"No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." 1 John 3:9-10

 God has crucified our flesh with Christ and by the Spirit has transferred us into the risen Christ. We are now children of God, born of the Spirit and partakers of the divine nature, -"For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." (2 Pet.1)

Until we were born again we were partakers of Adam’s corrupted nature. Adam’s nature is one of good and evil, though the evil tends to corrupt the good. Looking back we can see that as children of Adam our lives bore the same fruit as the forbidden tree - good and evil. With the same mind we entertained noble thoughts and lustful desires. We used our tongue to bless and to curse. We loved and we hated. We sometimes were moved by compassion and yet inside found deep-seated selfishness.

 A son of Adam has the capacity to love, share, forgive others and can even be moved to worship and praise God. Even Adam’s corrupted nature has the ability to do a righteous act.

But it is simply not in his nature to practice righteousness. Not only does a son of Adam not have the power to produce a worthy righteousness, but he cannot practice righteousness because he is not of God and still lies in the power of Satan, -"We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (1 Jo.5) But thanks be to God, where the first Adam failed the last Adam succeeded as a life-giving Spirit to all who would receive His Seed.

The two seeds, the fleshly and the Spiritual, are in opposition to each other. Though he is capable of doing good, a person born only of the flesh is not capable of being good -his flesh will war against the Spirit, -"For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another." (Gal.5)

This is why today’s text says that we can see who is of God and who is of the devil by who is exhibiting the ability and the desire to practice righteousness. We initially receive the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor.5) as a gift, but abide in Him by practicing righteousness. Jesus said -"If you keep My Commandments you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s Commandments and abide in His love." (Jo.15)

 Now, a person who has been born again of the Spirit and is in Christ has a divine nature which cannot practice sin. In fact, he is dead to sin because the sinner he once was has been crucified with Christ. Sin itself is still present and given the opportunity will try to bring him back under its power. But sin can only be actively practiced in the sinner and since the sinner has died it has lost the only vehicle that can take him into the practice of sin. Sin is much like a deadly disease - it can only live and strive in a living host.

  A Christian is alive in Christ but dead to sin, sin has lost its host and cannot effectively operate in the divine nature of His Body. Can a child of God commit a sin? Yes, but he cannot practice sin because it is simply not in his nature. Sin is foreign to him and he is repulsed by it. Sin, the old master is still around but the slave who served him is dead and had been born again as a slave of righteousness, "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (Rom.6) Dearly beloved, we need not strive against sin by our own power, but put our faith in our divine power in Christ.