'Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God' (1 John 3.9).

An article in the July 1980 issue of 'Grace' Magazine asserts that the Authorised Version of this passage is grammatically incorrect, particularly the words, 'he cannot sin', and the reader is directed to the Amplified Version for an improved rendering. The criticism is misleading, as the Authorised Version rendering here follows the Greek with great accuracy and is grammatically and literally correct. The Amplified Version, as its name suggests, endeavours to clarify the meaning by expanding or enlarging the original statement. This is a legitimate process for the preacher or commentator; but not for the translator. The distinction was well illustrated by Dr James MacKnight's 'New Literal Translation From the Original Greek of all the Apostolical Epistles; with a Commentary and Notes, Philological, Critical, Explanatory and Practical,' published in 1795.

In his literal translation he writes:

'Whosoever hath been begotten of God doth not work sin: because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he hath been begotten of God.'

He does not suggest that 'he cannot sin' is incorrect or ungrammatical, or that the rendering disregards the requirements of Greek grammar, but in the accompanying commentary he adds words and phrases to clarify the meaning. He explains his method thus:—'As a translator of the Scriptures, the author thought himself bound to give the true literal version of every passage, according to the best of his judgment, without regarding whether it favoured or opposed his own particular opinions, or any of the schemes of doctrine which have divided the Christian, world. Yet, as an interpreter, he hath taken the liberty, in his commentary, to submit to his readers, though not always with the same assurance, what in his opinion is the meaning of the passage ....'

In his commentary on 1 John 3.9 MacKnight wrote:—
'Whosoever hath been begotten of God, being renewed in his nature, doth not commit sin, habitually; [...] abideth in him: and he cannot sin habitually; because he hath been begotten of God, and possesseth the moral qualities of his Father.'

The words in italic type are the translation, while the words in Roman type are those added as interpretation. In the notes accompanying the commentary MacKnight wrote:—'And he cannot sin, (namely habitually), because he hath been begotten of God: That OU DUNATAI HAMARTANEIN signifieth 'he cannot sin habitually' is plain from the reason subjoined, 'because he hath been begotten of God.' For since the Apostle in the beginning of the verse had said, 'Whosoever hath been begotten of God (OU POIEI HAMARTIAN) doth not work sin, because his seed abideth in him,' it is evident that when he saith in this clause OU DUNATAI HAMARTANEIN HOTI EK TOU THEOU GEGENNĒTAI—that John did not mean in this verse to say of them who have been begotten of God, nor in verse 6, of them who abide in Christ, that they never commit single acts of sin, I think it plain from Chapter 1.8, where he affirms of all without exception, 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'—On verses 6, 8, 9, 10 of this (3rd) chapter, Jovinian and Pelagius founded their doctrine, that a good man may live without sin. But these texts, according to their true meaning, give no countenance to such a doctrine.'

The accuracy of the Authorised Version rendering, 'he cannot sin' was also supported by many of the modern translations offered as improvements on the old version. Translators who made thousands of changes in other passages left this short statement undisturbed. If they had felt that it violated the rules of Greek grammar, or that it did not accurately represent the Greek words, they would doubtless have changed it. Among the versions supporting the A.V. here are the following:—

Sharpe 1862, Alford 1871, Darby 1871, Davidson 1875, Revised Version 1881, American Standard Version 1901, Weymouth 1903, Lloyd 1905, Moffatt 1913, Goodspeed 1923, Cunnington 1935, Revised Standard Version 1946, C. K. Williams 1952, New American Standard Bible 1960, Jerusalem Bible 1966, New American Bible 1970.

Dr A.T. Robertson in 'Word Pictures in the New Testament' is unjustifiably severe and dogmatic in his comment—'This is a wrong translation, for this English naturally means "and he cannot commit sin" as if it were KAI OU DUNATAI HAMARTEIN or HAMARTĒSAI (second aorist or first aorist active infinitive). The present active infinitive HAMARTANEIN can only mean "he cannot go on sinning", as is true of HAMARTANEI in verse 8 and HAMARTANŌN in verse 6 ...' In fact, our English present is capable of conveying the correct meaning and accurately represents the Greek, and does not hinder meaningful exposition, as MacKnight showed. Robertson's exposition is sound here, but his strictures on the translation are not justifiable. While it is true that the Greek infinitive present is generally employed to express an action now in course of performance, or continued in itself or its results, or frequently repeated, it is also true that the English simple present indicative can express these meanings. This may be illustrated by an example—'If a man has been highly educated he cannot read poorly written books'. In this sentence 'he cannot read' is the present indicative, and it expresses an action now in course of performance, or continued, or frequently repeated. The highly educated man now cannot read poorly written books; he cannot continue to read such books, and he cannot frequently repeat the process of reading such books. The simple English present indicative fulfils all the functions of the corresponding Greek present infinitive. It would be wrong to assume that the English present can mean only one of these things, or that the sentence means that the highly educated man is not capable of reading poorly written books. It would be readily understood that the man's education constantly influenced his taste so that he would not habitually want to read inferior material.

Applying the analogy to 1 John 3.9 it is seen that the simple English present indicative is capable of conveying the meaning that one who IS born again of the incorruptible seed of God's Word, and brought into a spiritual relationship with God, and made a partaker of the Divine nature, will be constantly wrought upon by the Spirit of God and constrained to turn with godly sorrow from sin to love and serve God. Such are capable of sinning, and they will sin, but under God's hand they will be chastened, convicted, humbled and restored. All this, and more, may flow from the lips of the preacher and the pen of the commentator, from the text just as it stands in the Authorised Version. The translators were competent Greek scholars with a mastery of English unrivalled by any in the present generation.

Many of the modern versions not included in the list above expand the text by introducing an interpretative gloss, thus combining translation and explanation. Readers of the article in Grace magazine will be sadly misguided if they infer from the comments on this verse that in any passage where the Amplified Version differs from the Authorised, the latter must be assumed to be wrong, and the former correct.

First published in Quarterly Record 473. Edited for online publication August 2023.