1 John 3:6

Sinneth not] That the possibility of sinlessness in present experience is not taught here is clear from 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:9. St. John's thought moves in the region of the ideal. The divine life and the life of sin are in idea mutually exclusive. Sin in the Christian is either involuntary or in acknowledged contradiction to the ruling principle of his life. The commission of it is to that extent a failure perfectly to abide in Christ.