1 John 3:9
1 John 3:99Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
("No one who has been born from God carries on in sin ... God's seed remains in such a one") is usually applied in Watchtower teaching to the 144,000 anointed. Because the "other sheep" are not considered to be born of God, the sin-breaking mechanism John describes (God's seed abiding) is not offered to them as a present indwelling. The practical effect is that the great crowd is taught to pursue conduct conformity through theocratic discipline rather than to rely on the indwelling seed.
This verse forms half of a tight dilemma when paired with : "everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God." If a Witness confesses that Jesus is the Christ — and the Watchtower teaches they do — then 5:1 says they have already been born from God. 3:9 then says the one born of God has God's seed abiding (menō, the same "abide" verb John uses for the Spirit's indwelling throughout John 14-15). The sin-breaking mechanism is an indwelling, not an influence from a distance. Either the Witness is born of God (and the two-tier system collapses), or the Watchtower's denial of new birth to the great crowd cuts them off from John's own mechanism for walking in holiness. There is no third option in the text. Hold this argument with pastoral care — the point is not to catch the JW out; the point is to invite them into the indwelling Christ John is promising. "Have I been born of God?" is one of the most important questions a believer can ask.