The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum The Sin Unto Death

I meant to follow up with this sooner but this week turned out to be much busier than I expected. I wanted to give my pastor's thoughts & my own. In the sermon, my pastor went over a number of different views that have been expressed by various expositors as to the meaning of the "sin unto death," pointing out their strengths & weaknesses, and then concluded with what he took to be the strongest interpretation. To sum up, we know from Scripture that all sin leads to spiritual death, so it does not seem likely that John is writing about a sin that leads to spiritual death. Rather, John is speaking of physical death. The understanding is, therefore, that we are not to pray for one who dies as a direct result of some sin. As an example, say someone dies in the course of committing a robbery - we would not pray for him.

This interpretation seems strained to me. First, the immediate context of the passage is our assurance of eternal - not merely physical - life in the Son, and the confidence with which we may therefore make petition of God the Father. Indeed, just a few verses earlier John writes, "he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life" (I Jh. 5:12), i.e., such a one is dead. So, while I agree that all sin leads to spiritual death, John does seem to be speaking of sin that permanently seals spiritual death, i.e., to the point that God will not regenerate the one who sins the sin unto death. Second, why would John say specifically that we are not to pray for one who physically dies as a direct result of some sin, rather than simply issuing a blanket prohibition on praying for the dead, which is already prohibited by Scripture? It seems that John must be distinguishing the state of one who sins the sins unto death from the state of one who is simply physically dead.

With that in mind, it is helpful to take into account the broader context of the epistle. John is clearly writing to a church that has recently suffered schism as a result of the teachings of certain false brethren who "went out from us" (I Jh. 2:19). From what I can see, John refers to these people or their teachings in the following verses: 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 9, 11, 15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 26; 3:4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 17; 4:1, 3, 5, 8, 18, 20; 5:10, 12, 16. This is 29 verses; I John has 105 verses altogether. So, referrences to false brethren, their behavior, or their teachings occur in more than a quarter of the book, and furthermore, in every chapter. To me, the connection to Heb. 6 is immediately apparent, as another place in Scripture where men who had been in the midst of the church "fell away." As the author of Hebrews writes,
I think, therefore, that the sin unto death is apostasy, that is, a knowing & deliberate rejection of the true faith which was once credibly professed.

Now, I admit this interpretation is not without its difficulties; but as it stands, I find it the most convincing & consistent with the rest of the Scripture.