Sinless Perfection?
Our Unreachable Obsession: 1 John 3:6 says, "No one who abides in him [Jesus] keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." A few verses later, he turns up the heat: "Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil..." (!). And then, if that didn't make you a queezy over your lamentable lack of sinlessness, he says that a Christian "... cannot keep on sinning because he is born of God" (3:9).
Two questions at this point: 1) how could John live in the real world and suggest that anybody could be sinless? and 2) doesn't he contradict what he said in 1 John 1:8-10?
On Sinless Perfection: There are several keys to understanding John here.
First, he uses the present/continuous tense of the Greek* verb for "sin." That means that in this context he is talking about a habitual/identitifying characteristic. He is referring to people who are characterized by sin.
Second, the Bible speaks of Christians as "righteous" in that we pursue righteousness and identify ourselves with the God who is righteous. This doesn't mean that Christians are sinless, it means that their identifying characteristic is a pursuit of holiness.
Third, the overall context of 1 John sets up an us/them contrast between the faithful followers of Jesus and the false prophets who have left the church to teach and act contrary to Jesus.
Fourth, in the immediate context of 1 John 3, John identifies Christians as those who purify themselves because of their hope of Jesus' return. We are thereby identified as those who pursue righteousness. See also 3:19ff where John identifies believers as those who keep God's commandments and do what pleases him.
Imperfectly Pursuing Perfection: But wait, what if you're a Christian but you still struggle with substance abuse or over-eating or jealousy or masturbation? The key word there is "struggle." The people of God struggle against sin. They can't live happily in it. The people John is talking about don't struggle against sin, they live happily in it.
But if you desire to follow Jesus, you will want to please him and will therefore struggle against sin in your life. Following Jesus is never characterized as sinless perfection, but a struggle to add virtue to your life and resist temptation--all powered by the grace of God.
That means you will sin as a Christian. And God knows it.
It also means that while you are tempted by sin, and desire it at one level, at another level you hate it. And because you love God (imperfectly) and love righteousness (imperfectly), you pursue sinless perfection (imperfectly), which you know you will never reach in this life.
In other words, because of our love of God and righteousness, we believe that all sin in our life is unacceptable. Even though we sin. Regularly.
Our heart is more for God than for sin. We may fall, and fall hard, but God graciously picks us back up, dusts us off, and we pursue righteousness again because we love him and want to please him.
So God doesn't expect sinless perfection from me? Yes, he does! But he knows you will struggle with sin and only be able to follow him imperfectly. But that is how the gospel of Christ is set up, with the sacrificial death of Jesus at the center so we will run back to him for forgiveness when we fail.
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16).
If God wouldn't accept imperfect believers, Anchor would be looking for a new lead pastor!
On the Apparent Contradiction: In chapter three, John was referring to people (probably the false teachers) who were characterized by their sinful practices. In other words, they didn't desire to please God. They didn't struggle with sin, they lived happily in it.
This understanding of chapter three fits well with what John said in chapter one, that we sin and therefore need to confess it to God and receive forgiveness.
* The New Testament was originally written in Greek.