Thursday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 22, 2020 by under
Scripture: 1 John 5:10-21 (NKJV)
5:10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Devotion
What does it mean when John writes, “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin.” After all, who is without sin, as the Apostle writes in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” Do believers sin or not sin?
The answer is that the believer does not willfully sin. Those who are born of God, regenerated by faith in Christ, who have the Holy Spirit and love God and their neighbor, do not intentionally choose to sin. Living in faith toward God and love toward neighbor, we busy ourselves with good works. We live in the new obedience of faith. When we do this we keep ourselves from willful sins and the wicked one doesn’t touch us.
Yet we see sin in our flesh. We see concupiscence—the inborn desire to sin—in our flesh. St. Paul complains of this inborn sin in Romans 7:18 when he says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.” The inborn sin remains in us though we are regenerated by faith. It taints our new obedience so that although we have the desire to fulfill God’s law, we never do it perfectly. When the flesh tempts us to sin, we should cut off the temptation immediately so we do not sin willfully and grieve the Holy Ghost in us.
Prayer: O Almighty and Most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us, that we, being ready, both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldst have done; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
