Does John mean that a Christian does not sin, or that he ceases to be a
Christian if he sins? The opposite is taught in this very Epistle. John
is writing these things that Christians may not sin, but he recognizes
that they may, and tells them just what to do to have the sin cleansed
away in case they do sin.
When a Christian sins, _he is acting against his true nature_. That is
the argument of First John and of all the Epistles. When a Christian
sins, he is acting _as though he were_ a child of the devil. He as a
child of God can have nothing to do with sin. But there is his free
will to step out of the place of abiding, and this makes possible the
tragedy of a Christian’s sinning.
James is facing this tragedy of a Christian’s acting against his true
nature when he exclaims: “Doth the fountain send forth from the same
opening sweet water and bitter? can a fig tree, my brethren, yield
olives, or a vine figs? neither can salt water yield sweet” (James
3:10-12). All these things act according to their true nature. If a
Christian acted thus there would flow always from his life and lips
the fruit of the Spirit. But the Apostle shows in the passage that a
Christian may pray with the same mouth that he uses to say mean things
about his neighbor, and that he may have in his heart “bitter jealousy
and faction.”
Here, then, is our foundation truth that God has but one standard for
the Christian life, one kind of holiness, and that is the standard of
his Son, who is to be our life. And that Life, that holiness, God has
given _to every Christian_.