Do Christian Believers Sin?

[Phil112]

......................So, if you believe that you are still a sinner, as far as John is concerned, you are still thinking like a child of the devil, and not as a child of God. You cannot be born of God and still be a sinner. It is a matter of whether you choose to believe your logical mind which is grounded in the world and the five senses, or whether you believe the Scripture. .....................,

I agree with this. Christ said "Go and sin no more", and "sin no more lest a worse thing come unto you".
Christ never told us to do something that was impossible for us to do. You can't sin accidentally. It is a choice. So why not choose to not sin?

 

[Leslie B]

I dealt with this point in my other thread on this topic. John is talking to those who are thinking about coming to Christ. To embrace Christ fully they must know that they are guilty sinners needing forgiveness and cleansing by the grace of God. Evangelism 101. Born again believers don't have the sin any longer. It belongs to Jesus. He paid the full price for it. If you still have sin, it is because you have stolen what belongs to him and He will come and demand it back.

If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ.

In James he says "Confesss your SINS to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed".

If we will walk according to the Spirit we wont obey the desires of the flesh and sin.

 

[Catherineanne]

As some of you have been painfully aware, I have been quite adamant on the subject of sin in a believer. On the way home from work on the train, I got to thinking about this passage in 1 John.


…8the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

So, we see in verse 8, it says that the one who practices sin is of the devil. That's pretty straight talking from John. I have been saying that genuine believers do not sin, and some have argued with me saying that believers do sin. But John here is saying that those who sin are of the devil!

John goes on in verse 9 to say that no-one who is born of God practices sin, and that he cannot sin, because he is born of God. He says this is the difference between children of God and the children of the devil. So, it seems that those who say believers sin and yet are children of God are being contradictory, because John is saying that those who sin cannot be children of God, but are children of the devil!

This brings a real problem for us, because if we say we do not sin, we seem not to be accepting the reality which our logical mind tells us about ourselves. And the Scripture says that if we say we have no sin we are deceive ourselves and are not of the truth. Now that is contradicting verse 9 because it says quite clearly that those who are born of God do not sin. How we we reconcile that?

And yet, if we say we do sin, then we are admitting that we are not really children of God but children of the devil, because John is saying that those who sin are children of the devil. But our logical minds tells us that we do sin, and yet we have the assurance that we are children of God and not of the devil, so how are we going to reconcile that?

The question we have to ask ourselves is, which part of us does the sinning, and does God take any notice of it if He views us as His children?

It comes right down to this: Do we believe our logical minds or do we believe the Scripture? If we say we are born of God and then say that we still sin, then we must be telling the truth on one side and lying on the other, because both cannot be true at the same time. It is the same as saying that black is white!

My view is this. Jesus died on the cross for our sin. It was all laid on Him. In return, we became totally new creatures, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. God does not take notice of our sins because He refuses to see them. The righteousness of Christ is blocking his sight of them. He said, "Come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow". In fact, our sins have become so transparent, they have become invisible. He also said that our sins are buried in the deepest sea of God's forgetfulness. So as far as God is concerned, we do not sin, because even if we think we do from our standards, they are so invisible to God that He does not even see them. This is why John can say that those who are born of God do not sin.

So, if you believe that you are still a sinner, as far as John is concerned, you are still thinking like a child of the devil, and not as a child of God. You cannot be born of God and still be a sinner. It is a matter of whether you choose to believe your logical mind which is grounded in the world and the five senses, or whether you believe the Scripture. The Scripture says that you do not sin if you are a child of God. What God expects is that you receive that by faith.

If you cannot believe the Scripture as spoken by John, then you are not yet perfect in faith. If you cannot believe the Scripture on this basic point of whether you are a new creation in Christ or a sinner, then how can you believe the Scripture in any other area? If you cannot believe the Scripture but rather trust in your logical mind, in some things, and you say you believe the Scripture in others things, then you are, as James says, double minded, and you can't expect to receive anything from the Lord.

This is why many of our churches have not risen about being mere powerless religious organisations. All they have is empty, pious, religious words, but no power to back them up. Why should God back people up who refuse to believe what He tells them, and refuses to do what He commands? That's what Abraham said to the Rich man, "If they won't believe Moses and the Prophets [ie: the Scriptures], then they won't believe even if someone rose from the dead coming to tell them."

And if you won't believe the Scriptures, then don't expect God to be involved with you in your religious meetings and activities, because He will only involve Himself with people of faith who believe what He says and follows His commands.,

This would seem to be Pelagianism.

Of all the heresies I find it the most attractive. But it is still heresy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagianism

 

[Frogster]

It's the already, but not yet of Paul. We have been raised up already into His kingdom, Col 1:13, we have been delivered out of this present evil age already Gal 1:4.

So when one sees flesh, one is seeing the old creation order, the past. We are in 2 places at the same time.

Paul said in Rom 7:17, and 7:20, it was NOT HIM who sinned, so he clearly knew it was the old, and he was not the old, but the new creation of 2 Cor 5:17.

 

[Truthfrees]

I want to bring up another interesting point to consider.

As Gentile believers we are in a different place as to what is identified as sin in us. In Acts, Paul identifies some false apostles who went to the Galatian churches demanding that believers be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved. Now the Law is summarised in the Ten Commandments. So Paul viewed those who taught that Gentile believers are required to keep the Ten Commandments as false. This shows that Paul did not require the Gentile believers in the Galatian churches to keep the Ten Commandments.

So there was a big argument about it, and Paul went to Jerusalem to confer with the Apostles there to sort things out. This resulted in the First Council of Jerusalem. They had quite a discussion about it and the conclusion according to James was, in Acts 15:20:

"We should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood."

So, the Ten Commandments for Gentile believers were replaced by four instructions. For Gentile believers to do any of these things it was considered a sin for them. But that was all. Gentile believers were totally free from any other rule that might be imposed on them. Of course the principle of love is the guiding principle for Christian conduct. I am not denying that at all. But for groups that compile a whole catalogue of things they consider sins and then require believers to abide by them is putting them in the position the same as Paul described as false apostles.

When it comes to if a believer sins or not, who is the judge? If the four requirements that are specified in Acts 15:20 qualified Gentile believers to be admitted in the fellowship of the Early Church, then no-one could add to those requirements, and no one has the right to put a believer out of fellowship for anything other than those four requirements. In a modern society most of our meat comes from the Freezing Works and is killed the proper way, so we don't eat meat from strangled animals. Because we, in the main, don't offer food to idols, we don't run into that problem either. But it is right to put a person out of fellowship for sexual immorality, but we need to be very careful about what we view as immorality. Many de facto relationships might not be the sexual immorality that the Jerusalem Apostles thought. They would have seen having sex with temple prostitutes as sexual immorality more than a couple living as man and wife even though they might not have been officially married by law. Eating black pudding (blood-based) might not be the same as was in the First Century, but the ritual drinking of blood might have been what the Apostles were talking about.,

So you see, deciding what is sin and what is not varies between cultures and church groups, so we can't make a blanket judgment of anyone who is a Gentile believer.

Actually, Paul gives a list of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5. If a person is exhibiting those attributes, then one can assume that he or she is in the flesh and not the Spirit. Romans 8:8 tells us that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It is not that He gets angry with us, but it means that He can't do much with us while we are in the flesh. Being in the flesh is trying to live according to the Law, allowing our sinful nature to rule us, instead of abiding in Christ and living by the faith of the Son of God who gave Himself for us.

I highlighted one sentence in your post. Are you saying we can murder, steal, bear false witness against our neighbors, dishonor our parents, and have other Gods? These are some of the 10 commandments.

Jesus said: " ”Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”" - Matthew 22:36-40

Are Jesus' words for Jews only and not Gentiles?

So Gentiles are instructed to obey the laws of our land and be good citizens (Romans 13:1), yet we throw away God's laws?

Aren't God's laws, ways, thoughts much higher than man's? Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalms 19:7

 

[ToBeLoved]

The problem is that the Church has taught the two-nature doctrine for a very long time, and most believers are so steeped in it that they can't see anything different. The doctrine tells us that there are two opposing natures in us that fight for dominance. But the Scripture does not teach this. It teaches that the old nature is dead and buried, and so something that is dead and buried cannot oppose the new nature.

Also, the teaching of the Church has been corrupted by the pagan philosopher Plato who taught that there are two parts of us: the spiritual and the body. He teaches that the body is evil and will bring the spiritual down to its level if we allow it.

The other pagan philosopher who has corrupted the teaching of the Church is Aristotle, who taught that anything that does not agree with our logical mind is not real. It is his teaching that turned the Church away from the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.

This means that because our logical mind tells us that we are still sinning, in spite of the new nature which is born of God causes God to view us as not sinning, we don't believe any of the Scriptures that point to it, such as 1 John 3:9. Many of us ignore that verse because we don't understand it. It is illogical to us. This is why there is a sin/righteousness debate on this thread.

Our old nature is one that practices sin without conviction of the Holy Spirit. Our old nature lives it's life for self, not in or with a spiritual sense in that this earth is not our home, but heaven is.

That is the old nature that dies.

Everything that you tie to either our new nature in Christ or our old nature with love of self and pleasure of the things of this world, is tied to sin in your eyes.

However, our new natures our tied to our hearts, our desire, what we do is as important to God as why we do it. So much of scripture talks about the heart and what motivates a person.

This whole sin thing is VERY overrated. Sin starts in our hearts and desire before sin is manifested in our life. Let's go deeper than sin.

Oscar says that, QUOTE "The sad part about that is that they did not know that their sinfulness was never an issue with God, and all they had to do was to establish their faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross." END QUOTE

If what you say in bold above is true, than why did Paul write the Epistles to the churches? If their sin didn't matter, they were saved right? So what was the point of the Epistles at all in your view?

Using your viewpoints, one could say that Paul was in error even bringing their sin to their knowledge.

If sinfulness is not a problem that why does Jesus tell us that we need to be attached to the vine and that we are the branches?

smh.

P.S. The bible teaches that there are two parts of us, the spiritual (mind) and the body. See Paul's epistles.

 

[AbbaLove]

Aren't God's laws, ways, thoughts much higher than man's? Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalms 19:7

The following verse implies that it is only possible to keep "His commandments" (Jew or Gentile) when we abide in Him and He in us, "by the Spirit whom He has given us."
1 John 3:24
The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

That is what's so wonderful about the New Covenant (Good News) that it's now possible to have the mind of Christ by the Spirit whom He has given us. If we indeed have the mind of Christ wouldn't it be impossible for us to go on sinning? In affect are we not keeping His commandments when we abide in Him and He in us.

John 5:14
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’
John 8:11
She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

 

[fatherjimparker]

So, if you believe that you are still a sinner, as far as John is concerned, you are still thinking like a child of the devil, and not as a child of God. You cannot be born of God and still be a sinner.....

If you cannot believe the Scripture as spoken by John, then you are not yet perfect in faith.

John also said: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1Jo 1:8-10)

To get the whole truth, you have to read the whole book.

 

[Gideons300]

John also said: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1Jo 1:8-10)

To get the whole truth, you have to read the whole book.

I think that besides Romans 7, there is no verse satan has used to keep us from the truth than what he has accomplished the misunderstanding of the above verse in 1 John. We have interpreted that as tantamount to saying that overcoming sin is a pipe dream at best, and the natural result? We stop trying to overcome, since it is impossible anyway. Well played, satan.

Read in the proper context, John is simply saying that if we deny we have a need for a savior, as if we have no sin that needs forgiveness, we lie. BUT, praise God, if we bow the knee fully and let Him have His rightful place as both savior AND Lord, He not only forgives, He cleanses. Washes. Makes us brand new creatures, with new hearts, new desires. Yes, we are housed in fleshly bodies, tents so to speak as Paul calls them, but two natures? Nope. Paul is clear and Oscar is quite correct here. We do not have two natures. In Romans 8, Paul emphatically tells us that we who are His are no longer in the flesh and owe it nothing. Yes, we are housed in fleshly bodies but our core nature is changed from flesh to spirit, children of the devil to children of the living God. Jesus is clear as well. You cannot serve two masters. A tree cannot bear both good and bad fruit. A spring cannot bring forth fresh and salty water. Then He gives us counsel, something we must DO, despite what modern theologians tell us. We must make our tree good.

How is this to be accomplished? By a radical act of faith, as we reckon the old us, the sinful one, the self ruling one, the pridefully religious one.... as DEAD. It is great that we agree in theory that we are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God. It is great to say we believe it is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us. But without the step of appropriating that new nature Christ has given us all as OURS, it profits us nothing in terms of being empowered to walk as living sacrifices, or to actually find the power to overcome the sins in our lives that so easily have beset us in the past.

Until we are desperate enough to cry out to him to breathe on our faith so that we might believe it is true for US, right now...today... NOW faith...and use that truth as a weapon of war to resist satan when he next comes tempting us to disobey or sin, we will continue to have a religion that promises much, that sounds great, but as to actual power to resist the enemy so he will flee from us? Forget it.

But a new day is dawning. We are being awakened to the truth that we ARE light, and that only by our believing this, accepting it as truth, will we finally see the doors unlock to the FREE INDEED Christ promised us.

How can we be light and yet still be foundwalk in darkness, as if we are still the old nature as well, and that the black dog and white dog are still fighting, and will continue to till the day we die? It is easy. Unbelief opens the door for satan to whisper to us, and as the scriptures tell us, without faith in our agreeing with God, we will continue to walk with God as two separate entities, not as one. Abiding becomes impossible for:

"It did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."

God is not asking us to work at being holy, but let us make no mistake. Holiness is our calling. Purity of heart is His will for us. He is asking us to agree with Him that our old man cannot ever be "good", but how hard that is for us to truly agree. But when we finally accept that, and cry out like Paul did in Romans 7 to be delivered from the grip of our old man, to our amazement, God will do just that.

The bones are moving. Live, bones, live.

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[ToBeLoved]

fatherjimparker said: ↑
John also said: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1Jo 1:8-10)

To get the whole truth, you have to read the whole book.

I think that besides Romans 7, there is no verse satan has used to keep us from the truth than what he has accomplished the misunderstanding of the above verse in 1 John. We have interpreted that as tantamount to saying that overcoming sin is a pipe dream at best, and the natural result? We stop trying to overcome, since it is impossible anyway. Well played, satan.

I think there are at least two types of Christians that read that two different ways (note: I said at least)

Person #1
Gretta loves the Lord with all her heart. What He wants is what she wants, and she knows that He wants the lost and for her to be a bright light for Him when people see how she conducts her life, that they will want what she has. Because Gretta always wants to do the Lord''s work, when she occasionally falls into sin, she repents. Takes it before her Savior and turns away from that ugly, ugly sin. She knows that after she confesses it, it is cast as far as the east is from the west, Gretta doesn't mind not being perfect, because she's too busy doing the Lord's work. Gretta only cares about what her God thinks and He knows her heart.

Person #2
Herman likes to fit in and do everything the best. Herman does not like when he is seen at his worst. When people see him at his worst, they are not seeing how Christian he is and how normally he produces bushel baskets of fruit that he donates to the church on Sunday. George hates that verse written above because it conflicts with one that he thinks says that he is holy. Now Norman does not look his best, now Norman wants to stay home.

 

[AbbaLove]

I think there are at least two types of Christians that read that two different ways (note: I said at least)

Person #1
Gretta loves the Lord with all her heart. What He wants is what she wants, and she knows that He wants the lost and for her to be a bright light for Him when people see how she conducts her life, that they will want what she has. Because Gretta always wants to do the Lord''s work, when she occasionally falls into sin, she repents. Takes it before her Savior and turns away from that ugly, ugly sin. She knows that after she confesses it, it is cast as far as the east is from the west, Gretta doesn't mind not being perfect, because she's too busy doing the Lord's work. Gretta only cares about what her God thinks and He knows her heart.

Person #2
Herman likes to fit in and do everything the best. Herman does not like when he is seen at his worst. When people see him at his worst, they are not seeing how Christian he is and how normally he produces bushel baskets of fruit that he donates to the church on Sunday. George hates that verse written above because it conflicts with one that he thinks says that he is holy. Now Norman does not look his best, now Norman wants to stay home.

So, in answer to Oscar's question, Do Christian Believer's Sin? your answer (according to your two examples) is Yes. Otherwise, why would a Christian Believer say that our "past, present and future sins are forgiven" or does this saying apply to another type of Christian Believer that we'll refer to as Person #3 ?

I recently heard Andrew Wommack make this statement that Christian Believers "past, present and future sins are forgiven" implying that holiness is not possible unless sins have been forgiven.

 

[fatherjimparker]

I think that besides Romans 7, there is no verse satan has used to keep us from the truth than what he has accomplished the misunderstanding of the above verse in 1 John. We have interpreted that as tantamount to saying that overcoming sin is a pipe dream at best, and the natural result? We stop trying to overcome, since it is impossible anyway. Well played, satan.

I think that anyone who thinks that they lead a sinless life is delusional.

 

[Gideons300]

I think that anyone who thinks that they lead a sinless life is delusional.

And if anyone thought they could stop sinning by putting forth more effort, I would agree with you. They are delusional. BUT, that is not the gospel, nor does it take into account the power of God in us, causing us to walk in full obedience.

May I ask a few simple questions? Has God promised us that He will not allow us to be tempted above our ability to resist and assured us that in every single temptation, He will make a way of escape so that we will not give into it? Has He not equipped us with shields of faith that are to quench ALL the fiery arrows of the enemy?

The very promise of God in Ezekiel 36 regarding the new covenant was that not only would He forgive us, He would also cleanse us, give us new hearts, and yes... CAUSE US.... to obey Him.

God is opening our eyes to the second half of the gospel.... a grace that teaches us HOW to walk in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.... HOW to possess our vessels in sanctification and honor.... HOW to walk as living sacrifices... HOW to walk as children of light.

And what is that HOW? Believe that we ARE children of light...spirit children housed temporarily in fleshly bodies, but with the full ability to keep our bodies under, to walk as overcomers who have learned the secret of combining the blood of the lamb with the words of OUR testimony.

Here is what our God has told us is fact.

We are NOT in the flesh and owe it NOTHING.

When we are hungry enough to cry out to God as Paul did in Romans 7 that we are tired of our failure, our disobedience, our lack of fruits, Jesus WILL answer us, to our shock and sheer joy. When we long to walk in the FREE INDEED that Jesus clearly promised, kept by the power of God through faith, delivered from the power of darkness by faith as well, and refuse to take no for an answer, we will find that the unbelief that has blinded us for so long will be replaced with a faith that is mind blowingly real.

To not long for such a walk where we can please God with our every choice...that is delusional, dear brother. God is about to plant a hunger in us that defies explanation, other than it is the hand of God restoring to us what the cankerworm has eaten. We, the bride of Christ, are about to be made without spot or wrinkle, and it will be glorious.

Be blessed,

Gids

 

[fatherjimparker]

And if anyone thought they could stop sinning by putting forth more effort, I would agree with you. They are delusional. BUT, that is not the gospel, nor does it take into account the power of God in us, causing us to walk in full obedience.

No one, save Jesus, has ever walked in full obedience.

 

[ToBeLoved]

No one, save Jesus, has ever walked in full obedience.

I completely agree with you.

Ask them how many types of sin there are? They talk about concious sin and unconcious sin, like there is a difference.

We know from the Word that God is holy. Holy is without sin and that to do something against or not within the righteousness of God is sin, but you'll get a lot of runaround, around here. The Word simply defines sin, but to those who 'do not sin' per se, they must figure something out to keep them from sin, which I guess re-defines the word 'sin' from the way God defined it.

smh.

 

[Gideons300]

No one, save Jesus, has ever walked in full obedience.

Agree absolutely. Now, when we grab hold of Galatians 2:20 and believe it, where we really are new creatures, Christ IN us causing, us leading, us, changing us, keeping us, we can look back on what we could never do and see what Christ IN US can do when we fully surrender and fully believe.

If what you say is true, that walking as living sacrifices is truly impossible, that the traitor who is our old man can hound us and hold us back until Jesus comes, that we will never be able to stare a bound addict in the face and tell him that Jesus can set him free indeed, then Jesus has lied to us, or he Himself is delusional for telling us He can and will keep us from falling.

I can fully understand if anyone does not yet see how our true overcoming of the world, the flesh and the devil is possible, I can certainly accept that. After all, what preacher is sharing this truth? What one is walking in it? Our own efforts at trying to defeat sin have given us all a strong does of reality of the weakness of our flesh. But what I cannot seem to understand is the lack of desire for victory over sin and self rule. Why are we not on our knees, pleasing with God to keep us from evil, as He Himself taught us to pray.

Now, the real question is, when we do pray "Deliver us from evil" ..... do we believe He will?

Blessings,

Gids

 

[Gideons300]

I completely agree with you.

Ask them how many types of sin there are? They talk about concious sin and unconcious sin, like there is a difference.

We know from the Word that God is holy. Holy is without sin and that to do something against or not within the righteousness of God is sin, but you'll get a lot of runaround, around here. The Word simply defines sin, but to those who 'do not sin' per se, they must figure something out to keep them from sin, which I guess re-defines the word 'sin' from the way God defined it.

smh.

I think the problem lies in what we think sin is. God tells us that for new covenant believers, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. I am not talking about character transformation. When God makes us holy and pure and new, it is at our core, our heart, our actual nature itself. Remember, unlike the Pharisees who try to clean from the outside in, God does so from the inside out.

But can God free us from willful disobedience, or holding back surrendering all of who we are to His hand so that He can then change us? We are not old natured men and women any more. Sin's dominion over us has been broken. What good is armor if the traitor still lives inside us? What good are forty foot walls of stone to keep the enemy out if the gate is manned by someone who occasionally "does his own thing" regardless of what God wants for us? No good. None at all.

But praise God, we do have a savior from the power of darkness, we have a deliverer from the old man we once were, and all he asks of us is to fully yield and to fully believe His promises. Will we? Are we hungry enough? Do we truly HATE our old nature that dishonors and defies the Lord, choosing our will over His. That is what is keeping our eyes closed and our minds shut up from seeing what God has for us, but oh, boy, when we do finally see, we are going to be blown away.

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[ToBeLoved]

I think the problem lies in what we think sin is. God tells us that for new covenant believers, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. I am not talking about character transformation. When God makes us holy and pure and new, it is at our core, our heart, our actual nature itself. Remember, unlike the Pharisees who try to clean from the outside in, God does so from the inside out.

But can God free us from willful disobedience, or holding back surrendering all of who we are to His hand so that He can then change us? We are not old natured men and women any more. Sin's dominion over us has been broken. What good is armor if the traitor still lives inside us? What good are forty foot walls of stone to keep the enemy out if the gate is manned by someone who occasionally "does his own thing" regardless of what God wants for us? No good. None at all.

But praise God, we do have a savior from the power of darkness, we have a deliverer from the old man we once were, and all he asks of us is to fully yield and to fully believe His promises. Will we? Are we hungry enough? Do we truly HATE our old nature that dishonors and defies the Lord, choosing our will over His. That is what is keeping our eyes closed and our minds shut up from seeing what God has for us, but oh, boy, when we do finally see, we are going to be blown away.

Blessings,

Gideon

I think that you do not understand the word 'sin' without mixing it with a bunch of other theology. Sin is not really that hard to understand. If you would just look for a good understanding of the word without mixing a bunch of other things with it, it would be much easier to prove a point.

Also, I don't think it's whatever is not faith is sin. It may be a sin to not have faith.

One really needs to learn who God is by reading the bible.

 

[Gideons300]

I think that you do not understand the word 'sin' without mixing it with a bunch of other theology. Sin is not really that hard to understand. If you would just look for a good understanding of the word without mixing a bunch of other things with it, it would be much easier to prove a point.

LOL, I just shared what our Bibles tell us sin is. I sorta figured that was good enough. So, back to the discussion, do you believe God can and will keep us from knowingly disobeying?

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[ToBeLoved]

LOL, I just shared what our Bibles tell us sin is. I sorta figured that was good enough. So, back to the discussion, do you believe God can and will keep us from knowingly disobeying?

Blessings,

Gideon

I believe that God, through the Holy Spirit will many times bring to our hearts and minds that if we were to do something than that would be a sin. It is at that point where each person has a choice. To heed the Holy Spirit or to not.