Topic #21 The Second False Claim – Part 1
Summary
This study focuses on verses 8,9. We will follow John’s outline. First, The Alleged Claim “If [for example] we [inclusive use of we] claim that we do not have a sin nature, 1 John 1:8a.” Secondly, The Admonishing Censure “[then] we are deceiving ourselves and Bible Doctrine is not resident in us, 1 John 1:8b.” Thirdly, The Amazing Cure “if we [inclusive use of we] confess our sins, [then] He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9.
1 John 1:8
If [for example1] we [inclusive use of we 2 ] claim that we do not have a sin nature [then] we are deceiving ourselves, and Bible Doctrine is not residing in us.
THE ALLEGED CLAIM
Review of The First Claim
In the first claim, the false teachers assert that personal sin in the life of the believer does not interrupt their fellowship with God. As shown in our last article, this is a lie. There are real and damaging spiritual consequences when we believe this. A believer cannot afford to be wrong about this for their sins, if not repented of, will keep them from walking with the Lord. It cannot be more strongly stated, your relation to God depends not on what man says but what God has said in the Scriptures. He states, unmistakably, that when you sin, you are no longer in fellowship with Him. As we will see, John will teach with equal force, that the only grace means to be restored to fellowship is by acknowledging that sin to Him. Every other substitute that man contrives fails to remove the guilt of sin, which we will investigate in our next article.
The Second Claim
Now, the second claim made by apostate teachers is a part of the same mistaken view of the Doctrine of Sin as the first. This heresy is that the believer does not have a sin nature. Some today hold the view that when we are born again, the sin nature is purged. Dr. D. Edmond Hiebert explains:
More probably the claim in verse 8a refers to those who acknowledged that they once had a sinful nature but that by a deeper personal experience this ugly root had been completely eradicated in their lives. Years ago this writer noted an advocate of this view who quoted this verse this way: “If we say that we have [had] no sin, we deceive ourselves.” By this he meant that the old sinful nature had been eradicated. This view relegates sin to the limbo of mistakes, frailties, pardonable errors of human limitation—anything but “sin.” 3
Others, like the Gnostics of the past, reject the idea of a sin nature altogether. John warned the church, through the use of the gnomic aorist 4, that the denial of inherent sin would be a target throughout every generation of the Church Age. His forecast was correct. This doctrine came under attack at the beginning of the 19th Century. Religious liberalism, threw off the orthodoxy of the past, claiming that humankind is good. Humanity is not fallen as the Scripture teaches. This denial is that man has never had a sin nature, but poor circumstances, lack of education, or poverty which explains his bad behavior. No better explanation of the impact of false teaching on our nation, is found in “The Great Evangelical Disaster,” written by Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer.
In the last sixty years the consensus upon which our culture was built has shifted from one that was largely Christian (though we must say immediately it was far from perfect) to a consensus growing out of the Enlightenment: that is, to a consensus that stands in total antithesis to Christians truth at every point – including the denial of the supernatural; belief in the all-sufficiency of human reason; the rejection of the fall; denial of the deity of Christ and His resurrection; belief in the perfectibility of Man; and the destruction of the Bible. And with this has come a nearly total moral breakdown.5
Ideas Have Consequences
Dr. Schaeffer traces the liberalizing of the mainline churches (especially between 1900 to 1936) and how their defection from the truth opened the door to the moral decline in America. He frequently said, “Ideas have consequences.” The Apostle Paul, centuries before, characterizes false teaching as “destructive heresies.” In light of the dangers false teaching inflicts, it is critical that this portion of the Bible be correctly interpreted. So, as we return to our subject of this denial, let us take a look at the Doctrine of the Sin Nature from the standpoint of Biblical terminology.
The Sin Nature in Scripture
The Biblical doctrine of the sin nature has several similar terms, and when taken into account, it is unconscionable that this error persists. For instance:
1. Sin in the singular [the noun only].
One of the major ways the sin nature is revealed in Scripture is through the use of the noun HARMARTIA [266]. 6 This noun appears in the singular number ninety-six times in the Greek New Testament. Very often, it is referring to the sin nature. As a matter of fact, in Romans six alone it is found sixteen times.
1 John 3:5
You know that He [Christ] appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
Here is a passage that we will eventually study were HARMARTIA is found twice. It is plural in the expression “in order to take away sins.” Our Lord’s first advent ministry was for the purpose of dying for the sins [personal sins] of the world. Then John says, “In Christ there is no sin [singular].” This refers to the sin nature. We receive our sin nature at birth. The virgin birth shielded our Lord from being born with a sin nature.
Romans 6:1
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin [singular] so that grace may increase?
This verse and following, the sin nature is under discussion. It does not mean “to continue to sin,” but “to continue under the sovereignty of the sin nature.” Paul is writing to Roman Christians, and the doctrines of chapters 6 and 7 are written to help us to have victory over the sin nature. It is a sad truth, but believers do commit sin, but we do not have to live under the rulership of the sin nature.
Romans 7:14
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin [singular].
An Expanded translation of this passage is, “Certainly we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal when I am led astray under the authority of the sin nature.”
A classic Old Testament Passage says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin [singular] did my mother conceived me, Psalm 51:5. “
David is not implying something was wrong with his birth, such as a childhood deformity. Nor is he putting down his mother suggesting she was an adulteress. David is recognizing his sin nature. This is a Psalm of repentance, repentance over his adultery with Bathsheba. David said that while I was in my pre-natal state, the sin nature was being formed.
2. The noun Flesh, but not always, [SARX - 4561] as in Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 2:3; Romans 7:17, 25. This is not an exhaustive list of passages.
3. Also, the adjective SARKINOS [4560] translated of flesh in the NASV. The NKJV does have a better idea of what this word means translating it “carnal.” When a believer is characterized as carnal, they are living under the control of the sin nature and living outside the circle of fellowship. Romans 7:14; 1 Corinthians 3:1. Carnality is synonymous with the Apostle John’s “walking in darkness.”
4. Our BODY of sin: Romans 6:6:
The principle emerges here that explains that the sin nature has a home, and it is in the human body, so it is called “our BODY of sin." Our human bodies have not been redeemed. We are waiting for its redemption in the Rapture of the Church whereby we receive a resurrection body, 1 Corinthians 15:50-57. This is also taught by Paul in Romans 7, especially in his exasperation, “Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this BODY of death.” Although the body, our materiel aspect, is still subject to death (Romans 8:11), we anticipate its future deliverance, Romans 8:11,23).
5. Our BODY of corruption 1 Corinthians 15:42
The sin nature corrupts and pollutes every aspect of our human nature, but the body is its home.
6. The “Old Man” in Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9,10. Also, Romans 6:6 in the Greek, “the old man,” not “our old self.”
From this, the term “the OLD sin nature” comes. It has been around a long time, ever since father Adam.
7. The Perishable seed of 1 Peter 1:23, “for you have been born again with the result you remain saved forever, not out of perishable seed.”
PHTHARTOS [5349] is an adjective meaning “subject to decay or subject to death.” See also 1 Corinthians 15:53,54. Seed is SPOROS [4701] and is a metaphor pointing to the origin of life. At our birth, Adam’s fallen nature, a body subject to physical death was passed on to us, Romans 5:12. The divine remedy for physical death is the Resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:22.
8. Heart – Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 12:34, 35; 15:19; Mark 7:21-28; Psalm 58:2-5; Proverbs 22:15.
Proverb 22:15
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.
By the time we emerge from the womb our human natures have been so corrupted by sin that no one has to teach a child how to sin, how to disobey. It is in their nature. I do not become a sinner by sinning. This is a false assumption. Adam is not the pattern for us. Adam became a sinner by committing a sin. We commit sin because by nature we are all sinners.
9. Self in Luke 9:23. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus must “deny himself,” which doesn’t mean to give up something you love or to cause yourself to suffer. Many have failed to see that this interpretation is wrong and leads us down the path of asceticism 7. Asceticism is a trend in the sin nature and is not the Christian Way of Life. To deny yourself means you follow Jesus by saying NO to the temptations that come from the sin nature.
THE ADMONISHING CENSURE
John’s direct and hard-hitting approach continues by declaring that the believer who says, “he has no sin nature or no longer has a sin nature is deceiving himself.” John chooses his words carefully, and self-deception is characteristic of all who reject the absolute truth of Scripture. The idea that we are flawed is counter to our basic pride. This is stated clearly in Jeremiah 17:5, 9. The admission that we have a sin nature, “a desperately wicked heart,” goes against our haughty, self-righteous view of ourselves so that we are blinded to the truth. Paul reminded the Galatians:
Galatians 6:3
For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Our self-sufficient, independent attitude is a poor substitute for the humble recognition that we are hopeless and helpless and in need of the grace of God. Our human strength, power, and abilities, do not make us strong; instead, they feed our arrogance. What makes us strong is depending on our God, yielding to His will for our lives, 2 Corinthians 12:9.
Self-deception occurs too often in Christian circles. For instance, the self-deception of the Church at Laodicea illustrates how an entire church could be engulfed in the delusion of their own magnificence.
Revelation 3:17
‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
Again, our Lord used this word, planeo, to censure the Pharisees. They were deceived “not understanding the Scriptures.” He warned the disciples to be on the alert for deceivers who would pervert the truth of God, Matthew 24:4,5,11,24. On three occasions in the epistle, John will use this word, and in 1 John 3:7,8, he links it to the ministry of Satan. The ultimate source of all false teaching is Satan. This fact moves the Biblical principle of self-deception into a new realm. Here we come to learn that self-deception is not just a human weakness, but satanically inspired.
Arrogant Self-Deception Is Satanic Deception
This is not polite discourse. John will leave no doubt by the end of this epistle that the believer who follows after teaching that is contrary to the Word of God is a disciple of the devil, 1 John 3:10. John was confronting severe doctrinal errors, such as the Gnostics' blasphemous view of the Person of Christ. The Apostle will declare that anyone who followed this teaching was antichrist-like in character.
1 John 2:22
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
Antichrist! Yes, false teaching is that heinous. It is deadly, toxic, and poisonous. Beware of its dangers. It is not only anti-Christ, but anti-church, anti-doctrine, anti-gospel, and anti-Christian.
When you hold a corrupt and erroneous view of the Person and Work of Christ, Jesus becomes a different Person. For instance, the Mormons believe in Jesus Christ, but they deny His Deity. This is a different Jesus. There is no salvation in the Mormon Jesus. They claim to be Christians and walking in the light, yet like the Gnostics of John’s day, they are walking in darkness. This is so sad. So many blinded by Satan. Satan is the greatest evangelist of our time. Dr. Graham may be heralded for being the instrument God used to bring millions to Christ. However, John reminds us that Satan has evangelized the whole world: In fact, he does this in every generation of the Church Age through the many counterfeit teachers who pedal his destructive heresies.
1 John 5:19
We know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
To call someone a liar and that they are deceived are serious indictments. This is characteristic of John for he understands the relationship false teaching has with Satan. Paul calls the heresies he was confronting, “deceiving spirits [teachers] and the doctrine of demons” 1 Timothy 4:1. Satan’s ministry is front and center in 1 John.
Listen to John and guard against those who oppose the truth found in the Word of God:
1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit [teacher], but test the spirits [teachers] to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
If Satan CAN’T keep you from receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (2 Corinthians 4:4), then his strategy is to keep you from becoming an effective Christian. How does he do that? He says, “Don’t worry about sin, your saved, and on your way to heaven. You are in Christ and eternally secure. On and on, he feeds us distortions of the truth that appear to us as a porridge of great delight. However, its consumption leads us spiraling downward into the abyss of the cosmic system. Ideas have consequences!
The Bible reveals Satan as The Great Deceiver, Revelation 12:9. He is as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour, 1 Peter 5:8. One of his most successful tactics is to spread false teaching among the brethren. We must not underestimate him by overestimating ourselves. All three of these denials, verses 6, 8,10, are satanic lies. Jesus taught that Satan is the “father of lies” that is, he is the source of all false teaching, John 8:44. From the standpoint of John, the truth, the Word of God, or using the term Bible Doctrine is your shield, and if you fall prey to the evil one, John says, you have no one to blame but yourself. You do have the Word of God!
The Truth 8 Is Not Resident in You
Another trait of believers caught up in self-deception is lack of doctrine. Any believer who is indifferent or apathetic to the teaching of the Word of God is open to Satan’s lies. When you accept the error of false teaching, whatever truth you have will be corrupted. It will have no spiritual value or power. This is due to the fact that the Holy Spirit is always involved in our receiving, remembering, and retrieval of doctrine for application to life, 1 Corinthians 2:12-13. When we are out of fellowship, our spiritual abilities of recalling the Word are shut-off to us. In contrast, notice John’s praise:
1 John 2:14
I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one [Satan].
They overcame the Evil One by trusting the doctrines taught to them by John. They realize from the teaching they have received that personal sin in the life of a believer does hinder their fellowship with God. They learned that they all possess an ugly root, residing in them, tempting them to sin, and at times they did sin (verse 10). You see, when you water down, weaken, or ignore 1 John 1:8, you will avoid the only cure, which is “acknowledging your sins to God, 1 John 1:9.” You have deceived yourself if you ignore this passage and its implications for your Christian life.
Conclusion: In light of this teaching, how important would you rate these simple truths? Your answer to this question has spiritual consequences.
A Plea
Your protection from false teaching has been provided by the grace of God, Hebrews 13:17. There is a church and a pastor in your proximity (a local church). The pastor in that church is responsible to teach you and fill in the gaps of doctrine that you need in your walk with Christ. Every believer should be able to say, “I go to such and such church, and so and so is my pastor.” If you are reading this study and cannot say this, you are deceiving yourself. You have believed a lie, and you are vulnerable to Satan’s snares, Ephesians 4:14.
ENDNOTES
1 When the subjunctive mood follows, this conjunction signals the introduction of a third-class condition. In a conditional sentence, there are two parts. The IF clause is called the protasis, which means standing before. It makes a statement, lays down a premise, or states a condition. This is followed by the THEN clause called the apodosis which means giving back. It says whenever the condition of the protasis exists, he can expect the condition of the apodosis to be fulfilled. Wallace says, “The subjunctive mood in conditional propositions depicts a future condition, what is likely to occur in the future, or what could occur in the future, and often used in hypotheticals.” Wallace p.347.
2 See Footnote #4 in the article Exegesis of 1 John 1:6 “Grammar Involved In First-Person Plural Constructions.”
3 Hiebert, D. E. (1988). An Expositional Study of 1 John Part 2 (of 10 Parts): An Exposition of 1 John 1:5–2:6. Bibliotheca Sacra, 145, 334–335.
4 The gnomic aorist presents an event or fact as being timeless. This claim is made by false teachers and their followers not only in John's time but will be made in every generation of the Church Age. This kind of aorist is translated as a present tense, “WE CLAIM.” The active voice indicates that believers are actively involved in making this false claim.
5 The Complete Works Of Francis A Schaeffer, “The Great Evangelical Disaster,” Crossway Books; Wheaton, Illinois; 1999, Vol 4, p. 319.
6 See the Exegesis of 1 John 1:8 for how sin [HARMARTIA] is used in 1 John.
7 Asceticism is defined as a system of pseudo-spirituality whereby the believer (or unbeliever) thinks that their extreme self-denial brings approval from God. In their human viewpoint thinking, they say, “I am spiritual because I give up certain normal activities in life.” The monk in the monastery is an example of this behavior.
8 See footnote #9, Exegesis of 1 John 1:6.