1 John 3:5

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:3-10 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, in Christ, was no sin. All the sinless weaknesses that were consequences of the fall, he took; that is, all those infirmities of mind or body which subject man to suffering, and expose him to temptation. But our moral infirmities, our proneness to sin, he had not. He that abides in Christ, continues not in the practice of sin. Renouncing sin is the great proof of spiritual union with, continuance in, and saving knowledge of the Lord Christ. Beware of self-deceit. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, and to be a follower of Christ, shows an interest by faith in his obedience and sufferings. But a man cannot act like the devil, and at the same time be a disciple of Christ Jesus. Let us not serve or indulge what the Son of God came to destroy. To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed by the power of the Spirit of God. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not an art, a matter of dexterity and skill, but a new nature. And the regenerate person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do who are not born again. There is that light in his mind, which shows him the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that opposes sinful acts. And there is repentance for sin, if committed. It goes against him to sin with forethought. The children of God and the children of the devil have their distinct characters. The seed of the serpent are known by neglect of religion, and by their hating real Christians. He only is righteous before God, as a justified believer, who is taught and disposed to righteousness by the Holy Spirit. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. May all professors of the gospel lay these truths to heart, and try themselves by them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And ye know that he was manifested - The Lord Jesus, the Son of God. "You know that he became incarnate, or appeared among people, for the very purpose of putting an end to sin," Matthew 1:21. Compare the notes at 1 Timothy 3:16. This is the "second" argument in this paragraph, 1 John 3:4-10, by which the apostle would deter us from sin. The argument is a clear one, and is perhaps the strongest that can be made to bear on the mind of a true Christian - that the Lord Jesus saw sin to be so great an evil, that he came into our world, and gave himself to the bitter sorrows of death on the cross, to redeem us from it.

To take away our sins - The essential argument here is, that the whole work of Christ was designed to deliver us from the dominion of sin, not to furnish us the means of indulgence in it; and that, therefore, we should be deterred from it by all that Christ has done and suffered for us. He perverts the whole design of the coming of the Saviour who supposes that his work was in any degree designed to procure for his followers the indulgences of sin, or who so interprets the methods of his grace as to suppose that it is now lawful for him to indulge his guilty passions. The argument essentially is this:

(1) That we profess to be the followers of Christ, and should carry out his ends and views in coming into the world;

(2) that the great and leading purpose of his coming was to set us free from the bondage of transgression;

(3) that in doing this he gave himself up to a life of poverty, and shame, and sorrow, and to a most bitter death on the cross; and,

(4) that we should not indulge in that from which he came to deliver us, and which cost him so much toil and such a death. How could we indulge in that which has brought heavy calamity upon the head of a father, or which has pierced a sister's heart with many sorrows? Still more, how can we be so ungrateful and hardhearted as to indulge in that which crushed our Redeemer in death?

And in him is no sin - An additional consideration to show that we should be holy. As he was perfectly pure and spotless, so should all his followers aim to be; and none can truly pretend to be his who do not desire and design to become like him. On the personal holiness of the Lord Jesus, see the Hebrews 7:26 note, and 1 Peter 2:23 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. Additional proof of the incompatibility of sin and sonship; the very object of Christ's manifestation in the flesh was to take away (by one act, and entirely, aorist) all sins, as the scapegoat did typically.

and—another proof of the same.

in him is no sin—not "was," but "is," as in 1Jo 3:7, "He is righteous," and 1Jo 3:3, "He is pure." Therefore we are to be so.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Implying how great an absurdity it were, to expect salvation and blessedness by our sinless Saviour, and yet indulge ourselves in sin, against his design, not only to expiate our sins, but make us sinless like himself.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And ye know that he was manifested,.... This is a truth of the Gospel the saints were well instructed in and acquainted with; that Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of God, who is here meant, who was with the Father, and lay in his bosom from all eternity, was in the fulness of time made manifest in the flesh, or human nature, by assuming it into union with his divine person; in which he came and dwelt among men, and became visible to them: the end of which manifestation was,

to take away our sins; as the antitype of the scape goat, making reconciliation and satisfaction for them, through the sacrifice of himself; which was doing what the blood of bulls and goats, or any legal sacrifices or moral performances, could never do: and this he did by taking the sins of his people upon himself, by carrying them up to the cross, and there bearing them, with all the punishment due unto them, in his body; by removing them quite away, and utterly destroying them, finishing and making an end of them: and by causing them to pass away from them, from off their consciences, through the application of his blood by his Spirit:

and in him is no sin; neither original, nor actual; no sin inherent; there was sin imputed to him, but none in him, nor done by him; and hence he became a fit person to be a sacrifice for the sins of others, and by his unblemished sacrifice to take the away; and answered the typical sacrifices under the law, which were to be without spot and blemish: and this shows that he did not offer himself for any sins of his own, for there were none in him, but for the sins of others; and which consideration, therefore, is a strong dissuasive from sinning, and as such is mentioned by the apostle; for, since sin is of such a nature that nothing could atone for it but the blood and sacrifice of Christ, an innocent, as well as a divine person, it should be abhorred by us; and since Christ has taken it away by the sacrifice of himself, it should not be continued and encouraged by us; and since in him is no sin, we ought to imitate him in purity of life and conversation; the end of Christ's bearing our sins was, that we might live unto righteousness, and to purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and his love herein should constrain us to obedience to him: so the Jews (l) speak of a man after the image of God, and who is the mystery, of the name Jehovah; and in that man, they say, there is no sin, neither shall death rule over him; and this is that which is said, Psalm 5:4; neither shall evil dwell with thee.

(l) Sepher Tikkunim, fol. 112. 1. apud Rittangel, de ver. Rel. Christ, p. 68.

Geneva Study Bible

{6} And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

(6) An argument taken from the material cause of our salvation: Christ in himself is most pure, and he came to take away our sins, by sanctifying us with the Holy Spirit, therefore whoever is truly a partaker of Christ, does not give himself to sin, and on the contrary, he that gives himself to sin does not know Christ.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 John 3:5 contains a new proof of the incompatibility of the Christian life with sin; this exists in Christ, to whose example the apostle has already pointed in 1 John 3:3. Of Christ John states two things, while he appeals to the consciousness of his readers (οἴδατε; the same is the case with the reading of א: οἴδαμεν)—(1) that His manifestation (ἐφανερώθη, an expression which refers to the previously unrevealed existence of Christ in heaven) had this purpose: ἵνα τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἄρῃ; and (2) that He is without sin.

τὰς ἁμαρτίας αἴρειν may, of course, mean in itself “to bear our sins,” i.e. as the atoning sacrifice, in order thereby to procure their forgiveness, but here it means “to take away, to remove our sins;” for even although the Hebrew expression נָשָׂא עָוֹן signifies both, yet the LXX. translates this in the second sense only by αἴρειν, but in the first sense by φέρειν (comp. Meyer on John 1:29, and my comm. on 1 Peter 2:24); moreover, αἴρειν with John constantly means “to take away;” comp. John 11:48, John 15:2, John 17:15, John 19:31; John 19:38; and the context is also decisive in favour of this meaning, for even though in the thought that Christ bore our sins, inasmuch as He suffered for them, there lies a mighty impulse to avoid sins, yet the antagonism of the Christian life to sin appears more directly and more strongly if the taking away of sins is described as the purpose of the manifestation of Christ. Köstlin (p. 180) rightly says: “the expression signifies to take away the sins themselves, but not their guilt or their punishment, for it is added: καὶ ἁμ. ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν, and in 1 John 3:8 : ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου.” This interpretation in Calvin, Luther, Russmeyer, Paulus, Baumgarten-Crusius, Neander, Frommann (p. 449), Düsterdieck, Myrberg, Ebrard, Braune, etc., contrary to which Lücke, de Wette, Erdmann, etc., explain αἴρειν = “to bear;” Lücke: “the object of the manifestation of Christ is the bearing of sins as a holy offering in His death;” while others, as Bede (“tollit et dimittendo quae facta sunt et adjuvando ne fiant et perducendo ad vitam, ubi fieri omnino non possint”), Socinus, a Lapide, Spener, Sander, Besser (also Lücke in his 1st ed.[204]), combine both meanings. Weiss, it is true, interprets ΑἼΡΕΙΝ correctly, but thinks that the plural ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς “can only signify actually existing sins” which Christ takes away, “inasmuch as His blood cleanses us from their guilt;” but in the whole context the subject is not the guilt of sins, but the sins themselves. The plural, however, by no means renders that interpretation compulsory.

The pronoun ἡμῶν after ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς (see the critical notes) is regarded by Lücke and de Wette as genuine; Lücke: “because John would otherwise have written ΤῊΝ ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑΝ;” de Wette: “because its omission appears to be occasioned by the interpretation of ΑἼΡΕΙΝ = to remove;” Düsterdieck remarks against ἡμῶν, that in the whole section 1 John 3:4-10 there is no direct application expressed; from internal grounds it cannot be decided, inasmuch as ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤ. ἩΜῶΝ can be taken quite as generally as the simple ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς. In regard to the plural ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς, Düsterdieck rightly says that “thereby the form of representation is made so much the more vivid, as the whole mass of all individual sins is taken into view.” It is to be observed that John does not regard Christ, according to the Pelagian mode of thought, only as the motive for the free self-determination of man, but as the active living cause of sanctification determining the will of man. It is His crucifixion especially from which proceeds, not only the forgiveness of sins, but also (in and with this) the new life, in which the believer purifies himself (ἁγνίζει), even as He is pure (ἉΓΝΌς).

The second thing which John states of Christ is: ΚΑῚ ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑ ἘΝ ΑὐΤῷ ΟὐΚ ἜΣΤΙ. The meaning of these words is not that in those who are in Christ there is no sin (Calvin, Paulus), but that Christ Himself is without sin; comp. 1 John 3:3; 1 John 2:29. This clause is not meant to confirm the preceding one (a Lapide: ideo Christus potens fuit tollere peccatum, quia carebat omni peccato, imo potestate peccandi; so also Oecumenius, Lorinus, Baumgarten-Crusius, Sander, Neander); but it is co-ordinate with it (Lücke, de Wette-Brückner, Düsterdieck, Braune), in order to serve as a basis for the following statement.

The present ἘΣΤΊ is not used instead of the preterite (Grotius), nor is it to be explained in this way, with Winer (p. 239, VII. 251), that “the sinlessness of Jesus is considered as still present in faith;” but it rather denotes, as in 1 John 3:3, the character of Christ in its eternal existence.

[204] “Αἴρειν τ. ἁμ. ἡμῶν corresponds to the καθαρίζειν ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμ., 1 John 1:7, and signifies the whole extent of the redemptive activity of Christ, His office of taking away sin, both in the ideal sense by the act of forgiving sin, and also in the real sense by the act of sanctifying the saved.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 John 3:5. The purpose of the Incarnation was to “take away the sins”—atone for the sins of the past and prevent sins in the future, αἴρειν, properly “lift up and carry away” (cf. Mark 6:29; John 2:16), but the idea of expiation is involved since it is “the Lamb of God” that “taketh away the sins”. ἐκεῖνος, see note on 1 John 2:6. ἁμαρτία, “sin,” i.e. the sinful principle: see note on 1 John 1:8.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. That sin is incompatible with Divine birth is still further enforced by two facts respecting the highest instance of Divine birth. The Son of God (1) entered the world of sense to put away all sin, (2) was Himself absolutely free from sin.

ye know] The Apostle once more (1 John 2:21, 1 John 3:2) appeals to the knowledge which as Christians they must possess.

that he was manifested] See on 1 John 2:28 : the rendering here should govern the rendering there and in 1 John 3:2. Here, as in 1 John 3:8 and 1 John 1:2, the manifestation of the Word in becoming visible to human eyes is meant; the Incarnation. The expression necessarily implies that He existed previous to being made manifest.

to take away our sins] Literally, to take away the sins, i.e. all the sins that there are. If ‘our sins’ means ‘the sins of us men’ and not ‘the sins of us Christians’, the rendering is admissible, even if the addition ‘of us’ (אC Thebaic) is not genuine. As already stated, the article is often used in Greek where in English we use a possessive pronoun. ‘To take away’ (αἴρειν) is the safest rendering; for this is all that the Greek word necessarily means (see on John 1:29). Yet it is not improbable that the meaning of ‘to bear’ is included: He took the sins away by bearing them Himself (1 Peter 2:24). This, however, is not S. John’s point. His argument is that the Son’s having become incarnate in order to abolish sin shews that sin is inconsistent with sonship: the way in which He abolished it is not in question.

in him is no sin] This is an independent proposition and must not be connected with ‘ye know that’. The order of the Greek is impressive; sin in Him does not exist. Christ not merely was on earth, but is in heaven, the eternally sinless One. He is the perfect pattern of what a son of God should be. This, therefore, is yet another proof that sin and sonship are incompatible. Comp. John 7:18.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 John 3:5. Ἐφανερώθη, was manifested) in the flesh.—τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, our sins) inasmuch as they are especially displeasing to Him.—ἄρῃ, He might take away) John 1:29, note.—ἐν αὐτῷ, in Him) The sentence, He is righteous, 1 John 3:7, has reference to this.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Two additional reasons for the absolute separation of the children of God from sin.

(1) They know well that the Son of God was manifested in the flesh to put away the sins (of the world, John 1:29); not mere "sins," one here and one there, but "the sins" τὰς ἁμαρτίας, whatever sins exist. Ημῶν, though strongly supported, is probably not genuine. Αἴρεν in itself means not "to take on himself, or bear," but "to take away;" it expresses the removal rather than the manner of removal. But it may represent the Hebrew nasa, which combines the two meanings (Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 24:15; Isaiah 53:12).

(2) The Son of God was absolutely separated from sin. 1 John 3:5

Vincent's Word Studies

Ye know

John's characteristic appeal to Christian knowledge. Compare 1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:21; 1 John 4:2, 1 John 4:14, 1 John 4:16; 1 John 5:15, 1 John 5:18; 3 John 1:12.

He (ἐκεῖνος)

Christ, as always in this Epistle. See on John 1:18.

Was manifested

See on John 21:1. Including Christ's whole life on earth and its consequences. The idea of manifestation here assumes the fact of a previous being. John various terms to describe the incarnation. He conceives it with reference to the Father, as a sending, a mission. Hence ὁ πέμψας με He that sent me (John 4:34; John 6:38; John 9:4; John 12:44, etc.): ὁ πέμψας με πατήρ the Father that sent me (John 5:37; John 8:18; John 12:49, etc.): with the verb ἀποστέλλω to send as an envoy, with a commission; God sent (ἀπέστειλεν) His Son (John 3:17; John 10:36; 1 John 4:10; compare John 6:57; John 7:29; John 17:18). With reference to the Son, as a coming, regarded as a historic fact and as an abiding fact. As a historic event, He came (ἧλθεν, John 1:11); this is He that came (ὁ ἐλθὼν, 1 John 5:6). Came forth (ἐξῆλθον; John 8:42; John 16:27, John 16:28; John 17:8). As something abiding in its effects, am come, hath come, is come, marked by the perfect tense: Light is come (ἐλήλυθεν, John 3:19). Jesus Christ is come (ἐληλυθότα, 1 John 4:2). Compare John 5:43; John 12:46; John 18:37). In two instances with ἥκω I am come, John 8:42; 1 John 5:20. Or with the present tense, as describing a coming realized at the moment: whence I come (ἔρχομαι, John 8:14); compare John 14:3, John 14:18, John 14:28; also Jesus Christ coming (ἐρχόμενον, 2 John 1:7). With reference to the form: in flesh (σάρξ). See John 1:14; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 1:7. With reference to men, Christ was manifested (1 John 1:2; 1 John 3:5, 1 John 3:8; John 1:31; John 21:1, John 21:14).

To take away (ἵνα ἄρῃ)

See on John 1:29.

Our sins (τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν)

Omit ἡυῶν our. Compare John 1:29, τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, the sin. The plural here regards all that is contained in the inclusive term the sin: all manifestations or realizations of sin.

In Him is no sin (ἁμαρτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν)

Lit., in Him sin is not. He is essentially and forever without sin. Compare John 7:18.