The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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John writes in 1 John 5:18-19: “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.”

John notes the evil one twice in these verses, once to illustrate believers’ insulation from Satan, and once to explain the unbelieving world’s enslavement to his powers. The apostle also begins each of these verses with the words “we know,” bringing his epistle to a close with summarizing statements. Finally, John uses the descriptor “born of God” twice in verse 18, signifying different persons in each reference.

Verse 18 begins with a curious statement: “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin.” This is almost identical to John’s earlier statement in 1 John 3:9: “Everyone who has been born of God does not sin.” The Greek literally reads “does not sin,” but the tense often carries with it a progressive meaning. That’s why some English translations render the phrase “cannot keep on sinning” (ESV) or “cannot go on sinning” (NIV). 

This seems to capture the writer’s intent more accurately. John is not advocating the view that a true follower of Jesus attains sinless perfection in this earthly life, for earlier in the epistle he urges us to confess our sins (1:9). Further, he reminds us that if we claim to be sinless, we make God a liar (1:10). 

Rather, John’s use of the perfect participle for “born of God” (Gr. gegennemenos) suggests a permanent relationship begun in the past with continuing benefits from the new birth. One of these benefits is the God-given ability not to fall into long-term, habitual sin. We sin, of course, but sin does not enslave us because the indwelling Spirit empowers us to conquer temptation, and because God always offers an avenue of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). As John Stott notes, “The perfect participle indicates that the new birth, far from being a transient phase of religious experience, has a continuing result. He who has been begotten (or born) of God remains his child with permanent privileges and obligations.”

John simply assures us that Christ finishes the good work he began in us (cf. Phil. 1:6). Having been regenerated, or “born of God,” we are made new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Our desires are different. We seek to please God. The Holy Spirit continues his work of sanctification – conforming us to the image of Jesus. Having been delivered from Satan’s kingdom and brought into the kingdom of God, we are freed from bondage to evil, and our lives should increasingly reflect the character of our Savior. Sin should be the exception, not the rule, in our lives.

But why is it that Christians – those “born of God” – do not continue in sin? The second half of verse 18 tells us: because “the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” Commentators are divided as to whether this second reference to one “born of God” refers to Christians or to Christ. While John often describes Christians as those who are born of God (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18), it seems better to understand Christ as the apostle’s focus here. 

Christians cannot keep themselves secure; that’s the work of God. Further, followers of Jesus cannot resist the evil one in their own power. Jesus is the one who keeps his disciples safe. He says of his followers, whom he calls sheep, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” And then he adds, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:28-30).

In his high priestly prayer, Jesus tells the Father, “While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled” (John 17:12). The idea of believers being safe in the Lord is found in the writings of Peter and Jude as well (1 Pet. 1:5; Jude 24).

While it’s true that Scripture generally does not refer to Jesus as “born of God,” Jesus refers to himself as God’s “only begotten Son” (John 3:16 KJV, NASB 1995), “one and only Son” (CSB, NIV), or “only Son” (ESV). The Greek term is monogenes and is pivotal to an understanding of Jesus’ divine nature and eternal relationship to the Father. James White explains how linguistic studies, and the discovery of ancient papyri in the Egyptian deserts within the last century, have clarified a proper understanding of this term:

It was assumed that the term was made up of two parts: monos, which means “only,” and gennao, which is a verb meaning “to beget, give birth to.” The assumption was half correct. Monogenes does come from monos but not from gennao; rather, the second part of the word comes from a noun, genos, that means “kind” or “type.” Therefore, monogenes means “one of a kind, unique” rather than “only begotten,” and, accordingly, the term was used of an only son, a unique son. The importance for Christology is clear: No one can base a denial of the Son’s eternal nature upon this term, for it does not refer to a “beginning” at all but instead describes the uniqueness of the object.

Throughout his writings, John wants us to know that while Jesus is the Son of God, his Sonship is an eternal, one-of-a-kind relationship with God the Father. Believing sinners are “begotten” in the sense that we are born again, or made spiritually alive through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Our sonship is through adoption; Christ’s Sonship is by the very nature of his eternal relationship with the Father.

And so, Christ, who is “born of God” in a unique way as the eternal Son of God, keeps secure those who are “born of God” through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is our seal, or God’s mark of ownership on us, and our guarantee of everlasting life (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 4:30). And there’s more. 

John writes that the evil one does not “touch” us. The Greek word rendered “touch” is haptetai and means “to fasten to, adhere to … to fasten fire to a thing, kindle, set on fire.” The evil one seeks to attach himself to us like fire to dry wood, thus doing us harm. But Christ does not permit Satan’s fiery darts to torch those he has redeemed. The final  chapter of this book explores how the full armor of God quenches the evil one’s flaming arrows. Satan and his minions constantly bombard us with trials and temptations. Christ makes sure that the one who roams the earth like a lion (1 Pet. 5:8) is kept on a short chain. 

In verse 18, John reminds us that we know everyone born of God does not continue in sin because Christ guards our hearts and shields us from the evil one’s attacks. Then, in verse 19, the apostle tells us we know that we are of God (or “children of God” as in the NIV), in stark contrast to those in the world who are under the sway of the evil one. This is meant to assure us that God is our Father, and thus he sees us differently than those who reject his offer of adoption. The evil one can’t touch God’s children, but the whole world is helplessly under Satan’s thumb. There are only two possible loyalties. Each person either is “of God” or “under the sway of the evil one.”

In chapter 12 of What Every Christian Should Know about Satan, we identify several ways Jesus and the New Testament writers apply the Greek word kosmos, often translated “world.” In the context of John’s epistle, it seems clear that kosmos identifies the world order alienated from God, in rebellion against him, and condemned for its godlessness. This is the world over which Satan rules. 

Believers are of God, while unbelievers are, in a sense, in the evil one. That is, they are in his grip and under his control. Not only that, they are citizens of his kingdom and, unwittingly, captives in his dark domain. John does not depict non-Christians as yearning to be free of the evil one, or struggling against the chains that bind them. Rather, they seem quite satisfied to be prisoners, and quite unaware of the death penalty hanging over them. Satan not only takes them captive to do his will (2 Tim. 2:26), he blinds them to the reality of their enslaved condition (2 Cor. 4:4). 

As one commentator puts it, the world is: “… dominated by the devil, who controls it with tyrannical authority, organizing and orchestrating its life and activities to express his own rebellion and hatred against God…. That is why the world’s freedom is slavery, and the devil’s offer of autonomy from God, which lies at the root of all sin, an allusion.”

Finally, John tells us the whole world is “under the sway” of the evil one. The NIV renders it “under the control,” while the NASB says the whole world “lies in the power” of Satan. Everyone who has rejected God’s gracious offer of salvation falls into this category, without exception. Satan’s authority over them is absolute but not inevitable. 

Christ came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). He invaded Satan’s kingdom, breaking into the strong man’s house and binding him so that the Son of Man might plunder the evil one’s goods (Matt. 12:29). That means Jesus rescues sinners from the evil one’s domain and brings them into the kingdom of light. 

To be under the sway, under the control, or to lie in the power of the evil one derives from the Greek keimai, which means to lie like an infant or a corpse, set and situated beyond one’s own control. Metaphorically, as John uses it here, it means to be held in subjection. 

Truly, the evil one has his children under control. His empire is vast. His citizens willingly follow his lead. But their presumed autonomy is a deception. They may think, speak, and act according to their own desires, but the evil one pulls the strings behind the scenes and, as such, keeps the unbelieving world in a drunken and deadly stupor.

Next: Beelzebul – Prince of Demons