#DailyDevotion The Hope Of The Gospel Purifies Us From All Sin
Wednesday Easter 3
1 John 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
Whoa! Katie hold the horses! Well that’s what I think when I read verses five and six particularly verse six. But we have to remember there are lot of verses before verse six and a couple of chapters. But let’s start at verse three.
It is the hope of the resurrection, being like Jesus when he appears and being children of the Father that purifies us as he is pure. It is the good news of Jesus Christ that grants us faith. The Holy Spirit takes us residence in us, makes us born from above, gives new desires, affections, motions and actions. He does not permit us to sin but engages us in good works. Jesus appeared to take away sins. He took our sins from us on the cross; nailed them to it right along with the law that curse us.
So if we are abiding in Jesus why does it appear we keep on sinning and don’t know Jesus? Well it depends on who or what is actually sinning. Now in the first chapter John told us, “if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us.” He also said he was telling us this good news so we would not sin. If we did sin, we have an advocate with the Father. So John is clearly anticipating that we will sin because we are sinful. St. Paul is also helpful to us in Romans chapters seven and eight. Paul recognizes there are two things waging war in us: Sin, which adheres to our fallen flesh and the Spirit, who has taken possession of our mind. He writes, Rom 7:20 “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” You see, we Christians often do what we do not want to do. Our flesh is willing, but our spirit (small case s, our spirit) is weak. He also says, Rom 7:25 “… So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” Our minds cannot practice sin and keeps on sinning when we abide in Jesus. Mortal sin is to sin when you know it is wrong, you intend with your mind to commit the sin and knowing it sinful you don’t care and you commit the sin anyway. The Holy Spirit will not remain in such a one. We who know Christ, while knowing Christ cannot sin in this way. Instead we struggle and fight against the thought of sinning, we don’t want to commit the sin we commit it. Sometimes we might sin so quickly we didn’t even have a chance to fight against it. That is sin that dwells in me doing what this decaying body wants. But inwardly, we are being renewed day by day.
While it is good to know the law, what God wants us to do and not do, the law can only compel us with it threats. They Holy Spirit, through the gospel, the forgiveness of sins, a new life, rules our inner being and compels the flesh to submit to his thoughts and desires. Jesus promises us he will do this. He will present us pure, holy and blameless on the day of his revelation. Should we commit mortal sin, he will intercede for us that God grant us repentance and faith again.
Heavenly Father, may your Holy Spirit, keep us from all sins, but especially from mortal sin, and so move us to always know Christ, abide in his knowledge and to the good he want us to do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.