Living for the Spirit

Apr 28, 2012
322
5
✟15,477.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Referencing this:

How do you stop sinning

But if we choose to live by the Spirit then we cannot sin. We cannot have faith and sin at the same time. We can do both in our lives, but not at the same time. So how do we stop sinning. We simply do what God wants us to do, and at that precise moment, we will not sin. Lets face it, it is impossible to do nothing at all, and if we just simply abstain then we are still being lead by the sinful nature. But when we live by the Spirit we cannot sin, for if we did sin, we were not being lead by the spirit in the first place.

What does it really mean to live by the spirit. how does one achieve this? if my reference is truthful it clearly states we cannot stop sinning in action but we can in spirit? we will still do the acts of sinning but God doesn't see this as sin anymore if we live by the spirit?
 

drich0150

Regular Member
Mar 16, 2008
6,407
437
Florida
✟44,834.00
Country
United States
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
Referencing this:

How do you stop sinning

But if we choose to live by the Spirit then we cannot sin. We cannot have faith and sin at the same time. We can do both in our lives, but not at the same time. So how do we stop sinning. We simply do what God wants us to do, and at that precise moment, we will not sin. Lets face it, it is impossible to do nothing at all, and if we just simply abstain then we are still being lead by the sinful nature. But when we live by the Spirit we cannot sin, for if we did sin, we were not being lead by the spirit in the first place.

What does it really mean to live by the spirit. how does one achieve this? if my reference is truthful it clearly states we cannot stop sinning in action but we can in spirit? we will still do the acts of sinning but God doesn't see this as sin anymore if we live by the spirit?
:)
where is this taken from?
 
Upvote 0

drich0150

Regular Member
Mar 16, 2008
6,407
437
Florida
✟44,834.00
Country
United States
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
there is a link in the post.
click on the words

How do you stop sinning.
So the quote in question is not a bible quote at all, but a doctrine taken from a bunch of bible verses taken out of context, that just happen to be written in a biblical format to fool an unexpecting person into thinking this was a direct command from God/The bible???

Romans 7 (the whole chapter in context) seems to dispell the idea that we can live a sin free life. After all if Paul one of the ' Super Apstoles' could not live without sin then how are we expected to?
(to save a little time I will start in verse 7)
7 You might think I am saying that sin and the law are the same. That is not true. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin means. I would never have known it is wrong to want something that is not mine. But the law said, “You must not want what belongs to someone else.” [a] 8 And sin found a way to use that command and make me want all kinds of things that weren’t mine. So sin came to me because of the command. But without the law, sin has no power. 9 Before I knew the law, I was alive. But when I heard the law’s command, sin began to live, 10 and I died spiritually. The command was meant to bring life, but for me it brought death. 11 Sin found a way to fool me by using the command to make me die.
12 Now the law is holy, and the command is holy and right and good. 13 Does this mean that something that is good brought death to me? No, it was sin that used the good command to bring me death. This shows how terrible sin really is. It can use a good command to produce a result that shows sin at its very worst.
14 We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not. I am so human. Sin rules me as if I were its slave. 15 I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate. 16 And if I don’t want to do what I do, that means I agree that the law is good. 17 But I am not really the one doing the evil. It is sin living in me that does it. 18 Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is not spiritual. I want to do what is good, but I don’t do it. 19 I don’t do the good that I want to do. I do the evil that I don’t want to do. 20 So if I do what I don’t want to do, then I am not really the one doing it. It is the sin living in me that does it.
21 So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me. 22 In my mind I am happy with God’s law. 23 But I see another law working in my body. That law makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and that law makes me its prisoner. 24 What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? 25 I thank God for his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin.

The problem with sound bit theology is that if you take one verse from here and one verse from there, and make the bible say anything you want. That is why context is key. It is harder to bend the words of the Apostles to your own doctrine when one looks at entire chapters and books as their references. So be wary of 'theology' that has a one line/one verse quote, paired with a paragraph of 'explanation' then the doctrine moves on to a different book chapter and verse, takes one more line, and again has a massive explanation of how the two verses fit together. Even though the apostles did not originally write them in this way. Do you think the Apostles of Christ are so ill equipped that they need one of us to take apart what they have carefully written, chop it up into one line sound bits and pair it with ideas not consistent with the original context?

No of course not. That is why we must speak where the bible speaks and remain silent where scripture is silent.

In so far as leading a sin free life. According to Paul in the Book of Romans (The Whole Chapter is dedicated to this idea, no commentary needed!) It is not possible to live a sin free life. That is literally why Christ had to die for our sins.
 
Upvote 0

drich0150

Regular Member
Mar 16, 2008
6,407
437
Florida
✟44,834.00
Country
United States
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
thank you for your post.

I thank God for his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Obviously this comes up a lot. How does this relate to repentance if I may?
If this meaning romans 7 comes up alot why push the doctrine that says you can live a sin free life? Surly you understand a whole Chapter of one of the books of the NT superceeds a sound bite doctrine compiled from many single verses.

How does what relate to repentance? romans 7? Read the book of Romans from start to finish it will put everything/sin related in it's proper (contextual) perspective.
Romans 1 ERV - Greetings from Paul, a servant of - Bible Gateway

Don't let this specific translation put you off. you do not need thee's and thou's for you bible to be legit. remember even a ERV is far more accurate (and valuiable because you can understand what you have read) than ANY sound bite doctrine you can get from and church or figure repersenting said 'church.'
 
Upvote 0

talitha

Cultivate Honduras
Nov 5, 2004
8,356
993
59
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Visit site
✟22,601.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
Married
Because we (Christians) are still human and still in a process of being transformed into the image of Christ, we are not always living by the Spirit. When we are living by the Spirit, we cannot sin. When we are sinning, we cannot live by the Spirit. The two are mutually exclusive. Once we have been reconciled to God through Christ, we have the choice to live by the Spirit or to live by the flesh; we are not slaves to the flesh or to sin or to the devil. We can be free to walk into the destiny God has for us. All it takes is to trust and obey.
 
Upvote 0

drich0150

Regular Member
Mar 16, 2008
6,407
437
Florida
✟44,834.00
Country
United States
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
how does salvation through Jesus Christ relate to repentance? faith and repentance are required for salvation. maybe it doesn't have anything to do with Romans.

the Book of Romans is a exposition of Grace. With in the first 10 chapters this books Outlines and identifies sin, the old way of trying to earn righteousness and everything one needs to do to find this 'new' grace offered through Christ's sacerfice. This includes "how salvation through Jesus Christ relates to repentance." In a complete context, and not given to sound bite verses.
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums
Apr 28, 2012
322
5
✟15,477.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Because we (Christians) are still human and still in a process of being transformed into the image of Christ, we are not always living by the Spirit. When we are living by the Spirit, we cannot sin. When we are sinning, we cannot live by the Spirit. The two are mutually exclusive. Once we have been reconciled to God through Christ, we have the choice to live by the Spirit or to live by the flesh; we are not slaves to the flesh or to sin or to the devil. We can be free to walk into the destiny God has for us. All it takes is to trust and obey.

There is something I don't understand about this.

You say that the two are exclusive. You say that if we are sinning we are not living by the spirit. This implies that we will sin. If we have the choice to sin or not to sin as you wrote, why would we chose to sin and not be lead by the spirit?
 
Upvote 0
C

christseeker45

Guest
Because we (Christians) are still human and still in a process of being transformed into the image of Christ, we are not always living by the Spirit. When we are living by the Spirit, we cannot sin. When we are sinning, we cannot live by the Spirit. The two are mutually exclusive. Once we have been reconciled to God through Christ, we have the choice to live by the Spirit or to live by the flesh; we are not slaves to the flesh or to sin or to the devil. We can be free to walk into the destiny God has for us. All it takes is to trust and obey.

There is something I don't understand about this.

You say that the two are exclusive. You say that if we are sinning we are not living by the spirit. This implies that we will sin. If we have the choice to sin or not to sin as you wrote, why would we chose to sin and not be lead by the spirit?
Because sometimes we do not heed the leading of the Spirit and let the carnal man win.
 
Upvote 0

Emmy

Senior Veteran
Feb 15, 2004
10,199
939
✟50,995.00
Faith
Salvation Army
Dear canadianicon25. Living for the Spirit, while we are still in our flesh, seems impossible, but to live for Love/Agape, will help us to overcome Sinning, If we give it a chance. The strongest weapon we Christians have is Love, freely given and No tags attached. Jesus says it is possible, why else would He tell us that the first and great Commandment is: " Love God with all thy hearts, with all thy souls, and with all thy minds? Also: Love thy neighbour as thyself?" And Jesus states this fact: " On these two Commandments hang ALL the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus will give us His Love and Joy, and the Holy Spirit will empower us with His Love, also. ( Matthew 7, verses 7-8) Jesus told us " ask and ye shall receive," then we thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour.
( neighbour being all others, friends or Not friends) God will see our sincere efforts, and God will approve and bless us. God will also know, that we Love God: How? Because we are following God`s Commandments to love and care. We might stumble and forget at times, but we ask God to forgive us, and carry on loving and caring. We will get tired of being loving all the time, BUT we have God on our side, " we ask again and again, and God will give again and again, we are doing God`s Will, and God will keep blessing us.
Love is very catching, and many men and women will join us in sharing God`s Love with all His children/sons and daughters. God will not force us, and we will have to ask and receive with love and thanks. We will never know until we try and give our Heavenly Father a chance to be His loving representatives.
St.Paul told us in 1) Corinthians: chapter 13, verse 13:" Now abideth Faith,
Hope and Love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love."
I say this with love, canadianicon. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.
 
Upvote 0