Gospel Light Society Podcasts

Standing Between the Living & Dead Memorial Prayer Devotional Service for Coronavirus Victims #213-1 by Daniel Whyte III

Whyte House Family Devotional Reading of Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Episode #325 by Daniel Whyte III

The Scripture & the Sense Podcast #715: Habakkuk 3:15 by Daniel Whyte III

Whyte House Daily Reading of the Chronological Bible Episode #14: Genesis 13 by Daniel Whyte III

Whyte House Daily Devotional Bible Reading Episode #379: Lamentations 4, Jeremiah 29, and Ezekiel 20 by Daniel Whyte III

Whyte House Family Spoken Novels Holiday Edition #1: The Thanksgiving Letters Chapter 15 by Daniel Whyte III

MSNBC Names Rashida Jones as the Network’s President (BCNN1 12.9.20) by Daniel Whyte III

Self Control, Part 1 (The Man in the Mirror, Episode 87) by Daniel Whyte III

Prayer Motivator Minute #952 by Daniel Whyte III

TEXT: 1 John 5:14-17

The Bible Knowledge Commentary says about this passage: “The words, a sin that does not lead to death, can be easily misunderstood. All sin ultimately leads to death, but the expression “that does not lead to death” should be understood in the sense, “not punished by death.” The distinction is between sins for which death is a rapid consequence and sins for which it is not.

When a Christian sees another Christian sin in a way that is not fatal, he is instructed to pray for him and God will give him life. However, John reminded his readers that there is sin that leads to (that is, “is punished by”) death. There is no need for the word a before “sin.” John was not likely thinking of only one kind of sin. The New Testament example cited earlier was a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the Christian community. It is not necessary for a Christian to be absolutely sure which flagrant sins are punishable by swift death as long as he can recognize many which are not. He is commanded to pray regarding sins which are not punishable by swift death. Even for other sins, where a greater seriousness seems attached to them, Christians have the freedom to pray. John’s words about fatal sin are, I am not saying that he should pray about that. But this clearly does not forbid prayer even in the most serious cases. But naturally in such cases believers will submit their prayers to the will of God. In contrast, with regard to sins not punished swiftly by death, Christians, on the basis of this verse, should be able to pray with confidence.

This verse affirms that there is genuine scope for the kind of prayer John enjoined in verse 16. All wrongdoing is sin, but out of this broad spectrum there is sin that does not lead (swiftly) to death. This passage has suffered a great deal by the concentration of expositors on the question of what kind of sin is directly punished by death. John’s emphasis, however, is on sin not thus punished. It is for this that a believer should pray. When he does so, he is demonstrating his love for his brother and is thus obeying the frequently repeated command of this letter to do so. At the same time, he is exercising faith in the name of God’s Son, since his loving request for his brother is in Jesus’ name. Prayer for one’s sinning brother is therefore in obedience to the single two-pronged command of 1 John 3:23: ‘And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.’”