new life in Jesus, break the pattern that Satan’s work imposes on humanity. How wonderfully the pattern is being unraveled, for “no one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God” (3:9). The OT occurrences of “destruction” use the word in its straightforward sense. But we must be careful when interpreting NT passages that contain the word “destroy” or “destruction.” Our English word can carry many shades of