What does 1 John 3:5 mean?
Three important truths are noted in this verse. First, that Jesus appeared; earlier verses in 1 John specify that this was in a real, flesh-and-blood form. While false teachers may argue Jesus never came as a human, believers accept the coming of Jesus to this world, called the incarnation, as an essential part of the faith (John 1:1–14).Second, Jesus had a clear purpose for coming to this world. He did not come to merely make us better. His mission was to remove the power of sin from our lives. He did so by paying the price of our evil actions on the cross. Christ's sacrifice is the only one sufficient to pay the price for every sin, once and for all.
This is explained in John's third area of emphasis, that there is no sin whatsoever in Jesus. Hebrews 4:15 echoes this teaching, noting, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
