1 John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother committing sin not to death, he should ask and pray life to him, to those committing sin not to death. There is a sin to death; I am not speaking about that in order that you should pray.
Ἐάν τις ἴδῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, αἰτήσει καὶ δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν, τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον. ἔστιν ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον· οὐ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω ἵνα ἐρωτήσῃ.
This is a difficult verse to translate and understand. John sees two types of sins: those that lead to death and those that do not. There are two questions that are not easily answered, if answered at all: 1) what are these sins and 2) what is death? Answering one question depends on answering the other. Is death here physical death? If so, some sins obviously are more detrimental to our physical well being and will bring harm and possible death. Is death more spiritual in nature? If so, then John is categorizing or weighting different sins. Some people say, “I just told a little white lie,” thinking that this is not as significant as a lie that causes great harm to others. God is the ultimate judge of these things.
The obvious thing we can learn from this verse is that prayer is the remedy for sin. Prayer will keep us safe from sin. Prayer is our connection to the source of Light and Life. Through prayer, we humble ourselves before God in confession, acknowledging God’s sovereignty over our lives. This opens our hearts to receive God’s instructions through the Holy Spirit.
This is one of those Bible verses that we can only guess at its meaning, but its intention is much clearer.
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