John Charmley
18-02-2007, 01:02 AM
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On another site (and apologies to Kris, who has contributed to this on that site, as indeed have I) a puzzled fellow Orthodox Christian has raised the question of whether the following passages from the 1st Epistle of St. John are not contradictory.
Of course, the problems they appear to raise have been dealt with by some of the Fathers, and it may be that a search more rigorous than the one I have made here, will reveal that the issue has been dealt with here; if so, I do apologise. But, on the chance that it has not, and knowing that sometimes the enemies of the Faith try to mislead the faithful by claiming there is a contradiction, or that it means that one needs two types of baptism (I think one of the 'Gnostic' heresies had it that it was water and the Spirit), I thought it might be good to take the views of this community.
I have some commentary material which seems to put this into perspective, but those with deeper resources than mine may well be able to throw some patristic light on this one.
1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
In Christ,
John
On another site (and apologies to Kris, who has contributed to this on that site, as indeed have I) a puzzled fellow Orthodox Christian has raised the question of whether the following passages from the 1st Epistle of St. John are not contradictory.
Of course, the problems they appear to raise have been dealt with by some of the Fathers, and it may be that a search more rigorous than the one I have made here, will reveal that the issue has been dealt with here; if so, I do apologise. But, on the chance that it has not, and knowing that sometimes the enemies of the Faith try to mislead the faithful by claiming there is a contradiction, or that it means that one needs two types of baptism (I think one of the 'Gnostic' heresies had it that it was water and the Spirit), I thought it might be good to take the views of this community.
I have some commentary material which seems to put this into perspective, but those with deeper resources than mine may well be able to throw some patristic light on this one.
1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
In Christ,
John