“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” I John 3:4.

The word lawlessness spoken of here is not the Law, as in the Ten Commandments, nor is it man’s laws; rather it is in the greater sense of turning away from God’s commandments, which are only two.

“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” 1 John 3:23.

“Whoever commits sin” is in contrast to those who purify themselves, spoken of earlier in the chapter.

“And everyone who has this hope in Him [Jesus] purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:3.

“Whoever commits sin”, sin literally means missing the mark, and it is God’s mark which is set before us. None of us can hit the target dead center, but the Christian strives to become more Christlike in their lives – to purify their lives.

Those who commit sin do so because they do not care and they practice lawlessness and give in to the sin nature.

“There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways nor abide in its paths. The murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and needy; and in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’, and he disguises his face. In the dark they break into houses which they marked for themselves in the daytime; they do not know the light.” Job 24:13-16.

In the message to Titus Christians are told this.

“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” Titus 3:1-2.

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Romans 13:1-2.

“Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” Romans 13:7.

“For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:9-10.

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2:1-4.

“Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks”, for all men, for kings, presidents, all who are in authority opens the way for free exchange of the gospel of Jesus Christ and brings many to salvation in Christ. This is the word of God. Can I have an amen?

By way of confession, I am not continually prostrate on the floor weeping bitterly for men and the powers that be. Often I am so angry at the media and the legislative, and the judicial branch of our government that I find myself praying through gritted teeth. These things ought not to be.

So then, Christians may have to start praying first for all other Christians to start seeing things from God’s perspective. If you cannot think of anyone else, pray for me my friends. It has to start somewhere.

“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – as free, yet not using your liberty as a cloak for vice, but as servants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” I Peter 2:13-17.

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17.

The only time the Christian may disobey the king is when we are told to disobey God. An excellent example of this is found in Exodus 1:15-22; the story of the Hebrew midwives who were told by Pharaoh to kill any sons birthed by the Hebrew women. They not only disobeyed him but they lied about it!

In another incident, Peter and John, having healed a lame man, were preaching Christ in the temple, when they were arrested by the religious leaders.

Seeing that there was nothing they could charge them with, the leadership decided to warn the apostles to stop preaching Christ, and release them; this is the warning and response.

“And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’” Acts 4:18-20.

In the following verses the Lord is speaking to servants and masters, but this is also a message to employees and supervisors.

“Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for the wrong which he has done, and there is no partiality.” Colossians 3:22-25.

In this case you are to obey the boss if he says that you are not to talk religion while working. You are always free to talk of Jesus on your own time, or seek work elsewhere.

Meanwhile your hard work will testify to your supervisor that you not only say that you are a Christian but you act like one.

As you can see lawlessness not only covers the obvious but it also embraces many things that we do not usually consider wrong. But God has an answer for all this.

“And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” I John 3:5.

Jesus was manifested, made readily perceivable to the eye and understanding, as Peter and John stated earlier, “…we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard”.

And Peter later testifies this.

“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16.

You might like to read 2 Peter 1:12-21, the apostle says a lot in these verses.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life…” 1 John 1:1.

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16.

Jesus came to take away our sins, and thousands of witnesses saw Him in broad daylight, the invisible God seen and touched by men and women of all ages; many of whom were healed and fed.

It was just as obvious to those who knew Him that He was sinless. The Roman governor Pilate said of Him during His sentencing.

“Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, ‘I find no fault in Him at all.’” John 18:38.

“Pilate then went out again, and said to them, ‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.’” John 19:4.

“Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.’” John 19:6.

Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said of Himself.

“Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” John 8:46.

If ever there was an opportunity to find fault and discredit Jesus this was it. Yet in the end the only charge they could bring against Him was one of blasphemy, and that was false.

Scripture sums this up.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.

The vicarious death of Christ is a difficult thing to understand; all that needs to be understood is that it is something that was established before time began.

“And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8.

The “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” is Christ, and though it was still future, God considered the crucifixion of the Lord as something that was already done.

For clarification, the Lamb’s Book of Life is a book that a person’s name is entered into when they accept the Lord as their savior. As you may have noticed, these epistles of John are largely concerned with the question that we must all ask ourselves, “Is my name in the Lamb’s Book of Life?”

Sin is Lawlessness, 1 John 3:4-5 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 12-16-11, updated on 6-12-18.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.