1 John 3:9

The Reason of the Impossibility of a Child of God continuing in Sin. The germ of the divine life has been implanted in our souls, and it grows a gradual process and subject to occasional retardations, yet sure, attaining at length to full fruition. The believer's lapses into sin are like the mischances of the weather which hinder the seed's growth. The growth of a living seed may be checked temporarily; if there be no growth, there is no life. This is the distinction between ἐάν τις ἁμάρτῃ and ὁ ἁμαρτάνων. Alexander in Speaker's Comm. understands: “His seed,” i.e., whosoever is born of God (cf. Isaiah 53:10; Isaiah 66:22), “abideth in Him,” i.e., in God. This is Pauline but not Johannine. “He cannot keep sinning,” as the seed cannot cease growing.