1 John 5
16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to
death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin
does not lead to death. There is a sin
that leads to death. I am not saying
that he should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, and
there is sin that does not lead to death.
Question: Why then does he say there's "a"
sin that leads to death they shouldn't be praying about? It seems like
there's only one.
There are two continuums
by which the severity of sin is judged:
1.
severity of
sinful behavior- from worry to murder.
2.
intent - from
sins of ignorance (Hebrews
5:2), to an accidental isolated incident,
to a hardened heart, to high-handedly rejecting the law of Moses (see above), to a seared
conscious.
When John says “a
sin”, he is referring to the second continuum (intent), which could actually
include many different types of sin. Vincent's
Word Studies draws a possible correlation between the blasphemy of the Holy
Spirit (which I connect above with rejecting the
law) and this “sin unto death”.
If any man see
(ean tiß idh). Third-class condition with ean and
second aorist active subjunctive of eidon (oraw). Sinning a sin
(amartanonta amartian).
Present active predicate (supplementary) participle agreeing with adelpon and
with cognate accusative amartian. Not unto
death (mh proß qanaton). Repeated again with amartanousin
and in contrast with amartia proß qanaton (sin unto death). Most sins are not
mortal sins, but clearly John conceives of a sin that is deadly enough to be
called "unto death." This distinction is common in the rabbinic
writings and in Numbers
18:22 the LXX has labein amartian qanathporon
"to incur a death-bearing sin" as many crimes then and now bear the
death penalty. There is a distinction in Hebrews
10:26 between sinning wilfully after full
knowledge and sins of ignorance (Hebrews
5:2). Jesus spoke of the unpardonable
sin (Mark
3:29; Matthew
12:32; Luke
12:10), which was attributing to the devil the manifest work of the Holy
Spirit. It is possible that John has
this idea in mind when he applies it to those who reject Jesus Christ as God's
Son and set themselves up as antichrists. Concerning this (peri ekeinhß). This
sin unto death. That he should
make request (ina erwthsh).
Sub-final use of ina
with the first aorist active subjunctive of erwtaw, used here as in John
17:15,20 (and often) for request rather than for
question. John does not forbid praying for such cases; he simply does not
command prayer for them. He leaves them to God.
--
Vincent's Word Studies
Wesley's explanatory
notes below equate this “sin unto death” with total apostasy, reminiscent of the
two Hebrews passages at top.
We know that we should
pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
But need we pray for such as above who have knowingly and willfully
rejected the law? No, we should instead “hand
them over to Satan” so that they should be “taught not to blaspheme”.
1
Corinthians 5:5
hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature[ 5:5 Or that his body; or that the flesh] may be
destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
(Whole Chapter: 1
Corinthians 5 In context: 1
Corinthians 5:4-6)
1
Timothy 1:20
Among them are Hymenaeus and
Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
(Whole Chapter: 1
Timothy 1 In context: 1
Timothy 1:19-21)
How was each of the
perpetrators in these two cases blaspheming?
Let’s have a closer look:
1 Timothy 1:18
18Timothy, my son, I give
you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so
that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19holding on to
faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected
these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 20Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
I shaded the word “conscience”
in green, just as I did above, as it appears at the tail end of the second
continuum:
There are two
continuums by which the severity of sin is judged:
1.
severity of
sinful behavior- from worry to murder.
2.
intent - from
sins of ignorance (Hebrews
5:2), to an accidental isolated incident,
to a hardened heart, to high-handedly rejecting the law of Moses (see above), to a seared
conscious.
1 Corinthians 5
Expel the Immoral Brother!
1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you,
and of a kind that does not occur even
among pagans: A man has his father's
wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled
with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3Even
though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already
passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4When
you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit,
and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to
Satan, so that the sinful nature[1]
may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works
through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you
may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep
the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but
with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- 10not at
all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and
swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But
now I am writing you that you must not
associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or
greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man
do not even eat.
12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?
Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside.
"Expel the wicked man from among you."[2]
This man was not only continuing
in the abomination of having his father’s
wife, but they were not filled with grief over it. They continued to fellowship with this man in
spite of his obvious apostasy. Paul forbids such fellowship. Fellowship among believers includes prayer:
Acts
2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and
to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
(Whole Chapter: Acts
2 In context: Acts
2:41-43)
It also includes the Apostles
teaching and the breaking of bread. Paul
forbids this apostate man from participating in these graces through
fellowship.
2 Corinthians 7
8Even if I caused you
sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it--I see that my
letter hurt you, but only for a little while-- 9yet now I am happy,
not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.
For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by
us. 10Godly sorrow brings repentance
that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings
death. 11See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what
earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm,
what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point
you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12So even
though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of
the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how
devoted to us you are. 13By all this we are encouraged.
The
2 Corinthians 2
Forgiveness for the Sinner
5If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has
grieved all of you, to some extent--not to put it too severely. 6The
punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7Now
instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be
overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm
your love for him. 9The reason I wrote you was to see if you would
stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If you forgive
anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven--if there was anything to
forgive--I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in
order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware
of his schemes.
At the time of the
writing, Hymenaeus, Alexander, and the sexually
immoral Corinthian man were unbelievers:
Apostates who had seared their conscience by rejecting the law.
This is the sin that
leads to death.
1 John 5
16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to
death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin
does not lead to death. There is a sin
that leads to death. I am not saying
that he should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, and
there is sin that does not lead to death.
Most people would ask
the question, why would you not pray for such unbelievers? The answer could be this:
1. They already know the truth and have apostatized. Your prayers can not override their will. They must decide to repent. Your confronting them with the truth might
cause them to repent. It did in the case
of sexually immoral Corinthian man.
2. Why ask God to save them when He is the one blinding
them?
John
12
The Jews Continue in Their Unbelief
37Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their
presence, they still would not believe in him. 38This was to fulfill
the word of Isaiah the prophet:
"Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord
been revealed?"[7]
39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says
elsewhere:
40"He
has blinded their eyes
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor
turn--and I would heal them."[8]
41Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
Obviously, He is not
blinding them against their will. They
do not like His light. They have seen
it. They reject it. This is their choice:
John
3:19
This is the verdict: Light has come into the
world, but men loved darkness instead of light because
their deeds were evil.
(Whole Chapter: John
3 In context: John
3:18-20)
It is not God's will
that they should perish. It is their will that causes them to perish,
since God “wants all men to be saved”:
1 Timothy 2
Instructions on Worship
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession
and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- 2for kings and all those in
authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and
holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who
wants all men to be saved and to
come to a knowledge of the truth.
Here Paul instructs believers
to pray for everyone, including authorities.
Why? So that we
may lead peaceful and quiet lives.
Either this or the prayer is related to getting “all men” saved. It could be both. The more literal reading would mean that the
peaceful quiet lives are good and present a good witness. Praying for unbelievers can certainly help
remind you to treat them as Christ would, and so present a strong witness for
Him. I know of only one other scripture
dealing with praying for unbelievers:
Mt 5:44
"But
I say to you, love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you,
This passage does not usually
apply here in the
How then do we turn them
from darkness to light? We are mainly
commanded to confront them with the Gospel.
It is up to them what God does from there. It’s not like God’s going to
override their will because of your prayers.
We are commanded to pray
with/for one another as brothers. But if someone is in a willful deadly
sin we are again commanded to confront them and possibly expel them from the
church, unless they repent. By handing them over to Satan this way, we
are not obligated to pray for them as a brother. This may be what john
was referring to when he said, "not that he
should pray about that": Instead he should DO SOMETHING about it. Perhaps he is deterring cowardly prayer that replaces
obedience. For example:
"Lord,
if it is your will for me to confront this brother in willful deadly
sin, then...."
I wonder if cowardice is the reason churchy people replace
preaching/confrontation with prayer for unbelievers. It is very embedded
in their culture. I don’t see it in the scriptures. Only that Paul
wanted
Heb
It’s like he had to
commend himself of worthy of prayer. Like “hey guys, I’m lined up to
receive this”. After the Gospels, most of the prayer requests have to do
with the advancement of gospel via preaching:
2Th 3:1
Finally,
brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be
glorified, just as it did also with you;
I used to think praying
for unbelievers was a good way to get people thinking about preaching the
Gospel to their friends, staying focused on that goal. I’m not saying
it’s a bad thing to do, but that it is overemphasized at the expense of the
more biblical solution to the problem of unbelieving.
I heard a missionary
reply this way to a prayer request for an unbeliever’s salvation:
“I don’t pray for people to get saved, but I’ll pray that
you will preach the gospel to them.”
The person who requested
the prayer was not satisfied with that response. She was probably doing the usual passing off
of religious duty and the missionary put the buck back on her—where it belongs.
I have also noticed that
this practice of praying for unbelievers and apostates leads to gossip.
You are supposed to confront the sinner to his face instead of violating
confidentiality and spreading rumors about him in the guise of “prayer
requests”. I’ve noticed that this
practice leads to an unwritten social norm of, “it’s ok to gossip about
non-believers”—if it’s prompted by a “salvation prayer request”.
God is concerned about
the nations and wants them to be saved.
Jonah
4:11
But
(Whole Chapter: Jonah
4 In context: Jonah
4:10-12)
Psalm 2
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD :
He said to me, "You are my Son [1]
;
today I have become your Father. [2]
8 Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter [3] ;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
So, did God’s son ask
Him for the Nations (or Gentiles)?
John 10
15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down
my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring
them also. They too will listen to my voice,
and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
He prays for the
Gentiles who “will listen to” His voice. These are future believers. He clarifies below that He is only praying
for those who accept His word:
John 17
8For I gave them the words
you gave me and they accepted them.
They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent
me. 9I pray for them. I am
not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are
yours.
Matthew 10
5These twelve Jesus sent
out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or
enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to
the lost sheep of
11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you
leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13If
the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if
it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If
anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your
feet when you leave that home or town. 15I tell you the truth,
it will be more bearable for
There is a horrible judgment
for those who reject His word. This is
the case of every apostate. They have
rejected his word and they have no excuse, for they once understood it. Notice what verse 14 does not say:
14If anyone will not
welcome you or listen to your words, stay in that home or town, and spend a lot of time praying for them. Ask your friends to pray for them too.
No he does not command
this. Quite the opposite, He commands us
to leave them, move on and preach the gospel to those who have not even had a chance to hear it
yet.
Acts 18
5When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself
exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.[1]
6But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and
said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my
responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
7Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
Acts
13:46
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the word of God
to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of
eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
(Whole Chapter: Acts
13 In context: Acts
13:45-47)
Paul confronted the
Roman Jews about the hardness of their heart
using the same scripture that I quoted above.
Acts 28
23They arranged to meet
Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he
was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the
26" 'Go to this people and say,
"You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never
perceiving."
27For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'[1]
28"Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been
sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"[2]
30For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and
welcomed all who came to see him. 31Boldly and without hindrance he
preached the
Romans
10:14
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they
believe in the one of whom they have not
heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
(Whole Chapter: Romans
10 In context: Romans
10:13-15)
Matthew
28
18Then Jesus came to them
and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in[1]
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The power to save lies
within the Gospel message, not prayer.
Romans
1:16
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for
the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile.
(Whole Chapter: Romans
1 In context: Romans
1:15-17)
1 Thessalonians 1:5
because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power,
with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how
we lived among you for your sake.
(Whole Chapter: 1
Thessalonians 1 In context: 1
Thessalonians 1:4-6)
Only through the deep
conviction of sin that the Gospel brings, can an unbeliever be saved. This is true for all types of unbelievers;
whether ignorant, or apostate. The biblical emphasis and mandate is for us
to first preach the gospel to those who have
not even had a chance to hear it yet.
If you obey this clear scriptural command and pattern presented above,
and still find plenty of time to intercede for unbelievers, and especially
apostates, then good for you. I cannot agree
with making it a requirement for other Christians to obey.
We ARE commanded to pray
for believers. The Bible nowhere forbids
praying for unbelievers, unless it is implied in “handing him over to Satan”.
Ephesians
6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all
kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
(Whole Chapter: Ephesians
6 In context: Ephesians
6:17-19)
However, preaching the
Gospel to unbelievers is so vitally important that failing to do so can constitute
cowardice, which is a type apostasy. On the other hand, failing to pray for unbelievers
only constitutes sin in the case that they are your authorities, maybe. In light of the scant scriptural emphasis, I
am surprised at the pervasiveness of this practice of praying for unbelievers. I am even more surprised by the amount of
preaching devoted to encourage Christians to follow this practice. Not because it is a bad practice, but because
it is overemphasized at the cost of more biblical prayer requests and
practices.
The
majority of the prayer requests in the New Testament are based around one
request:
Ephesians 6
18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers
and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19Pray also for me, that
whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the
gospel, 20for which I
am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Acts 4
29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak
your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out
your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of
your holy servant Jesus." 31After they prayed, the place
where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Notice in
Acts