Do Christians Have Power Over Sin?

[DevotiontoBible]

1 Cor 15:56-5756 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Holo is contradicting my statement, where I said Rom 6 tells us to resist sinning, by saying our action of resistance is a commandment of the law that gives sin it's power. That verse you quote is not telling us that when, by our own will and effort, we resist sinning then sin gets power. You and Holo are directly contradicting Romans 6:12-13 (NLT)
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. [13] Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Sin is a fire, and the law is gasoline:

Romans 7:8
But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.

Romans 7:9
Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

Romans 7:5
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Romans 6:14
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

1 Corinthians 15:56
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

None of those say resisting sin is a commandment of the law.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Yes, and the only way to escape "this body of death" is to turn to Christ and HIS power and HIS victory and HIS righteousness.

We're not supposed to struggle any more than Adam and Eve struggled before they fell!

A true Christian will struggle against sin:

Hebrews 12:4 (NLT)
After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

Romans 6:12-13 (NLT)
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. [13] Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Yes, and those weren't many requirements...

And they were directed at a praticular group, by the way, not to be taken as eternal commandments from God to all believers everywhere. Even when almost forced to, they kept the requirements and commandments to an absolute minimum. Because we're not supposed to live according to commandments, but according to the Spirit

The Holy Spirit said it is a burden for them to abstain from sexual immorality, idolatry, murder and eating blood. Just like it is for any real Christian today.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

No, that's not what I said, and I think you know that.

I don't deny the existance of sin, but why should I be preoccupied with sin at all? I can live like sin doesn't exist, just like Peter could live like gravity didn't exist. He conquered gravity as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus.

You can't simply pretend that sin doesn't exist. But when you start looking on Christ, you will have no interest in sin whatsoever, and you will start to think and behave as if sin isn't even an option. And it will have NOTHING to do with you, much less your self-discipline and abilities, but it will have EVERYTHING to do with Christ.

Paul did not say sins desires disappear. He said we have to not let them have control. That is a call to action on our part.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

The feeling doesn't come from the devil. The accusation comes from the devil, the feeling is just your emotional response to it.

That is not in the Bible you are making that up. The Bible says God enlightens mans conscience, not the devil, accuses them:Romans 2:14-15 (NLT)
Even when Gentiles, who do not have God's written law, instinctively follow what the law says, they show that in their hearts they know right from wrong. [15] They demonstrate that God's law is written within them, for their own consciences either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right.

 

[Heartland]

Holo is contradicting my statement, where I said Rom 6 tells us to resist sinning, by saying our action of resistance is a commandment of the law that gives sin it's power. That verse you quote is not telling us that when, by our own will and effort, we resist sinning then sin gets power. You and Holo are directly contradicting Romans 6:12-13 (NLT)
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. [13] Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.

All I can say is good luck with that. However, I would recommend reading Romans over and over until the message finally sinks in. It is an astounding treatese on the Grace of God.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

All I can say is good luck with that. However, I would recommend reading Romans over and over until the message finally sinks in. It is an astounding treatese on the Grace of God.

Why don't you step up to the plate and show me where I am wrong in Romans?

 

[Heartland]

Why don't you step up to the plate and show me where I am wrong in Romans?

Because I would have to post the entire chapter. You are pulling two verses out of the chapter and trying to make them say the exact opposite of what the chapter says, and I am trying to withdraw from this part of the discussion rather than getting percnikity myself. (is that a real word? If it is, there is no way in the world I spelled it right!...LOL)

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Because I would have to post the entire chapter. You are pulling two verses out of the chapter and trying to make them say the exact opposite of what the chapter says, and I am trying to withdraw from this part of the discussion rather than getting percnikity myself. (is that a real word? If it is, there is no way in the world I spelled it right!...LOL)

Why don't you try and show me how those verses are the opposite of what I am saying OK? show me that those verses are saying Romans 6:12-13 Do let sin control the way you live; do give in to its lustful desires. Let any part of your body become a tool of wickeness, to be used for sinning...

 

[dkbwarrior]

I had to memorize the book of Romans and meditate on it for over a year to really start getting a grip on this. Luckily I had that opportunity because I was sitting in the hole in prison for that entire year. I had nothing else to do but memorize and meditate.

I'm not going to quote a bunch of verses out of the book, because I don't want to argue over the definition of every word.

Let me just summarize.

There are two groups of poeple in the world today, those that are under the law, (ie. the unsaved) and those that are under grace (ie. the saved). Trying to obey the law does not work. If it did, Jesus would not have had to die for our sins.

The law works by telling us what is wrong. Sin gets its strength from the law and tempts us. We are drawn away by our lust and enticed, and sin through fear/condemnation brings forth death, that is, kills us. Satan is the father of sin, and satan is the accuser of the brethren and satan has the power of death.

The way to overcome sin is by faith. Fighting the good fight of faith. We do not fight against our flesh. That is putting ourselves back under the law. We do not fight against flesh and blood, our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

We cannot overcome sin by willpower. I am 42 years old and can attest to that. That doesn't mean that we should not resist sin. But we do not get victory except through faith. This battle happens first by renewing our minds (exchanging our moment to moment thoughts for the Word of God) our confession, (what we let come out of our mouths), and our actions, (walking in love).

Peace...

 

[simpleone]

Yeah, kinda.

So I want to know, if christians have been given power over sin, why aren't christians sinless? No one yet has answered this question, though I have asked it many different times in many different threads.

So I thought that I would start a thread on just this one question.

Peace...

maybe because we don't even realize all of our sins ....something which the HS convicts us of as we listen to him and yield to him...

we think we know sin in our lives but i don't believe we know all of it...its work in progress all the time...

 

[DevotiontoBible]

We cannot overcome sin by willpower..

Our will is the highest gift of our spirit. This is where we are most like God. Every Christian must have definite "I will's" and some equally definite 'I will not's". God promises help and power to support our decisions. God will not do for us what we must do. The use of the present active verb is in the imperative, meaning it is something we must do by a decision of our will to do it. It is reasonable to infer this action as Romans 6:12-13 (NLT)
[I will] not let sin control the way live; [I will] not give in to its lustful desires. [13] [I will] not let any part of [my] body become a tool of wickedness, ...

 

[DevotiontoBible]

We do not fight against our flesh. That is putting ourselves back under the law. We do not fight against flesh and blood, our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

.

Being under the law means sin has dominion over you. Being under the law does not mean resisting sinful urges of the flesh:

Romans 6:14 (KJV)
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

The verse you are quoting is Paul referring to false teachers that were speaking smack about Paul. It is not about overcoming sinful urges.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Trying to obey the law does not work. ...

The Bible does not say obeying the law does not work. It say's a person can't be made right with God by obeying the law without faith in Christ. We all must obey laws... didn't you learn that when you were in the hole?

 

[JimfromOhio]

I had to memorize the book of Romans and meditate on it for over a year to really start getting a grip on this. Luckily I had that opportunity because I was sitting in the hole in prison for that entire year. I had nothing else to do but memorize and meditate.

I'm not going to quote a bunch of verses out of the book, because I don't want to argue over the definition of every word.

Let me just summarize.

There are two groups of poeple in the world today, those that are under the law, (ie. the unsaved) and those that are under grace (ie. the saved). Trying to obey the law does not work. If it did, Jesus would not have had to die for our sins.

The law works by telling us what is wrong. Sin gets its strength from the law and tempts us. We are drawn away by our lust and enticed, and sin through fear/condemnation brings forth death, that is, kills us. Satan is the father of sin, and satan is the accuser of the brethren and satan has the power of death.

The way to overcome sin is by faith. Fighting the good fight of faith. We do not fight against our flesh. That is putting ourselves back under the law. We do not fight against flesh and blood, our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

We cannot overcome sin by willpower. I am 42 years old and can attest to that. That doesn't mean that we should not resist sin. But we do not get victory except through faith. This battle happens first by renewing our minds (exchanging our moment to moment thoughts for the Word of God) our confession, (what we let come out of our mouths), and our actions, (walking in love).

Peace...

Grace of God will enable us to overcome temptations of sins. It is false to think that by "faith, I've accomplished by overcome temptations of sins”. God is saying "You should not have self-confidence and trust in yourself in the sense you believe you're capable of anything eternal that only I can provide grace and power." Only God can overcome situation as long as you trust in His GRACE. The question here is, when God given you the grace to handle the temptations, did you allowed Him? That's the issue. Flesh-filled means "If we do not yield and honor the Holy Spirit, our lives will not show forth the blessed fruits of the Spirit!" Biblically, as a Christian, I should be submitted to, be modified and be conditioned by the Holy Spirit. If I yield under the world's pressure, this tells me that I am are too weak spiritually to resist. Can we trust the Holy Spirit to convict of sin? If He doesn't do it, it doesn't get done despite all our own efforts.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Sin gets its strength from the law

Paul is referring to an unregenerated person in Romans here. This is one who is under the law which means dominated by sin as his master not a person under grace.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

But we do not get victory except through faith. This battle happens first by renewing our minds (exchanging our moment to moment thoughts for the Word of God) our confession, (what we let come out of our mouths), and our actions, (walking in love).

Peace...

That is not what Paul says. He says "Do not let sin..." That means sin is going to try and get us to do something with our body and we, by an act of our will, must refuse to let it. Romans 6:12-13 (NLT)
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires. [13] Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.

 

[Deba]

Todays (8th) reading in My Utmost for His Highest addressed this very question.
Summarized: Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. Jesus dealt with sin in Redemption. It comes down to a series of moral choices when we enter into sanctification. God does not intend this to be easy.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Todays (8th) reading in My Utmost for His Highest addressed this very question.
Summarized: Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. Jesus dealt with sin in Redemption. It comes down to a series of moral choices when we enter into sanctification. God does not intend this to be easy.

I like Oswald Chambers. He pinpoints in that statement the false teaching of the modern day faith movement (even though he wrote it many years before) that says God has removed the sinful nature out of a person when they become born again and they can just pretend sin doesn't exist anymore.