1 John 3:4
But everyone who continues sinning is refusing to obey God’s laws, because that is what sin is, refusing to obey God’s laws.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
In Context
Cross References
1 Samuel 15:24Then Saul said to Samuel, “ Yes, I have sinned. I disobeyed what you told me to do, which is what Yahweh commanded. I did that because I was ◄afraid of/worried about► what my men would say if I did not do what they wanted. So I did what they demanded.
1 Chronicles 10:13Saul died because he did not faithfully obey what Yahweh told him to do. He even went to a woman who talks to the spirits of dead people and asked her what he should do,
Isaiah 53:8After he is arrested and put on trial, he will be taken away and executed. And no one [RHQ] will be able to talk about his descendants, because he will die [EUP] without being married and having children. He will be ◄afflicted/caused to suffer► for the wrong things that we have done.
Romans 3:20It is not because people have done the things that God’s laws require that God will ◄erase the record of their sins/declare them no longer guilty for sin►, because no one has done those things completely. In fact, the result of our knowing God’s laws is that we know clearly that we have sinned (OR, are sinful).
Romans 7:7Someone might object, saying, “◄The laws that God gave Moses must be evil if our sinful desires are increased because of our knowing those laws. [MTY]/Are not the laws that God gave Moses evil if they stir up our sinful desires?►” [MTY, RHQ] I would reply that they certainly are not evil, even though our sinful desires are increased. What I would reply is that I, for example, realized that what I was doing was sinful only because of what is written { Moses wrote} in those laws. For example, I realized that coveting is sinful only because he wrote in those laws [PRS], “You must not covet.”
James 2:9But if you honor some people more than others, you are ◄doing wrong/sinning►. And because you do not do what God commanded us to do, he condemns you [PRS] because you disobey his laws.
Matthew Henry on 1 John 3:2-4
Adoption. ( a. d. 80.) 1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. The apostle, having shown the dignity of Christ's faithful followers,… Read the whole commentary →