Praying for a Sinning Brother

There are two kinds of death in the Bible: physical and spiritual. Physical death occurs when the soul leaves the body. But spiritual death is separation from God. When we are born we become physically alive but because of our sin nature we were born spiritually dead; that is, separated from God. Paul mentions this in Ephesians 2:1 when, speaking to men and women who were believers, he says, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins..."

That is why Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 that being good wasn't enough to get him to heaven, he had to be born again. In that same chapter Jesus tells Nicodemus how a person is born again. In John 3:14-15 Jesus tells him, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man (Jesus) be lifted up, whoever believes in him may have eternal life."

According to the Bible a non-Christian is physically alive, but spiritual dead. A Christian, because he has put his faith in Jesus' work on the cross to save him is born again to spiritual life; he is both physically and spiritually alive.

So what happens when a Christian sins? Are they separated from God again? Do they die a spiritual death? No! We have already seen in 1 John 5:11-12 that a person who has accepted Jesus as their savior has eternal life. In 1 John 5:13 John adds, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."

A Christian who sins is still spiritually alive, but their fellowship with God suffers until they repent.

Moreover, the apostle Paul told the Corinthians that sometimes God punishes sinful Christians with physical death. In 1 Corinthians 11:29-30 the apostle told his readers concerning misuse of the Lord's Supper that, "For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died ."

In the book of Acts, chapter five, both Ananias and his wife Sapphira, died when they attempted to lie to God. God punished them for their sin by physical death, but there is no evidence that they died spiritually and were separated from God for eternity. In fact, the Scriptures inform us that once united to Christ we cannot be separated from him by any power (See Romans 8:35-39).

I tell you all of this so that you will understand how I have interpreted what the apostle John has to say in 1 John 5:16-17, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life----to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is a sin that does not lead to death.

When we see a brother or sister committing sin, we are urged to pray for them, that God will restore them to the experience of life with him. I don't know about you, but sometimes when I see a Christian sinning, my first inclination is not to pray for them, but to talk about them to others. We must resist that temptation or be guilty of sin ourselves.

However, the apostle tells us that there are sins that lead to physical death. Why does God do that? Why are some sins punishable by physical death? We have a tendency to think of capital punishment as the ultimate punishment and humanly speaking that is true. But from God's perspective physical death isn't that bad.

The apostle Paul actually debated whether it was better to be alive and be able to minister or whether it was better to die and be with Christ. He came to the conclusion that is was actually better to die and be with Christ (Philippians 1:20-23).

So, why does God punish some sin with physical death? I believe that it is because some sins destroy our testimony to the world. God has left us here to be ambassadors for Christ. Some sins make it impossible for us to carry out that task and like a president who calls home a dishonored ambassador, sometimes God calls us home to be with him.

Let us remember that every time a Christian chooses to sin we dishonor Christ who died for us so that we could live holy lives. The goal, my friends, is to be holy as God is holy, not just to avoid the sins that cause physical death.