Now that we have been regenerated, do we still have sin dwelling in us? Regarding this, there has been much debate among Bible teachers. Years ago, there was a strong teaching that claimed that sin has been eradicated from believers. This is the teaching concerning the so-called eradication of sin. Those who teach this use certain verses in 1 John 3 and 5 as their basis: “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin...and he cannot sin” (3:9), and, “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin” (5:18). Those who follow the teaching of eradication say that these verses prove that sin has been rooted out of our being.
In 1933 I was told an interesting story by a brother who once belonged to a group which taught the eradication of sin. The leader of that group, a learned man, was very strong in teaching the eradication of sin. One day this leader took four young brothers to a park. Instead of buying five tickets, the leader bought only two. Two brothers entered the park using the two tickets. Then one brother came out with the tickets and then entered the park again with another brother. This was repeated until all five brothers had entered the park using the same two tickets. The younger brothers were bothered by the fact that one who taught the eradication of sin could behave in such a way. They said to him, “What is this? Isn’t this cheating? Isn’t this sin?” The leader replied, “This is not sin; it is merely a weakness.” The brother who related this incident to me could not accept that explanation. He knew there was something wrong. Eventually, he came to the church meetings and was made clear about the mistaken teaching concerning the eradication of sin.
The Bible does not teach that sin has been eradicated from our being. In 1:8 John says, “If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” To say that we do not have sin is to say that we do not have indwelling sin within our nature. This is something taught by the Gnostic heresy. The apostle is inoculating the believers against this false teaching. This section, 1:7—2:2, deals with the believers’ sinning after regeneration. This sinning interrupts their fellowship with God. If after regeneration the believers do not have sin in their nature, how could they sin in their conduct? Even though they sin only occasionally, not habitually, their sinning is an adequate proof that they still have sin working within them. Otherwise, there would be no interruption of their fellowship with God. The apostle’s teaching here condemns today’s teaching of perfectionism, the teaching that a state of freedom from sin is attainable or has been attained in earthly life. The apostle’s teaching also annuls the erroneous teaching of the eradication of the sinful nature, which, by misinterpreting the word in 3:9 and 5:18, says that regenerated persons cannot sin because their sinful nature has been totally eradicated.
John says that those who say that they do not have sin are deceiving themselves, are leading themselves astray. To say that, because we have been regenerated, we do not have sin is self-deceiving. It denies the actual fact of our own experience and thus causes us to lead ourselves astray. We should not say that we no longer have sin. Sin remains in our flesh, in our sinful nature.
We have considered the question of whether or not as believers we still have sin in our nature. We have seen that we definitely have sin dwelling in us after regeneration. Now we need to consider a second question: Can we still commit sin after we are regenerated? Yes, a believer can still sin after he has been regenerated. In 2:1 John says, “My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” John’s words “if anyone sins” indicate strongly that we can still sin after we are saved.
Let us use as an illustration the matter of losing our temper. I do not believe that there is even one person who has never lost his temper after he was saved. Can you say that, during the time you have been a Christian, you have never lost your temper? Even if you have not lost your temper outwardly, what about inwardly? Even the single illustration of losing our temper is sufficient to make us clear concerning the fact that, even though we are believers, we can still sin and occasionally we do sin. Even though we have been saved and regenerated and are under the transformation of the Holy Spirit, it is still possible for us to sin. Since we can still sin after we are saved, we need to confess our sins (1:9). The confession of sins is the first condition of the divine fellowship.
In 1:6 John says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth.” To have fellowship with God is to have an intimate and living contact with Him in the flow of the divine life according to the Spirit’s anointing in our spirit (2:27). This keeps us in the participation and enjoyment of the divine light and divine love.
According to the context, “with Him” in verse 6 is with God. This is equal to “with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (v. 3). Once again, this implies the Divine Trinity.
It is very important for us to realize that the believers’ relationship in life with God is unbreakable. However, their fellowship with Him is breakable. The former is unconditional; the latter is conditional. Once we have been regenerated, we are children of God, and we have a relationship in life with our Father. This life relationship is unbreakable. However, our fellowship with God is breakable.
We should not confuse our life relationship with God and our fellowship with God. Our relationship with God is based on life and has been settled once for all. But our fellowship with God is based upon the fulfillment of conditions and may fluctuate like the weather. Therefore, the life relationship with God has no conditions and is unbreakable. But our fellowship with God has certain conditions, it is breakable, and it may fluctuate. I hope that we all shall be clear concerning the difference between our relationship with God in life and our fellowship with Him.