All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
Parallel translations
- WEB All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
- KJV All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
- BSB All unrighteousness is sin, yet there is sin that does not lead 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 3:4Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.
- Jas 1:15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
- 1 Jn 5:16If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don’t say that he should make a request concerning this.
- Jas 4:7–10Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Ezek 18:26–32When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done shall he die.
- 1 Jn 2:1My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
- Deut 12:32Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
- Isa 1:18“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “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 5:32You shall observe to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
- Rom 5:20–21The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.