God’s Word Translation
1 John 3:6
6Those who live in Christ don’t go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven’t seen or known Christ.
1 John 3:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
- New International Version (NIV)No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
- English Standard Version (ESV)No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Context of 1 John 3:6
4Those who live sinful lives are disobeying God. Sin is disobedience. 5You know that Christ appeared in order to take away our sins. He isn’t sinful. Those who live in Christ don’t go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven’t seen or known Christ. 7Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you. Whoever does what God approves of has God’s approval as Christ has God’s approval. 8The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy what the devil does.
Read all of 1 John 31 John 3:6 word by word
πᾶς ὁ ἐν αὐτῷ μένων οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει· πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων οὐχ ἑώρακεν αὐτὸν οὐδὲ ἔγνωκεν αὐτόν.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 John 3:6
- 1 John 2:28Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won’t turn from him in shame.
- John 15:4Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me.
- 1 John 3:2Dear friends, now we are God’s children. What we will be isn’t completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is.
- 1 John 2:4The person who says, “I know him,” but doesn’t obey his commandments is a liar. The truth isn’t in that person.
- 1 John 4:8The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love.
- 1 John 5:18We know that those who have been born from God don’t go on sinning. Rather, the Son of God protects them, and the evil one can’t harm them.
- 2 Corinthians 3:18As all of us reflect the Lord’s glory with faces that are not covered with veils, we are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6We are his servants because the same God who said that light should shine out of darkness has given us light. For that reason we bring to light the knowledge about God’s glory which shines from Christ’s face.
- 3 John 1:11Dear friend, never imitate evil, but imitate good. The person who does good is from God. The person who does evil has never seen God.
Commentaries on 1 John 3:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6Whosoever abideth in him - By faith, love, and obedience. Sinneth not - Because his heart is purified by faith, and he is a worker together with God, and consequently does not receive the grace of God in vain. See on 1 John 3:3; (note). Hath not seen him - It is no unusual thing with this apostle, both in his gospel and in his epistles, to put occasionally the past for the present, and the present for the past tense. It is very likely that here he puts…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6Whosoever abideth in him - See 1 John 2:6. The word here employed ( ́ menōn) properly means to remain, to continue, to abide. It is used of persons remaining or dwelling in a place, in the sense of abiding there permanently, or lodging there, and this is the common meaning of the word, Matthew 10:11; Matthew 26:38; Mark 6:10; Luke 1:56, “et saepe.” In the writings of John, however, it is quite a favorite word to denote the relation which one sustains to…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 3-10Verses 3-10 The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that is…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6remains in Him: The Greek word menō means “to remain” or “to stay.” It describes “abiding” or “remaining” in Christ (John 15:1–8) instead of departing into false teaching. When we live in ongoing and dependent fellowship with Christ, and when we remain faithful to the apostles’ teaching, we will not continue in sin. continues to sin: This verb describes sin as an ongoing or repeated action. John was not saying that a single act of sin means a person does…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. He reasons from Christ's own entire separation from sin, that those in him must also be separate from it. abideth in him--as the branch in the vine, by vital union living by His life. sinneth not--In so far as he abides in Christ, so far is he free from all sin. The ideal of the Christian. The life of sin and the life of God mutually exclude one another, just as darkness and light. In matter of fact, believers do fall into sins (1Jo 1:8-10; 2:1, 2)…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 John 3:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 John 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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