1 John 5:16

1 John 5:16, in plain English

If you see a believer sinning (but not in a way that's final rejection of God), you should pray for them, asking God to restore life to them through repentance.

Why it's here

John distinguishes between different kinds of sin. Some sin in believers can be interceded for and healed through prayer and restoration. But he hints at another category—'sin leading to death'—which seems to be willful, hardened rejection of God. That's different, and John's saying don't focus there.

Who's speaking

John the apostle

Where it sits in the story

This connects to James 5:16—'confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.' John is calling the church into a ministry of restoration. When a brother or sister is caught in sin, the answer isn't judgment; it's intercession and grace.

The scholarly reading

If a believer observes another believer committing a sin not oriented toward spiritual death, he should intercede for that person, confident that God grants life—though there exists a sin whose trajectory leads to death for which intercession is not prescribed.

Language and setting

The distinction between sins 'leading to death' and 'not leading to death' has generated centuries of exegetical debate. Most contemporary scholars (following Schnackenburg, Brown, Smalley) interpret this as sins that signal apostasy and final rejection of God versus moral failures within the life of faith. The passage addresses pastoral discernment: when to intercede and when to recognize the boundary of human agency.

Voice

John

Significance

This applies the community's obligation to mutual accountability (3:16-18) with the sobriety that grace has limits: willful apostasy represents a severance from the divine source of life that intercessory prayer cannot restore.

14And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

15And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

16If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin.

17All unrighteousness is sin, yet there is sin that does not lead to death.

18We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

Read all of 1 John 5 — Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory — our faith. And this is the confidence: if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.