1 John 3:6

Memory Verse

Everyone who abides in him does not [habitually] sin. Every sinner has not discerned Him nor knows Him (1 John 3:6). 

John does not write that a Christian cannot sin, for he already handled the reality that this can and will happen in the life of a grace believer who is not walking in the truth (1 John 1:6–9). Instead, it is the one who is abiding in Christ who is not actively sinning. The reason this man is not sinning is that he is feeling at ease with who he is in Christ and thus seeking out and displaying righteousness. 

However, the man who is characterized by his sins—not the one struggling to overcome sin—does not discern who Jesus is, nor does he have an experiential knowledge of Jesus. This one is short-sighted, forgetting he has been cleansed from his old sins (2 Peter 1:9). This type of attitude towards Christ will manifest itself in many different ways. Still, all of them will focus on the gratification of emotions. Because the one who is habitually sinning is not feeling at ease with who he is in Christ, he will continue to sin, for he is not living out from faith but works (Romans 1:17). 

Feeling at ease in Christ begins with understanding what God has done in salvation. In Christ—the new creation in which Christ is the head and the Church is His body—the grace believer has Christ’s righteousness imputed to him (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:22–23; 1 Corinthians 1:30). This is not out from works of righteousness which the believer has or will do, but because God showed mercy. Having been washed of sins and born again in his spirit, the grace believer now has the inherent ability to overcome sin, for he is in Christ and thereby possesses all things pertaining to life and godliness. The one who understands this will begin to feel at ease in Christ by applying the truth to his life and therefore cease from sin (1 Peter 4:1).