All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
Parallel translations
- WEB All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
- BSB All unrighteousness is sin, yet there is sin that does not lead to death.
- NKJV All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
- NASB All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
- NLT All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
All wrongdoing is sin, yet not every sin leads to death. Sin must be taken seriously, but not all sin is beyond the reach of prayer and grace.
Overview
John clarifies that every act of unrighteousness is genuinely sin, refusing to minimize it. At the same time, he reassures that ordinary sins among believers do not bring spiritual ruin but can be met with confession, forgiveness, and intercession. This balance guards against both laxity toward sin and despair over it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Jn 3:4Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
- Jas 1:15Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
- 1 Jn 5:16If 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.
- Jas 4:7–10Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Ezek 18:26–32When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
- 1 Jn 2:1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
- Deut 12:32What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
- Isa 1:18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
- Deut 5:32Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
- Rom 5:20–21Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 5:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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