ACC ~ 1 John 3 v4

EVERYONE WHO COMMITS SIN. HILARY OF ARLES: John says that sin and iniquity are the same thing, though there were heretics who denied this. According to some of them, iniquity was a crime deliberately committed, but sin was a fact of nature and therefore not a crime. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

SIN IS LAWLESSNESS. BEDE: Let no one say that sin is one thing and wickedness another. Let no one claim to be a sinner but not wicked. Sin and wickedness are the same thing. Actually, the true meaning of this verse is clearer when we look at the Greek, because the word which in Latin is rendered “wickedness” (iniquitas) in Greek is “lawlessness” (anomia). So what John really means is that sin is lawlessness. ON 1 JOHN.

CLINGING TO EVIL. OECUMENIUS: John’s message is that those of us who have been adopted into Christ must do the works of righteousness and not show ourselves to be lazy in that respect. However, the person who has sinned or will sin is not called wicked or a sinner merely on that account. What John is talking about here is the person who clings to evil and becomes a worker of evil on an ongoing basis. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

SIN IS AGAINST NATURE. THEOPHYLACT: Sin is a falling away from what is good, whereas iniquity is transgression of the law. The first is a rejection of good as a general principle, the second is a particular violation of a law. The sinner therefore is someone who goes against nature, and it is the nature of human beings to live rationally. Sin is therefore something which must be regarded as absurd. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

1 Jn