3:4
If someone sins then they are breaking the law. This must be the law of God that John is referring to here. Sin is lawlessness. In 2 Thessalonians Paul refers to the man of lawlessness, who can probably be taken as being the antiChrist. Now when we think of the gospel we think of Christ as having done away with the Law, as our not being under Law anymore, as being saved by grace, not by works. Yet Jesus said that he had not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it. So we need to be careful when we think about the Law. The things that were good are still good, and the things that are sins are still sins. The New Testament also says that loving Go and loving each other is the fulfilment of the Law. So the law is still important.
3:5
Jesus came in order to take away sins. We so often forget that this was the purpose of Jesus’ coming. Instead we hear that He came to “love” people, or to demonstrate God’s “love”. But what is God’s love? God’s love is that though we were sinners, He sent His Son to die for us so that we would not perish. Instead we hear that God loves us so we mustn’t tell anyone that they are sinner, or that any particular actions are sinful. That is not the love of God, indeed it is not love at all. Foundational to the gospel is that we are sinners and God came to save us from our sins. Moreover, in Christ there is no sin at all. Every other human being was and is a sinner, and has sinned on multiple occasions. Jesus did not sin at all.
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