1 John 5:16-17 (KJV) Pray For Sinners

1 John 5:16-17 (KJV)

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

There is no such thing as a mortal sin, one that, should a person commit it, they cannot be saved or if they are Christian, must mean they lose their salvation.

There is, an unpardonable sin, which is simply refusing the witness of the Holy Spirit and not trusting Christ as Savior. It is fruitless and theologically backward to pray for God to extend grace to the person who rejects the grace of God in Christ.

This sin unto death may include this unpardonable sin but also likely includes any of those sins that will inevitably lead to death.

There are sins that so eat the body with disease that the end will surely be death.

We may pray for peace of mind and strength to endure the pain, but prayer for healing in most of these cases would be answered in the negative.

There are sins that so violate the human contract that governments are forced to hand down a death sentence.

We may pray for the salvation of the offender. We may pray for his growth in spiritual grace prior to the execution of the sentence. But it would be foolish as a member of a civilized society to pray that the sentence of death never be carried out upon such offenders.

The passage is not meant to keep us from praying but to encourage us to pray. There is only this one exception of a sin unto death that cannot possibly be answered affirmatively and that one exception may happen less frequently than we imagine. Therefore pray for sinners.

• Pray for their salvation.
• Pray for their repentance.
• Pray for their restoration.

And while you pray - keep yourselves from evil.

To my readers:
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For this and more than 3800 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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1 John 5:16-17 (KJV) Pray For Sinners

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