Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have become whole. Sin no more lest something worse happens to you.”
-John 5:14
When Jesus had stood up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
-John 8:10-12
Most believers are familiar with the account in the life of our Lord when he tells the woman caught in adultery to "go and sin no more." We also have quoted a similar instruction in John 5 where the Lord heals the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been sick for 38 years. He says to the man, "Take up your bed and walk.” It is not at that time that the Lord instructs to "sin no more," but only when the Lord Jesus sees him in the temple after.
A few things we need to note before we try to put some greater contexts to these instructions. First, we only find these statements in the Book of John. This is an account of the Lord's ministry to Israel (both people addressed are Jews) in his deity (the focus of John's Gospel, John 1:1). Secondly, we note that the Lord does not give this admonition to everyone he heals or to everyone whose sins he forgives.
In this same book, in chapter 4, the Lord meets with a Samaritan woman (remember that his disciples, Apostles to the Circumcision were forbidden to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom in Samaria, Matthew 10:5-6). The Lord reminds her that "salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22) after he has confronted her with her sin.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. So you have spoken truthfully.”
-John 4:16-18
The woman became a strong witness for the Christ of Israel.
Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to remain with them. And He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His word. They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this Man is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
-John 4:39-42
They recognized Jesus a both "Christ" and "Savior of the World," not just the Savior of Israel. As we have seen in our look at the Canaanite gentile woman in Matthew 15 who is told by the Lord that he was "sent to none except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel" (Matthew 5:24), the Lord Jesus, while Lord of all, is not the Son of David to all men, but only to Israel.
So, while the Lord Jesus is both Christ and Lord of all people, his ministry as an earthly king and as the Son of David is unique to the earthly calling for the nation of Israel.
With that in mind, we note that he does not tell the woman in Samaria to "go and sin no more," nor does he warn her some calamity would befall her if she returned to her sin (as he did with the man at the pool of Bethesda). Is the Lord thus giving her sanction to sin? God forbid. The Lord is never the author of sin nor can a thrice Holy God condone sin. She will, as we all will, answer for her life in faith.
But there is a juxtaposition here. She is not instructed as the woman caught in adultery in John 8 nor are others whom the Lord heals in the other gospel accounts.
Certainly, the two gentiles the Lord heals in Matthew 10 and Matthew 15 are given no such instruction. In fact, he neither sees nor touches either of them. They are healed on the basis of the faith of gentiles from a distance. We note that in the gospel of the King and Kingdom in Matthew, gentiles are treated differently and separately from Jews, but the Lord is still Lord of the Gentiles.
In chapter 9 of Matthew, we see the blind men healed along with the mute man. And after these accounts we are told by inspiration:
Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people [Israel]. But when He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they fainted and were scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.
-Matthew 9:35-36
As the Christ King sent to Israel, the Lord Jesus serves Israel as a Shepherd guards, tends, protects, and feeds his sheep. Whereas sin is always a problem in man, we do not see the Holy One of Israel preaching that they "go and sin no more" in Matthew.
If I have not been clear, I say again, sin is never commended by the Lord and the Lord has always called men to turn from sin unto Himself. But we must recognize the different aspects of the Lord's ministry. In John, we see God reaching out to his people, his nation. He did not come to condemn them, but to free them.
“If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
-John 12:47-48
I believe it is in John that the Lord expresses clearly to Israel that when he finally cleanses the Virgin of Israel, his call is for the nation to "sin no more," that is, "to rebel no more," "to worship false idols no more," to "reject Christ no more."
But we must deal with the specifics in John. These people the Lord heals and forgives are expressly told to sin no more (the former being warned that something worse than his healed sickness would come upon him). I think there is a practical side to the Lord's warning.
In the case of the adulteress woman in John 8, I take the admonition to "sin no more" to mean the specific sin for which the woman was being accused. There cannot be an expectation of sinless perfection in the flesh. We have seen the level of carnality and wickedness in the Corinthian assembly. There was such wicked sin there that it was not even named among the unbelieving gentiles ("pagans" NIV, 1 Cor 5:1). Chapter 6 is a listing of the wicked carnality among believers there.I'm careful with the epistles written by the Apostles to the Circumcision, but there is general truth here. I believe the idea of sinning no more, for the individual, is rooted in returning to sin from which we have been freed and forgiven or habitually sinning.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
-1 John 2:1-2
Essentially,
"I'm writing to you so that you not habitually sin any longer. However, when you do sin, do not forget we have a mediator between us and the holy God, Jesus Christ who is fully pure and righteous. He is the the one who has fully paid for all sin, and that payment is so complete, it not only covers the sins of his own children, but all sins of all men."
-1 John 2:1-2 (Michael's translation)
But we never lose sight of the picture and warnings for Israel in connection to the earthly plan. The Apostle to the Circumcision writes of false teachers in his epistle to the Dispersion as they awaited the return of the Lord and the restoration of the Kingdom in Israel. Israel had false prophets. He warns faithful and believing Jews not to follow these men back to the mud.
These men [false teachers, 2 Peter 2:1] are wells without water and clouds that are carried by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever. For when they speak arrogant words of vanity, they entice by the lusts of the flesh and by depravity those who barely escaped from those who live in error. Although they promise them freedom, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by that which a man is overcome, to this he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then turn back from the holy commandment that was delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog returns to his own vomit,” and “the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mud.”
-2 Peter 2:17-22
The Lord's ministry in John is generally in Jerusalem and centered around the temple. The healing of the man in John 5 is in the area in and around the temple (John 5:1, 14). The adulteress woman in John 8 is brought to the Lord in the temple (John 8:2). At the end of chapter 8, we are told that the Lord "went out of the temple" (John 8:58). Chapter 9 begins with the healing of the blind man. The blind man was told by the Lord to go to the Pool of Siloam which is just outside the temple, but still on Mount Moriah.
He answered, “A Man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received my sight.”
This man is not given any instruction to go and sin no more. He is a picture of a blind Israel that is given sight by the their Messiah. When the Pharisees confront the Lord, he uses the man and the healing of his blindness as a picture of the difference between believing and unbelieving Israel.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when He found him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him, and it is He who speaks with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Him. Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
-John 9:35-41
from the age it was not heard, that any one did open eyes of one who hath been born blind
-John 9:32 (Young's Literal Translation)
The Lord has never promised anyone complete healing in any past age or in the present age. The parallel here is that the healings in the gospel age and the Acts age were mere pictures of an age to come in the Kingdom and beyond. In a similar way, the sinless perfection we will finally experience will be realized in resurrection.
Surely, there are consequences to sin in this age, and if the Lord frees us from a sin or an ailment connected to sin, it is best if we "go and sin no more." Some will ignore that warning and find the latter stare worse than the former.
So, it is not a requirement for the gift of resurrection life that we must struggle to "sin no more" (an impossibility in these current bodies) to somehow "maintain" what Christ accomplished on our behalf. Such an idea is not only unbiblical, it is a denial of the sufficiency of Christ. What we must do is take all of the warnings in scripture concerning the negative consequences of sin (in this life and in the judgment of service) and seek to feed the new nature.
All sickness is the result of the Fall, but not all sickness is the result of personal sin. All healing is from the Lord, but not all healing is the same in every age. We should seek to "sin no more" by seeking to walk in the holy spirit (the new nature) and by remembering what the Lord has accomplished on our behalf. In the end, obedience as an act of the will is both and act of love towards God and an acknowledgement of the damage that sin has done since the ages began.
