Devotionals

First John can sound like it contradicts itself. In one place it says a person born of God does not sin. In another it says if we sin, we have an Advocate. Both are true. Neither verse means you must be sinless to be saved.

John writes to believers: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2 NASB). If salvation required a sinless record after conversion, John would not say “if anyone sins.” He would say you were never saved. Instead he points saved people to Jesus.

He is just as honest about the flesh. “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10 NASB). Claiming sinless perfection is not holiness. It is self-deception.

Then John says, “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him” (1 John 3:6 NASB). “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” (1 John 3:9 NASB). The point is not that a Christian never commits an act of sin. The point is that the new birth gives a new nature that does not make sin its practice, its home, its identity. The believer has been given a new spirit. That new creation is not a sinner by nature. The flesh still wars. That is why we still need the Advocate.

Salvation is not Jesus plus a perfect performance. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB). “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NASB).

John wrote so you would have fellowship and assurance, not torment. When you fail, do not conclude you were never born again. Run to the Advocate. Confess. Receive cleansing. Your standing is His blood, not your streak. Hate sin. Do not deny it. Trust the righteous One who already paid for it.

Many more New Covenant Bible Studies HERE. Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross.
And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." Luke 22:20