Question:
Dear Greg,
This
site is proving to be very helpful to me. Keep
up the good work.
Here
is THE question now that really baffles me: In the book of Romans, Paul seems to
say that if Christians sin, it is no longer you that do it, but the bad habit
that dwells in you. So do not worry, for there is no more condemnation for those
who are in Christ.
But
as we know, the Bible exhorts us that if we are really in Christ we do not
continue to sin (I’m confused).
Joe
Answer: Dear Joe,
The
key to your comment is the statement “…if we are really in Christ we do not
continue to sin.” That statement
is not biblically supportable. In fact, the Bible dogmatically says, “If we claim to be
without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).
The
issue is that we are pure and clean, having our sins forgiven.
God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us, even cling us saints.
That is a positional reality—that is, we are sinless before God.
But in proposition, we are still human, we are still flesh.
This is the dichotomy that Paul addresses in the famous chapter of Romans
7. While we are in the flesh we
will always sin, for we have sinful natures.
This does not mean that we will blatantly sin, nor does it imply that our
lives will be filled with more bad habits after we have been a Christian for
many years than they were when we first became a Christian, or before, for that
matter.
Some
Christians believe that Christians may actually become perfect in this life, in
the flesh. But those folks are in
the minority. Most Christians, and
churches, do not accept such a view. Such
a view leads to vain attempts to make oneself holy, with all kinds of
legalism—do’s and don’ts that the Bible does not teach.
We are saved by grace, and in his mercy God loves us even though we
remain in the flesh. It is in the
resurrection that our bodies are glorified, and when we will no longer be
subject to the flesh (see 1 Corinthians 15).
In
Christ,
Greg Albrecht