The Fellowship of God 4: Walk Worthy
Part 2 Walk Worthy Of Your New Nature, 1 John 3:4–9

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.

Be Aware Of the New You

John says flatly and plainly, Jesus was revealed to take away our sin, in Him there is no sin. Therefore, anyone living in sin, dwelling in sin, can’t know Christ. He adamantly says that the person who commits sin is of the devil. Just as Jesus was manifested to take away or sin, the sones of God were manifested, revealed that Jesus might destroy the works of the devil. That is our salvation. What Satan began in the Garden of Eden with Adam has been destroyed by what Jesus finished on the Calvary.

Now this principle of walking in our new nature, isn’t hard to understand in its overall meaning but the detail can sometimes leave us with questions. Exactly, what does John mean when he says, “whoever sins hath not seen or known Jesus or he that commits sin is of the devil? Does this mean, like some say that we must reach a state of sinless perfection? A spiritual nirvana where sin can’t touch me? No, of course not. Remember what he has already written earlier in 1 John 1:8–10 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. He is not contradicting himself just a few paragraphs later.

No, he is not talking about sinless perfection, he is building on what he has already said about being the children of God and about our new spiritual nature, not our old physical body.

The key is in 1 John 3:9 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. Both here and in verse 6 these are absolute statements. One who is born of God does not sin because God’s seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. “God’s seed” has produced His new nature, that nature received at salvation.

John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God

2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We are the children of God and as children we partake and share in the nature of our Heavenly Father. That part of us, that spiritual part of us, that part of us that is the true and eternal part, can’t be touched by sin. In God’s eyes, because of that new nature we will not face the judgment of wrath, nor ever be at risk of losing our salvation. God’s seed remains in us and sin cannot touch that part of us. If that wasn’t true then none of us would have any hope of heaven, because just one sin, would bring us right back to being under God’s wrath.

Walk Worthy Of Your Incorruptible Nature

What this means to us is that we should understand the truth of our new nature on the inside and walk worthy of that nature on the outside. It is not a license to sin, as those who don’t have the faith in God’s word to believe in His power to save eternally, often accuse us of.

Nor does it mean I shouldn’t be concerned about sin in my day to day life, thinking that doesn’t matter because is only on the outside. What it means, in the way John is using it, is a means to walk away from dominating, the practice of sin. If I believe in my new nature, then sin no longer has the power to control me.

​ Look at these verses from Romans 6:1-14 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? … 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. …12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

It’s about the control of sin, the power of sin, the desire for sin that has all changed because of your new nature, but it’s not about the total absence of sin. Remember what John said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”