Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 John 3:8

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

8. He that committeth sin ] Better, as in 1Jn 3:4, in order to bring out the full antithesis, He that doeth sin. ‘To do sin’ is the exact opposite of ‘to do righteousness’: as before, both substantives have the article in the Greek: see on 1Jn 3:4. And, as before, the present participle indicates the habitual doer of sin. Such an one has the devil as the source ( ), not of his existence, but of the evil which rules his existence and is the main element in it. “The devil made no man, begat no man, created no man: but whoso imitates the devil, becomes a child of the devil, as if begotten of him. In what sense art thou a child of Abraham? Not that Abraham begat thee. In the same sense as that in which the Jews, the children of Abraham, by not imitating the faith of Abraham, are become children of the devil” (S. Augustine). It is one of the characteristics of these closing words of N. T. that they mark with singular precision the personality of Satan, and his relation to sin, sinners, and redemption from sin.

for the devil sinneth from the beginning ] Or, because from the beginning the devil sinneth. ‘From the beginning’ stands first for emphasis. What does it mean? Various explanations have been suggested. (1) From the beginning of sin. The devil was the first to sin and has never ceased to sin. (2) From the beginning of the devil. This comes very near to asserting the Gnostic and Manichaean error of two co-eternal principles or Creators, one good and one evil. The very notion of sin involves departure from what is good. The good therefore must have existed first. To avoid this, (3) from the beginning of the devil as such, i.e. from the time of his becoming the devil, or (4) from the beginning of his activity; which is not very different from (3) if one believes that he is a fallen angel, or from (2) if one does not. (5) From the beginning of the world. (6) From the beginning of the human race. The first or last seems best. “The phrase ‘From the beginning’ intimates that there has been no period of the existence of human beings in which they have not been liable to the assaults of this Tempter; that accusations against God, reasons for doubting and distrusting Him, have been offered to one man after another, to one generation after another. This is just what the Scripture affirms; just the assumption which goes through the book from Genesis to the Apocalypse.” (Maurice.) Note the present tense: not he has sinned, but he is sinning; his whole existence is sin.

the Son of God ] In special contrast to those habitual sinners who are morally the children of the devil.

that he might destroy ] Literally, that he might unloose or dissolve or undo. All destruction is dissolution. The metaphor here has probably nothing to do with loosening bonds or snares. It is a favourite one with S. John; ‘ Destroy this sanctuary’ (Joh 2:19). Comp. 1Jn 5:18, Joh 7:23, Joh 10:35, where either notion, loosening or dissolving, is appropriate.

the works of the devil ] The sins ( 1Jn 3:5) which he causes men to commit. Christ came to undo the sins of men.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He that committeth sin – Habitually, willfully, characteristically.

Is of the devil – This cannot mean that no one who commits any sin, or who is not absolutely perfect, can be a Christian, for this would cut off the great mass, even according to the belief of those who hold that the Christian may be perfectly holy, from all claim to the Christian character. But what the apostle here says is true in two senses:

1. That all who commit sin, even true believers, so far as they are imperfect, in this respect resemble Satan, and are under his influence, since sin, just so far as it exists at all, makes us resemble him.

(2)All who habitually and characteristically sin are of the devil. This latter was evidently the principal idea in the mind of the apostle. His object here is to show that those who sinned, in the sense in which it would seem some maintained that the children of God might sin, could have no real evidence of piety, but really belonged to Satan.

For the devil sinneth from the beginning – The beginning of the world; or from the first account we have of him. It does not mean that he sinned from the beginning of his existence, for he was made holy like the other angels. Notes, Jud 1:6. The meaning is, that he introduced sin into the universe, and that he has continued to practice it ever since. The word sinneth here implies continued and habitual sin. He did not commit one act of sin and then reform; but he has continued, and still continues, his course of sin. This may confirm what has been already said about the kind of sin that John refers to. He speaks of sinning habitually, continuously, willfully; and anyone who does this shows that he is under the influence of him whose characteristic it has been and is to sin.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested – Became incarnate, and appeared among people, 1Jo 3:5. Compare the notes at 1Ti 3:16.

That he might destroy the works of the devil – All his plans of wickedness, and his control over the hearts of people. Compare the Mat 8:29 note; Mar 1:24 note; Heb 2:14 note. The argument here is, that as the Son of God came to destroy all the works of the devil, he cannot be his true follower who lives in sin.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Jn 3:8

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning–

The existence of the devil and the origin of evil

I.

Refute the three theories in which the devil-denying doctrines are comprised.

1. The doctrine that two principles, of good and evil, eternally existed, and that the devil is only the evil principle personified.

2. The theory that the devil, specified in the Bible, is only the personification of fallen human nature.

3. The theory that sinful actions are the only devil that the Bible guards us against.

II. Explain the origin of evil, and exhibit the real existence of satan, as established by reason and revelation. (W. Barnes.)

Children of the devil

1. The unregenerate sinner, living in the habitual practice of sin, is of Satan, because his will harmonises with Satans will; and it follows, therefore, that all the powers and faculties which he possesses, influential as they are upon those with whom he associates, become instrumental to the working out of the dictates of Satans will rather than Gods will.

2. The unregenerate sinner, living in the habitual indulgence of sin, is under the despotic influence of Satan, whose slave and vassal he is. He may be a free member of a free community, but his heart, his intellect, his body, all are bound in unresisting submissiveness to Satan.

3. The unregenerate sinner, living in the habitual indulgence of sin, must, if unreclaimed by sovereign grace, share the final end of Satan. If he is of the devil in sinning, he must be of the devil in suffering. (G. Fisk, LL. B.)

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil—

Satans works destroyed

I. The fact–that the Son of God was manifested

1. By His mysterious incarnation.

2. By His personal ministry.

3. By the promulgation of His gospel.

4. By the presence of His Spirit.

II. The design of this manifestation–that He might destroy the works of the devil. (J. Jowett, M. A.)

Christ a destroyer

I. The works of the devil. What these may be in the unseen world we know not; we find enough of them here in our world to astonish us.

1. Moral evil, sin, is one of these works. It is this which the apostle has more especially in his mind here, and which we may regard as the foundation of all the rest.

2. What we call natural evil, suffering, is another of his works. It grows out of sin.

3. And then comes discord, another work of Satan. Man and his God were walking together at first in a blessed amity. Satan came in and severed between them. And think of the contentions which have ever been going on between man and man in nations, societies, churches, and even families–Satan has fostered them all; nay, given rise to them all.

4. And then there is the deception which prevails in our world. We must trace this also to Satan. He is called in Scripture the father of lies, of all lies, but more especially of all spiritual lies. Well knowing that he cannot keep religion altogether out of the world, he deludes men with false religions.

5. Another work of Satan is the obscurity he has thrown here over Jehovahs glory. He seems to have baffled God in all His purposes as to our world; to have brought to nothing all the designs of His goodness towards it when He created it.

6. And one thing more must be added–death. This crowns the work of Satan.

II. The manifestation of the Son of God to destroy them. Even the omnipotent Son of God cannot be a Saviour unless He is at the same time a destroyer. The works of Satan must be demolished, or Gods great work of mercy cannot be accomplished.

III. The destruction of these works.

1. The Lord Jesus effects their destruction in a wonderful character. Had we been told that the Son of the Highest was about to manifest Himself in our world as a Destroyer, we should have expected Him to appear among us in His glorious majesty, withering Satan, as He will do hereafter, by the brightness of His coming. But the Lord is wiser than we. This would have been a display of the Divine power only. The Lord would not thus honour Satan. He lays aside His majesty when He comes forth to this work of destruction. Satan and his works shall be overthrown by one of those very creatures whom Satan has long triumphed over.

2. If the character was wonderful in which our Lord achieved this work, the means whereby He achieved it were still more so. Through death, we are told, He destroyed him that had the power or death, that is, the devil. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

The design of Christs incarnation

I. As for the manifestation of the Son of God, though it principally relates to the actual coming of Christ into the world, yet it is a term of a larger comprehension, and so ought to carry our notice both to passages before and after His nativity. We find Him first exhibited in promises, and those as early as the first need of a Saviour, even immediately after the fall; by such a hasty provision of mercy, that there might be no dark interval between mans misery and his hope of recovery (Gen 3:15). But when at length prophecy ripened into event, and shadows gave way upon the actual appearance of the substance, in the birth of Christ, yet then, though the Son of God could be but once born, He ceased not to be frequently manifested; there was a choir of angels to proclaim His nativity, and a new star to be His herald. Christ was the light of the world; and nothing is more manifest or visible than that which manifests both itself and all things else; and needs no invitation to the eye, but will certainly enter, unless it be forcibly kept out. But the Jews were purposed not to believe their eyes; to question whether it was day when the sun shined. It is clear, therefore, that the Jews rejected the Son of God, not because He was not manifested, but because they delighted to be ignorant, and to be sceptics and unbelievers even in spite of evidence.

II. The end of His manifestation, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

1. I reduce the works of the devil, destroyed by the manifestation of the Son of God, to these three–

(1) Delusion.

(2) Sin.

(3) Death.

There is a natural coherence between these: for sin being a voluntary action, and so the issue of the will, presupposes a default in the understanding, which was to conduct the will in its choices; and then when the delusion and inadvertency of the understanding has betrayed the will to sin, the consequent and effect of sin is death. Christ therefore, that came to repair the breaches, and cure the miseries of human nature, and to redeem it from that frenzy into which it had cast itself, designs the removal and conquest of all these three.

2. I come now to show what are the ways and means by which He destroys them.

(1) As a prophet He destroys and removes that delusion that had possessed the world, by those Divine and saving discoveries of truth exhibited in the doctrine and religion promulged by Him.

(2) As for the second work of the devil, sin, this the Son of God destroyed as a priest, by that satisfaction that He paid down for it; and by that supply of grace that He purchased, for the conquering and rooting it out of the hearts of believers. By the former He destroys the guilt of sin, by the latter the power.

(3) As for the third and last work of the devil, which is death; this Christ, as He is a king, destroys by His power: for it is He that has the keys of life and death, opening where none shuts, and shutting where none opens. At the command of Christ the sea shall give up its dead, the graves shall open, and deliver up their trust; and all the devourers of nature shall make a faithful restitution. (R. South, D. D.)

The purpose of the incarnation

I. The mystery of Christs incarnation–the Son of God was manifested.

1. The propriety, to whom this work of subduing the devil and destroying his works, properly belongs; that is God.

(1) He only had right to do it; whether we consider Him either as the Judge, or as the party wronged.

(2) He only had strength and power to effect this destruction of Satans works.

2. The appropriation of this work. It is ascribed to the second Person in the glorious Godhead; to the Son of God. And that the Son of God should undertake this work, there are two congruities.

(1) The first congruity is grounded upon His relation, in that He is the Son of God. And suitable to this there were two works of the devil to be destroyed; and none so fit to do it as the Son of God.

(a) The first work of Satan, was to make us degenerate from our original, and to become the children of the devil; that was our woeful condition (Joh 8:44). This work must be destroyed by our spiritual adoption; that rescues us out of that cursed family, and reduces us to a new sonship, makes us become the children of God. Now, who so fit to make us adopted sons as the natural Son of God?

(b) The second work of the devil was the defacing and destroying that holy image of God, in which we were created, and so stamping upon our souls that blemish of the devils similitude. Now, who so fit to deface the image of Satan, and to repair the blessed image of God upon our souls, as the Son of God, who is the lively express image of God the Father (Rom 8:29)?

(2) A second congruity is grounded upon that special attribute which is ascribed to the Son of God; that is, the attribute of wisdom. Well, did craft and subtlety ruin us? Here is wisdom of God to restore us (1Co 3:19).

3. The manner of effecting this work, the dispensation observed in it, theft is called here His manifestation.

(1) It is a manifestation, that is the representation of that which was before, but did not appear before.

(2) Christs incarnation is the appearing of Him, who before was invisible.

(3) Christ is now really and actually exhibited to the sons of men; before He was promised only, but now that promise is fully performed to us.

(4) This degree and temper of His manifestation was thus ordered and proportioned for these considerations.

(a) This manifestation under the veil of His flesh was fitted for our capacity, we could not otherwise have beheld Him. We can fix our eyes upon the sun when it is under a cloud; we cannot do so when it is in its full splendour.

(b) This manifestation was under the veil of the flesh to make way for the exercise of faith; and faith was to have a principal part in the work of our redemption. And the property of that is to believe that which we see not. And therefore, that our faith might have what to believe, he concealed His Divinity under the veil of His humanity.

(c) His manifestation was under the veil of the flesh, as the fittest way to conquer and destroy the devil.

(i) It was a fit way to requite the devil, He wrought our ruin by a counterfeit incarnation, appearing to our first parents in another habit; and Christ works Satans ruin by a real incarnation.

(ii) This was done to bring on the devil to this encounter, by which he might be destroyed. He durst not have assaulted our Saviour appearing in His glory.

II. The work and employment of our incarnate Saviour. It was to destroy the works of the devil. The fruit and benefit of our Saviours incarnation hath other expressions in Scripture (Mat 18:11; 1Ti 1:15; Joh 6:41; Joh 10:10). These are all comprehended in this of St. John, it was to destroy the works of the devil.

1. What is that which Christ sets Himself against and opposes? They are the works of the devil. So then, in general, the work for which Christ came into the world is a spiritual work, to oppose spiritual wickedness. The gospel is conversant in mortifying of sins, not in invading of possessions, as Bernard speaks.

(1) See the extension of the object that Christ comes to destroy.

(a) Sin, that is the work of the devil.

(b) Death, that is the work of the devil; and Christ destroys both.

(2) The limitation. That which Christ came to destroy is the works of the devil, those and only those. The works of God, those Christ came not to destroy, but to preserve and restore, to improve and better them (Isa 58:12); the souls of men, to recover them; the lives of men, He came not to destroy, but to save (Luk 9:56). It must teach all undertakers of works of destruction to carry a steady hand in so perilous a work. They had need of three caveats;

(a) Look to thy warrant and authority. Every man is not to be a destroyer, even of those things that deserve to be destroyed.

(b) Take heed you mistake not a work of God for a work of the devil.

(c) When these two works meet in one–the work of God and the work of the devil–then separate the precious from the vile, discern and distinguish them.

2. The opposition which Christ makes against the works of the devil. It is called a destroying. It is a full word, of great vehemence and intention. Christ came not only to abate the power of Satan, and to bring him under, as Saul did with Agag, or the Israelites did with the Canaanites: spared their lives, but subdued them only, and made them tributaries. It is charged on them as a sin (Psa 106:34). No; sin and Satan are to be devoted to utter destruction. Not only restrain sin, but root it out and destroy it. And that we may do this, we must beget in us a destroying affection. What is that? Hatred–a double hatred.

(1) Hatred of enmity, that must be against the devil; hate him with a perfect hatred.

(2) Hatred of abomination, that must be against sin, the work of the devil. These two, the hatred of emnity against Satan, and the hatred of, loathing, and antipathy against sin: that will make us imitate the work of Christ, in destroying of sire And this Christ doth in three degrees, till sin be utterly destroyed.

(a) He destroys the condemning power of sin by purchasing the pardon of sin, and confers this upon us in our justification.

(b) He destroys the dominion and reigning power of sin by inspirations of His grace, thereby mortifying sin in our sanctification.

(c) He destroys the very being of sin; roots up the bitter root of sin by His final and finishing grace in our glorification. Thus do thou–

(i) Sue for the pardon of sin.

(ii) Strive against the power of sin.

(iii) Long for the final abolishing of sin.

III. The design and intendment of this work: For this purpose.

1. This destroying of sin and Satan and so the rescuing of us from both, was His intention. He foresaw our fall, and pitied our misery, and forecasts our recovery: His eternal thoughts of grace and mercy were employed about us.

2. This work was His primary intention. The main end of His coming into the world was to destroy Satan and to free us from his bondage and captivity.

3. This destroying of Satans works is His effectual and real intention. Did He purpose it? Then surely He will accomplish it, and effectually perform it. (Bp. Brownrigg.)

The first promise accomplished; or, the head of the serpent bruised by the seed of the woman

The text is a distinct doctrine, viz., that the Son of God was manifested for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

I. To offer some things with relation to this renowned champion.

1. He is a person of a noble extract and pedigree; He is the Son of God by eternal generation, His Fathers first born, and therefore higher than the kings of the earth.

2. This renowned person, the Son of God, had an ancient kindness for our family; for He from eternity rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men.

3. That He might be in a capacity to help and relieve us from the hand of the enemy, He marries our nature into a personal union with Himself. Law and justice required that the same nature that sinned should suffer.

4. This renowned Champion is one of a very martial and heroic spirit; He fears no enemy that stands in His way (Isa 59:16-18).

5. He is one that is successful in all His enterprises: He never lost a battle, victory follows Him in His train.

6. He is incomparable for power and wisdom; hence His name is Christ the power of God, and Christ the wisdom of God.

II. To offer a few thoughts concerning the grand enemy of mankind, that the Son of God had in His eye when He appeared upon the stage, and that is the devil.

1. That he was once an angel of light, and had his habitation at first in glory.

2. Pride and ambition was the sin of the devil.

3. Being cast out of heaven, he was filled with the madness of revenge and enmity against God.

4. By virtue of the curse of the broken law, the devil comes to have a legal title to, and dominion over, every son of Adam by nature.

5. The enemy into whose hands we are fallen is of all others the most dangerous and terrible.

(1) He is a very powerful enemy.

(2) He is a subtle and cunning enemy.

(3) He is an experienced enemy.

(4) A most vigilant enemy.

(5) He is a most fierce and raging enemy.

(6) He is a numerous enemy. His name is legion.

I will tell you of some works of the devil brought about by sin.

1. The dishonour of God.

2. The disturbing of the creation.

3. The ruin of man.

4. The erection of his own kingdom of sin and darkness.

III. The manifestation of the Son of God in order, to His destroying these works of the devil.

1. He was manifested initially in the first promise (Gen 3:15).

2. He was manifested typically to the children of Israel in the Mosaic economy. The tabernacle, the temple, the passover, the manna, the rock that followed them, the sacrifices and ceremonies of that dispensation–what else were they but the shadows of good things to come?

3. To this there was added a prophetical manifestation of the Son of God.

4. He was manifested personally in the fulness of time by the assumption of the nature of man (Gal 4:4).

5. There is a declarative manifestation of the Son of God in the dispensation of the gospel.

6. He is manifested sacramentally.

7. Christ is manifested in a spiritual and efficacious way in the day of conversion.

8. There is the public and solemn manifestation of the Son of God at the last day (Rev 1:7). Thus you see how it is that the Son of God is manifested; and in every one of these manifestations He had in view the destruction of Satan and his works.

IV. To speak of the Son of God destroying the works of the devil.

1. The first thing is, to prove that it was the great business of the Son of God to destroy the works of the devil.

(1) Was it the plot of hell to have God dishonoured in all His attributes and perfections by the sin of man? Well, Christ counteracts the devil in this; for He brings a great revenue of glory to the crown of heaven by the work of redemption.

(2) It was the work of the devil to disgrace the holy law of God, by breaking it himself, and teaching man to break in upon it; but the work of Christ is, to magnify the law, and to make it honourable.

(3) Was it the work of the devil to disturb Gods government in the world, and to cast all into disorder? Well, God the Father lays the government upon Christs shoulders on purpose that He may restore everything into the order wherein He had set them at first (Rom 8:19, etc.).

(4) Was it the devils work to establish his own kingdom of darkness in this lower world, by establishing error, ignorance, unbelief, atheism, pride, carnality, profanity, and all manner of sin and wickedness? Well, it is the work of Christ to pull down these strongholds of Satans kingdom.

(5) Was it the devils work to break all fellowship and friendship betwixt God and man? Well, it is the work of Christ to bring them into friendship one with another; therefore He is called a Mediator, or a Peacemaker.

(6) Was it the work of the devil to bring man under the curse and condemnation of the law, that so he might be in the same condition with himself? Well, it is the work of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.

(7) Was it the work of the devil to deface the image of God which He stamped upon man? It is the work of Christ to restore it.

2. The second thing here is, to inquire, How is it that Christ destroys the works of the devil? Christ destroys the works of the devil four ways.

(1) By the virtue of His blood.

(2) By the light of His Word.

(3) By the power and efficacy of His Spirit.

(4) By the prudence of His government and administration.

3. The third thing was, to observe upon some particular times and seasons wherein Christ destroys the works of the devil.

(1) The day of Christs death gave a notable blow unto the devils kingdom.

(2) The day of Christs resurrection gave a signal blow to the works of the devil; for He rose for our justification.

(3) The day of Christs ascension into heaven was a notable destruction unto Satan and his works; for when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive; He opened a passage between this world and heaven, through the territories of the prince of the power of the air, by which all His friends might follow Him to glory.

(4) In the day of Pentecost Christ gave another stroke to the devil and his works.

(5) The day of a sinners believing in Christ is a time when Satans works are destroyed.

(6) Times of espousals, nearness betwixt God and a soul, are times of destroying the works of the devil.

(7) When at any time an honourable testimony is given to the Lord, to the doctrine, discipline, worship and government of His Church, in a day of uncommon defection and backsliding.

(8) When a believer dies, and goes away to glory, under a guard of angels, along that road that Christ opened.

4. The fourth thing here was, to give the reasons why Christ the Son of God is manifested to destroy the works of the devil.

(1) Christ encounters this enemy, and destroys his works, because it was His Fathers will and pleasure; and He did always these things that pleased His Father, rejoicing always before Him.

(2) Christ destroys the works of the devil, because it was for His own honour to engage in this expedition.

(3) Christ destroys the works of the devil, out of the ancient and wonderful love that He did bear to man upon earth.

(4) Out of regard to His own law, which the devil by his works had dishonoured.

(5) Christ destroys the works of the devil that He may still this enemy and avenger.

(6) He destroys the work of the devil, for the manifestation of all the Divine perfections.

V. The last thing in the method was the use of the doctrine, which I shall despatch in the following inferences.

1. See hence a glorious ray of the Godhead or supreme independent Deity of the glorious Redeemer.

2. See hence how the kindness and love of God hath appeared toward man upon earth.

3. See hence the evil of sin, and the folly of those that are in love with it, and give themselves up to its power and service.

4. See hence a good reason why the believer is at war with sin in himself, and wherever he finds it.

5. See hence why hell and earth took the alarm when Christ appeared in the world.

6. See one great reason why believers breathe so much after manifestations of the Lord.

7. From this doctrine we may see how much it is our concern to keep up the memorials of a Redeemers death, and why the truly godly love to flock to a sacrament.

Use second may be of trial, whether the Son of God was ever savingly manifested to thy soul.

1. If ever She Son of God was manifested in thy soul, thou wilt be for pulling down the works of the devil, and for building up the works of the Son of God.

(1) You will pull down self-righteousness, and put on the righteousness of Christ.

(2) You will be much employed in pulling down the image of the first Adam, and in setting up the image of the second Adam in your souls.

(3) You will be clear for pulling down the wisdom of the flesh, and for setting up the wisdom of God above it.

2. If ever the Son of God was manifested savingly unto thy soul, the union of the two natures in the person of Christ will be the wonder of thy soul.

3. It will be your great design, in attending ordinances, to have new manifestations of His glory, as David (Psa 27:4; Psa 63:1-11; Psa 84:1-12, etc.).

4. You will be concerned to manifest His glory to others. The last inference is this, Is it so that the Son of God was manifested? See hence noble encouragement to all honest ministers and Christians to make a stand against the defections of the day we live in. (E. Erskine, D. D.)

The works of the devil destroyed

I. First, the works of the devil. This very strong expression is descriptive of sin; for the preceding sentence so interprets it.

1. This name for sin is first of all a word of detestation. Sin is so abominable in the sight of God and of good men that its various forms are said to be the works of the devil. Think of that, ye ungodly ones–the devil is at work in you, as a smith at his forge.

2. Next, it is a word of distinction: it distinguishes the course of the ungodly man from the life of the man who believes in the Lord Jesus. If you have not the life of God in you, you cannot do the works of God. The mineral cannot rise into the vegetable of itself, it would require another touch from the creative hand; the vegetable cannot rise into the animal unless the Creator shall work a miracle; and, even so, you as a carnal man cannot become a spiritual man by any spontaneous generation; the new life must be imparted to you by the quickening Spirit.

3. The language before us is, next, a word of descent. Sin is of the devil, it came from him; he is its parent and patron. Sin is not so of the devil that we can lay the blame of our sins upon him, for that is our own. It is our work because we willingly yield. Let us be thoroughly ashamed of such work when we find that the devil has a hand in it.

4. Consider, next, that we have here a word of description. The work of sin is the work of the devil because it is such work as he delights in. He has led the human race to become accomplices in his treason against the majesty of heaven, allies in his rebellion against the sovereignty of God most high. The works of the devil make up a black picture: it is a thick darkness over all the land, even a darkness that may be felt.

II. The purpose of God–For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Yes, mark that word, destroyed, not limited, nor alleviated, nor neutralised, but destroyed.

1. The work which lies in this purpose is assuredly a Divine work. The Lord who can create can certainly destroy.

2. And there is, to my mind, about it the idea of a conquering work. When are the palaces and the fortifications of great kings destroyed? Not till the kings themselves have been overthrown in fair fight; but when their power is broken then it is that the conquerors raze the castle and burn the stronghold.

3. This means also a complete work. The product of evil is not to be cut down for a time and left to grow again.

4. It is a complete work and a conclusive work; for the Lord Jesus will so break the head of the old dragon, that he shall never wear the crown again. Sin in every shape and form the Lord shall destroy from off the face of the earth forever.

III. Our text plainly tells us how this is to be done–by the manifestation of the Son of God. Behind, and under, and over the works of the devil the Lord had ever the design that this evil should be permitted that He might baffle it with love, and that the glory of His grace might be revealed. My text has in it to my mind a majestic idea, first, of the difficulties of the case–that the Son of God must needs be manifested to destroy the works of the devil; and then, secondly, of the ease of His victory.

1. First, Christs manifestation, even in His incarnation, was a fatal blow to the works of Satan. Did God come down to men? Was He incarnate in the infant form that slept in Bethlehems manger? Then the Almighty has not given up our nature to be the prey of sin.

2. Next, look to the life of Christ on earth, and see how He there destroyed the works of the devil. It was a glorious duel in the wilderness when they stood foot to foot–the champions of good and evil! All our Lords preaching, all His teaching, all His labour here below was in order to the pulling away the corner stone from the great house of darkness which Satan had built up.

3. But oh, it was in His death that Jesus chiefly overthrew Satan and destroyed his works. Man, accepting this great sacrifice, loves and adores the Father who ordained it, and so the works of the devil in his heart are destroyed.

4. Our Lords rising again, His ascension into glory, His sitting on the right hand of the Father, His coming again in the latter days–all these are parts of the manifestation of the Son of God by which the works of the devil shall be destroyed. So also is the preaching of the gospel. If we want to destroy the works of the devil our best method is to manifest more and more the Son of God.

5. Lastly, on this point, our blessed Lord is manifested in His eternal power and kingdom as enthroned in order to destroy the works of the devil; for the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful, the mighty God, the Father of the ages.

IV. A few words of inquiry as to the experience of all this in ourselves. Has the Son of God been manifested to you to destroy the works of the devil in you?

1. At first there was in your heart an enmity to God; for the carnal mind is enmity against God. Is that enmity destroyed?

2. The next work of the devil which usually appears in the human mind is self-righteous pride. Have all those rags gone from you? Has a strong wind blown them right away? Have you seen your own natural nakedness?

3. When the Lord has destroyed self-righteousness in us, the devil generally sets us forth another form of his power, and that is despair. But if the Lord Jesus Christ has been manifested to you, despair has gone, that work of the devil has been all destroyed, and now you have a humble hope in God and a joy in His mercy. What next?

4. Have you any unbelief in your heart as to the promises of God? Down with it! Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. All mistrusts must die. Not one of them must be spared. Do fleshly lusts arise in your heart? In whose heart do they not arise? The brightest saint is sometimes tempted to the foulest vice. Yes, but he yields not thereto. He cries, Away with them! It is not meet even to mention these vile things; they are works of the devil, and to be destroyed. Do you quickly become angry? I pray God you may be angry and sin not; but if you are of a hasty temper, I entreat you to overcome it. Do not say, I cannot help it. You must help it, or rather Christ must destroy it. It must not be tolerated. Oh, there is to be in every true believer the ultimate abolition of sin. What a prospect this is! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil] Hear this, also, ye who plead for Baal, and cannot bear the thought of that doctrine that states believers are to be saved from all sin in this life! He who committeth sin is a child of the devil, and shows that he has still the nature of the devil in him; for the devil sinneth from the beginning-he was the father of sin, brought sin into the world, and maintains sin in the world by living in the hearts of his own children, and thus leading them to transgression; and persuading others that they cannot be saved from their sins in this life, that he may secure a continual residence in their heart. He knows that if he has a place there throughout life, he will probably have it at death; and, if so, throughout eternity.

For this purpose] . For this very end-with this very design, was Jesus manifested in the flesh, that he might destroy, , that he might loose, the bonds of sin, and dissolve the power, influence, and connection of sin. See note on 1Jo 3:3.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He that committeth sin: the apostles notion of committing sin may be interpreted by his own phrase, 3Jo 1:11, , a doer of evil; and by that, used in both Testaments, a worker of iniquity; which is not every one that doth any one single act of sin; as his , 1Jo 3:7, a doer of righteousness, and , 3Jo 1:11, a doer of good, is not every one that doth any one righteous or good action; any more than we call him a worker or maker of any thing, (as signifying a manual occupation), who only makes a single attempt, but him who hath acquired the habitual skill, and doth ordinarily employ himself accordingly. A worker or maker of sin, (as we may fitly render this ), is an habitual or customary sinner; one that sinneth with deliberation, not by surprise, from a prevailing habit, that either continueth him in a course of actual known sin, or that withholds him from repenting sincerely, and turning to God from the sin which he hath committed; by which repentance he should not only refrain from further gross acts of sin, (which an impenitent person upon other inducements may do), but mortify and prevail against all sinful habits and inclinations. In the same sense he useth the expression of sinning, 1Jo 3:6,9. And such a sinner, he says,

is of the devil; as if he were born of him, were his child, really conformed to him, and having his sinning nature. As our Saviour tells the Jews, having applied to them the same phrase before of committing sin, Joh 8:34, that they were of their father the devil, Joh 8:44. As also this apostle, 3Jo 1:11, says: He that doeth good is of God, i.e. born of God, or his child; as we find he uses the expressions of being born of God, and being of God, promiscuously, and with indifference, 1Jo 3:9,10; 5:18,19, the latter being elliptical in reference to the former. Whereas sin was therefore originally the devils work, he adds, (as a further engagement against it), that

the Son of God was manifested, (as 1Jo 3:5) appeared in the flesh, showed himself in this world of ours, on purpose

to destroy, or (as the word signifies) that he might dissolve the frame of all such works.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. He that committeth sin is of thedevilin contrast to “He that doeth righteousness,”1Jo 3:7. He is a son of thedevil (1Jn 3:10; Joh 8:44).John does not, however, say, “born of the devil.” as hedoes “born of God,” for “the devil begets none, nordoes he create any; but whoever imitates the devil becomes a child ofthe devil by imitating him, not by proper birth” [AUGUSTINE,Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily 4.10]. Fromthe devil there is not generation, but corruption [BENGEL].

sinneth from thebeginningfrom the time that any began to sin [ALFORD]:from the time that he became what he is, the devil. He seems to havekept his first estate only a very short time after his creation[BENGEL]. Since thefall of man [at the beginning of our world] the devilis (ever) sinning (this is the force of “sinneth”;he has sinned from the beginning, is the cause of all sins, and stillgoes on sinning; present). As the author of sin, and prince of thisworld, he has never ceased to seduce man to sin [LUECKE].

destroybreak up and doaway with; bruising and crushing the serpent’s head.

works of the devilsin,and all its awful consequences. John argues, Christians cannot dothat which Christ came to destroy.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

He that committeth sin is of the devil,…. Not everyone that sins, or commits acts of sin, then every man is of the devil, because no man lives without the commission of sin; but he who makes sin his constant business, and the employment of his life, whose life is a continued series of sinning, he is of the devil; not as to origin and substance, or by proper generation, as some have literally understood the words; but by imitation, being like him, and so of him their father, doing his lusts, living continually in sin, as he does, and so resemble him, as children do their parents; and hereby also appear to be under his government and influence, to be led captive by him at his will, and so to belong to him, and such as will have their part and portion with him in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, so living and dying:

for the devil sinneth from the beginning; not of his creation, for he was made by God a pure and holy creature; but from the beginning of the world, or near it, at least from the beginning of man’s creation; for he not only sinned by rebelling against God himself, and by drawing in the rest of the apostate angels into the rebellion with him, but by tempting man, as soon as created, to sin against God: what was his first and particular sin is not certain, whether pride or envy, or what; seems to be, his not abiding in the truth, or an opposition to the truth of the Gospel, respecting the incarnation of the Son of God, mentioned in the following clause; see Joh 8:44; however, he has been continually sinning ever since: he “sinneth”; he is always sinning, doing nothing else but sin; so that he that lives a vicious course of life is like him, and manifestly of him:

for this purpose the Son of God was manifested; in human nature, as in 1Jo 3:5; whence it appears that he was the Son of God before his incarnation, and so not by it; he did not become so through it, nor was he denominated such on account of it; he was not made the Son of God by it, but was manifested in it what he was before; and for this end:

that he might destroy the works of the devil; and the devil himself, and all his dominion and power, and particularly his power over death, and death itself; and especially the sins of men, which are the works of the devil, which he puts them upon, influences them to do, and takes delight in; and which are destroyed by Christ, by his sacrifice and death, being taken, carried, removed away, finished, and made an end of by him; [See comments on 1Jo 3:5].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

He that doeth sin ( ). “He that keeps on doing sin” (the habit of sin).

Of the devil ( ). In spiritual parentage as Jesus said of the Pharisees in Joh 8:44. When one acts like the devil he shows that he is not a true child of God.

Sinneth from the beginning (‘ ). Linear progressive present active indicative, “he has been sinning from the beginning” of his career as the devil. This is his normal life and those who imitate him become his spiritual children.

That he might destroy ( ). Purpose clause with and the first aorist active subjunctive of . This purpose ( ) Jesus had and has. There is eternal conflict, with final victory over Satan certain.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

The Devil. See on 2 13. Compare Joh 8:44. “The devil made no one, he begot no one, he created no one; but whosoever imitates the devil, is, as it were, a child of the devil, through imitating, not through being born of him” (Augustine).

Sinneth. The present tense indicates continuousness. He sinned in the beginning, and has never ceased to sin from the beginning, and still sinneth. The Son of God. For the first time in the Epistle. Hitherto the title has been the Son, or His Son. See on 1 7.

Might destroy [] . Lit., dissolve, loosen. Compare Act 27:41; Act 13:43. “The works of the devil are represented as having a certain consistency and coherence. They show a kind of solid front. But Christ, by His coming, has revealed them in their complete unsubstantiality. He has ‘undone’ the seeming bonds by which they were held together” (Westcott).

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “He that committeth sin is of the devil.” (Greek ho poion) means the person actively, chasing or pursuing a course of moral lawlessness, (Greek hamartian), is of (out of the nature of) the devil -a child of the devil 1Jn 3:10.

2) “For the devil sinneth from the beginning. From the devil’s origin, his first rebellion against God, he has not ceased from the pursuit of sin. One who pursues it, as he does, without seeming restraint or regret, is to be recognized as an unsaved person, avoided and resisted Jas 4:7-8.

3) “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,- (Greek eis- touto) means “with reference to this” (continuity of sin in the fallen human race and continual sin in Satan) the Son of God was manifested – a sacrifice to deliver from, put away sin Heb 9:26.

4) “That he might destroy the works of the devil.” Both the sin nature in man, and all deeds of sin, are the fruit of, or works of, the incitement of the devil and demon spirits over whom he presides. Jesus was manifested not only to redeem believers and the universe, but also to (Greek Luse) destroy or bring to great loss the (Greek erga) plurality of works of the devil Hab 2:14-18.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8 He that committeth sin, This word, to commit, or to do, refers also to outward works, so that the meaning is, that there is no life of God and of Christ, where men act perversely and wickedly, but that such are, on the contrary, the slaves of the devil; and by this way of speaking he sets forth more fully how unlike they are to Christ. For as he has before 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 any one belongs to Christ except he who is righteous and shews himself to be such by his works; he now assigns to the devil all others, and subjects them to his government, in order that we may know that there is no middle condition, but that Satan exercises his tyranny where the righteousness of Christ possesses not the primacy.

There are not however two adverse principles, such as the Manicheans have imagined; for we know that the devil is not wicked by nature or by creation, but became so through defection. We know also that he is not equal to God, so that he can with equal right or authority contend with him, but that he is unwillingly under restraint, so that he can do nothing except at the nod and with the permission of his Creator. John, in the last place, in saying that some were born of God and some of the devil, imagined no tradition such as the Manicheans dreamt of; but he means that the former are governed and guided by the Spirit of God, and that the others are led astray by Satan, as God grants to him this power over the unbelieving.

For the Devil sinneth from the beginning As before he spoke not 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, even all the reprobate; as though he had said, this belongs to the Devil, to entice men to sin. It hence 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. Beginning as to God, refers to no time. Since, then, the Word was always with God, you can find no point of time in which he began to be, but you must necessarily admit his eternity. But here John meant no other thing than that the Devil had been an apostate since the creation of the world, and that from that time he had never ceased to scatter his poison among men.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested He repeats in other words what he had before said, that Christ came to take away sins. Hence two conclusions are to be drawn, that those in whom sin reigns cannot be reckoned among the members of Christ, and that they can by no means belong to his body; for wherever Christ puts forth 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 sin not are born of God, is a conclusion from what is 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 said what not to sin means. He does not make the children of God wholly free from all sin; but he denies that any can really glory in this distinction, except those who from the heart strive to form their life in obedience to God.

The Pelagians, indeed, and the Catharians did formerly make a wrong use of this passage, when they vainly imagined that the faithful are in this world endued with angelic purity; and in our own age some of the Anabaptists have renewed this dotage. But all those who dream of a perfection of this kind, sufficiently shew what stupid consciences they must have. But the words of the Apostle are so far from countenancing their error, that they are sufficient to confute it.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

8. Committeth sin The opposite of doeth righteousness in previous verse, and both are in the continuous present tense, referring not to single subordinate acts, but to predominant practice.

Of the devil The practiser of sin is not a justified Christian, but a sinner, and is of the devil.

Sinneth The continuous present again; the devil sinneth from the beginning, even to the ending.

Destroy Not matter as the essence of sin, but the actual works of the devil, performed in his own person and through his agents. This does not mean to abolish the penalty of sin, which is a work of divine justice.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Jn 3:8. He that committeth sin, &c. Or, who liveth in sin, says Heylin. The original is a Hebraism, importing a habit of sin. Limborch imagines the phase sinneth from the beginning, to refer to repeated acts of sin, and a continued course of it, which preceded Satan’s expulsion from heaven. But it seems that the use of the present tense implies a continuance in a course of sin. See Joh 8:44-47; Joh 15:27. The word , rendered, he might destroy, is expressive, and leads us to look on sin and misery as a fabric, of which Satan is the great architect, but which Christ is come to overthrow and demolish: accordingly, he has alreadybroken, as it were, the compages and strength of it, and we mayfully expect that it will be gradually levelled, and its very ruins removed. He has certainly done already what has a most powerful tendency to produce such an effect; and will, in his due time, accomplish all his designs against sin and the devil. The inference which St. John intended from this verse is, that Christians should not take part with the devil as all wicked men do; that theyshould not build up again what Jesus Christ came to destroy; but that they should, internally, externally, and perseveringly, practise righteousness; which is falling in with the great design of Christ’s coming; and then they will finally be made glorious and happy by him.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Jn 3:8 . ] forms the diametrical opposite of , inasmuch as it signifies the man whose life is a service of sin, “who lives in sin as his element” (Sander). While the former belongs to Christ, and is a , the latter is ; does not signify here either merely connection (de Wette), or similarity (Paulus), or imitation (Semler), but, as the expression (1Jn 3:10 ) shows, origin (so also Ebrard): the life that animates the sinner emanates from the devil; “not as if the devil created him, but that he introduced the evil into him” (Russmeyer). The apostle confirms the truth of this statement by the following words: . The words are put first, because the chief emphasis rests on them, inasmuch as those who commit sin are , not because he sins, but because it is he who sinneth . From this expression it must not, with Frommann and Hilgenfeld, be inferred that John was considering the devil as an originally evil being, in dualistic fashion (comp. Kstlin, p. 127, and Weiss, p. 132 ff.), for John is not here speaking of the being , but of the action of the devil. In order not to accuse John of the Manichaean dualism, the attempt has been made to define more particularly, either by referring it to the creation of the world (Calvin, S. G. Lange; also Hofmann, Schriftbew. 2d ed. I. 429: “since the beginning of the world,” or: “from the beginning of history, in the course of which the sin of men has begun”), or to res humanae (Semler), or to the time of the devil’s fall (Bengel: ex quo diabolus est diabolus); but all these supplements are purely arbitrary. Many modern commentators take the expression in reference to the sin of man, and find this idea expressed in it, that “the devil is related to all the sins of men as the first and seductive originator” (Nitzsch, Syst. der christlichen Lchre , 6th ed. p. 244 f.); thus Lcke, Dsterdieck, Ebrard, Weiss, Braune, and previously in this commentary; but this thought, while it no doubt lies in the preceding and in the following , and hence in the thesis to be established, does not lie in this confirmatory clause, apart from the fact that in no reference is indicated to the sin of man. It is otherwise in Joh 8:44 , where the more particular definition of the relation of the devil to men is supplied with from the context (“since he has put himself in connection with men”); here, on the contrary, John does not say: “what the devil is to men, but what is his relationship to God” (Hofmann as above); but as he describes his relationship by , as a sinning which has continued from the beginning, this can only mean that the devil’s first action was sin, and that he has remained and remains in that action. Likewise in the interpretation which Brckner gives of : “ i.e. so long as there is sin,” does not receive its full force. [211]

The present describes the sinning of the devil as uninterruptedly continuous.

. . . ] As 1Jn 3:6-7 refer to the second part of 1Jn 3:5 , these words refer to the first part of that verse; they not only express the antithesis between Christ and the devil, but they bring out the fact that the appearance of Christ has for its object the destruction of the , i.e. of the which are wrought by him (not “the reward of sin,” Calov, Spener; nor “the agency that seduces to sin,” de Wette). is used here as in Joh 2:19 (similarly 2Pe 3:10-12 ), in the meaning of “ to destroy ;” less naturally some commentators (a Lapide, Lorinus, Spener, Besser, etc.) maintain the meaning “to undo,” sins being regarded as the snares of the devil.

[211] The idea that the devil, before he sinned, was for a time without sin, is nowhere expressed in Scripture; neither in Joh 8:44 nor in the deuterocanonical passages Jud 1:6 and 2Pe 2:4 (see my comm. on these passages). The view of Frommann, that John’s statements do not justify the representation of a personal existence of the devil, that “he is nothing further than the world-spirit that tempts man, considered in concrete personality,” is to be rejected as arbitrary.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2445
THE END OF CHRISTS INCARNATION

1Jn 3:8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

THE author of this epistle survived all the other Apostles; so that, long before his death, the professed followers of Christ had had ample opportunity of shewing what the effects of religious principle would be, after that the impulse of novelty should have ceased: in some the sacred fire would burn with undiminished ardour; but in others it would languish so as to leave room to doubt whether it were not altogether extinguished. Hence, in this General Epistle, St. John lays down a variety of marks, whereby men might judge of their state before God. In the chapter before us he shews the indispensable necessity of holiness, and the extreme danger of imagining ourselves in a state of acceptance with God, whilst destitute of his image on our souls: he shews this, as from other topics [Note: ver. 310.], so especially from this, that the indulgence of any sin counteracts the very end for which Christ came into the world; since he was manifested on purpose to destroy the works of the devil.

Let us inquire,

I.

What are those works which Christ came to destroy

Satan, envious of the happiness of man in Paradise, endeavoured to bring him to the same state of guilt and misery to which he himself was reduced. How successful he was, it is needless now to mention: we all without exception experience in ourselves the sad effects of Adams fall. Two things in particular that wicked fiend has introduced:

1.

Sin

[This was unknown to man, till Satan invaded the peaceful regions of Paradise, and prevailed on Eve to eat of the forbidden tree. He questioned the prohibition itself, or at least the equity of it; and then, denying that any evil consequences would ensue, he urged the vast advantages that would be derived from transgressing the Divine injunction; and thus beguiled Eve by his subtilty. From that time he has practised upon others in a similar way, blinding their eyes [Note: 2Co 4:4.], and putting all manner of wickedness into their hearts [Note: Luk 22:3. Act 5:3.]. It is at his instigation that all the children of disobedience execute their wicked purposes [Note: Eph 2:2; Eph 6:11-12.]: he, as their father, teaches them, and constrains them, as it were, to fulfil his will.

Even the godly he tempts, and labours to deceive by innumerable wiles, and most subtle devices [Note: 1 Thoss. 3:5. 2Co 11:3.]: and, if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect.]

2.

Death

[This also he introduced; for by sin came death, as its proper wages, and its necessary consequence. Satan had assured our first parents that they should not die: but in this he shewed himself the father of lies: and by it he became a murderer from the beginning [Note: Joh 8:41; Joh 8:44.]. The very instant they obeyed his voice, they died: temporal, spiritual, eternal death became their portion, and the portion of the whole human race [Note: Rom 5:12; Rom 5:15-19.]: nor would any child of man have ever seen the face of God in peace, if the Lord Jesus Christ had not interposed to destroy this work of the devil. As to the great mass of mankind, they are experiencing all the bitter effects of that first transgression: inheriting a corrupt nature, they follow the bent of their own inclinations, and rush on blindfold to everlasting perdition [Note: Ecc 9:3.]. The devil has taken them in his snare, and leads them captive at his will [Note: 2Ti 2:26.]. Hence he is called Apollyon, and Abaddon [Note: Rev 9:11.], as being the great and universal destroyer.

Nor does he relinquish his endeavours to destroy even the best of men: he goes about, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour: there are not any so holy, but he shoots his fiery darts at them, and torments them with cruel buffetings [Note: Eph 6:16. 2Co 12:7.], and desires to have them that he may sift them as wheat: and, were he permitted, he would soon reduce even the soundest of men to chaff.]

Let us next inquire,

II.

How he destroys them

He came into the world, and was manifested in human flesh on purpose to destroy them: and he effects their destruction,

1.

By the virtue of his sacrifice

[The death of Christ was a true and proper atonement for sin; it was a propitiation for the sins of the whole world: and by it he finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness [Note: Dan 9:24. with ver. 5.]. Nor has he merely cancelled our debt, or removed our obligation to punishment, but has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light. On the cross he triumphed over all the principalities and powers of hell [Note: Col 2:15.]; and, by death, overcame him that had the power of death, and delivered them, who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage [Note: Heb 2:14.]. Yes, when our final victory over sin and death shall be celebrated in heaven, to this shall we ascribe it altogether; Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood [Note: Rev 5:9.].]

2.

By the operation of his grace

[Dead as we are in trespasses and sins, we are quickened by Christ [Note: Eph 2:1.]; and immediately begin in his strength to confliet with sin and Satan. The warfare we maintain is attended with many difficulties; so that we are sometimes ready to cry out, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death? but in our lowest state it is our privilege to add, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord [Note: Rom 7:24-25.]. In him we are strong; and through his gracious communications we can do all things: none can be effectually against us, whilst he is for us. Having infused into our souls a principle of life, he dwells in us, and is himself our life [Note: Col 3:4.], and carries us forward from conquering to conquer, till sin and Satan are bruised under our feet, and death itself is swallowed up in everlasting victory.]

Observations
1.

How infatuated are they who live in wilful sin!

[Do they consider whom they serve, and against whom they fight? Do they consider that they are doing those very works which proceed from and characterize the devil, and which Christ was manifested to destroy? Reflect on your conduct, brethren, in this view, and then judge, whether ye do well to continue in it ]

2.

What reason for humility have even the best of men!

[There is no man who has not daily occasion to lament his short-comings and defects. We are not any of us so watchful, but Satan finds some opportunities to deceive us; nor so expert in our warfare, but he wounds us occasionally by his fiery darts. And when that wicked fiend has got an advantage over us, with what exultation is he filled, even though he knows that he can never ultimately prevail against our blessed Lord! Be watchful, brethren, that ye do not so gratify your malignant adversary, or so grieve the Spirit of your adorable Saviour. Put yourselves more habitually under the protection and guidance of your Divine Master; and through him you shall be more than conquerors.]

3.

How unbounded are the obligations we owe to Christ!

[Who but he could have ever redeemed us from sin and death? Who but he could have ever destroyed for us those works of the devil? Think what would have been the state of the world, if he had never become incarnate; what slaves we must have been if he had not liberated us; and what a death we must have undergone, if he had not died in our stead! Verily, if we felt our obligations as we ought, we should scarcely pass a moment without adverting to them, and magnifying him with songs of praise and thanksgiving. Let us dwell on the delightful thought, which, wherever it is entertained, creates a heaven upon earth: and in a little time our deliverance shall be complete; and we shall unite with all the hosts of heaven in singing Hallelujah to God and to the Lamb for ever and ever.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Ver. 8. He that committeth sin ] , that makes a trade of it, and can art it (as the word properly signifieth), not act it only.

Is of the devil ] Bears his image, wears his livery; is as like him as if spit out of his mouth.

For the devil sinneth ] Or is a sinning; he never ceaseth to sin, he commits the sin against the Holy Ghost every moment.

That he might destroy the works ] The devil then hath his works in the very hearts of the elect, for whose cause Christ came into the world, that he might unravel the devil’s work, break his head,Gen 3:15Gen 3:15 . The Son of the woman, our Saviour (not the Virgin Mary, as Papists blasphemously affirm, illa conteret tibi caput ) breaks the serpent’s head, that first of the devil’s works against mankind: trampled upon him and triumphed over him on the cross, and will tread him under our feet also shortly. But what a bold conceit is that of Josephus, that God, when he said “He shall bruise thy head,” meant no more but this, Every son of Eve, whensoever he meeteth with a serpent, shall strike it upon the head, which containeth in it somewhat hurtful to mankind. (Antiq. Judaic, i. 2.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] Contrast to 1Jn 3:7 ; cf. : but here by the necessity of the case, when a positive assertion comes to be made respecting the sinner, the new element . . is introduced: see below. He that doeth sin is of the devil (notice first , as indicative not so much of individual acts as of a state, corresponding to . And then must not be rationalized away, as is done by those who deny the personal existence of the devil. It is the distinct opposite correlative of ( 1Jn 3:10 al. freq.), and implies a personal root and agency just as much as that other does. But again, it does not imply any physical dualism on the part of the Apostle. “Neminem fecit diabolus,” says Aug [45] h. l. Tract. iv. 10, 11, vol. iii. p. 2011, “neminem genuit, neminem creavit; sed quicunque fuerit imitatus diabolum, quasi de illo natus, fit filius diaboli, imitando, non proprie nascendo. Omnes peccatores ex diabolo nati sunt, in quantum peccatores. Adam a Deo factus est; sed quando consensit diabolo, ex diabolo natus est, et tales omnes genuit qualis erat.” And below, 11, “Ergo duas nativitates attendite, Adam et Christi. Duo sunt homines, sed unus ipsorum homo homo, alter ipsorum homo Deus. Per hominem hominem peccatores sumus, per hominem Deum justificamur. Nativitas illa dejecit ad mortem, ista nativitas erexit ad vitam: nativitas illa trahit secum peccatum, nativitas ista liberat a peccato: ideo enim venit Christus homo, ut solveret peccata hominum.” Origen (in Joan. tom. xx. 13, vol. iv. p. 325 D) remarks that is said , not , and on the other hand is said , not . This must not be urged too far, seeing that St. John does speak of , e. g. ch. 1Jn 5:19 , and places over against one another the and the 1Jn 3:10 ; besides which, the devil is said to be of the unbelieving ( Joh 8:44 ). All that we can say is, that the two are not strictly correspondent: that Origen’s latter assertion is true we have no . In the case of the children of God, there is a definite time, known to Him, when they passed from death unto life (ch. 1Jn 2:29 , 1Jn 3:14 , 1Jn 5:11 ; Joh 1:12 ; Joh 3:3 ff; Joh 5:24 , &c.): from which their new life unto God dates: but there is no such point in the life of those who are the children of the devil: no regeneration from beneath corresponding to that from above: the natural life of men is not changed by seed of the devil as it is by seed of God. Rather may we say, that in those who are of the devil this latter change has never taken place. Since sin has come to reign in the world by man’s sin, our natural birth, which is properly and essentially a birth from God, a creation by the eternal Word, has become a birth from the devil: so that it is, as Bengel expresses it, “corruptio, non generatio,” and there is no trace of a physical dualism in St. John’s doctrine: nay, the idea is at once precluded by the fact that according to the Apostle ( Joh 1:12 ) those who are children of God have become so from having been children of the devil. See this expounded, as usual, in Dsterd.’s note, from which much of the above is gathered): because the devil sinneth from the beginning (= ‘sinned in the beginning, and has never ceased to sin since:’ as Bed [46] : “cum prmitteret ‘ab initio,’ subjunxit verbum prsentis temporis ‘peccat:’ quia ex quo ab initio cpit diabolus peccare, nunquam desiit.” But the question meets us, what is ? Bed [47] , al., understand it of the beginning of all creation: “neque enim dubitandum est inter primas creaturas angelos esse conditos; sed cteris ad laudem Creatoris gloriam su conditionis referentibus, ille qui primus est conditus, mox ut altitudinem su claritatis aspexit, contra conditorem cum suis sequacibus superbus intumuit, perque eandem superbiam ex initio peccans, de archangelo in diabolum est versus.” Many Commentators, to avoid all chance of dualism, make it mean not from the time of his creation, but from that of his fall: so Estius, understanding the of the beginning of our world : “statim a mundi creatione diabolum peccasse, cum prius nullum esset in mundo peccatum:” Calvin, “nihil aliud vult Johannes, quam diabolum statim a creatione mundi fuisse apostatam.” But again, others suppose the term to mark the beginning of the devil’s own apostasy: so Bengel, “ex quo diabolus est diabolus,” Sander, al. And lastly, Lcke, De Wette, Brckner, Dsterd., Neander, take it with Seb.-Schmidt, “ab initio peccare,” from the time when any began to sin. And this seems, when we compare Joh 8:44 , to be the true interpretation. He has ever been the depositary, as it were, of the thought and the life of sin: the tempter to sin: the fountain out of which sin has come, as God is the fountain out of which has come righteousness. See on this subject, my Sermons on Divine Love, Serm. v. pp. 68 ff., “the First Sinner;” and Sartorius, “Lehre von der heiligen Liebe,” i. pp. 115 ff.). To this end was the Son of God manifested (viz. in His incarnation, pregnant with all its consequences), that He might destroy (do away, break up, pull down: see reff.: of a building, or a law, or an organized whole) the works of the devil (what are these? Clearly, in the first place, works whereof the devil is the author : not as Baumg.-Crus., merely devilish works . And then, are we to include in the list not only sins, which manifestly belong to it, but also the consequences of sin, pain, sorrow, death? The fact would be true if we did: for Christ hath abolished death ( 2Ti 1:10 ): and Estius’s objection need not have any weight with us, “mors peccatum non est, sed pna peccati, Deum habens auctorem. Destruitur mors per Christum, non quod ipsa sit opus diaboli sed quod ex opere diaboli justo Dei judicio subsecuta:” for even thus considered, it would be implicitly one of those works. But the context seems to require that we should at all events keep death and the results of sin in the background, as no mention is made of them here, and sinful works are clearly in the Apostle’s mind. These works the whole of Christ went directly to nullify: more especially His Death, in which His power over Satan reached its highest point, the bruising of His heel, in which He bruised the Enemy’s head: for it was in that, that He won for us that acceptance which is sealed by His glorification, and in virtue of which the Holy Spirit is given us, of whose work in us it is said that we , Rom 8:13 ).

[45] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430

[46] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

[47] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Jn 3:8 . . ., an emphatic and interpretative variation of “he that makes sin his business or practice”. of parentage ( cf. 1Jn 3:9 ); “hoc est, ex patre diabolo” (Clem. Alex.). ., a vague phrase. In 1Jn 1:1 “ere time began”; in 1Jn 2:7 , 1Jn 3:11 ,“from the beginning of your Christian life”. Here “from the beginning of his diabolic career”; “a quo peccare cpit incontrovertibiliter in peccando perseverans” (Clem. Alex.). , “loose,” metaphorically of “loosening a bond,” “relaxing an obligation” (Mat 5:19 ; Joh 5:18 ), “pulling to pieces” (Joh 2:19 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

from the beginning. See 1Jn 1:1 and Joh 8:44.

Son of God. App-98.

destroy. Greek. luo. Compare Joh 2:19.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] Contrast to 1Jn 3:7; cf. : but here by the necessity of the case, when a positive assertion comes to be made respecting the sinner, the new element . . is introduced: see below. He that doeth sin is of the devil (notice first , as indicative not so much of individual acts as of a state, corresponding to . And then must not be rationalized away, as is done by those who deny the personal existence of the devil. It is the distinct opposite correlative of (1Jn 3:10 al. freq.), and implies a personal root and agency just as much as that other does. But again, it does not imply any physical dualism on the part of the Apostle. Neminem fecit diabolus, says Aug[45] h. l. Tract. iv. 10, 11, vol. iii. p. 2011, neminem genuit, neminem creavit; sed quicunque fuerit imitatus diabolum, quasi de illo natus, fit filius diaboli, imitando, non proprie nascendo. Omnes peccatores ex diabolo nati sunt, in quantum peccatores. Adam a Deo factus est; sed quando consensit diabolo, ex diabolo natus est, et tales omnes genuit qualis erat. And below, 11, Ergo duas nativitates attendite, Adam et Christi. Duo sunt homines, sed unus ipsorum homo homo, alter ipsorum homo Deus. Per hominem hominem peccatores sumus, per hominem Deum justificamur. Nativitas illa dejecit ad mortem, ista nativitas erexit ad vitam: nativitas illa trahit secum peccatum, nativitas ista liberat a peccato: ideo enim venit Christus homo, ut solveret peccata hominum. Origen (in Joan. tom. xx. 13, vol. iv. p. 325 D) remarks that is said , not , and on the other hand is said , not . This must not be urged too far, seeing that St. John does speak of , e. g. ch. 1Jn 5:19, and places over against one another the and the 1Jn 3:10; besides which, the devil is said to be of the unbelieving (Joh 8:44). All that we can say is, that the two are not strictly correspondent: that Origens latter assertion is true-we have no . In the case of the children of God, there is a definite time, known to Him, when they passed from death unto life (ch. 1Jn 2:29, 1Jn 3:14, 1Jn 5:11; Joh 1:12; Joh 3:3 ff; Joh 5:24, &c.): from which their new life unto God dates: but there is no such point in the life of those who are the children of the devil: no regeneration from beneath corresponding to that from above: the natural life of men is not changed by seed of the devil as it is by seed of God. Rather may we say, that in those who are of the devil this latter change has never taken place. Since sin has come to reign in the world by mans sin, our natural birth, which is properly and essentially a birth from God, a creation by the eternal Word, has become a birth from the devil: so that it is, as Bengel expresses it, corruptio, non generatio, and there is no trace of a physical dualism in St. Johns doctrine: nay, the idea is at once precluded by the fact that according to the Apostle (Joh 1:12) those who are children of God have become so from having been children of the devil. See this expounded, as usual, in Dsterd.s note, from which much of the above is gathered): because the devil sinneth from the beginning (= sinned in the beginning, and has never ceased to sin since: as Bed[46]: cum prmitteret ab initio, subjunxit verbum prsentis temporis peccat: quia ex quo ab initio cpit diabolus peccare, nunquam desiit. But the question meets us, what is ? Bed[47], al., understand it of the beginning of all creation: neque enim dubitandum est inter primas creaturas angelos esse conditos; sed cteris ad laudem Creatoris gloriam su conditionis referentibus, ille qui primus est conditus, mox ut altitudinem su claritatis aspexit, contra conditorem cum suis sequacibus superbus intumuit, perque eandem superbiam ex initio peccans, de archangelo in diabolum est versus. Many Commentators, to avoid all chance of dualism, make it mean not from the time of his creation, but from that of his fall: so Estius, understanding the of the beginning of our world: statim a mundi creatione diabolum peccasse, cum prius nullum esset in mundo peccatum: Calvin, nihil aliud vult Johannes, quam diabolum statim a creatione mundi fuisse apostatam. But again, others suppose the term to mark the beginning of the devils own apostasy: so Bengel, ex quo diabolus est diabolus, Sander, al. And lastly, Lcke, De Wette, Brckner, Dsterd., Neander, take it with Seb.-Schmidt, ab initio peccare, from the time when any began to sin. And this seems, when we compare Joh 8:44, to be the true interpretation. He has ever been the depositary, as it were, of the thought and the life of sin: the tempter to sin: the fountain out of which sin has come, as God is the fountain out of which has come righteousness. See on this subject, my Sermons on Divine Love, Serm. v. pp. 68 ff., the First Sinner; and Sartorius, Lehre von der heiligen Liebe, i. pp. 115 ff.). To this end was the Son of God manifested (viz. in His incarnation, pregnant with all its consequences), that He might destroy (do away, break up, pull down: see reff.: of a building, or a law, or an organized whole) the works of the devil (what are these? Clearly, in the first place, works whereof the devil is the author: not as Baumg.-Crus., merely devilish works. And then, are we to include in the list not only sins, which manifestly belong to it, but also the consequences of sin, pain, sorrow, death? The fact would be true if we did: for Christ hath abolished death (2Ti 1:10): and Estiuss objection need not have any weight with us, mors peccatum non est, sed pna peccati, Deum habens auctorem. Destruitur mors per Christum, non quod ipsa sit opus diaboli sed quod ex opere diaboli justo Dei judicio subsecuta: for even thus considered, it would be implicitly one of those works. But the context seems to require that we should at all events keep death and the results of sin in the background, as no mention is made of them here, and sinful works are clearly in the Apostles mind. These works the whole of Christ went directly to nullify: more especially His Death, in which His power over Satan reached its highest point,-the bruising of His heel, in which He bruised the Enemys head:-for it was in that, that He won for us that acceptance which is sealed by His glorification, and in virtue of which the Holy Spirit is given us, of whose work in us it is said that we , Rom 8:13).

[45] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430

[46] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

[47] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Jn 3:8. , of the devil) as a son: 1Jn 3:10. The word born is not however here employed, nor seed, but works. For from the devil there is not generation, but corruption.- , from the beginning) from the time when the devil is the devil. He seems to have kept his first estate but a very short time.-, sins) An abbreviated expression: that is, has sinned from the beginning, and is the cause of all sins, and still goes on sinning: he sins (with guilt becoming heavier from day to day), and induces others to sin: he is never satiated.[8] The because in 1Jn 3:8 is in antithesis to the because in 1Jn 3:9.- , for this purpose) The devil does not make an end of sinning: to destroy sin, is the work of the Son of God.- , the works) which are most contorted [perverse], and to unravel which, was an occasion worthy of the Son of God.

[8] But this the great sinner shall be shut up, in the abyss, as in a prison; then, in fine, punishment shall be inflicted on him in the fire.-V. g.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

He that: 1Jo 3:10, 1Jo 5:19,*Gr: Mat 13:38, Joh 8:44, Eph 2:2

for: 2Pe 2:4, Jud 1:6

this purpose: 1Jo 3:5, Gen 3:15, Isa 27:1, Mar 1:24, Luk 10:18, Joh 12:31, Joh 16:11, Rom 16:20, Col 2:15, Heb 2:14, Rev 20:2, Rev 20:3, Rev 20:10, Rev 20:15

Reciprocal: Num 21:9 – when he Jdg 14:6 – rent him Isa 5:7 – he looked Isa 40:10 – with strong hand Isa 49:25 – Even Dan 9:24 – finish Mic 7:19 – subdue Zec 3:2 – the Lord said Mat 6:13 – deliver Mat 12:29 – General Mar 3:27 – General Mar 5:7 – that Mar 7:29 – General Mar 7:30 – she found Luk 1:71 – we Luk 3:7 – O generation Luk 4:34 – art Luk 8:28 – I beseech Luk 8:35 – and found Luk 11:22 – General Joh 1:34 – this Joh 3:8 – so Joh 6:70 – and one Joh 8:34 – Whosoever Joh 8:38 – and ye Act 10:38 – healing Act 13:10 – thou child Act 26:18 – and from Rom 1:3 – his Son Gal 2:17 – are found Col 1:13 – the power 1Ti 1:15 – that Jam 3:15 – devilish 1Pe 1:20 – but 1Pe 5:8 – the devil 1Jo 1:2 – was manifested 1Jo 3:4 – committeth 1Jo 3:12 – of Rev 12:9 – the Devil

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE DESTRUCTION OF EVIL WORKS

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

1Jn 3:8

Here St. John tells us of the purpose of the Incarnation.

I. The works of the devil.What are these works of the devil?

(a) In the human heart. Selfishnessall sin is selfishnesshatred of the brethren, unbelief, doubt of the love of God even more than doubt of the existence of Godthese are some of His works. Belief and love go hand-in-hand, then, and it is the devils work to destroy both the one and the other. How hard, we may say, it is to believe, and how hard to love. But it is not doubly hard to do both. It has been well said that the two are together easier than either of them, and the half more difficult than the whole. Mans doubts are solved by obeying and by loving. If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine. A common work of the devil is that form of unbelief known as despondency. That kind of unbelief is one of the things which the Lord Jesus was manifested that He might destroy.

(b) In the Church. And then there is unbelief in the Churchdenying the power of God. I speak not in the theological sense, but in the sense of the power which is in the Church of God to win back and to save that which was lost. True, here an effort and there an effort is made, but we do not recognise that it is our first duty to seek and to save. Another of the works of the devil in the Church is the spirit of formalism. How often we have the form of godliness but not the power of it. This temptation is far greater for those called to the ministry than for the laitythe danger of bearing sacred words constantly on ones lips while ones heart is far away. It is the work of the devil to take all the true life out of that which was meant to be our help. Again, it is through the work of the devil that the Church, instead of being in the very vanguard of all social progress and true reform, seems always to be behind.

(c) In the world. Again, the Son of God is manifested to destroy the works of the devil in the world, and I think one of the greatest of these is cruelty. We are called upon as Christian people to throw all our efforts into such work as will prevent cruelty to man or beast, and especially cruelty to children. Intemperance, too, is one of those works of the devil in the world by which countless thousands are kept in a bondage too hideous to be thought of. I have known those whom doctors said could not be cured, cured by the power of God.

II. In all these matters God now works through us.God claims to use usto manifest Himself through us. The Son of God is being manifested now in every true and pure and noble life which is being lived in His faith and fear. If this be so, shall we not determine to take our part in the conflict of Christ with the forces of evil? It has been well said, A child of God in this conflict receives indeed wounds daily, but he never throws away his armour or makes peace with his deadly foe. God grant to us this spirit. God grant to us that the Son of God may be manifested in our lives, that through them the works of the devil may be destroyed.

Rev. H. W. L. ORorke.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

SIN AND ITS CONQUEROR

Even those who would do away with a belief in God can hardly do away with the existence of wrong and of a radical propensity to wrong as working in mens hearts. A most patent fact; yes; and a most troublesome facttroublesome to ourselves, to society, to government; indeed, the radical secret of all the troubles of the world. And to those who are alive to the existence of an infinite God this evil assumes its true character, not merely of crime, wrong-doing, disorder, but of sincrime against God, wrong-doing against God, disorder against God.

I. Sin and its aspects.

(a) Deception: Hath God said? So, whenever led away by our lusts and enticed, it is really the old storyold as the first transgressionHath God said?

(b) Alienation: Ye shall be as gods. Too true. A false independence. Man deifying himself the worst idolatry.

(c) Disobedience: Knowing good and evil. Alas! how often the last part of this malign promise is realised among men! Only evil continually. Such this first great work of the devil. And the second is its other self, death! (i) Loss of God. How sudden, swift, and sure! The Lord was gone, and His returning presence brought only pain and shame: I was afraid! So now God is gone. The temple is deserted, the life is desolate, the heart is dead. Is it not so? There are, indeed, gaiety and mirth, but how sickening! the dead playing at being alive! (ii) And amongst men? Jealousy, mistrust, hate, blood. The disintegrating work of sinsocial death. Is it not so? (iii) And in the world? Toil, sorrowcursed for thy sake. A crown of thorns, but not irradiate, as that Other Crown, (iv) And self? Perverted spirit, disordered soul, diseased and dying body. The works of the devilruin, havoc, hell!

II. Their destruction.An adversary? Yes, and a Rescuer. The picture of Gen 3:15; serpent coils, crushed limbs, agony. A Mighty One appears; the bruised head, the bruised heel. The Son of God! this attests the power of sin. His wrestling unseen with sin, as in Jacobs case. The manifestation of which we read in text, as Son of Man.

(a) The conflict. With the tempter. Who shall know its fierceness? With human sin in all His public work. With the worlds death: Calvary.

(b) The conquest. The incipient conquest in the desert; the progressive conquest in the life; the culminating conquest on the Cross. So, after the agonised climax of the conflict, the It is finished! And the resurrection the seal of victory.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Jn 3:8. Committeth and sinneth will be explained by the comments on the next verse. Is of the devil refers to the practice of sin which was introduced into the world by the devil. From the beginning means the beginning of mankind on the earth. Not that he had not sinned before that, for he had, by reason of which he was cast out of heaven (Luk 10:18). But John is here concerned only with the devil’s first attack upon man as the rest of the verse indicates. We know that the Son of God was manifested in the world to destroy the works of the devil, therefore the word beginning can apply only to the beginning of man on the earth.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Jn 3:8-9. 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. This passage is, taken altogether, unparalleled in Scripture: as deep in its mystery as it is clear in its expression. As the doing of righteousness was in chap. 1Jn 2:29 made the proof of a birth from God, so now the doing of sin, as the characteristic of the life, is made the evidence of an origination, though not a birth, from Satan. St. John here, as almost everywhere, reproduces the teaching of Christ in his own Gospel: Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do (Joh 8:44); where the same of is used. The following begotten of God renders it needless that he should mark the difference between the relation of the regenerate to God and the relation of sinners to the wicked one. Moreover, that difference is more than hinted at in the words ensuing, The devil sinneth from the beginning, which means that all sin had its origin in him, and that, as sin began with him, and came among men through his temptation, all who commit sin may be said to depend upon him and belong to his family, adopted into it, as it were, though not born again or from below. Wherever there is sin St. John regards it as a work of the devil, using human instruments: He sinneth always and everywhere. The relation to sin, and sin in its relation to him, the Son of Godthus solemnly introduced as the antagonist of Satanwas manifested to destroy, that is, to dissolve or do away or break up as an organized fabric or organizing principle. He came not to destroy the law of righteousness, but to fulfil it; He came to destroy the law of sin, the Satanic law. The accomplishment of both designs runs on in parallel lines: the former is accomplished in him that doeth righteousness; the latter in him who ceases to do sin. Nothing can be more express than the recognition of the personality of the devil; and nothing can be plainer than that the destruction of his works is strictly limited to the abolition of his power over man through the redemption of the cross, and of his power in man through the Spirit of regeneration. St. John keeps the words of Christ in view in every word he here writes. For the rest, he altogether abstains from allusion to the mystery of the origin of evil in Satan, as also from allusion to the final issues in relation to him: his organized works, as a system of anti-righteousness shall be dissolvedfor Christ cannot have appeared in vainand that is all that is said. In fact, this dark subject is introduced solely to impress the fact that they who are Christs are by that very fact removed from the sphere and the system of sin.

1Jn 3:9. Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin; because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God. This third view of the contrariety between sin and the estate of regeneration somewhat changes the ground. The Divine Spirit comes in, here called the seed or principle of the Divine life in the soul. He has not been mentioned as yet in the Epistle; but in the second chapter He was the chrisma or unction upon believers; now, by analogy, He is the sperma or seed within them. The abiding of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus within the spirit is perpetual freedom from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:3). This central word looks back to the former clause and forward to the latter. He who has in him the indwelling Spirit, doeth not sin: he abhors the remainder of it in his nature, he has renounced the works of Satan, he maintains his fellowship with Christ, and his life is governed by righteousness. He may grieve the Spirit, and may fall into sin, as the apostle himself says in chap. 1Jn 2:1; but living in the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit, this he will not do: he sinneth not, and abstinence from the act of sin is his mark and his privilege. When it is added that he cannot sin, we are to understand the word cannot as referring to the moral impossibility of a regenerate soul violating the principle or, as it were, instinct of his new life. The child of God can sin; but the act of sinning, so far as he is concerned, suspends his life; and, as we are told in chap. 1Jn 5:16, life must be given to him again when he sins not unto death. The three usual methods of relieving the difficulty of the passage have a certain measure of truth in them as applied to the three clauses of this verse. The first certainly gives the Christian ideal, that a regenerate soul sinneth not: this, however, is the normal Christian state of one who lives in the Spirit, a realized ideal. The second allows us to say that the regenerate as regenerate sins not, though he may suffer sin: the possible antinomian abuse of this truth does not invalidate it. The only sin St. John considers possible to a pure Christian is the act which he mourns over as soon as committed, which he carries to his Advocate with the Father, and which, being forgiven and washed away, is not followed by the withdrawal of the living Seed, who still preserves in him his better self. The third lays them upon the perfect tenses, He that has been and still is in a confirmed regenerate state cannot sin. Undoubtedly an abiding and consummated regeneration tends to make sin more and more impossible; St. Johns perfect regeneration, however, is not such as improving on or perfecting itself, but as the true Divine life of the Son consummating the preliminary spiritual movements that lead to it.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

That is, “So far as a man sinneth, so far he is of the devil, and like unto him, in whom sin is predominant: he having been an old sinner, soon after the beginning of the creation, and a bold tempter to sin all his days.”

Learn, 1. That Satan has kept in a constant and continued course of sinning against God from the beiginning of his apostacy, and first moment of his revolt from God; the devil sinneth from the beginning.

Learn, 2. That such as make sin their work, do make themselves the devil’s children; they are his children by imitation: Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the works of your father ye will do.

As if he had said, “The Son of God came purposely into the world to destroy sin, the work of the devil, in all that he will save.

Note, 1. The odious character wherewith sin is branded, it is the work of the devil; that work which he is always doing himself; and which he is continually tempting and soliciting others to do, that they may be as miserable as himself.

Note, 2. Our Saviour’s manifestation in the flesh asserted; the Son of God was manifested, namely, to the world, and in the world; he appeared in our nature, and was seen in our flesh; it was a real exhibition, and not an imaginary manifestation of him.

Note, 3. The great end of this gracious manifestation of the Son of God in our nature, it was to destroy the works of the devil, to loose and dissolve; so the original: This supposes mankind to have been in bonds and fetters; we were in durance and captivity, shut and locked up in the prison-house; we were under the dominion of sin, and power of Satan, but the Son of God came to rescue us, to knock off our fetters, and to set us at liberty: By the works of the devil understand all sin in general.

2. Those sins in particular, which have most of the devil’s image upon them, and render persons most like unto him, such are malice and envy, rejoicing at the calamities, and delighting in the evils, that befall others, rage and passion, bitter strife and contention, schism and faction, lying and falshood, craft and treachery; but especially pride and haughtiness, which was the sin that turned Satan out of heaven, and made him a devil in hell.

3. By the works of the devil here are meant in particular, idolatry, and all idolatrous worship, even to the worshipping of the devil himself; this, and all other kinds of idolatry, had strangely prevailed and over-run the world before the coming of Christ, who came on purpose to deliver mankind from this slavery, and to put down the kingdoms of Satan, and beat him out of those strong-holds which he thought had been impregnable; The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

3:8 {8} He that committeth sin is of the {i} devil; for the devil {k} sinneth from the {l} beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

(8) An argument taken by contrast: the devil is the author of sin, and therefore he is that serves sin is of the devil, or is ruled by the inspiration of the devil: and if he is the devil’s son, then is he not God’s son: for the devil and God are so contrary to one another that the Son of God was sent to destroy the works of the devil. Therefore on the other side, whoever resists sin, is the son of God, being born again of his Spirit as of new seed, in so much, that by necessity he is now delivered from the slavery of sin.

(i) Resembles the devil, as the child does the father, and is governed by his Spirit.

(k) He says not “sinned” but “sins” for he does nothing else but sin.

(l) From the very beginning of the world.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes