1 John 3:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Apparently the Apostle directs his words to refute the false teaching of heretics who spread false rules that weakened the moral law and Christian virtues.

Such were the Simonians and Nicolaitans, who taught that faith was enough to obtain salvation, without fulfilling the moral law or doing good works.

Against such false reasoning the Theologian says: "Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness," a transgression or violation of the law.

It is as though he writes: do not believe that because the Mosaic law has now lost its force, we Christians may do everything according to our own will without fearing punishment for sin.

No, we must fear sin. The teaching of Christ is law. It shows what we must do and what we must not do.

Therefore whoever does not do what the teaching of Christ commands, or whoever does what it forbids, transgresses the law or sins.

Such a man is subject to condemnation and to the loss of the promised glory prepared for the children of God born of God (1 Jn 3:2).

It must be observed that here the Apostle gives an intensified meaning to the concept of sin.

Every sin is a violation of the law, or a transgression of the law. But not every sin threatens loss of salvation.

John himself said earlier: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (1 Jn 1:10).

He said this about sins of weakness, to which we are subjected every day despite all our effort not to sin.

But now he speaks of grave or ruling sin, which dominates a man or to which he carelessly enslaves himself as to an idol, seeking his happiness in it.

This usually happens when a man gives himself over to pride, love of gain, or sensuality.

Such sin enslaves a man's thoughts and feelings, depriving him of spiritual life.

Of such sin the Lord says: "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin'" (Jn 8:34).

It is an unlawful action, a violation of the law and of the will of God expressed in the law, and it draws upon itself God's wrath and punishment.

The expression "commits sin" is opposed to the expression "to have no sin" (1 Jn 1:8 and note).

"The Apostle speaks as though saying: you who have been adopted, do righteousness and do not show yourselves idle in it.

For with respect to sin, the sinner or lawless man is not the one who has committed or will commit a sin.

Rather, he is the one who clings to evil and does evil.

So also the righteous man is not the one who remains inactive, but the one who does righteousness.

It must also be known that sin is called a falling away from the good, while lawlessness is the violation of a positive law.

Both have one beginning: the one is a falling away from the good, and the other is transgression of a positive law.

Yet in essence both converge.

The sinner has deviated from the goal appointed according to nature and in nature. For the goal of human nature is to live according to reason, having driven irrationality far away.

Likewise the lawless man, rushing unrestrainedly toward evil, transgresses the law implanted in nature" (Theophylact).

Apparently the Apostle directs his word against the false teaching of heretics who deceived the believers (1 Jn 2:26).

They spread perverse rules that weakened the moral law and Christian duties among believers.

They apparently taught that faith without good works was sufficient for appropriating redemption, as in Jas 2:14 and following; compare the note.

The Apostle therefore impresses upon believers: you must purify yourselves from sin and fear sin, because sin is a transgression of the law of God and of Christ.

Whoever does not fulfill the law and does not do what the teaching of Christ commands is a transgressor of the law.

So is whoever does what it forbids.

Such a man is subject to condemnation as a sinner and cannot be counted worthy of seeing Him, which is promised to the children of God born of Him.

The one who commits sin is a transgressor of God's law and will.

This means not only the one who consciously and stubbornly commits sin, but also the one who does not withdraw from sin.

Sin is imputed to him as lawlessness.

This is all the more true of sin that enslaves the will, thoughts, and feelings of a man, as though depriving him of spiritual life.

Of such sin the Lord says that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (Jn 8:34).

The believer in Jesus Christ does not sin both because sin is contrary to the Christian, and because the Christian abides in Jesus Christ.

By His power Christ turns him away from sin, so that he is gradually perfected through struggle with the flesh, the world, and the devil.

At last he becomes righteous.

If in this process a Christian sometimes falls into sins, such as involuntary sins or sins of weakness, these are something completely alien and external to his being.

But whoever commits sins willingly, constantly, and consciously voluntarily submits to the guidance of that power which from the beginning was the chief cause of sin, that is, the devil.

The Lord came to deliver us from his power.