What does it mean that His seed remains in him (1 John 3:9)?

In 1 John 2:29–3:10, the apostle focuses on right living, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a lifestyle befitting a child of God. In this section, John states, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9, NKJV).

The phrase, His seed remains in him, in 1 John 3:9, refers to the divine nature or the new life of God that is implanted in the believer by the Holy Spirit at salvation. Rather than describing a physical reality, this agricultural metaphor captures the radical spiritual transformation that occurs when a believer places his faith in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, CSB; see also Romans 6:4–6).

Peter uses a similar metaphor, explaining that believers are “born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable” (1 Peter 1:23) and become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Through Christ’s work of redemption, the Holy Spirit imparts a new nature into everyone who repents of sin and trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Jesus told Nicodemus, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:5–7, NLT). The Holy Spirit implants God’s seed in every true child of God, and that seed remains in him. That seed is the life of Christ growing in us, causing our new nature to develop into the image of our Savior (see Romans 8:29; Colossians 3:9–10). Through this process, sin begins to lose its power in our lives (Romans 6:6).

John is not denying that born-again children of God sin. In other sections of his letter, he acknowledges that Christians do indeed sin (1 John 1:8–2:1; 1 John 5:16–17). Instead, John means that true believers will not continue in a lifestyle of willful sin. This understanding is evident in other Bible translations: “But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God” (1 John 3:8–9, NLT; see also ESV).

By saying, His seed remains in him, John points out that the believer’s new spiritual life originates from God and depends on Him. Because it flows from Him, it produces pure, holy, and sinless fruit. Yet, at the same time, we continue to carry around our old, unredeemed nature—the flesh—which is still corrupted by sin. The apostle Paul elaborates on this concept and our struggle with sin in Romans 7:13–25. Even though the Spirit plants the new life of Christ in us in seed form, we still grapple with temptation and sin in this life.

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” declares Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:57. When Jesus Christ returns, the flesh will be eliminated, and Christ’s seed will be fully formed in us (1 Corinthians 15:42–44, 50–54, 2 Corinthians 5:1–4; 1 John 3:2, Philippians 3:20–21). At last, we will be free from sin.

The presence of God’s life in us calls us to ongoing growth and to live according to His will. When we fall short of the mark, we should confess our sins and continually repent (1 John 1:9). Therefore, we feed and water His seed that remains in us, seeking to live by the Spirit’s power and letting Him guide our lives so that we do not pursue the passions of our sinful nature (Romans 8:5–6; Galatians 5:16–17).

His seed remains in him means that a lifestyle of habitual sin is incompatible with the child of God’s new identity and nature. If we find ourselves enjoying deliberate sin without the Holy Spirit’s conviction and without discipline and correction from God, we would be wise to examine ourselves to see whether our faith is genuine (2 Corinthians 13:5). We must ask, “Have I truly been born into God’s family?”