In 1 John 5:18, “anyone born of God does not continue to sin.” Not that we suddenly become sinless, because it’s obvious we still sin. Since we can still sin, then, what’s to stop the devil taking control of us again?
John’s answer to that in verse 18 is: “the One who was born of God (Jesus) keeps us safe, and the evil one does not touch us.”
Here’s our answer, then, as to how we can live free of the devil while we still sin. It’s because Jesus keeps us safe from the devil “touching” us – the Greek haptomai (hap-toe-my)meaning “fastening on.” Jesus, therefore, prevents the devil getting us back into his grasp again.
Jesus promised he’d keep the devil from snatching us back again too, in John 10:28, when he said of those who “follow” him (27), that “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”
The devil cannot kidnap a child of God, or snatch him back. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:7-9, “our Lord Jesus Christ (7) will keep you strong to the end (8),” because in “God calling us into fellowship with his Son (9), he is faithful.” He will never let the devil snatch us back into his grubby hands again.
We can “live free of the devil,” then, in the sense that we never need worry about the devil getting total control over us like he did before. And Paul made that clear again in Romans 8:38, when he wrote, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons….will be able (39) to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So Jesus is committed to hanging onto us and never letting go. And he said so in John 6:37-39, that “Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and once that person is with me, I will never push them away. I’m here to do my Father’s will, and he gave me strict orders that I not lose any of those he’s given me.” The devil can’t fasten onto us anymore, then, because Jesus has already fastened us, haptomai, onto him.
But is it possible for us to break that bond, when by choice we turn our backs on Jesus, or lose our trust in him? Is there reason, therefore, to doubt that we have such a thing as “Eternal security”?….(next blog)
