Before deciding not to pray for a brother, be sure that all other options have been exhausted.
The context of 1 John 5:16 is prayer and for whom to pray and whom not to pray. Indifference is not an alternative. Every believer is mandated of Almighty God to look to the good of fellow believers.
“If any man see his brother sin a sin . . ." is an interesting statement. The phrase is an indication of the responsibility that belongs to every believer. Look to the good of other believers. The phrase no doubt considers that everyone will have opportunity to see a brother sin. The deeply rooted reality of the phrase is that no believer can see a brother sinning with indifference, amusement, or contempt. The underlying expectation of 1 John 5:16-17 is that everyone who is born of God, loves the brethren as previously considered in 1 John 4:21,
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
Fulfilling the law of Christ necessitates being so troubled about a sinning brother that his restoration is sought immediately and diligently, Galatians 6:1. In the event the brother refuses reconciliation, your love for him demands that he be removed from fellowship and turned over to Satan that he may be buffeted and later returned to fellowship.
Because it is not given to any believer to see the heart of another, we can only inspect the
"fruit" (or lack thereof). The farther a believer appears to wander away from God, more "bad fruit" will be observe. We wonder about the truthfulness of that believer's profession of faith; we may even be tempted to ask, "Is this person really a Christian" but we can go no farther than that. Our dealing with such a brother does not affect salvation; our dealing affects fellowship.
Until such time as fellowship must be broken, we are under Divine compulsion to be praying diligently that God will reconcile the brother to Himself so that "The evil one does not touch
him." 1 John 5:18
An important contextual element in 1 John is that the one born of God “does not sin”, 1 John 3:9; 5:18. How is the “does not sin” phrase reconciled to the phrase “see a brother sin?” How is the “does not sin” phrase reconciled to the phrase “he that sayeth he hath no sin is a liar?”
Is this a contradiction of Scripture? "Sin," in the present tense, indicates that one who is born of God does not continue in sin (not that the child of God is flawlessly perfect).
The sin we see a brother commit is not a habitual sin but is rather an isolated event. The consequence of that sin can be relatively minor or so terrible that the sinning brother is removed by death.
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It is very important to understand the difference in isolated sin and habitual sin. If one flaunts the commands of God by living in sin as a habit, if he or she practices sin as a lifestyle, the context and tenor of the whole of First John and the rest of the Bible is that that person so living IS NOT a child of God, does not know God and has not been born of God.
In this study we will observe that a sin unto death is not always the same sin; but it is always the same type of sin. Notice that 1 John 5:16 does not use the article “the” but uses the article
“a” when referring to sin unto death. The phrase “a sin” speaks of a type of sin, not the sin itself; thus, John is not speaking specifically of the sin of murder, lust, immorality or any other specific sin.
As this study progresses, many examples of “a sin unto death” will be considered from both the Old and New Testaments. Each sin is of a particular type.
A sin unto death does not always bring immediate death It did with Ananias and Saphira. It did with Achan. It did with Korah and his followers. It did with the children who demanded Aaron make them a golden calf. It did not with Moses.
It did not with the Corinthians.
With the Corinthians death came in stages. First there was weakness. Then sickliness.
Finally, death.
Perhaps much of the physical weakness among Christians today comes like it did with the Corinthians who were more concerned about fellowship among themselves and with the world than they were with fellowship with God. Do not misunderstand, not all physical weakness comes from misdirected fellowship and not all premature deaths come from being corrupt, carnal, confused, careless and cold as were the Corinthians; but some very likely do.
1 John 5:16 is the declaration that "there is a sin leading to death."
The ramification of that declaration is a clear statement that the most severe degree of discipline by God is the death of His child. It must be recognize that the context of 1 John 5:16 is addressing a situation involving a "brother committing a sin" and is not a reference to damnation of the soul, losing salvation or being cast off as a son of God.
On many occasions, the Scripture records the fact that God does use death as an extreme form of discipline of His children. He does not use death as a means to cast His children into hell; He uses death to end a life of disobedience that other children of God will not be adversely affected by the error of the guilty party. The death of the child of God after having sinned a sin unto death is a stark reminder to other children of God that they must be careful not to be presumptuous at any time in their fellowship with God.
The death of a sinning believer is not primarily brought about as a punitive measure but as a preventative measure. For instance, if you see a brother do something that brings death, and 15
you see another brother do something that brings death, their death will serve as a preventative message to you that you not die also.
A sin unto death is not linked to all types of sin.
It is linked to one particular type of sin.
What did John mean when he said that there is “a sin unto death”? He simply meant that it is possible, very possible, for a believer to sin to the extent that they suffer God’s ultimate chastening, which is physical death. In other words, it is possible for a child of God to sin his life away (not salvation, but his physical life).
When the Bible says that there is “a sin unto death,” it’s not talking about one particular sin.
More than once, the question has been asked, “What is the sin unto death? Is it murder? Is it adultery? Is it child abuse? Is it lying? What exactly is “the” sin unto death?”) The answer is, it’s not just one particular sin. It is the one type of sin that pushes the believer beyond the limits of God’s patience and longsuffering, and causes God to say, “That’s it, it’s time for me to take you out of here.”
Some sins are more consequential than other sins
While sin is sin, some sins are more consequential in that they involve more rebellion. "Sin unto death" appears to be a sin which involves the sinner in ultimate rebellion against God: a condition of disrespect, rejection, defiance, and presumption. We must always avoid such.
Some sins, in individual cases, cut short a person's life span. It is not one special sin but one special type of sin that Scripture has in mind when speaking of a sin unto death.
Every effort should be made to bring reconciliation of a brother to the Lord where possible
When a brother or sister in the Lord falls, it is the responsibility of other believers to come alongside him or her for the purpose of "winning" them back, or seeing them reconciled to God.
However, if they refuse to listen to you, Matthew 18:16 teaches that you don't walk away hurt, but you return with "one or two more" and once again lovingly confront them.
According to verse 17, if they refuse to hear them, "tell it to the church."
If they refuse to listen "even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."
This response is clarified for us in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 where the errant brother is "delivered over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus"
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After this long process has occurred and the errant brother has refused to repent, then we are to release that one to the savagery of Satan to destroy them physically.
Death can come after that a believer has refused to listen to compassionate brethren, then a small group, and finally the church which then delivers them over to Satan to be used by God to bring harsh chastisement.
Once the church delivers them over, they are not to pray that God will spare them any measure necessary to restore them to fellowship.
There are three places from which God will deal with His children He will deal with us at the Altar for confession and repentance. The Holy Spirit will convict and if we will confess and forsake our sin according to 1 John 1:9, He will forgive and cleanse.
He will deal with us at the Woodshed for discipline and restoration. If we fail to confess and forsake our sin, God will chastise us to correct us and bring us back to a holy life. Hebrews 12:6 states, " Whom the Lord loveth, every son whom He receiveth."
He will deal with us at the Graveyard for the good of the Kingdom. If the first two fail, God will eventually remove the wayward believer to preserve the testimony of the Gospel. (1
John 5:16-17)
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Examples and Analysis of Sin Unto Death