1 John 3:6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
There is no middle ground when it comes to abiding. Sin keeps us from relationship with Christ. The key idea in this verse is “keeps on sinning” in the ESV translation. This is a present tense and is most often taken in this verse as a repeating, habitual type activity. John is not talking about the occasional slip but the habitual rebellion and entrapment in the darkness. This very point is often debated among Christian groups. Some will say that we sin every day, in word, thought, and deed. As long as we are adopted as God’s children, we are in the family and no worries any more. Others will claim that we can live without sinning, free from sin and its enticement. The situation may actually be somewhere in between. On the one hand, we are weak and prone to sin because of the myriad of temptations that bombard us in this modern world, especially if we are engaged with unbelievers in our mission. This life gets messy sometimes. On the other hand, we do not need to be controlled by the power of sin. Romans 6 and 8 shows that Christ saves us not only from the acts of sin but the power of sin that produces those acts.
Our encounter with the light of Christ should bring transformation but God will not override our freewill. The decision is always up to us to change and not sin. The answer is to keep our eyes on Christ. We must look to the cross and from the cross. We look to what Christ has done on the cross for us, and we look away from the cross as we have put ourselves there with him and live a crucified life. This is metaphoric but is the essence of the victorious life. Like Peter walking on the water, when we take our eyes off the light, we begin to sink into the darkness.
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