Hello you and welcome.
How should you view yourself as a Christian?
As God does, right?
How should a Christian view themselves? -> Most in the world today, depending on the culture of Christianity you are around -> Many people will harp on sin. -> Sin, sin, sin. ->
Actually, the modern Church - in the West, anyway - has grown very reluctant to talk about sin directly. I can't remember the last time I heard from a modern preacher straight-up preaching about sin. So, I wonder about your remark that "many people will harp on sin - Sin, sin, sin."
Sin is an important topic; it occupies much of Scripture, actually. The consequences of sin are very dire and so regular warnings against sin are warranted. Now, this isn't to say sin ought to constantly occupy a primary spot in the believer's thinking. No one ever became more like Christ by staring at their sin. But it is a very foolish person who turns a blind eye to sin entirely.
So the topic of this is as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ what should you look at yourself as if you are redeemed by the redeemer who is the Author and finisher of your faith?
Well, the apostle Paul generally
first reminded his readers of their identity in Christ, their membership in God's family and what it meant, and
then he commanded them concerning right living and sin. The Christian's conduct, in Paul's mind, was always inextricably related to their spiritual position in Christ. He didn't write in his letters that such-and-such was right so just do it, or such-and-such is wrong so don't do it, but instead typically made righteousness the outflow of a believer being a "new creature in Christ." (
2 Corinthians 5:17) Paul's letter to the
Ephesians, for example, follows this dynamic very clearly. In fact, the letter begins with Paul carefully laying out in the first three chapters the basic truths of the Christian's life in Jesus. Only once this accomplished does he begin, in
chapter 4, to enjoin specific behaviours of the Ephesian Christians.
This, it seems to me, is the correct way to approach talking about the Christian life - and "sin which does so easily beset." (
Hebrews 12:1) Only in the context of the believer's identity in Christ should sin be discussed, not merely as a threat, but as
a profound incongruity with who a born-again person is. One can get a good sense of this approach in Paul's words at the beginning of
chapter 6 of Romans:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Paul here, in a rather incredulous tone, asks the Roman believers why, given their spiritual union with Christ, they are still living in sin. He doesn't merely wag his finger at their sin, castigating them for it, but indicates that their sin does not at all comport with the reality of who they are as people united with Christ. He doesn't
ignore the matter of sin but confronts it directly
in connection with the truths of the Christian's spiritual position in Jesus.
Do you continue to harp over your sin, and see yourself as a sinner all the time?
If you are a sinner all the time, it's necessary to acknowledge that this is so - and then do about it what Scripture directs. Harping, though, usually is the tactic of the moralist/legalist.
You as a Christian believer, should understand that Jesus Christ has forgiven your sins already. God showed loved for you first, the Lord Jesus Christ also showed love for you first.
A man who has built in his bathroom a new high-power, walk-in shower with multiple shower heads, but who never uses the shower, may
possess the shower but does not properly
benefit from it, the shower not being applied to cleaning the man's person, as it was intended to do. Likewise, the forgiveness we possess in Christ benefits us, practically, not at all until, by confession of our sin (
1 John 1:9), that forgiveness is applied to our sin, cleansing us from it. Until such time as a sinning believer confesses his sin to God, he cannot enjoy fellowship with Him. (
Psalms 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; 1 Peter 3:12) This is the story of the Prodigal Son. The son went off into a far country, and, though never ceasing to be his father's son, was unable to enjoy intimate communion with his father. Not until the son repented of his wickedness and returned home, confessing his wretchedness to his father, was fellowship with his father restored. So, too, with the believer who has, by their sin, halted, not their relationship with their Heavenly Father, but their fellowship with Him.
So, no believer ought to treat their sin lightly, or, worse, ignore it.
