At the end of John’s first epistle, he mentioned two different kinds of sins – one that leads to death and one that does not lead to death. What was he talking about? Is there a certain class of sins that God permits or tolerates and, therefore, allows them to go unpunished? Or does John mean something else? Notice what he wrote:
“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death” (1 John 5:16-17).
This is a difficult passage, and some portions of Scripture are like that (cf. 2 Peter 3:16). We must take care not to misinterpret it, but we can understand it (cf. Ephesians 3:4). To do this, we must seek to harmonize it with the rest of Scripture.Continue Reading
