Practical spiritual advice /1/ – So what is the truth then?
So what is the truth then?
1Jn 3:8-9: “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”
This is one of the most difficult verses of the Scripture. You might even say that what is written here is not true: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin.” Now compare it with verse 8 of chapter 1 in this Epistle: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1Jn 1:8) These are totally different statements. And verse 10 adds: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1Jn 1:10) It is emphasized twice that if someone says he has no sin, he deceives himself and makes God a liar. But on the other hand, the same Epistle reads: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin.” You can say: All of us were born of God when we were baptized, when we believed in Jesus through personal faith and received Him as our Lord and Saviour. And do we not sin? We do. But the Scripture says here that we do not sin. If you show these passages to someone who is weaker in faith, he will say: “The Scripture is full of fables and contradictions”, and he will laugh at you. So how will you explain these two verses? Each of us has daily experience: We all have been born of God and yet we keep on sinning… The seed of God is in us and we sin. What about it? What’s the truth then? We either sin or sin not. If we say that we do not sin, verses 8 and 10 prove us liars. However, verse 8 of chapter 3 says that we do not sin. Both are true. But how can this be explained? I thought about it for 40 years. One year passed – I did not understand, two years passed – I still did not understand, ten years passed – I could not understand… But the Lord revealed it to me at last.
It concerns the moment when we are consciously in God’s presence. All God’s words are true: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin.” When I am actively in the presence of God, I do not sin. When I am united to God by active faith, I do not sin, or in other words, I can not sin. But when I break this connection, God’s Word says: “A righteous man falls seven times.” I cannot sin when I am actively – not passively – in union with God, i.e. when I unite to Him through faith. When I love God with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength – but I have to do it actively – I can not sin, even if someone forced me to. Here you get a full understanding of the problem. One needs to have experience of what it means to be in God’s presence. It is also the essence of prayer that we are in God’s presence. It means to realize that God sees me and to actively give Him my sins and my problems. At that moment I love Him with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength. I give myself wholly to Him.
What is the greatest commandment of the Old and New Testaments? To love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength. When did you love God in this way? You need the experience. How to get it? First of all, I need to focus my attention on God’s presence, give Him my sins, wholly trust in Him, trust in His omnipotence, and at that moment I am so closely united to God by faith and love that I am ready even to give my life for Him rather than commit a sin. This cannot be learned theoretically; you need personal experience and then you will clearly understand the meaning of God’s words: “…he cannot sin, because he has been born of God”.
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