Does 1 John 3 Teach Eternal Security?
The Issue at hand:
Many Calvinists claim that 1 John 3:6 indicates that the one who is practicing sin has never been saved. If it were possible to lose your salvation, then you would be in the “one who keep on sinning” category, and all in that category, according to John have neither seen him nor known him.
ESV 1 John 3:6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
They also claim that 1 John 3:9 also attests to this fact. Here, John says that no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. The reason this is impossible is because God's seed abides in him. John says that it is impossible for the believer to keep on sinning. Choosing to no longer exercise saving faith in Christ is the ultimate sin...”anything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
ESV 1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
The Answer:
I don't think eternal security is John's point here at all. We must never draw more from an author than he is intending to convey. The main point of 1 John is that someone who is in the practice of sin is not born of God. He is not addressing whether or not they were ever saved. The perfect tense of “not seen or known” in 1 John 3:6 should be understood as: “have not seen or known him from some point in the past with the results still standing”. Calvinists assume that this point in the past is the sinner’s birth (hence the faulty interpretation “never seen or known”). The perfect tense does not allow for such a dogmatic assertion. That point in the past could be when the person committed apostasy and departed from the faith. In addition, there is a Greek word for ‘never’ (Gr. oudepote), but John didn't use it here.
In terms of the point about 1 John 3:9 (“your seed remains”), this promise applies to those who are “born of God”. Someone who commits apostasy is no longer born of God and thus doesn't have the seed anymore. We are only a New Creation “in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17). Once I commit apostasy, I am not “in Christ” or a new creation. The Calvinist may oppose this point by saying, “apostasy is a continual sin and therefore is a practice of sin, which contradicts 1 John 3:6”. This is a false statement. Since “fall away” in Hebrews 6:6 is an aorist tense verb, there is one clear moment in which the action occurs; One ultimate sin of departure. The writer of Hebrews also states, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Heb 3:12). Again, “departing” is aorist tense -- a clear moment of departure, spawned by an evil heart of unbelief. In the beginning of Hebrews 3, the author more refers to the specific audience being addressed as “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.”
Some other problems with the “never known or seen” interpretation:
First of all, John's theology of abiding in Christ in 1 John should not contradict his theology in John 15. In John 15, it is clear that abiding (remaining) in Christ means to be a branch in the vine of Christ. The very imperative to “abide” means that we are commanded to remain in that vine. You must be a branch already in order to keep that command. A branch is already drawing from the life and sustenance of the vine. If a person doesn't remain in the vine, “he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered”. To claim this person was never part of the vine to begin with destroys the entire analogy.
Next, John would contradict Paul, who claims that the nearly apostate Galatians have “known God” and are “known of God” (Gal 4:9), yet warns them of falling from the calling of grace in Christ (Gal 1:6), as well as expresses his concern “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Either it's possible to fall from grace, or Paul was lying to them with these warnings. This is only one example of multiple similar warnings in Paul’s epistles.
Next, John would contradict the writer of Hebrews, who writes, “if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” An apostate clearly had “received the knowledge of the truth” at one time. Since Jesus is the only truth (John 14:6), then the apostate clearly received Jesus in the past.
Next, John would contradict Peter, who claims that at the beginning of 2 Peter that saved people are saved “through the knowledge of him [Christ]” (2 Pet 1:3) and have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (1:4). Later in the same epistle, Peter clearly speaks of the same type of person falling away and having a worse punishment than an unbeliever (2 Pet 2:20-22). This person had previously “escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 2:20). Both of these characteristics were the very characteristics of believers in 2 Peter 1:3-4. How much clearer could it be that born again people can commit apostasy?