1 John 3:8

As often as we sin, we are born of the devil. But we are of God once again, as often as we pursue virtue.

Whoever commits sin is of the devil. Not deriving the origin of the flesh from the devil, as the Manichean impiously believes of all men, but taking the imitation or suggestion of sinning from him, in the same way that we become children of Abraham …

For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. When he mentioned "from the beginning," he added the verb in the present tense, "sins." Because from the beginning when the devil started to sin, he has never ceased, neither restrained by the enormity of present …

The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. All sinners are born of the devil in as much as they are sinners. Adam was made by God; but when he agreed with the devil, he was born of the devil, and …

Since the devil constantly revolves in sin, everyone who sins becomes a partisan of the devil; for the devil initiates sin in a person by suggesting evil thoughts to him, as he did to Judas (John 13:2). Someone may ask: how is the devil in …

He that committeth sin is a child of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning - That is, was the first sinner in the universe, and has continued to sin ever since.

), and to commit sin is to practise sin. He that abideth in Christ continues not in the practice of sin. As vital union with the Lord Jesus broke the power of sin in the heart and nature, so continuance therein prevents the regency and prevalence thereof in the life and conduct.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

He that committeth sin is of the devil,....

The spirit lusteth against the flesh. And therefore in respect to such sin it may be said, It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. It is not reckoned the person's sin, in the gospel account, where the bent and frame of the mind and spirit are against it.

He that committeth sin is of the devil - Hear this, also, ye who plead for Baal, and cannot bear the thought of that doctrine that states believers are to be saved from all sin in this life!

IN this chapter John makes a sharp and clear division of mankind into two classes—he gives not even the slightest hint that there is, or ever was, or ever can be a third class. He describes men as being the children of God or else the children of the devil and tells us how the two classes are made manifest (see verse 10).

He seems to have kept his first estate only a very short time after his creation [BENGEL]. Since the fall of man [at the beginning of our world] the devil is (ever) sinning (this is the force of "sinneth"; he has sinned from the beginning, is the cause of all sins, and still goes on sinning; present).

IN this chapter John makes a sharp and clear division of mankind into two classes—he gives not even the slightest hint that there is, or ever was, or ever can be a third class. He describes men as being the children of God or else the children of the devil and tells us how the two classes are made manifest (see verse 10). Now, this distinction would not have been drawn by John so sharply if it had not existed, for he was a man of a most loving heart and gentle spirit, and if he could, somewhere or other, have found a space for neutrals, or what I call, "betweenites," or people who come in midway between saints and sinners, I am sure he would have done it. No one could suspect John of lack of charity and, therefore, as he was convinced that no middle position was possible, we may be quite clear upon that point and at once dismiss every theory which is meant to flatter the undecided. At this day the world is still divided into children of God and children of the Evil One. This distinction ought never to be forgotten and yet thousands of sermons are preached in which it is quite ignored—and congregations are commonly addressed as if they were all the people of God! How shall we preach the Truth of God if we begin by assuming a lie? Yet to assume that all our Hearers are Christians is to begin with an error! Is it not highly probable that men will be built up in falsehood if the very Truth which is addressed to them is stated in a false way? No, my Hearers, we cannot talk to you as all the people of God, for you are not! Some of you are the children of the Wicked One and though it may not be pleasant to be told so, yet it is no business of ours to please you! Our duty is to preach so as to please God and benefit the souls of men—and that can only be effected by an honest enunciation of matters of fact.

He that committeth sin - Habitually, willfully, characteristically. Is of the devil - This cannot mean that no one who commits any sin, or who is not absolutely perfect, can be a Christian, for this would cut off the great mass, even according to the belief of those who hold that the Christian may be perfectly holy, from all claim to the Christian character. But what the apostle here says is true in two senses: (1) That all who commit sin, even true believers, so far as they are imperfect, in this respect resemble Satan, and are under his influence, since sin, just so far as it exists at all, makes us resemble him. (2) All who habitually and characteristically sin are of the devil.” This latter was evidently the principal idea in the mind of the apostle. His object here is to show that those who sinned, in the sense in which it would seem some maintained that the children of God might sin, could have no real evidence of piety, but really belonged to Satan. For the devil sinneth from the beginning - The beginning of the world; or from the first account we have of him. It does not mean that he sinned from the beginning of his existence, for he was made holy like the other angels. Notes, Jud 1:6. The meaning is, that he introduced sin into the universe, and that he has continued to practice it ever since. The word sinneth here implies continued and habitual sin. He did not commit one act of sin and then reform; but he has continued, and still continues, his course of sin. This may confirm what has been already said about the kind of sin that John refers to. He speaks of sinning habitually, continuously, willfully; and anyone who does this shows that he is under the influence of him whose characteristic it has been and is to sin. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested - Became incarnate, and appeared among people, 1Jn 3:5. […]