[B-Greek] 1 John 3:9

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Tue Oct 26 22:24:58 EDT 2004


Dear Ben,

>On Tue 26 Oct 2004 (16:45:54), sethvm at hotmail.com wrote:
>>  Now, in regards to the clause about "cannot sin," within its context,
>>  does the greek seem to clarify whether this is a statement on absolute
>>  incapability (i.e.: the human has no way of commiting a sin once born
>>  of God), on impermissiveness and zero tolerance, or on something else?
>  > So essentially, what does "cannot sin" mean?
>
>  There has long been a debate about this. Jerome in the Vulgate renders the
>  phrase OU DUNATAI hAMARTANEIN "non potest 
>peccare", whereas commentators would
>  rather he had put "potest non peccare": "Has the ability not to sin" rather
>  than "cannot sin".

HH: "Has the ability not to sin" would be mighty 
poor translation, it seems to me. The OU is in 
the wrong place; it would need to be before 
hAMARTANEIN. I think John is speaking about 
hAMARTANEIN as a lifestyle. The whole context 
suggests this. The NIV translation brings this 
out in previous verses:

1John 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on 
sinning. No one who continues to sin has either 
seen him or known him.

HH: And look at the contrast of lifestyles in verses 7 and 8:

1John 3:7 ¶ Dear children, do not let anyone lead 
you astray. He who does what is right is 
righteous, just as he is righteous.
1John 3:8 He who does what is sinful is of the 
devil, because the devil has been sinning from 
the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared 
was to destroy the devil's work.

HH: There is a contrast between a saved and an 
unsaved person. The phrase in verse 9 is 
continuing that discussion of a righteous 
lifestyle versus a sinful lifestyle:

1John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue 
to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he 
cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of 
God.

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard



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