning will be treated as servants of Satan.

Whoever abides in Christ does not and cannot continue in sin, because Christ was manifested to take away sins and in Him is no sin. Whoever is born of God does not commit sin because His seed, the words of God, remains in him, and keeping His commandments and doing what pleases Him brings answered prayer and mutual dwelling with Him by the Spirit He has given. Whoever sins shows he has not seen Him or known Him, and those who persist in sin show they have not known Him. After light has come through Scripture there is no excuse for not walking in the light, for an unseen influence draws the soul to obedience that it may bear witness to the truth. Full surrender to God makes a life of obedience without sin possible, requiring constantly looking to Him to keep Him in the heart, while if anyone does sin Jesus Christ the righteous stands as Advocate and payment for the sins of the whole world.

To be of that wicked one is to be like Cain, whose own works were evil and who slew his righteous brother. It is to walk in darkness while claiming fellowship with God who is light, to hate the brother which is murder abiding in death with no eternal life, and to shut up compassion from a brother in need. It is also to cherish heart-burnings, bitterness, malice, and unkind thoughts and speech toward brethren in the church while professing to follow Jesus, and no provocation excuses harboring unkindness and malice in the heart. The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil by revealing the love of God in laying down His life, and those in the light must do the same by laying down their lives for the brethren and loving not in word or tongue but in deed and in truth. To be of Christ and be accepted before God, a person must daily exemplify love toward enemies, earnestly seek grace to kill every fiber of the root of bitterness, and let the love of Jesus take possession of the soul and reveal itself in words and works.

The chapter links love to God and love to the brethren closely together, expressing the great principles of the law in the two precepts to love the Lord God with all the heart and to love neighbor as self, upon which hang all the law and the prophets. That love is shown in life and character in treatment of fellow men.

Knowing God means being united with Him in heart and mind through lived experience and reverent communion, and sincere obedience is necessary for this communion. The claim to know Christ is false when it is not shown in good fruit — righteous words and deeds shaped by ennobling principles — and without obedience a person is not God's temple but is controlled by the enemy. Claiming to know God, to keep His commandments, to abide in Christ, or to be sanctified and wholly sanctified while living in disobedience to God's express command is false, hypocritical, and the work of a liar, as Saul did and as those do who profess advanced piety yet oppose the law. All who claim to know God and keep His commandments but do not manifest it by good works are liars and will receive according to their deeds, so that high pretensions do not deceive when fruits show disobedience. A cheap Christian character works more harm in the world than the character of a worldling, because professed Christians who bear Christ's name while lacking His character mislead others by misrepresenting Him, and 1 John 3 requires manliness and firmness in Christian character.

Christ Manifested to Destroy

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, to destroy the works of the devil, to take away sins and undo the devil's doings. This is stated in simple, direct language as a practical truth about God's work, showing what God is doing and what man must do to meet His requirements. Beneath its simplicity there is depth and decided, positive certainty, bringing real men and women into contact with a real, living God in true practical godliness.

The devil's works are rebellion against God's constitution and government, begun in heaven in opposition to God and carried on since the fall by seeking through evil men to make void the law of the Most High. They are every kind of iniquity springing from Satan's fall and carried into humanity through Adam's fall, including injustice, oppression, dishonesty, selfishness and unlove. They include sin with its unrest and unsatisfied desires, and the physical disease founded upon that burden of sin. They include perverting the senses, controlling the human mind for evil, driving victims to violence and crime, sowing discord and darkening the intellect, spreading moral darkness like the pall of death over households, people, churches, cities and habitations until utter depravity results. They include corrupting God's purposes for marriage and for the Sabbath, restoring of which requires restoring the moral image of God and marriage to its original sanctity as a holy institution established in Eden, and exposing Satan's studied plan to put the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment in the bosom of the Decalogue out of sight, bring it into contempt, cover it with exactions God never gave, and fasten limited, gross ideas upon it until what should be called a delight, holy and honourable became a yoke of oppression and bondage.

Christ destroys those works by vindicating and honoring the law of God, showing that all the law and the prophets rest upon the principles of the Ten Commandments. He did what He alone could do by giving Himself as a sacrifice, giving even life itself to bear the penalty of man's sin and to uphold the honor of God's law, revealing that pure truth is a match for falsehood, a truth that stood when the world was made and will remain when the earth is purified as the home of the saints. He gave all men a perfect example of holy obedience to the law, proving by His life that the Sabbath and obedience are not a yoke of bondage. He destroys them by healing both soul and body with the same creative, life-giving power that created man from dust, speaking forgiveness to the sinner, renewing the dead heart, restoring the sick and disabled, comforting the weak and distressed, raising the dead, forgiving all iniquities and healing all diseases, giving life more abundantly as a quickening spirit, so that those He freed received health and joy and glorified God. In Him is life, and He still has the same power now as when on earth, giving peace that imparts vigor to the mind and health to the body to all who come to Him as Healer of the soul, and restoring the moral image of God in humanity. He came to the world and met the foe on his own battlefield to conquer Satan.

He did this in amazing love and condescension by the King of glory humbling Himself to fallen humanity, laying aside royal glory and clothing divinity with humanity to make man rich. He took man's fallen nature and human lot of hunger, thirst and weariness, placed His feet in Adam's steps, came as an infant and met the wily foe at every stage of human life, engaging and coping with the strong foe who triumphed over Adam and overcoming where Adam failed. He thereby disputed Satan's sovereignty over this world, removed false impressions of God from human minds, and broke the hold Satan had obtained over the fallen race, coming in human form to come close to fallen humanity and by divine power to free them from Satan's control. He counterworked and stayed Satan's ingenious plans to deceive minds and lead souls to ruin, including the delusive, captivating power working through commercialism of various kinds, for no one understands the enemy's power of deception as He does who lived and suffered and died to win deceived souls back to God. He uncovers Satan's plans and teaches men and women to discern the tempter's plans and escape the corruption Satan constantly invents, working to lead souls to turn from the archdeceiver to the living God and thus gain eternal life, and opening the way for redemption from the disgrace of Adam's failure and fall for all those who believe on Him. He knew man could not overcome alone, so He suffered on earth to know how to sympathize and assist, bringing man moral power and power to overcome sin and the devil, yet each person still has his own work to do and must not think he has nothing to do, for through the merits of Jesus every person can overcome.

His redemption provides complete recovery from Satan's power for the repentant and contrite, separating the contrite soul from sin. The Holy Spirit is imparted to every repentant soul to consume sin and keep that person from sinning, so there is no excuse for sinning and Satan's influence does not excuse wrongdoing. A holy temper and Christlike life is accessible to every repenting, believing child of God, fulfilling God's ideal and command to be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect, because Christ took human nature, shared human lot, lived a sinless life in the likeness of sinful flesh, and by His divinity and humanity joins earth to heaven so believers taking His nature may overcome and receive the character of God. He destroys the devil's works by implanting grace in the soul, a new converting and renewing principle wholly from above that creates enmity against Satan where none existed by nature, creates conflict where hitherto had been peace, and imparts power to resist the tyrant, so that whoever abhors sin instead of loving it and resists and conquers the passions that held sway within displays that destroying work.

Conflict Through History

In the warfare between Christ and Satan, Satan's first manifest defeat in the purpose for which the Son of God was manifested was his failure to overcome Christ in the wilderness of temptation, where the Prince of life gained a victory in behalf of the human race at which all heaven rejoiced. Christ carried on that same conflict in Noah's day, warning the people and giving them 120 years to repent. They chose Satan's deceptions and perished in the flood, while He preserved the ark and its believing occupants.

That purpose to destroy the works of the devil explains why evil spirits showed their power in a most striking manner while Christ was on earth. Satan had established his control by idolatry in every part of the earth except Palestine, and when Christ came to that land to give heavenly light and to offer pardon and peace, Satan determined to assert his right to control the world. Two rival powers then claimed supremacy, Jesus inviting all to find pardon and peace in Him, while the hosts of darkness, knowing a successful mission would soon end their rule, raged and openly displayed power over the bodies as well as the souls of men. At Christ's first coming Satan sought to keep people under his power and bound, while Christ came to limit that power and free those Satan had bound. The prophecies gave unprejudiced people sufficient evidence that Jesus was the Son of God and the Saviour, but the Jews rejected Him and continued offering sacrifices while still awaiting the Messiah who had already come.

At the cross Satan's attempt to destroy Christ instead exposed Satan's true character and secured his defeat. The victory answered Satan's claims before the unfallen worlds and secured their lasting allegiance to God. Christ overcame for every created being, and those who accept His provision are protected by His mediation. Sin and rebellion originated with the devil, who sinned from the beginning with no occasion for his course, the seeds of rebellion being within him. He ruined himself and drew sympathizing followers with him to ruin, making them his own.

Though he and his followers wept and begged to be taken back into favor, heaven could not be placed in jeopardy by receiving him again, for all heaven would be marred. His sorrow over losing the sweet light of heaven was not repentance from seeing the goodness of God he had abused, nor increased love for God leading to cheerful submission and happy obedience to the law he had despised, but wretchedness at loss of privilege, forced guilt, and disappointed expectation, with sin, hate, envy and jealousy so great it could not be blotted out. The law of God could condemn the sinner but could not pardon him, leaving Satan lost beyond redemption with no possibility of reinstatement in God's favor, but to remain to receive its final punishment. When Christ's sanctuary work and intercession are finished, the confessed sins are placed upon Satan as the originator of sin, who must suffer their punishment.

In His wisdom and goodness Jesus gave His disciples power in His name over the works of Satan to carry on that same work. It is the same work for which Jesus was hated and slain by the Jews. Old Testament history agrees perfectly with this New Testament truth that the one who commits sin is of the devil because the devil sins from the beginning, and that the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. After light has come through Scripture there is no excuse for not walking in the light, for an unseen influence draws the soul to obedience that it may bear witness to the truth.

Obedience and Holy Living

To everyone who surrenders fully to God is given the privilege of living without sin in obedience to heaven's law, for full surrender makes a life of obedience possible. Remaining in Him keeps a person from sinning, and this requires constantly looking to Him to keep Him in the heart. Keeping His commandments and doing what pleases Him brings answered prayer and mutual dwelling with Him by the Spirit He has given, and after light has come through Scripture there is no excuse for not walking in the light. Doing right makes a person righteous as Christ is righteous, and one born of God with God's seed staying in him does not and cannot live in sin. If anyone does sin, Jesus Christ the righteous stands as Advocate and payment for the sins of the whole world.

Committing sin is transgressing the law of God by thought, word, and deed, and the one who does so belongs to the devil and is placed in the ranks of the powers of darkness in the company of the first great apostate. Doing righteousness is keeping the commandments of God and proves one righteous as Christ is righteous, while claiming advanced piety, sanctification, sinlessness, perfect love and freedom from trial while openly casting contempt upon the law and teaching others by precept and example that they may sin with impunity exposes terrible deception and blasphemy against the God of heaven. Those who oppose God's commandment-keeping people, wrest the Scriptures to suit their own disobedience, walk contrary to God's commandments, and reproach God's messengers who show them their sin follow a course inspired by the great deceiver. Disrespect for the law and belittling the word of God places a person under the banner of the prince of darkness and proves he has not been born again and the truth does not abide in him. The fruits of adultery, falsehood, theft and corruption prove the same, and high pretensions do not deceive when fruits show disobedience. The setting up of a spurious rival sabbath in place of God's sanctified seventh-day Sabbath, the memorial of His creation in six days and rest on the seventh day, is such a sacrilegious, law-breaking work of Satan done through the papal power exalting itself above God, marking that power as the man of sin, and what does not come from God in authority belongs to the devil.

A life of sin aligns a person with the devil, whose sin began at the beginning. The devil's course included justifying his actions, and those who know they are wrong but defend their conduct and use Scripture to cover misleading statements follow that course. Those who profess to follow Jesus but cherish heart-burnings, bitterness, malice, and unkind thoughts and speech toward brethren in the church are not of Christ but of the wicked one, and no provocation excuses harboring unkindness and malice in the heart. To be of Christ and be accepted before God, a person must daily exemplify love toward enemies, earnestly seek God's grace to kill every fiber of the root of bitterness, and let the love of Jesus take possession of the soul and reveal itself in words and works.

The imputed righteousness of Christ is holiness, uprightness and purity, not a cover for cherished sin. That righteousness laid hold of by faith dwells within and becomes part of the being as love, forbearance, meekness and all Christian virtues, causing all who have it to work the works of God and keep the commandments. Without that holiness in life no one can have the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness for the marriage supper of the Lamb, and without holiness no one shall see God.

The third chapter of First John is to be studied, believed, practiced and taught by youth, students in schools and sanitariums, workers in printing offices, instructors, and those in charge of publishing houses. It shows the contrast between the principles of Christ and the principles of Satan and the wonderful possibility before youth of becoming sons and daughters of God by walking uprightly in a crooked and perverse generation and showing that contrast. Receiving its instruction means taking heed to self, learning of Christ His meekness and lowliness that makes His yoke easy and His burden light, keeping hereditary and cultivated tendencies under control, and speaking as Christ spoke without harsh passionate words that ruin souls. It means keeping daily refined, sanctified, purified, and being witnesses for God to the power of His grace and the Saviour's keeping power in a life of faithful service done as a pleasure.

There are two sides, the side of the adversary and the side of Christ, and each person must know on whose side he is standing. Standing on Christ's side means standing with Him who kept His Father's commandments, in response to the love of God, a decision confessed in baptism. Christians and the world serve different masters and cannot join hands in fellowship and unity any more than oil and water can mix. Those who belong to Jesus Christ by His life given for them must stand individually in God's strength, obey God and walk in the pure light of truth such as the Sabbath even when family and the world oppose, enduring the cross for Christ's sake, and this decided obedience brings lack of harmony and hatred from those who do not serve God.

Christ came to this world to destroy nothing but the works of the devil. The Son of God was manifested to draw all people to Himself and point out the narrow path that leads to the city of God, away from conformity to the world, with no compromise allowed. His appearing does not lull the world to sleep or bring peace but brings a sword. His followers must follow His example and battle self, even at the cost of comfort, selfish pleasure, labor, or suffering, to keep up the constant battle with self, lift up the gospel standard, and push forward the victories of the cross. They join His work of destroying the devil's works by refusing to place temptations before others, for making wine or cider for profit can help lead a neighbor to drunkenness and conflicts with the duty to love that neighbor. This requires aggressive warfare to gain the attention of unbelievers and cause them to be convicted and converted, with those who enlist fighting many battles and every Christian soldier acting well his own part as a willing worker in God's service to build up and establish the power of Christ forever, though selfish interests resist because they conflict with the self-denying principles of God's law.

Believers are to dwell on God's love and compassion rather than focus on Satan's power and the darkness of sin, and its message encourages praise and hope in Jesus. God presented His love in giving His Son to die for the world, for Christ is the world's Redeemer, yet sinners turn from Him toward worldly pursuits. God can break the spell of evil and temptation and provide help against their effects, for the powers of evil do not have everything to themselves, for God watches over them. Christ was manifested to break the power of Satan, and He can break it and will break it because He has promised. Those in affliction should take Him at His word, cast their helpless souls upon Jesus Christ because He loves them, put their trust in Him who cares for them all the time, and not be discouraged, for Christ alone can do the work. Christ stands by those who receive Him, breaks the enemy's power over them, and becomes their Helper.

Everyone who has hope in Christ is to purify himself even as Christ is pure, to cease transgressing the law, to abide in Christ in whom is no sin, to do righteousness even as Christ is righteous, and to love his brother, so that he is manifest as a child of God and not as a child of the devil. Applied by the Holy Spirit to the individual case, this calls for letting the Holy Spirit come into the heart and abide there, expelling Satan from the soul temple, and opening the door of the heart to Jesus to enjoy the richest blessing.