5:18-21
Anyone born of God does not continue to sin. Now John is not arguing for sinless perfectionism, but anyone who still rejoices in sin and advocates sinful behaviour is not born of God. On a more positive note the one born of God is kept safe by Him, and the evil one cannot harm them. False teachers may be pretending to offer some extra form of protection. But in Christ we have all the protection we need. We are children of God, and the world is under the control of the evil one. So we need to appreciate the truth of the situation. Moreover, the son of God “has given us understanding”. Some false teachers may claim to be oh so clever and to belittle our understanding. We should not listen to them, for Christ has given us understanding. He has enabled us to know God.
John closes his letter with a warning “keep yourselves from idols”. I think it was Calvin who said the human heart is an idol factory. We have great propensity to make idols out of anything.
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