Sermon Tone Analysis

1 John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

(ESV)

“And in him there is no sin” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) nominative feminine singular form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία), “sin” (3) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (4) third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “him” (5) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “no” (6) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “there.”

The conjunction kai means “however” since the word functions as a marker of contrast meaning it is making an assertion which stands in contrast with the previous assertion.

The nominative feminine singular form of the noun hamartia means “sin” refers to the sin nature.

The articular construction of this word is a function marker indicating it is functioning as a nominative subject meaning that it is performing the action of the verb eimi which means “to exist in a particular location,” which is identified by the prepositional phrase en autō (ἐν αὐτῷ), “in him.”

The verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which expresses an absolute, direct and full negation.

The third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos means “him” referring to Jesus Christ.

The word is the object of the preposition en, which means “in” since the word is a marker of location indicating the location in which there is absolutely no sin nature.

Therefore, the verb eimi is expressing the idea that the sin nature absolutely does not exist in the person of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ.

The present tense of the verb eimi functions as a gnomic present which is used to make a statement of a general, timeless fact expressing the spiritual principle the sin nature “as an eternal spiritual truth” absolutely does not exist in the person of Jesus Christ.

The present tense is also a customary present tense or stative present used to signal an ongoing state indicating that the sin nature absolutely does not exist in the state of being located in the person of Jesus Christ.

1 John 3:4 Anyone who does practice that which constitutes sin correspondingly does practice that which constitutes lawlessness.

In other words, sin is lawlessness.

5 Consequently, each one of you possess the conviction that He Himself was revealed in order to eradicate our sins.

However, the sin nature absolutely does not exist in Him.

(My translation)

Now, 1 John 3:5 ends with the apostle John presenting a contrast between the Christian community committing personal sin and Jesus Christ who was sinless by asserting that the sin nature absolutely does not exist in Jesus Christ.

This of course, speaks of the Lord’s impeccability.

Notice, the noun hamartia is in the singular and refers to the sin nature.

It is not in the plural as it was earlier in the verse.

But rather, it is in the singular and is articular indicating the sin nature is in view rather than personal sins.

In other words, the word in the singular emphasizes sin as an entity and not sins in general.

The noun refers to the inherent propensity in mankind to commit acts of mental, verbal and overt acts of sin.

Therefore, Jesus Christ did not have a sin nature.

Each and every member of the human race does have a sin nature which dwells in the genetic structure of the human body.

Jesus Christ did not have this sin nature dwelling in His human body since His human body was not the product of a sexual union between Mary and Joseph.

The man passes down the sin nature through sex (cf.

Rom.

5:12-19).

However, Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit (cf.

Luke 1:35; Heb.

10:3-5).

Therefore, Jesus did not have a sin nature.

In 1 John 3:5, the apostle John is referring to the impeccability of Jesus Christ or His sinlessness when he asserts that the sin nature absolutely does not exist in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Father accepted Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths as a substitute for the entire human race because He was impeccable.

If He was not sinless and perfect, the Father could not accept His spiritual and physical death as the solution to the human race’s problem with being enslaved to the sin nature and the devil.

He could not accept these deaths as the solution to the human race’s problem with being condemned by a holy God for not keeping His law perfectly if He was not impeccable.

John 8:46a, “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?”

2 Corinthians 5:21, “He (Christ) who never knew sin experientially (Christ was impeccable), on behalf of us (as our Substitute), was made (the representative of) sin in order that we might become the very righteousness of God in Him.”

Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrew 7:26, “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.”

1 Peter 1:19, “But with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

1 Peter 2:22, “Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.”

The term “impeccability” refers to the fact that Christ could not sin or in other words, there was never any possibility or potential of our Lord ever sinning.

The term “peccability” denotes that our Lord could have sinned meaning that there was a potential for Him sinning.

The debate surrounding peccability and impeccability is easily resolved by an accurate understanding from the Scriptures of the Person of Christ and the nature of His testings.

First of all, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is infinite and eternal God (John 1:1-2; John 8:58; 10:30a; Col. 2:9a; Rev. 1:8).

The titles assigned to His deity are as follows: (1) “The Son of God” (Luke 1:35) (2) “The Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32) (3) “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6) (4) “Eternal Father” (Isaiah 9:6) (5) “His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2).

(6) “Lord” (Rom.

15:30; Eph.

1:22; Phil.

2:11).

(7) “God” (Titus 2:13).

He has the same divine essence as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit since He possesses all the attributes of deity: (1) Sovereignty (Matt.

28:18a; Col. 2:10b).

(2) Perfect righteousness (John 8:46a; 2 Cor.

5:21; Heb.

7:26; 1 Pet.

2:22; 1 John 2:21b).

(30 Justice (John 8:16a; 2 Tim.

4:8; Ps. 9:8; Deut.

32:4; Rev. 15:3b).

(4) Love (John 13:34; Rom.

5:8; Eph.

3:19; 1 John 4:9-10).

(5) Eternal life (1 Tim.

1:17; 1 John 5:11).

(6) Omniscience (Luke 11:17; John 2:24-25; 6:64; 21:17).

(7) Omnipresence (Matt.

18:20; Prov.

15:3) (8) Omnipotence (John 1:3, 10; 5:21; 1 Cor.

1:23-24; Phil.

3:21; Heb.

1:3; Rev. 1:8).

(9) Immutability (Mal.

3:6; Heb.

1:10-12; 13:8).

(10) Veracity (John 1:14; 14:6a; 1 John 3:16).

He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe (John 1:3, 10; Col. 1:16-17; Heb.

1:3, 10) and all judgment belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:22; 1 Cor.

3:11-15; 2 Cor.

5:10; Rev. 20:11-14), and receives worship from both men and angels (Ps.

99:5; Phil.

2:10; Rev. 5:13-14).

The Lord Jesus Christ as God was equal with the Father (John 10:30, 37-38; 14:9; 17:5, 24-25).

Therefore, since Jesus Christ is God, then as to His divine nature, there is no inherent propensity for Him to sin or in other words, there is nothing in the divine nature of Christ that could incite Him to sin.

James 1:13a When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.”

For God cannot be tempted by evil.

(NASB95)

Furthermore, Jesus Christ did not have a sin nature (John 1:14; Heb.

10:5; 1 John 1:1; 1 John 4:2-3) and thus did not have an inherent propensity to sin like we do.

Therefore, since Jesus Christ is fully human, yet without a sin nature, then like His divine nature, as to His human nature, there was no inherent propensity to sin or in other words, there was nothing in His human nature that would incite Him to sin because He did not have a sin nature.

Thus, if there was nothing in both His divine and human natures that could incite Him to sin or tempt Him to sin, then, there could have been no possibility whatsoever, that Christ could have sinned.

The temptations that the Lord’s human nature had undergone were from without.

However, those temptations unlike the first Adam did not incite in Him anything that could cause Him to sin since there was nothing in both His divine and human natures that would be enticed to sin.