1 John 3:8
nHe that committeth sin is of the devil; for othe devil sinneth from the beginning. pFor this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστίν, ὅτι ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς ὁ διάβολος ἁμαρτάνει. εἰς τοῦτο ἐφανερώθη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα λύσῃ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου.
Textual key: no entry
n:
Matthew 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
o:
2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
p:
1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
Matthew 12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
the apostle’s notion of committing sin may be interpreted by his own phrase, 3Jn 1:11, ο κακοποιων, a doer of evil; and by that, used in both Testaments, a worker of iniquity; which is not every one that doth any one single act of sin; as his ο ποιων δικαιοσυνην, 1Jn 3:7, a doer of righteousness, and ο αγαθοποιων, 3Jn 1:11, a doer of good, is not every one that doth any one righteous or good action; any more than we call him a worker or maker of any thing, (as signifying a manual occupation), who only makes a single attempt, but him who hath acquired the habitual skill, and doth ordinarily employ himself accordingly.
A worker or maker of sin, (as we may fitly render this ο ποιων την αμαρτιαν), is an habitual or customary sinner; one that sinneth with deliberation, not by surprise, from a prevailing habit, that either continueth him in a course of actual known sin, or that withholds him from repenting sincerely, and turning to God from the sin which he hath committed; by which repentance he should not only refrain from further gross acts of sin, (which an impenitent person upon other inducements may do), but mortify and prevail against all sinful habits and inclinations. In the same sense he useth the expression of sinning, 1Jn 3:6,9. And such a sinner, he says,
as if he were born of him, were his child, really conformed to him, and having his sinning nature. As our Saviour tells the Jews, having applied to them the same phrase before of committing sin, Joh 8:34, that they were of their father the devil, Joh 8:44. As also this apostle, 3Jn 1:11, says: He that doeth good is of God, i.e. born of God, or his child; as we find he uses the expressions of being born of God, and being of God, promiscuously, and with indifference, 1Jn 3:9,10 5:18,19, the latter being elliptical in reference to the former. Whereas sin was therefore originally the devil’s work, he adds, (as a further engagement against it), that
{ as 1Jn 3:5} appeared in the flesh, showed himself in this world of ours, on purpose
or (as the word signifies) that he might dissolve the frame of all such works.