5:16 “If someone were to see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he will ask and [H]e will give to him life–to the ones who are sinning a sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death; I’m saying that he should ask, [but] not concerning this.”
John is kind enough to even give us an example of a prayer God will answer! “That boldness of access to God which finds its expression in prayer, finds its most characteristic expression in intercessory prayer… The change of verb …seems to mark the request which is based upon fellowship… the prayer of brother for brother… to a common father” (Westcott 190, 192). Not surprisingly, the example of how we can pray here is a further application of the principle covered earlier of loving our brother. In 3:17, it was, “If you see a brother in need…;” here it is, “If you see a brother sinning…” we will pray for him.
Notice that the example doesn’t say “he should ask,” but that “he will ask” (emphasis mine). It is a characteristic trait of a Christian to care about his brothers and instantly think to pray for them! What is wrong with us? How come this is so seldom characteristic of our prayer meetings? I’ve been to many prayer meetings, and so often, all people want to pray about is blessing for themselves. Real intercessory prayer is the last thing on their minds! Oh Lord, please give us Your life and love so that we “will pray” for our brothers!
We are so individualistic that we think our sin is our own business and nobody else’s, but the Bible instructs us here to pray for God to forgive other people, too! It is God’s nature to forgive, and so it should be natural for us to share in that nature and ask forgiveness (1:9, 4:10, 2:2, 2:12, 3:5). However, even in this, we must pray according to God’s will (5:14), and it is God’s will to pray only for brothers not committing “sin unto death.”
According to Westcott (192), using the article “a,” as in “a sin unto death” is too definite. “The thought is not of specific acts as such, but of acts… which wholly separate from Christ.” We’ll deal a little more with what this means in the next verse.
The Greek wording puts the negative with the object “this” rather than with the verb “way,” so I’ve tried to keep it that way in my translation, even though it makes for a substantial departure from other English translations which render it, “I do not say that he should ask concerning this.” It is awkward wording.
The other pronouns in this verse also make it awkward: the word “God” is not in this verse anywhere in the Greek text. The NIV and NASV insert it to try to make better sense of the ambiguous pronouns, but it could honestly be understood “The one who sees his brother sin will ask God to give that brother life, and God will give it,” or “The one who sees his brother sinning will ask [God? His brother?] and thus he will be the agent of giving life to his brother” (Westcott 198).
But really, either way, it is God/Jesus who is the source of life. Even if we are the agent through which it comes, life ultimately comes from God. This has already been made clear in 5:11 and 2:25; God gives eternal life! This brother for whom we intercede may not actually be sinning unto death, but we seek the opposite of death for him, and that is God’s eternal life!
By Nate Wilson.
