Do We Become Sinless? (1 John 3:6)

According to some, 1 John 3:6 shows that we become sinless once we accept Christ. As John writes: "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him," (1 John 3:6 NASB1995); however, this misunderstands the passage.

The idea of this passage is that anyone who follows Christ will not live in their sins. The passage is not claiming that a person will never sin again after accepting Christ, but that they are made new and do not live in their sin.

In the book, The Expositor's Greek Testament, it states: "There is really no contradiction, and the Apostle’s meaning appears when account is taken of the terms he employs with accurate precision. In the earlier passage he says that there is indwelling sin in the believer. The sinful principle (ἁμαρτία) remains, and it manifests its presence by lapses from holiness—occasional sins, definite, isolated acts of sin. This is the force ot the aorists, ἁμάρτητε, ἁμάρτῃ in 1 John 2:1. Here he uses the present ἁμαρτάνειν (varied by ποιεῖν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν) with the implication of continuance in sin. The distinction between present and aorist is well exemplified by Matt. 6 11: δὸς σήμερον as contrasted with Luke 11:3 : δίδου τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν, and Matthew 14:22 : ἐμβῆναι … καὶ προάγειν. The distinction was obvious to St. John’s Greek readers, and they would feel no difficulty when he said, on the one hand: ἐάν τις ἁμάρτῃ, Παράκλητον ἔχομεν, and, on the other: πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων οὐχ ἑώρακεν αὐτόν. The believer may fall into sin but he will not walk in it".

Barnes also writes: "The passage teaches, indeed, most important truths in regard to the true Christian ... He who is born again does not sin habitually, or is not habitually a sinner. If he does wrong, it is when he is overtaken by temptation, and the act is against the habitual inclination and purpose of his soul. If a man sins habitually, it proves that he has never been renewed," (Barnes).

References:

Barnes' Notes on the New Testament. United Kingdom, Kregel Publications, 1962

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. 

The Expositor's Greek Testament. United States, Dodd, Mead, 1900.