1 John 5:16

{15} If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, {l} he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. (15) We have to make prayers not only for ourselves, but also for our brothers who sin, that their sins be not to death: and yet he excepts that sin which is never forgiven, or the sin against the Holy Spirit, that is to say, a universal and wilful falling away from the known truth of the gospel. (l) This is as if he said, let him ask the Lord to forgive him, and he will forgive him being so asked.

1 John 5:16 . After the grand assurance that prayer is always heard, never unanswered, the Apostle specifies one kind of prayer, viz. , Intercession, in the particular case of a “brother,” i.e. a fellow-believer, who has sinned. Prayer will avail for his restoration, with one reservation—that his sin be “not unto death”. The reference is to those who had been led astray by the heresy, moral and intellectual, which had invaded the churches of Asia Minor (see Introd. pp. 156 f.) They had closed their ears to the voice of Conscience and their eyes to the light of the Truth, and they were exposed to the operation of that law of Degeneration which obtains in the physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual domains. E.g. , a bodily faculty, if neglected, atrophis ( cf. note on 1 John 2:11 ). So in the moral domain disregard of truth destroys veracity. Acts make habits, habits character. So also in the intellectual domain. Cf. Darwin to Sir J. D. Hooker, June 17, 1868: “I am glad you were at the Messiah , it is the one thing that I should like to hear again, but I daresay I should find my soul too dried up to appreciate it as in old days; and then I should feel very flat, for it is a horrid bore to feel as I constantly do, that I am a withered leaf for every subject except Science”. And so in the spiritual domain. There are two ways of killing the soul: (1) The benumbing and hardening practice of disregarding spiritual appeals and stifling spiritual impulses. Cf. Reliq.

Baxter , I. i. 29 “Bridgnorth had made me resolve that I would never go among a People that had been hardened in unprofitableness under an awakening Ministry; but either to such as had never had any convincing Preacher, or to such as had profited by him”. (2) A decisive apostasy, a deliberate rejection. This was the case of those heretics. They had abcured Christ and followed Antichrist. This is what Jesus calls ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος βλασφημία ( Matthew 12:31-32 = Mark 3:28-30 ). It inflicts a mortal wound on the man’s spiritual nature. He can never be forgiven because he can never repent. He is “in the grip of an eternal sin ( ἔνοχος αἰωνίου ἁμαρτήματος )”. Cf. Hebrews 4:4-6 . This is “sin unto death”. Observe how tenderly St. John speaks: There is a fearful possibility of a man putting himself beyond the hope of restoration; but we can never tell when he has crossed the boundary. If we were sure that it was a case of “sin unto death,” then we should forbear praying; but, since we can never be sure, we should always keep on praying.

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death; viz. that appears not obstinate and incurable; he shall ask, i.e. with confidence, as 1Jo 5:14 . But there is a sin unto death, i.e. which doth not barely deserve death, as all sin doth, nor which argues a person to be probably in a present state of death or unregeneracy, which the sinful ways may do of many that never made profession; but of such as have apostatized from a former specious profession into heresy and debauchery, and continue obstinate therein, against all methods of recovery; that are, as Judges 1:12 , even twice dead, & c. I do not say that he shall pray for it; i.e. I do not give that encouragement to pray for such, with that hope and expectation of success, as for others; though he doth not simply forbid praying for them neither.

1 John 5:16-17 . If any man, &c. — As if he had said, Yea, he hears us not only for ourselves, but others also; see his brother — That is, any child of man; sin a sin which is not unto death — That is, any sin but that which is marked out in the awful words of our Lord Jesus Christ as unpardonable, namely, the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, of which see on Matthew 12:31 ; Mark 3:29 . Or, which may rather be intended, the sin of total apostacy from both the power and form of godliness; he shall ask, and God shall give him life — Repentance unto life, and, in consequence thereof, pardon and salvation for that sinner. There is a sin unto death; I do not say that he shall pray for it — That is, let him not pray for it. A sin unto death may likewise mean one which God has determined to punish with temporal death. All unrighteousness is sin — Every deviation from perfect holiness is sin; but all sin is not unpardonable, nor does God determine to punish every sin with temporal death.

If any man see (ἐάν τις ἴδῃ) A supposed case. His brother Christian brother. Sin a sin (ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν) Lit., as Rev., sinning a sin. There is no exact parallel to the phrase in the New Testament. Compare the promise which He promised, 1 John 2:25. Not unto death (μὴ πρὸς θάνατον) Describing the nature of the sin. The preposition unto, signifies tendency toward, not necessarily involving death. See on 1 John 5:17. He shall ask (αἰτήσει) In prayer. The future tense expresses not merely permission (it shall be permitted him to ask), but the certainty that, as a Christian brother, he will ask. An injunction to that effect is implied. He shall give He may refer either to God or to the petitioner, as being the means of bestowing life through his intercession, as in James 5:20. The former explanation is the more natural. So Rev. Him (αὐτῷ) The brother for whom intercession is made. continued...

1 John 5:16 . Ἐάν τις , if any one ) The most important of all cases is added, that you are able to pray even for another, in a most serious matter: comp. ch. 1 John 2:1 .— ἴδῃ , shall see ) This sin can therefore be known by the regenerate.— ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν , μὴ πρὸς θάνατον , sinning a sin, not unto death ) A sin of any kind, provided that it is not unto death.— μὴ , not ) a form of excepting ( Matthew 19:9 ), has greater force than οὐ , not , 1 John 5:17 . As long as it is not evident that it is a sin unto death, it is lawful to pray.— θάνατον , death ) Respecting the disease of which Lazarus died, but shortly afterwards was raised from the dead, it is said, It is not unto death , John 11:4 , note: but Hezekiah was sick למות , unto death, Isaiah 38:1 , had he not recovered by a miracle. But John is here speaking of death and life, as ch. 1 John 3:14 . Moreover what is meant by a sin unto death, is declared from the opposite, in 1 John 5:17 , where the subject is, all unrighteousness; the predicate consists of two members, sin, and that coming short of death. Therefore any unrighteousness, which is committed in common life, is a sin not unto death. But sin unto death is not an ordinary or sudden sin, but a state of the soul, in which faith, and love, and hope, in short, the new life, is extinguished: when any one knowingly and willingly embraces death, not from the allurements of the flesh, but from the love of sin, as sin. It is a deliberate rejection of grace.

A man puts from him life, while he commits this sin: how then can others procure for him life? Yet there is also set forth [there is such a thing as] a sin that is to the death of the body; for instance, in the case of the people, for whom the prophet thrice made entreaty, he is forbidden to make entreaty: Jeremiah 7:16 ; Jeremiah 11:14 ; Jeremiah 14:11 ; Jeremiah 15:1-2 . Yea, even Moses himself committed a sin unto death, of this nature; unto death, not to be made the subject of entreaty: Deuteronomy 3:26 ; comp. 1 Samuel 2:25 ; 1 Samuel 3:14 , respecting the house of Eli; and, on the other hand, respecting the averting of sins and diseases by means of prayer, Jam 5:14-18 .— αἰτήσει , he shall ask) namely, ὁ παῤῥησιαστής , he who has confidence.— δώσει .” He will give) namely, God, when entreated.— αὐτῷ , to him) the brother.— ζωὴν , life) Therefore he who sins unto death is in a state of death, and yet he sins further unto death.— τοῖς ) ל , that is, as far as relates to those who sin not unto death.— ἔστιν ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον , there is a sin unto death) The chief commandment is faith and love. Therefore the chief sin is that by which faith and love are destroyed. In the former case is life; in the latter, death.

Verse 16. - How does this position respecting God's hearing our prayers affect the question of intercession for the salvation of others, and especially of an erring brother? If any prayer can be made with confidence of success, surely it is this. It is an unselfish prayer; a prayer of love. It is also a prayer in harmony with God's will; a prayer for the extension of his kingdom. St. John points out that this reasonable expectation has limits. The prayer of one human being can never cancel another's free-will. If God's will does not override man's will, neither can a fellow-man's prayer. When a human will has been firmly and persistently set in opposition to the Divine will, our intercession will be of no avail. And this seems to be the meaning of "sin unto death; "willful and obstinate rejection of God's grace and persistence in unrepented sin. "Death" corresponds to the life spoken of above; and if the one is eternal (verse 13), so is the other. Sins punished with loss of life in this world, whether by human law or by Divine retribution, cannot be meant. Christians have before now suffered agonies of mind, fearing that they have committed what they suppose to be the "sin unto death." Their fear is evidence that they have not committed any such sin. But if they despair of pardon, they may come near to it. There are certain statements made respecting this mysterious passage against which we must be on our guard.