What Is The Sin That Leads to Death?

1 John 5:13-21

I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.

We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

So here we are, at the end of John’s first letter! In his closing remarks, John for the first time says clearly his purpose for writing: so that the church would know they have eternal life. We’ve seen in previous posts how this group of secessionists have sown doubt in the church about some key elements of the gospel message. John has called out those things and set the record straight.

Then we have an interesting little section about praying for those who are sinning. There’s an odd distinction between sins that do and do not lead to death. What’s that about? It’s obviously not a reference to physical death, since everyone is subject to that. Therefore, it must be about spiritual death. This makes sense in light of the purpose for writing that John has stated at the start.

So what is the sin that leads to death?

That’s a big question. Some people have suggested that it refers to sins for which there was thought to be no forgiveness (murder, adultery, renouncing the faith) but I don’t think there’s much merit to that. For one thing, terrible as they are, we know that there is forgiveness for these things! Colin Kruse has a helpful conclusion on this:

“When the author speaks of ‘sin that leads to death’, it is very likely that he has the sin of the secessionists in mind. They are people who deny that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh, and also deny the significance of his atoning death. This would mean that they place themselves outside the sphere of forgiveness, and their sins become sins unto death.”

Colin Kruse, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letters of John

John brings the letter to a close with some final reminders: believers are held securely by Jesus; we are God’s children; we can know God; we are in fellowship with God. These are powerful truths which are worth remembering as you go about your daily life.

Finally, John gives one last exhortation, to keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. Some translations say “keep away from idols.” The Greek word there is eidōlon, meaning idol, so the more literal translation is accurate. However, I find that the NLT’s version here is helpful. Idols are, after all, man-made things which have taken prominence in our lives over and above the Lord. We are to keep ourselves away from such things.