Meat For The Soul

Jeff, Tom and I had some good Bible discussions yesterday. Tom said he did not understand John's teaching about "a sin leading to death" (I John 5:16). The conversation lasted a good half-hour or more, but here is the short answer:

The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death, and the only scriptural basis to distinguish between sin that leads to death and sin that doesn't is whether repentance exists. In other words, no specific sin leads to death, but any sin will if a person's heart is hard.

Jeff emphasized the context in I John 5 before the reference to the "sin leading to death." In verses 14-15, John had said that if we ask anything according to God's will, He will grant it. That might lead some people to think they could pray for all "good people" to be saved, regardless of whether they have repented of their sins and committed their lives to God. So John added vs. 16 to show that prayer for someone who has committed "a sin leading to death" -- i.e., a sin for which they defiantly refuse to repent -- is a pointless prayer. It is according to God's will that only those who repent be saved.

Tom seemed to have a better grasp of the issue after the study, and so did I. In any case, I think it's safe to say that we definitely dined on the meat of the Word.