(upbeat music) - Welcome back to a new week on the podcast. This is a really good question from a listener named Danny. Hello Pastor John and thank you for this podcast. My question is this, what is the sin that does not lead to death in 1 John 5 verses 16 and 17?

Can you explain the difference between a sin that leads to death and a sin that doesn't? Well, let me venture an answer in summary form and then drop back and give the foundations for it from the context of 1 John and the wider New Testament teaching. Here's my answer.

The sin that does not lead to death, that is eternal death, which is what I think John means, damnation. The sin that does not lead to damnation is any sin that we commit, which we are by grace capable of truly confessing and repenting from. That's my answer. And the reason I put it like that is because of what 1 John 1:9 says and Hebrews 12, 16 says.

So 1 John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he doesn't specify any particular kind, just if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So that's a very sweeping and glorious and wonderful and precious promise. If you can confess your sin authentically, agree with God that it is sin, it stinks, I hate it and turn from it, fight against it, you will be forgiven.

However, Hebrews 12, 16 says, talking about Esau in the Old Testament and what happened to him, see to it that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected.

For he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears. When it says he sought it, it means he sought repentance, but he couldn't find it. He was no longer capable of repenting. It's not that he repented and repented and cried over his repentance and God wouldn't forgive him.

No, no, no, he could not repent. He had sinned to a depth or a degree that God had given him up. That's what I think Jesus meant by unforgivable sin, not a particular sin, like some particular ugly act, not a particular sin, but a particular depth or degree or aggravation or persistence in sin to the point where authentic confession and repentance have become impossible.

So my answer to Danny's question, what's the sin that does not lead to death is any sin that we are still by grace able to authentically, humbly confess and repent from, that sin does not lead to death. Now, let's look at the context because it really helps to see how the very text that Danny is referring to fits into the larger theme of 1 John.

It goes like this, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin," now that translation, a sin, I would translate it committing sin because if you say a sin, it sounds like there's a specific one in mind. There is no word a or a in Greek. There's no indefinite particle in Greek.

And so you have to decide contextually whether you add it or not. And here I wouldn't add it. So let me translate it that way. If anyone sees his brother committing sin, not leading to death, he shall ask and God will give him life to those that do not lead to death, to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.

There is sin that leads to death. And I do not say that you should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. Now we need to make sure that we see these two verses as part of the larger balancing act that John is doing in this letter.

On the one hand, there's a strong emphasis in 1 John that those who are truly born of God don't go on sinning. 1 John 3.9, if you're born of God, you don't go on committing sin, practicing sin. And on the other hand, that's one side of the balance, John warns against misunderstanding that in a perfectionistic way as though, oh, Christians don't sin anymore.

I've actually met people who say that. If we say we have no sin, this is now chapter one, verse seven. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his truth is not in us. So that's the other side of the balance. On the one side, you don't keep on sinning if you're born again. And on the other side, you don't ever stop sinning in this world.

In other words, John is trying to strike a balance between the absolute necessity of the new birth, which necessarily gives us significant measures of victory over sin. That's the one side. And on the other hand, the reality that we do in fact, as Christians, commit sins and can find forgiveness as we confess them.

That's the balance you find in chapter five, verses 16 and 17. So verse 16 begins with, if anyone sees his brother committing sin, not leading to death, he shall ask God and he will forgive him to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. In other words, yes, there is such a thing as a Christian sinning and not being damned for it.

Then verse 17 ends like this, all wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. So John's striking the note firmly, we should not take anything he has said in a perfectionistic way that implies Christians don't sin or that all sin leads to damnation. It doesn't.

Christians do sin and not all sin leads to damnation. But right there in the middle, verse 16, near the end of the verse, he puts in a disclaimer. He says, "When I tell you to pray for sinners, I recognize that Jesus taught about unforgivable sin. And I recognize that Hebrews taught about Esau.

And I do acknowledge that there is sin that does lead to death, does lead to damnation, that puts you beyond repentance. And I'm not talking about that." That's the point of that verse. I'm not talking about that when I tell you to pray for those who have sinned. He doesn't tell us not to pray for such sin.

He simply says, "That's not what I'm talking about when I tell you to pray for sinners that God will give them life." So to state my answer to Danny's specific question one more time, his question is, "What is the sin that does not lead to death?" Does not lead to death.

The sin that does not lead to death, does not lead to damnation, is any sin that we commit, which by God's grace, we are capable of truly confessing and repenting from. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 is a very, very precious promise. - Yes, it is very precious. Thank you, Pastor John, for the answer. And thank you for listening and making the podcast part of your week. You can subscribe to our audio feeds and search our past episodes in our archive, and even reach us by email with a question you may have of your own, questions relating to how scripture connects with our lives and our behaviors.

You can do all of that through our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn. Well, what does Paul mean when he says, "To live is Christ." To live is Christ. It's such a profound statement, but even that statement is shrouded in some confusion at first blush when we first look at it, but it's worth a closer look.

And we will on Wednesday. I am your host, Tony Reinke, and we'll see you then. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)