Verse 16 is a scripture which makes even the experts scratch their heads. There are a variety of acceptable ways it might be interpreted and explained. I’ll try to point some of them out, offering my opinion, but it is with the caveat that I could be wrong.
Despite that possibility of error, I will conclude with some obvious truths and make a few practical applications.
Let’s start with an examination of the text.
“If any man see his brother sin…” Some interpreters say that this “brother” is simply a fellow citizen of planet earth; any Jew or Gentile. Others suggest that this is only a professing brother, not actual child of God. But I think we should remain consistent with what we have said from the beginning of this letter. John has been speaking about “brothers in Christ,” so why change now? The interpretation of this verses swing one way or the other on our interpretation of “brother.” So and again, I think this is speaking about actual children of God. And obviously, this brother is committing a recognizable sin; it can be observed in some fashion. Some sins are internal and never see the light of day, but they are seen by God, and they are wicked. As an example there is Matthew 5:28: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” But John is talking about sins which the unbeliever can see and use to accuse God’s churches as houses of hypocrisy. Also, it is important to see that the tense of the verb indicates that it is an ongoing sin. This is not a stupid slip up. It is not a curse word following a self-induced hammer blow to the thumb. It is not oversleeping and missing church. It is a wilful choice to skip the Lord’s house for three months to go sail boarding every Sunday. It is choosing to frequent the cassino in order to get out of debt, but getting into more and more debt.
“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death.” Is this physical or spiritual death ? Of course, a Christian brother cannot sin a sin unto spiritual death. He cannot lose his salvation. If we have decided that this is a Christian in sin, then this can’t refer to spiritual death. And even then, technically, does anyone sin unto spiritual death? Not even the spiritually dead can sin unto spiritual death. My conclusion is that this must be physical death. Catholics find in this verse their authority for teaching about mortal and venial sins. They say that some sins destroy one’s relationship with God, while others only hinder it. Some sins require more serious efforts for forgiveness, but some are much easier. None of my commentaries agree with those Catholic ideas. But what is John saying? Is he referring to, or not referring to, praying about a sin which is worthy of capital punishment according to human laws? To murder a man is a sin unto death, and to sell someone drugs can be a sin unto death. Or is this a sin provoking God’s capital punishment, even though men may excuse it. Is this a sin which has the potential of being fatal through natural, or expected consequences? Is this man drinking himself to death, for example? Is he robbing banks or playing with rattle snakes? Various good men answer this question differently.
The observer of this sin, because he loves God and loves his brother, “He shall ask…” Ask whom? Ask how? And ask for what in particular? “Ask” is the same word used in verses 14 and 15: “And this is the confidence that we have in (thee Lord), that, if we ASK any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ASK, we know that we have the PETITIONS that we desired of him.” “Petitions” is the noun form of the same Greek word: “to ask.” In all three of these verses John is speaking about prayer to God. So this is talking about praying for that man whom we see committing some sin which is not unto death.
“If any man see his brother sin… he shall ask, and he shall give him life…” Some people try to say that the death in this verse is spiritual but the life is physical, or vise versa. Consistency demands that the life and death be of the same nature. So I believe this is referring to physical death and on-going physical life. But how can someone’s prayer for this sinner give him life? Verse 15: “If we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” If John or Andrew had been there, what might they have thought when Peter when cursed and denied the Saviour? If either had been there, might they have stepped back expecting lightning from heaven? Would either of them have instantly begged the Lord to forgive Peter and spare him? James 5:19-20: “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” Our prayers and efforts to restore a sinning Christian could very well help to spare his physical life. An example might be Moses’ statement to sinful Israel in Deuteronomy 9:24: “Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you. Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you. I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” The Lord listened to the beseeching of Moses, and Israel was spared from destruction.
“There is a sin unto death…” Why doesn’t John tell us exactly what sin he is talking about? There is no definite article before “sin.” So it literally says, “there is sin unto death,” leaving the door open for several such sins. Is this the same thing as “the unpardonable sin?” No, I don’t think so because the parameters are quite specific and different. Perhaps the Holy Spirit has left that question unanswered in order to leave room for your sin; any sin. Can you say that our gluttony and bad eating habits aren’t unto death?
But if we don’t know what is what, doesn’t that make it difficult to know whether or not to pray about it? If we are to pray for the man who doesn’t sin unto death, but not for the one who does, things get confusing. John says, “I do not say that he shall pray for it,” but we don’t know what “it” is. Some superficial preachers make a generalized statement: We should not pray for such a man and his sin. But John isn’t clearly saying, “don’t pray about this.” Taken at face value, isn’t John simply saying, “I’m not going to encourage you to pray for that man?” Isn’t he leaving the door open to the Spirit’s leadership in this regard? You may pray for him, but I’m not going to command you to do so.
But there is another, very different interpretation. “I do not say that he shall pray for it.” Again, to what does the pronoun “it” refer? Isn’t pointing back to the sin? You could say that it refers to forgiveness for the sin, but grammatically, that is a bit of a stretch. On the other hand, perhaps we are looking at the word “pray” incorrectly. The Greek word erotao (er-o-tah’-o) is translated “pray” 14 times. But then it is rendered simply as “ask” almost twice as often. It is not the same word as “ask” in those earlier verses. In some scriptures erotao (er-o-tah’-o) doesn’t mean “to beseech” as much as it means “to question.” In Matthew 16:13, “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he ASKED his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” That is the same word as “pray” in our text. In Matthew 21:24, after the Jews demanded to know by what authority Christ taught people, “Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ASK you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.” Is it possible that John was saying, “Don’t ask about or investigate this sin unto death?” Christian, be satisfied with the knowledge that God hates all your sin. The study of other people’s sins is more often than not, detrimental to our spiritual health. The average person has no business studying some new strain of ebola, or trying to see if tickling the grizzle’s belly is a good idea. And God may determine that any of your sins could be fatal. Lying is a sin, unquestionably, but is it a sin unto death? Ananias and Sapphira, who were probably children of God, died instantly when they were confronted with lying to the Holy Ghost. What I am saying is that there are two plausible explanations for the last clause of verse 16. John is not encouraging our prayer for those who sin unto death. Or he is encouraging us not to investigate those sins.,
After the confusion of verse 16, the next verse is relatively straight forward: “All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death.” Again, there is no definite article: “There is sin which is not unto death.” Christian, beware, because any sin may or may not be fatal.
What are some things of which we can be sure in and about these two verses?
First, keep in mind that all sin is unto death. “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 could easily be applied to the original sin which killed Adam’s spirit and the spirits of all his children. But that verse is generally true as well. Destroy your body with sins like drugs, alcohol and immorality, and you will die. But then there is Ezekiel 18:4: “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” To my mind that refers to specific transgressions which the spiritually dead sinner commits. But it has application to the saved person as well. Hate sin, fear sin; “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Despite the fact that some sins are more immediately dangerous, all sinful roads lead to the same end.
The second obvious truth is that all the brethren sin. And that includes the brother who is the witness to sin in someone else. Perhaps that is more important for him to remember than remembering his brother’s trespass. Without trying to say we shouldn’t be concerned about the obvious sin in our brother’s life, we need to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. Please turn to Matthew 7: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” You may judge that such and such a sin is horrendous. But remember that someone else may judge that your judging that brother is equally sinful. I am not telling you not to pray for the sinful brother, and I’m not telling you not to speak with him. But I am saying, you need to possess genuine humility, because you are a sinner too. Are you ready for him to throw that back in your face?
Then as John tells us: Not all sin is unto death. But he doesn’t make a list so that we might know which is which. Therefore we should fear any and every sin, because they all disrupt our fellowship with the Lord. That gossip which you classify as a prayer request, can be a sin which is not unto death. Pride sometimes results in death, but if it always did, we’d all be deceased by now. Shall we talk about worldliness; worldly dress, worldly entertainment, worldly language? How about watching TV or playing video games late into the night when our bodies need rest. On and on we could go until we reached your sin.
Another application from this scripture might be: all sinners deserve prayer. Most of us know how difficult it is to break a bad habit. Quitting sin can be as hard and often even harder. When you see a brother sin, even if it is for the seventieth time or seventieth times seventh time, don’t throw up your hands and give up on him. Pray for him. Before you humbly confront him, pray for him. Pray for him as much as you should pray for yourself in your sins. Is this “the confidence that we have in (God), that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us?”
The last thing John tells us in these two verses is: “all unrighteousness is sin.” And even the sin of the righteous is unrighteous. When the word “unrighteousness” is used in regard to a judge, it is translated “injustice.” When it is used in regard to the law, it refers to something “wrong.” And when applied to the heart it is rendered “iniquity.” But they all still return to the same place: “All unrighteousness is sin.” John has told us that sin is the transgression of the law, God’s law (I John 3:4).
So while you react to seeing your brother commit his sin, whether it is unto death or not, don’t forget that “ALL unrighteousness is sin.” God hates your sin as much as he hates that other person’s sin. I hope that someone is praying for me, when they see me in sin. How about you?