“Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” (1 John 3:6, NKJV) 

John has stated that the purpose of his epistle is to help readers know whether they indeed possess eternal life (5:13). Throughout the body of his letter he has indicated symptoms by which we might diagnose the state of our hearts and so give prognosis to our eternal condition. Symptoms of salvation now give assurance of eternal glory to come. 

In addition to indicators like love and sound doctrine, John has listed acute awareness of personal sin as a symptom of spiritual life. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Acknowledgment of sin and admission of it through confession are part and parcel of a relationship with God. 

How then can John now say: “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him” (1 John 3:6)? Such is the weight of this assertion that John will say it again as he wraps us his letter: “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin” (1 John 5:18). In other words, one of the ways we can tell we are actually children of God, born from above, is that we do not sin. 

What’s the story? Are we sinful or sinless? The answer is both. On the one hand, through eyes opened by the Spirit we see our sin. In fact, we see it abounding, tainting even noblest of deeds and purest of motives. We take great comfort in knowing that the blood of Christ shed at Calvary answers the debt of our sin with “paid in full.” We are sinners whose guilt is atoned for. Jesus is the propitiation for the guilt of our sin. 

On the other hand, God looks at us as His children and sees us sinless. How can that be? It’s because of our union with Jesus Christ. John says, “You know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin” (3:5). As there is no sin in Jesus, so there is no sin in us because when God looks at us, He sees us united with Him by the Spirit. 

We are not only cleansed by the blood of Jesus; we are clothed in His righteousness. In Him, we are without stain of sin. In Him, we are given the spotless record of His perfect obedience to the Law. 

There is another wrinkle to what John is teaching us here and that is with our newness in Christ will come a disposition against sin and an inclination toward obedience to God. When John says, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4), he reminds us that we no longer belong to the family of the evil one but are now born again into the family of God. His law is written on our hearts. Love for Christ will compel us to obey Him. 

In what way can we see ourselves as both sinful and sinless?