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A Difficult Verse
(Editor’s note) I receive questions at the end of each Sunday morning message. On Sunday, January 23, I taught out of 1 John 5, and the following verse was taught. A question came, and asked how 1 John 5:18 compares to Job 1 and 2. Here is my effort to reconcile what seems to be a conflict within the Scriptures.
1 John 5:18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
Job 2:4-7 So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
1 John 5:18 tells us that Satan (the wicked one) does not touch the child of God, yet Job 2 tells us that Satan struck Job with boils all over his body.
These verses seem to contradict one another. How are we to reconcile these verses?
In 1 John 5:18, the word “touch” is defined as follows:
(Note- in different Bibles, two different Greek words are used. These definitions are from Strong’s Concordance)
KJV, NKJV-G680, haptomai
1) to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to
a) to touch
b) of carnal intercourse with a women or cohabitation
c) of levitical practice of having no fellowship with heathen practices. Things not to be touched appear to be both women and certain kinds of food, so celibacy and abstinence of certain kinds of food and drink are recommended.
d) to touch, assail anyone
NLT, NASB, RSV, ASV- G681, hapt
1) to fasten to, adhere to
a) to fasten fire to a thing, kindle, set of fire
In English, the word “touch” can include a superficial touch, an accidental touch, etc., but the two Greek words used here are much stronger. These two Greek words speak of fastening to something or someone, adhering, clinging, of becoming one with (carnal intercourse), or to fasten oneself to another to kindle a fire.
Pastor David Guzik (Calvary Chapel, Santa Barbara) says of 1 John 5:18…
“The only other place in his writings where John uses this particular verb for touch is in John 20:17, where He literally tells Mary to stop clinging to Me. Because we are born of Him, Satan cannot attach himself to us, or cling to us, in the sense he can in the life of someone who is not born of Him”.
Satan was able to strike Job with boils, but only after asking permission from God. Satan never had unrestricted access to Job, nor could he permanently attach himself to Job in any way, in a day to day kind of experience.
Satan has restricted access to the Christian. He has much more access, if not free access, to the non Christian.
John goes on to tell us in the next verse:
1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
The word sway means “influence”. The whole world lies under the influence of the wicked one, and yet the Christian has the advantage of having God’s Spirit and God’s word. The Christian has absolute truth available to him, and can know it via God’s Holy Spirit.
Therefore, in this passage, the main meaning is that Satan cannot “attach himself” to the Christian, does not have unrestricted access, and that the Christian isn’t under the sway of the wicked one with no alternative, but can and does know the truth of God, and does not need to be a victim of Satan in any way.
It is true that Satan attacks Christians through lies, deceit, temptation, etc., but he cannot not posses a Christian, or attach himself to a Christian in any way.