1 John 5:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

At another time, when Peter asked, "How many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me?" he heard in answer: "until seventy times seven" (Mt 18:21-22).

Here, however, Christ teaches that after two admonitions the sin becomes grave, and He does not allow one to wait longer.

What then? Does one thing contradict the other? No. He says "until seventy times seven" when the man repents.

But how will anyone forgive one who does not acknowledge that he has sinned and does not repent? So also we show the wound to the physician from whom we desire to receive medicine.

But concerning the sin unto death he says: let him not ask, that is, let him not pray. For he will not be heard, because he asks not for good.

He means the man who shows no conversion whatever. For the only sin unto death is that in which repentance is not offered.

Judas was sick with this sin and underwent eternal death. Those who remember wrongs also sin unto death, for Solomon says: "the ways of those who remember wrongs lead to death" (Prov 12:26).

For those who remember evil and do not cease from anger against their neighbor do not turn to repentance. Rather, they sin unforgivably.

Do you see that, if prayers are offered for lesser sins, we receive forgiveness? But if they are offered for greater sins, the fulfillment of the petition is difficult. There is a great distinction between the one kind of sin and the other.

Therefore also, since the people of Israel sinned unto death, it is said to Jeremiah: "Do not pray for this people, nor ask that mercy be shown them, nor pray, nor approach Me for them, for I will not hear you" (Jer 7:16).

Repentance for a mortal sin consists in confessing the sin to one's spiritual father, receiving an epitimia from him, and not falling into that sin again. But how many who have fallen into mortal sin have found no opportunity to offer repentance for it! One man became drunk with wine, and in that state his soul was separated from his body. Another went out to steal and rob, and the wrath of God struck him down in the very act of evildoing.

Beware, brethren, of mortal sins. I repeat to you: mortal sin kills the soul. If anyone dies in mortal sin, before he has managed to repent of it, his soul goes into Hades. It has no hope whatever of salvation.

What do sins that are not mortal mean? They are sins in thought, word, and deed, committed knowingly or unknowingly, which do not kill the soul but only wound it more or less. Even the saints are not free from these sins. But the saints keep watch over themselves, and when they notice a sin into which the common weakness of mankind has drawn them, they immediately heal it by repentance.

If the separation of soul from body occurs when a man has not managed to wash away his non-mortal sins by repentance, the soul is not brought down into Hades because of these sins. On its way to heaven, in the air, it is permitted to undergo examination by the evil spirits, in whose complicity sins are committed by men. It is granted the opportunity to redeem its transgressions by good works.

If the soul has enough good works, especially if during earthly life it gave much alms, then by these alms and other good works it redeems its transgressions. The gates of heaven are opened to it, and it enters heaven for eternal rest and rejoicing. But it happens that a soul has so many non-mortal sins and so few virtues that, because of the multitude of non-mortal sins, it is brought down into Hades.

The Holy Fathers compare mortal sin to a heavy stone, and non-mortal sin to an insignificant grain of sand. If one fastens a large stone to a man's neck and plunges him into the deep, he will drown. So one mortal sin is enough to sink the soul in the abysses of Hades.

A few grains of sand make almost no burden. So also in the saints of God, non-mortal sin, greatly reduced and made small by constant vigilance over oneself and constant repentance, has almost no influence on their eternal destiny.

But this same non-mortal sin, in souls given over to earthly cares, especially to earthly amusements, acquires extraordinary weight. Like mortal sin, it drags the wretched soul down into Hades.

For example, if someone says a humorous and even unseemly word, then repents of it, his sin is easily forgiven. But if someone constantly utters humorous, blasphemous, and even shameful words, then because of his continual idle talk and foul speech he may easily be subjected to eternal torment in Hades.

By their multitude, non-mortal sins can bring upon the soul the same destruction that mortal sin brings. Thus a sack filled with fine sand and fastened to a man's neck can drown him just as easily as the heaviest stone can drown him.

From the Gospel (Mt 12:31) we see that the unforgivable sin, or what is the same, the mortal sin, is properly called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This means stubborn unbelief that resists evident truth and calls it falsehood, as the Jews did with regard to Christ's miracles.

Blasphemy against the Spirit of God is also the deliberate distortion of Holy Scripture, written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and of the writings of Church authors. The Apostles already lament this (2 Pet 3:15-16 and elsewhere). The rejection of His gift of life and of the blessings He sends us is also absolute blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. So too is the use of these gifts for evil by corrupted men, that is, using them not for life but for its destruction.

Comparing this general concept of mortal sin with the Apostle John's division of sins into mortal and non-mortal, we find that he calls non-mortal those sins which do not prevent men from being children of God. These are involuntary sins, sins of weakness and ignorance.

On the contrary, mortal sins are those which mark the children of antichrist and the children of the world. Such are, according to the Apostle, the denial of the truth of the Incarnation of the Son of God (1 Jn 4:3), the failure to practice righteousness, and hatred of one's brother (1 Jn 3:10). Or, as the Seventh Ecumenical Council defines it in canon 5, they occur "when certain persons, sinning, remain without amendment" (Theophylact, on this passage).

But from the connection of the discourse, one may think that the Apostle has in view what was said above, in verse 12. "He who has the Son of God has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." Therefore by sin unto death one should understand chiefly the rejection of the Incarnation of the Son of God.

The Apostle Paul speaks of this directly (Heb 6:4-6): it is impossible for those once enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, become partakers of the Holy Spirit. Tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again the Son of God for themselves and put Him to shame.

Thus the meaning of the Apostle's teaching is this. Believers should pray only for those of their brethren who acknowledge the Incarnation and death of the Son of God, and who remain in the faith and in communion with the Church.

A Christian should not pray for those who have broken their bond with Her, such as heretics and apostates. Nor should he pray for those who are not in communion with Her, such as unbelievers and the non-Orthodox. This is confirmed by the canons of the holy Apostles, 10 and 45, and by the conciliar canons, Antioch 2 and Laodicea 33.

As for grave sinners within the Church Herself, the possibility of their conversion and repentance remains in them as long as they are alive. Therefore the Church does not cease Her prayers for them, if they remain in visible communion with Her.

Saint John Chrysostom also says concerning those guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: "This guilt too was forgiven to those who repented. Many of those who had spewed blasphemies against the Holy Spirit later believed, and everything was forgiven them" (On Matthew, Homily 41:3).

But it is clear that such prayers cannot be offered for suicides. By their suicide they showed a lack of faith in God's providence and of hope in His mercy. Seeking relief and rest from imagined or real evils, not in the mysteries and prayers of the Church but in violent death, they thereby broke their bond with Her and deprived themselves of the right to these prayers.

Blessed Theophylact gives the connection of these verses with the preceding as follows: "Having said that God fulfills our petitions when they accord with His will, the apostle now clearly expresses his desire concerning what we should ask according to the will of God. Since throughout almost the whole epistle he has spoken much about love for one's brother, and about God's desire that we keep love for our brother without hypocrisy, he now names this as one of His desires, and the best of them: when someone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, let him ask."

What does a sin not unto death and a sin unto death mean? The Lord says that every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, or pardoned, to men. But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven men, either in this age or in the age to come (Mt 12:31-32 and note).

Undoubtedly the apostle has this distinction between sins unto death and not unto death in view in the passage under consideration.

A sin not unto death is every human sin that arises from the common weakness of mankind (1 Jn 1:8; Jas 3:2 and note). It is a sin cleansed by sincere repentance and heartfelt contrition, and therefore it does not subject the sinner to spiritual death (cf. 1 Jn 3:14).

A sin unto death, or a mortal sin, is a grave sin by which a man becomes incapable of repentance. These are sins of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Such sins include stubborn unbelief in known Christian truth, obstinate apostasy from the faith that accepts no correction, and hardened persistence in destructive heretical errors and grave unrepented sins (see note on Mt 12:31-32; cf. Heb 10:26).

Judging from the fact that the apostle speaks of sins unto death and sins not unto death without any explanation or indication of what they are, one may suppose that these expressions were understood by the apostle and the readers of his epistle. Perhaps they were used as technical terms, as the following discourse also suggests.

Concerning a sin not unto death, let the believer pray for his brother, that God in His mercy may grant the sinner sincere repentance, forgive him, and give him life. That is, may He restore his spiritual life, weakened or suppressed by sin.

Concerning a sin unto death, the apostle does not give such instruction about prayer as he gives concerning a sin not unto death. However, the apostle does not positively forbid prayer for such a person, though neither does he give a command.

Apparently the apostle only shows that he cannot guarantee, or be certain of, the power of prayer for a neighbor who sins a mortal sin. The success of such prayer is resisted by the unbelief, obstinacy, hardness, and persistence in errors and vices of the one who sins in this way.

Such unrepentant sinners will not have their sin forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come, although the believer may pray for them.