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1 John 3:7-10

7. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous.

7. Filioli, nemo vos decipiat; qai facit justitiam justus est,
quemadmodum ille justus est.

8. 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.

8. Qui facit peccatum, ex diabolo est; quia ab initio diabolus peccat:
in hoc manifestus est Filius Dei, ut solvat opera diaboli.

9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

9. Quisquis natus est ex Deo, peccatum non facit, quoniam semen ejus in
ipso manet; et non potest peccare, quia ex Deo genitus est.

10. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the
devil:

10. In hoc manifesti sunt filii Dei et filii Diaboli, --


7. He that doeth righteousness The Apostle shews here that newness of
life is testified by good works; nor does that likeness of which he has
spoken, that is between Christ and his members, appear, except by the
fruits they bring forth; as though he had said, "Since it behooves us
to be conformed to Christ, the truth and evidence of this must appear
in our life." The exhortation is the same with that of Paul in
Galatians

"If ye live in the Spirit, walk also in the Spirit."
(Galatians 5:25)

For many would gladly persuade themselves that they have this
righteousness buried in their hearts, while iniquity evidently occupies
their feet, and hands, and tongue, and eyes.

8 He that committeth sin, This word, to commit, or to do, refers also
to outward works, so that the meaning is, that there is no life of God
and of Christ, where men act perversely and wickedly, but that such
are, on the contrary, the slaves of the devil; and by this way of
speaking he sets forth more fully how unlike they are to Christ. For as
he has before represented Christ as the fountain of all righteousness,
so now, on the other hand, he mentions the devil as the beginning of
sin. He denied that any one belongs to Christ except he who is
righteous and shews himself to be such by his works; he now assigns to
the devil all others, and subjects them to his government, in order
that we may know that there is no middle condition, but that Satan
exercises his tyranny where the righteousness of Christ possesses not
the primacy.

There are not however two adverse principles, such as the Manicheans
have imagined; for we know that the devil is not wicked by nature or by
creation, but became so through defection. We know also that he is not
equal to God, so that he can with equal right or authority contend with
him, but that he is unwillingly under restraint, so that he can do
nothing except at the nod and with the permission of his Creator. John,
in the last place, in saying that some were born of God and some of the
devil, imagined no tradition such as the Manicheans dreamt of; but he
means that the former are governed and guided by the Spirit of God, and
that the others are led astray by Satan, as God grants to him this
power over the unbelieving.

For the Devil sinneth from the beginning As before he spoke not of
Christ personally, when he said that he is righteous, but mentioned him
as the fountain and the cause of righteousness; so now, when he says
that the Devil sins, he includes his whole body, even all the
reprobate; as though he had said, this belongs to the Devil, to entice
men to sin. It hence follows, that his members, and all who are ruled
by him, give themselves up to commit sin. But the beginning which the
Apostle mentions, is not from eternity, as when he says that the Word
is from the beginning, for there is a wide difference between God and
creatures. Beginning as to God, refers to no time. Since, then, the
Word was always with God, you can find no point of time in which he
began to be, but you must necessarily admit his eternity. But here John
meant no other thing than that the Devil had been an apostate since the
creation of the world, and that from that time he had never ceased to
scatter his poison among men.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested He repeats in other
words what he had before said, that Christ came to take away sins.
Hence two conclusions are to be drawn, that those in whom sin reigns
cannot be reckoned among the members of Christ, and that they can by no
means belong to his body; for wherever Christ puts forth his own power,
he puts the Devil to flight as well as sin. And this is what John
immediately adds; for the next sentence, where he says that those who
sin not are born of God, is a conclusion from what is gone before. It
is an argument drawn from what is inconsistent, as I have already said;
for the kingdom of Christ, which brings righteousness with it, cannot
admit of sin. But I have already said what not to sin means. He does
not make the children of God wholly free from all sin; but he denies
that any can really glory in this distinction, except those who from
the heart strive to form their life in obedience to God.

The Pelagians, indeed, and the Catharians did formerly make a wrong use
of this passage, when they vainly imagined that the faithful are in
this world endued with angelic purity; and in our own age some of the
Anabaptists have renewed this dotage. But all those who dream of a
perfection of this kind, sufficiently shew what stupid consciences they
must have. But the words of the Apostle are so far from countenancing
their error, that they are sufficient to confute it.

He says that they sin not who are born of God. Now, we must consider,
whether God wholly regenerates us at once, or whether the remains of
the old man continue in us until death. If regeneration is not as yet
full and complete, it does not exempt us from the bondage of sin except
in proportion to its own extent. It hence appears that it cannot be but
that the children of God are not free from sins, and that they daily
sin, that is, as far as they have still some remnants of their old
nature. Nevertheless, what the Apostle contends for stands unalterable,
that the design of regeneration is to destroy sin, and that all who are
born of God lead a righteous and a holy life, because the Spirit of God
restrains the lusting of sin.

The Apostle means the same thing by the seed of God; for God's Spirit
so forms the hearts of the godly for holy affections, that the flesh
and its lusts do not prevail, but being subdued and put as it were
under a yoke, they are checked and restrained. In short, the Apostle
ascribes to the Spirit the sovereignty in the elect, who by his power
represses sin and suffers it not to rule and reign.

And he cannot sin Here the Apostle ascends higher, for he plainly
declares that the hearts of the godly are so effectually governed by
the Spirit of God, that through an inflexible disposition they follow
his guidance. This is indeed far removed from the doctrine of the
Papists. The Sorbons, it is true, confess that the will of man, unless
assisted by God's Spirit, cannot desire what is right; but they imagine
such a motion of the Spirit as leaves to us the free choice of good and
evil. Hence they draw forth merits, because we willingly obey the
influence of the Spirit, which it is in our power to resist. In short,
they desire the grace of the Spirit to be only this, that we are
thereby enabled to choose right if we will. John speaks here far
otherwise; for he not only shews that we cannot sin, but also that the
power of the Spirit is so effectual, that it necessarily retains us in
continual obedience to righteousness. Nor is this the only passage of
Scripture which teaches us that the will is so formed that it cannot be
otherwise than right. For God testifies that he gives a new heart to
his children, and promises to do this, that they may walk in his
commandments. Besides, John not only shews how efficaciously God works
once in man, but plainly declares that the Spirit continues his grace
in us to the last, so that inflexible perseverance is added to newness
of life. Let us not, then, imagine with the Sophists that it is some
neutral movement, which leaves men free either to follow or to reject;
but let us know that our own hearts are so ruled by God's Spirit, that
they constantly cleave to righteousness.

Moreover; what the Sophists absurdly object, may be easily refuted:
they say that thus the will is taken away from man; but they say so
falsely: for the will is a natural power; but, as nature is corrupted,
it has only depraved inclinations. It is hence necessary that the
Spirit of God should renew it, in order that it may begin to be good.
And, then, as men would immediately fall away from what is good, it is
necessary that the same Spirit should carry on what he has begun, to
the end.

As to merit, the answer is obvious, for it cannot be deemed strange
that men merit nothing; and yet good works, which flow from the grace
of the Spirit, do not cease to be so deemed, because they are
voluntary. They have also a reward, for they are by grace ascribed to
men as though they were their own.

But here a question arises, Whether the fear and love of God can be
extinguished in any one who has been regenerated by the Spirit of God?
for that this cannot be, seems to be the import of the Apostle's words.
They who think otherwise refer to the example of David, who for a time
labored under such a beastly stupor, that not a spark of grace appeared
in him. Moreover, in the fifty-first Psalm, he prays for the
restoration of the Spirit. It hence follows that he was deprived of
him. I, however, doubt not but that the seed, communicated when God
regenerates his elect, as it is incorruptible, retains its virtue
perpetually. I, indeed, grant that it may sometimes be stifled, as in
the case of David; but still, when all religion seemed to be extinct in
him, a live coal was hid under the ashes. Satan, indeed, labors to root
out whatever is from God in the elect; but when the utmost is permitted
to him, there ever remains a hidden root, which afterwards springs up.
But John does not speak of one act, as they say, but of the continued
course of life.

Some fanatics dream of something I know not what, that is, of an
eternal seed in the elect, which they always bring from their mother's
womb; but for this purpose they very outrageously pervert the words of
John; for he does not speak of eternal election, but begins with
regeneration.

There are also those who are doubly frantic, who hold, under this
pretense, that, everything is lawful to the faithful, that is, because
John says that they cannot sin. They then maintain that we may follow
indiscriminately whatever our inclinations may lead us to. Thus they
take the liberty to commit adultery, to steal, and to murder, because
there can be no sin where God's Spirit reigns. But far otherwise is the
meaning of the Apostle; for he denies that the faithful sin for this
reason, because God has engraven his law on their hearts, according to
what the Prophet says (Jeremiah 31:33.)

10 In this the children of God are manifest. He shortly draws this
conclusion, that those in vain claim a place and a name among the
children of God, who do not prove themselves to be such by a pious and
holy life, since by this evidence they shew that they differ from the
children of the devil. But he does not mean that they are thus
manifested, so as to be openly recognized by the whole world; but his
meaning is only this, that the fruit and adoption always appear in the
life.