Growing in Grace

1 John 3:6-10
“Whoever abides in Him sins not. Whoever sins has not seen Him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous; he that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does unrighteousness and does not love his brother is not of God.”

“The Apostle is referring to the general tenor of life of Christian people, and in effect, this is what he teaches: If you are truly born of God, you are a child of God. If the seed of God has entered into you, you are truly a partaker of the divine nature. It is bound to affect your life in a profound sense. You will be unlike the person who has not been born again. The characteristic of that person in his natural state is that he is like the devil. The characteristic of the evil nature is that the person goes on sinning, he dwells in sin.

This exhorts us to strive to purify and cleanse ourselves and to interpret Scripture in our daily lives. We do not just have to submit and resign ourselves in order to be made perfect. We are to understand the Scriptures and their doctrine. We are to implement them in our daily lives. If I am a Christian at all, if I am a child of God and the divine seed is in me, then God has started to work in me. He will go on, he will bring it to perfection. He does so by opening my mind and understanding of the Word. He reveals sin to me. He tells me to put these things into practice. He gives the assurance that if I confess my sin, He is faithful and just to forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness.”