“See, you have become well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse does not happen to you.”

(John 5:14)

Jesus said these words to a former lame man whom he just had healed. We can learn two deep truths from his simple statement. First: “Sickness can be a direct result of sin” (though “each sickness is not necessarily a result of a specific sin”). (The Watchtower, October 15, 1981, page 5; August 15, 1982, page 31) Second: It is possible to sin no more. If the man would have been fated to sin, Jesus would not have instructed him to “not sin anymore.” But obviously Jesus expected that the healed man would heed his previous command: “You must … be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Thus true Christians are perfect, as perfect as God. They can easily stop sinning. Only because of this they have “the prospect of living forever,” because “the person who sins will die.” – Awake!, October 8, 1988, page 25; Ezekiel 18:4, GWT.