I was listening to a Q-&-A Bible-questions expositor on the radio the other day, and he was mouthing his irrationalization relating to the Scripture verse:

First John 3:6 Whoever stays in Him does not sin; whoever sins has not seen Him, nor known Him.

...which he said only refers to a pattern of continuing to sin with no or no more attitude of petitioning nor desire to ask for forgiveness after so continuing.

His doctrine-of-demon misapplication-against-Scripture excuse was:

First John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
First John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
First John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we [fraudulently] make Him [out to be] a liar, and His Word is not in us.

Do you the reader, (and do I, this webpage author), have a gut feeling that the expositor was attempting to concoct a compromising resolution concerning the conflict of Christians being sinners yet saints simultaneously?

In typical Jewish-writer fashion, Saint John repeats his conceptual idea, with:

First John 3:9 Whoever is born of God does not commit sin; for His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
First John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one who loves is born of God and knows God.
First John 5:18 We know that whoever is born of God sins not, but he who is begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one touches him not.

The RSV renders First John 5:18-19 this way:

18 We know that any one born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.

Clearly, the question at hand is: 'Do the passages above refer only to repeated or multiple-occurrence sinning (plural)...or instead a combination of committing-only-one-sin-once AND repeated or multiple-occurrence sinning (plural)...or instead only committing one sin (of whatever type) one time?

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Some would say that it does not matter; "God's love is unconditional" - and either accepts people as they are with their "understandably"-imperfect human frailties, inadequacies, and shortcomings....OR accepts people as they are with their "to-be-expected" imperfect human frailties, inadequacies, and shortcomings but requires them to show some degree of improvement as they continue on as professing Christians (whatever measurement of "degree" God expects for that particular person concerning whatever type or types of sin are involved) -- realizing in His mercy that his elect are under constant duress to stumble because of wicked forces around them depriving them of whatever those elect desperately need and want, and therefore some urgent biological or other bodily need is not being met by any means the duressed can perceive or realistically expect, or will not be met soon or quickly enough...unless they "take matters into their own [Devil-suggested-solution] hands."

Deuteronomy 8:3 And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man does not live by bread [or sexual gratification, or money, or famous reputation] alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.
Proverbs 6:30 Do not men despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry?
Luke 3:8 Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to Me; and him who comes to Me I will not cast out.
Romans 5:8 But God commends His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Romans 10:11 The scripture says, "No one who believes in Him will be put to shame."
Second Corinthians 6:2 For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Hey, now is the acceptable time; hey, now is the day of salvation.
Hebrews 6:8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned.
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

There are serious questions concerning the pseudo-sensible explanation the radio expositor imposed:

(1) How severe or often enough of whatever instance of sin does the sin have to be in God's determination to disqualify a person for receiving forgiveness? Is there sin which is "mortal," and if so, "mortal" in what sense(s)?

(2) Where does God draw the past-the-point-of-no-return line as to at what point He determines that either a one-time committed sin....and/or repeated pattern of sinning of whatever type(s)....indicates an intolerable-to-Himself idolatrous addiction and/or that there never really was genuine penitence in confessing and rejecting or intending to reject whatever sin(s) permanently?

(3) Are there some types of sin so grievous that they result in death, thus rendering the sinner no longer able to confess and reject that or those particular sin(s)?

(4) If the sin is a lethal one causing death, what proof would the sinner give to the Judge in the afterlife that they would have repented and intended to permanently never do that sin again....had they been given the chance to stay alive to do it?

Psalm 30:9 "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise thee? Will it tell of Your faithfulness?"

Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in [flaming] anguish.
Luke 16:26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

For example, how many times does a person have to show a pattern of continuing to sin - for whatever cause(s) - in the case of a person inhaling promptly-neuro-paralyzing highly-toxic nerve gas, ingesting immediate-fatality-causing poison, or inserting the barrel of a .45 handgun into their mouth, pulling the trigger, blowing their brains out, and thus becoming guilty of murdering themselves suicidally?

Did Lee Harvey Oswald have to show or not show a pattern of continuing to repeatedly commit the 22 November 1963 presidential-assassination sin - for whatever cause(s) - of (over an arbitrarily-variable span of days, weeks, months, years, etc.) repeatedly shooting dead and thus murdering JFK over and over?

How often did some of the islamic-terrorist hijackers on 9112001 only have to show a pattern or continuing to commit the geocidal sin - for whatever cause(s) - of actually driving passenger-laden jetliners into a couple of NYC Trade Towers and demolishing them?

Would a local policeman or sheriff accept the excuse that he has to see a driver show a continuing pattern of repeatedly going through one red stoplight or caught significantly speeding - for whatever cause(s) - before the officer writes him out a traffic citation?

What about viciously raping then suffocating a toddler...but only once - without showing a pattern of "continuing in" having committed that one horrendous sin? Or spreading a little CIA-related gossip - only one time...resulting in the detection and brutal death of a crucial national-security covert espionage agent overseas?

Is it being a bit "nitpicky" and "over-reactive" about "minor" incidentals to "harshly" or "discriminatorily" get "uptight" or "hung up" about the "trifle" "whoopsie" of a woman merely moving her index and thumb together a little bit the wrong way at the wrong time in the wrong place for the wrong causes...resulting not only in such sinner burning in Hell forever, being that the "she's-only-human" nutjob was a feminist-sexist Strategic Air Command goof who suddenly, non-expectantly, retaliated against her patriarchal boss by maliciously flicking a toggle switch to launch silos-hidden ICBM nuclear rockets -- resulting in cascading eventual global annihilation against most of the world's population in an irreversible mutually-assured-destruction nuclear holocaust?

Perhaps our English language, using inadequate semantical miswording(s) which seem to pluralize what should be understood in a singular sense, fails miserably to correctly translate and therefore accurately convey the true intentions of the following verses:

First John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin [plural OR singular?], we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
First John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
First John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we [fraudulently] make Him [out to be] a liar, and His Word is not in us.

First John 3:6 Whoever stays in Him does not sin [plural OR singular?]; whoever sins has not seen Him, nor known Him.
First John 3:9 Whoever is born of God does not commit sin [plural OR singular?]; for His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin [plural OR singular?], because he is born of God.

First John 5:18 We know that whoever is born of God sins not, but he who is begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one touches him not.

It behooves us all to discover and contemplate other Scripture which helps clarify whether the sin causing either temporal or eternal or both types of death is of a plural nature (involving a so-called "pattern" of "continuing" to transgress as to whatever, whenever, however, and whyever)...or instead is of a singular nature.

IF it is of a plural nature, is it not logical that the remedy against sinning more than once also be of a plural and NOT singular nature?

Did not the Israelites have to offer many animal sacrifices over time as expiations [plural] for repeated sins [plural]?

If a guy owes the equivalent of $10,000 of sin, and some mediator comes along and pays the $10,000 debt of the indebted so the previous-debtor guy is now debt-free and henceforth owes nothing, then if that same first guy accrues another $10,000 debt, would not the mediator have to pay an additional $10,000 to get the repeat offender out of debt again?

Would not Jesus have to repeatedly be re-crucified over and over in a "continuing pattern" to continually compensate for human-weakness "oopsies" by the relentlessly-errant people He would have to relentlessly atone for, over and over?

Romans 5:12 Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned;
13 sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law [hence the LORD did not promptly execute Cain for murdering Abel].
14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
16 And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification.
17 If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

Why should some Jewish guy dying on some Roman crucifixion cross nearly 2000 years ago have any application to us Americans and our occasional antisocial mistakes now in the 21st century in the United States, half a world away from the Middle East? Who says it does? And if such is said, on what basis and authority?

What about the perfectly-consistent impeccably-benevolent Creator of natural phenomena and purported "God of unconditional love" who "non-judgmentally always has mercy without bigoted and cruel condemnation, no matter what?" What about the alleged allowability of multiple sinning, then uttering regret and showing sorrow, then sinning, then uttering regret and showing sorrow, then sinning, then uttering regret and showing sorrow, then sinning....ad nauseum?

Suppose you or I forcefully slapped our spouses in the face or tried to suffocated them every day early each morning, then uttered a: "Sorry....I apologize" after doing so each time? Suppose we urinated on them sometime during every night while they were sleeping, but then uttered a: "Please forgive me?" after each episode of so doing. Would the marriage last? Would you or I want such a spouse?

After all:

Luke 17:1 And He said to His disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!
2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
3 Watch out about yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him;
4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Consider ELCA and other religious-denominational homosexuals, to whom Christ (in affect, also) said:

John 8:3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do You say about her?"
6 This they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him [so plainly they were not interested in moral justice, but simply in accusing Christ]. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground.
7 And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her [thus obviously indicating she was indeed guilty of adultery, and deserved stoning like afternoon-slacker David did for committing adultery with immodest-exhibitionist Bathsheba?]."
8 And once more He bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground.
9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.
10 Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."

Are the homosexual ELCA & other homoeffeminate/homosodomite (dogs) STILL homosexuals...and are they YET sinning homosexually? So does the mercy, forgiveness, and grace of God thus presently apply to them as they show a "pattern" of "continuing in sin?"

Will it ever?

Ecclesiastes 9:4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

Trying to resolve the paradox between only-once-sinning or repeatedly-transgressing "christians" presuming that they are saved in spite of their singular or plural defectiveness, might be summarized with the following passages:

Exodus 21:29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

Deuteronomy 19:4 This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If any one kills his neighbor unintentionally without having been at enmity with him in time past,
5 as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and save his life;
6 lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and wound him mortally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he was not at enmity with his neighbor in time past.
7 Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities [of refuge].

Judges 10:13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will deliver you no more.

[ NOTE: Can we say that those with whom the Lord is finally "fed up" now lay in lifelessly-cold, perfectly-obedient, totally-silent submission to Him within their dark-as-a-deep-cave solitary-confinement graves in cemeteries worldwide? ]

Proverbs 29:1 He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

Ecclesiastes 9:6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and they have no more - for ever - any share in all that is done under the sun.

Second Chronicles 36:16 ...but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, till the wrath of the LORD rose against His people, till there was no remedy.

Jeremiah 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Ezekiel 28:19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more, for ever.

Hebrews 10:1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? If the worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin.
3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.
4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, "Sacrifices and offerings You ahve not desired, but a body have You prepared for Me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, 'Wow, I have come to do Your will, God,' as it is written of Me in the roll of the book."
8 When He said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),
9 then He added, "Wow, I have come to do Your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God,
13 then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool for His feet.
14 For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"
17 then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more."
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

26 For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries.