John Calvin Commentary 1 John 5:16

"If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and [God] will give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request." — 1 John 5:16 (ASV)

If any man—the Apostle extends still further the benefits of that faith which he has mentioned, so that our prayers may also be effective for our brothers and sisters. It is a great thing that as soon as we are oppressed, God kindly invites us to Himself and is ready to give us help; but that He hears us asking for others is no small confirmation to our faith, so that we may be fully assured that we will never be rejected in our own case.

The Apostle meanwhile exhorts us to be mutually concerned for the salvation of one another; and he would also have us regard the falls of our brothers and sisters as motivations for prayer. And surely, it is an iron hardness to be touched with no pity when we see souls redeemed by Christ’s blood going to ruin.

But he shows that a remedy is at hand, by which brothers and sisters can help one another. He who prays for the perishing will, he says, restore life to him; though the words he shall give may be applied to God, as if it were said, God will grant to your prayers the life of a brother.

But the sense will still be the same: that the prayers of the faithful are effective enough to rescue a brother from death. If we understand a human being to be intended, that he will give life to a brother, it is a hyperbolical expression; however, it contains nothing inconsistent, for what is given to us by the gratuitous goodness of God, indeed, what is granted to others on our behalf, we are said to give to others.

So great a benefit ought to greatly stimulate us to ask for our brothers and sisters the forgiveness of sins. And when the Apostle recommends sympathy to us, he at the same time reminds us how much we ought to avoid the cruelty of condemning our brothers and sisters, or an extreme rigor in despairing of their salvation.

A sin which is not unto death—so that we do not cast away all hope for the salvation of those who sin, he shows that God does not punish their falls so grievously that He repudiates them. It therefore follows that we ought to consider them brothers and sisters, since God retains them in the number of His children. For He denies that sins are "unto death"—not only those by which the saints sin daily, but even when it happens that God’s wrath is severely provoked by them. For as long as there is room for pardon, death does not completely retain its dominion.

The Apostle, however, does not here distinguish between venial and mortal sin, as was later commonly done. For that distinction which prevails under the Papacy is utterly foolish. The Sorbonne theologians acknowledge that there is hardly a mortal sin, unless there is the grossest baseness, such as may be, so to speak, tangible.

Thus, in venial sins, they think that there may be the greatest filth, if hidden in the soul. In short, they suppose that all the fruits of original sin, provided they do not appear outwardly, are washed away by the slight sprinkling of holy water! And what wonder is it, since they do not regard as blasphemous sins doubts concerning God’s grace, or any lusts or evil desires, unless they are consented to?

If a person's soul is assailed by unbelief, if impatience tempts him to rage against God, whatever monstrous lusts may allure him, all these are, to the Papists, too insignificant to be deemed sins, at least after baptism. It is no wonder then, that they make the greatest crimes into venial offenses, for they weigh them in their own balance and not in the balance of God.

But among the faithful this ought to be an indubitable truth: that whatever is contrary to God’s law is sin, and in its nature mortal; for where there is a transgression of the law, there is sin and death.

What, then, is the meaning of the Apostle? He denies that sins are mortal which, though deserving of death, are nevertheless not punished in this way by God. He therefore does not estimate sins in themselves, but forms a judgment of them according to the paternal kindness of God, which pardons the guilt, even when the fault remains. In short, God does not give over to death those whom He has restored to life, though it is not due to them that they are not alienated from life.

There is a sin unto death—I have already said that the sin for which there is no hope of pardon left is so called. But it may be asked, what this is; for it must be very atrocious if God punishes it so severely.

It may be gathered from the context that it is not, as they say, a partial fall or a transgression of a single commandment, but apostasy, by which people completely alienate themselves from God. For the Apostle afterwards adds that the children of God do not sin—that is, they do not forsake God and wholly surrender themselves to Satan to be his slaves.

It is no wonder that such a defection is mortal, for God never deprives His own people of the grace of the Spirit in this way; instead, they always retain some spark of true religion. Those, then, who fall away in such a manner as to have no fear of God must be reprobate and given up to destruction.

If anyone were to ask whether the door of salvation is closed against their repentance, the answer is obvious: since they are given up to a reprobate mind and are destitute of the Holy Spirit, they cannot do anything other than, with obstinate minds, become worse and worse, and add sins to sins. Moreover, since the sin and blasphemy against the Spirit always brings with it a defection of this kind, there is no doubt that it is pointed out here.

But it may be asked again, by what evidence can we know that a person’s fall is fatal? For unless the knowledge of this were certain, the Apostle would in vain have made this exception, that we are not to pray for a sin of this kind. It is therefore right to determine sometimes whether the fallen person is without hope, or whether there is still room for a remedy.

This, indeed, is what I allow, and what is evident beyond dispute from this passage. But since this very seldom happens, and since God sets before us the infinite riches of His grace and commands us to be merciful according to His own example, we ought not to conclude rashly that anyone has brought upon himself the judgment of eternal death; on the contrary, love should incline us to hope for the best.

However, if the impiety of some appears to us utterly hopeless, as though the Lord pointed it out with His finger, we ought not to contend with the just judgment of God or seek to be more merciful than He is.