1 John 3:6 6Everyone who abides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen him or known him.
No middle ground exists when it comes to abiding in Jesus. John sets up a clear contrast between relationship with Jesus and sin. The two are incompatible. Sin keeps us from having a relationship with Christ. The present tense of the verb sin(hamartanei) and the substantive participle the one who sins (hamartanōn) imply a continuous, repeating, or habitual type of activity. John is not referring to the occasional giving in to temptation but the habitual rebellion and entrapment in the darkness. We live in the tension of the “yet” and “not yet” between the human struggle against the forces of evil and temptation and the victory we can have in Jesus. On the one hand, we are weak and prone to sin because of the myriad temptations that bombard us in the modern world, especially if we are engaged with unbelievers in our mission. Life gets messy sometimes, and temptation is everywhere. On the other hand, we do not need to be controlled by the power of sin. Romans 6 and 8 show that Christ saves us not only from the acts of sin that we commit but the power of sin that produces those acts.
The last part of this verse poses a challenge with the two verb tenses. Has not seen (heōraken) is a perfect tense, indicating a past action that continues to the present. Known (egnōken) is an aorist tense showing the result of not seeing. Putting these two verbs together suggests that whoever continues to sin has failed to see Jesus clearly, and the result is not truly knowing him. The way to get to know Jesus and truly experience his power is to accept his forgiveness and live in holiness. Continuing the old life creates a wall that separates us from the source of life.
Our encounter with the light of Jesus Christ should bring transformation, but God will not override our free will. 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 to what Christ has done on the cross for us. Our vantage point becomes the cross as we have put ourselves there with him and live the crucified life. Like Peter walking on the water, when we take our eyes off the light, we begin to sink into the darkness.