John Calvin Commentary 1 John 3:8

"he that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." — 1 John 3:8 (ASV)

He that committeth sin. The term to commit, or to do, also refers to outward works, so that the meaning is that there is no life of God and of Christ where people act perversely and wickedly. On the contrary, such individuals are slaves of the devil. By speaking this way, he explains more fully how unlike they are to Christ.

For as he has previously represented Christ as the fountain of all righteousness, so now, on the other hand, he mentions the devil as the beginning of sin. He denied that anyone belongs to Christ except the one who is righteous and shows himself to be so by his works. He now assigns all others to the devil and subjects them to his government, so that we may know that there is no middle condition, but that Satan exercises his tyranny where the righteousness of Christ does not possess the primacy.

However, there are not two adverse principles, such as the Manicheans imagined. For we know that the devil is not wicked by nature or by creation, but became so through defection. We also know that he is not equal to God, so that he cannot contend with Him with equal right or authority. Instead, he is unwillingly restrained, so that he can do nothing except by his Creator's command and with His permission.

Finally, when John says that some were born of God and some of the devil, he did not imagine any tradition such as the Manicheans dreamed of. Instead, he means that the former are governed and guided by the Spirit of God, and the others are led astray by Satan, as God grants Satan this power over the unbelieving.

For the Devil sinneth from the beginning. Just as before he did not speak of Christ personally when he said that He is righteous, but mentioned Him as the fountain and the cause of righteousness, so now, when he says that the Devil sins, he includes his whole body—indeed, all the reprobate. It is as though he had said that it is characteristic of the Devil to entice people to sin.

It therefore follows that his members, and all who are ruled by him, give themselves up to commit sin. But the beginning which the Apostle mentions is not from eternity, as when he says that the Word is from the beginning, for there is a wide difference between God and creatures.

The term 'beginning,' when applied to God, refers to no time. Since, then, the Word was always with God, you can find no point in time at which He began to exist; you must necessarily admit His eternity. But here John meant nothing other than that the Devil has been an apostate since the creation of the world, and that from that time he has never ceased to scatter his poison among humankind.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested. He repeats in other words what he had previously said: that Christ came to take away sins. From this, two conclusions are to be drawn: first, that those in whom sin reigns cannot be counted among the members of Christ, and second, that they can by no means belong to His body. For wherever Christ displays His own power, He puts the Devil to flight as well as sin.

And this is what John immediately adds, for the next sentence—where he says that those who do not sin are born of God—is a conclusion from what has gone before. It is an argument drawn from what is inconsistent, as I have already said, for the kingdom of Christ, which brings righteousness with it, cannot admit of sin.

But I have already explained what not to sin means. He does not make the children of God wholly free from all sin. Instead, he denies that any can truly glory in this distinction, except those who from the heart strive to shape their lives in obedience to God.

Indeed, the Pelagians and the Catharians formerly misused this passage when they vainly imagined that the faithful are, in this world, endowed with angelic purity; and in our own age, some of the Anabaptists have renewed this delusion. But all those who dream of such perfection sufficiently show what obtuse consciences they must have. The Apostle's words, however, are so far from countenancing their error that they are sufficient to confute it.

He says that they sin not who are born of God. Now, we must consider whether God regenerates us wholly at once, or whether the remains of the “old man” continue in us until death. If regeneration is not yet full and complete, it does not exempt us from the bondage of sin except in proportion to its own measure.

It therefore appears that it must be that the children of God are not free from sins, and that they sin daily—that is, insofar as they still have some remnants of their old nature. Nevertheless, what the Apostle contends for stands unalterable: that the design of regeneration is to destroy sin, and that all who are born of God lead a righteous and holy life, because the Spirit of God restrains the lusting of sin.

The Apostle means the same thing by the seed of God. For God’s Spirit so forms the hearts of the godly for holy affections that the flesh and its lusts do not prevail; instead, being subdued and put, as it were, under a yoke, they are checked and restrained. In short, the Apostle ascribes sovereignty in the elect to the Spirit, who by His power represses sin and does not allow it to rule and reign.

And he cannot sin. Here the Apostle ascends higher, for he plainly declares that the hearts of the godly are so effectually governed by the Spirit of God that, through an inflexible disposition, they follow His guidance. This is indeed far removed from the doctrine of the Papists. The Sorbonists, it is true, confess that the will of man, unless assisted by God’s Spirit, cannot desire what is right; but they imagine such a motion of the Spirit as leaves to us the free choice of good and evil.

From this they derive merits, because we willingly obey the influence of the Spirit, which it is in our power to resist. In short, they desire the grace of the Spirit to be only this: that we are thereby enabled to choose right if we will.

John speaks here far differently, for he not only shows that we cannot sin, but also that the power of the Spirit is so effectual that it necessarily keeps us in continual obedience to righteousness. Nor is this the only passage of Scripture which teaches us that the will is so formed that it cannot be other than right. For God testifies that He gives a new heart to His children and promises to do this, so that they may walk in His commandments.

Besides, John not only shows how efficaciously God works once in a person, but plainly declares that the Spirit continues His grace in us to the very end, so that inflexible perseverance is added to newness of life. Let us not, then, imagine with the Sophists that it is some neutral movement, which leaves people free either to follow or to reject. Instead, let us know that our own hearts are so ruled by God’s Spirit that they constantly cleave to righteousness.

Moreover, what the Sophists absurdly object may be easily refuted: they say that in this way the will is taken away from humanity, but they say this falsely. For the will is a natural power; but, as nature is corrupted, it has only depraved inclinations. It is therefore necessary that the Spirit of God should renew it, so that it may begin to be good.

And then, as people would immediately fall away from what is good, it is necessary that the same Spirit should carry on what He has begun, to the end.

As to merit, the answer is obvious: it cannot be considered strange that people merit nothing. And yet good works, which flow from the grace of the Spirit, do not cease to be considered as such, because they are voluntary. They also have a reward, for by grace they are ascribed to people as though they were their own.

But here a question arises: can the fear and love of God be extinguished in anyone who has been regenerated by the Spirit of God? For that this cannot happen seems to be the meaning of the Apostle’s words. Those who think otherwise refer to the example of David, who for a time labored under such a brutish stupor that not a spark of grace appeared in him.

Moreover, in Psalm 51, he prays for the restoration of the Spirit. It therefore follows that he was deprived of Him. I, however, do not doubt that the seed, communicated when God regenerates His elect, as it is incorruptible, perpetually retains its virtue. I indeed grant that it may sometimes be stifled, as in the case of David; but still, when all religion seemed to be extinct in him, a live coal was hidden under the ashes.

Satan, indeed, labors to root out whatever is from God in the elect; but when the utmost is permitted to him, a hidden root always remains, which afterwards springs up. But John does not speak of one act, as they say, but of the continued course of life.

Some fanatics dream of something—I know not what—that is, of an eternal seed in the elect, which they supposedly always bring from their mother’s womb. But for this purpose, they very outrageously pervert John’s words, for he does not speak of eternal election but begins with regeneration.

There are also those who are doubly frantic, who hold under this pretense that everything is lawful for the faithful—that is, because John says that they cannot sin. They then maintain that we may indiscriminately follow wherever our inclinations may lead us.

Thus they take the liberty to commit adultery, to steal, and to murder, because there can be no sin where God’s Spirit reigns. But the Apostle's meaning is far different, for he denies that the faithful sin for this reason: because God has engraved His law on their hearts, as the Prophet says (Jeremiah 31:33).