If we are disgusted by our sin is that proof that we're living in sin? It's proof that we're regenerated and that the Holy Spirit is living within us. But does this get nullified by living in sin?
Because last I checked the Bible contains multiple warnings against sinning and last I checked? I sin. A lot. Several times a day probably. How am I supposed to confess all that sin and confess sins I don't even remember?
Just...what is living in sin and how do I avoid it? I know regeneration is a sign you're among the elect and I should trust in christ death for all my sins but... the Bible scares the pants off me.
If you're breathing then you're living in sin.
That's why we are called to confess our sins, called to repentance. We are called to repentance and faith. Repenting of our sin, and believing in the Gospel.
There are no winners in Jesus' Church, only losers whom God graciously has adopted as His own beloved children; to whom He grants the winning victory of Jesus Christ by His grace alone, so that we have received the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ as pure gift, as grace. And thus we are justified freely by God's grace, through faith, on Christ's account alone, apart from our works, apart from all our efforts to be holy and in accordance with God's commandments.
So, of course you are a sinner. Of course you are living in and with sin. The question isn't whether or not we are sinners (we are sinners, of course we are sinners). The question is whether or not we have received that new life from God which is in Christ, for us, by the power of the Spirit; a life which is given freely from God as grace, the life that is of faith. Faith which justifies, because this faith trusts upon, and clings to, Jesus; and Jesus' righteousness, His justice, is imputed to us.
Thus whoever is baptized, whoever has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that person belongs to God, their sins are forgiven, their guilt is washed away, and they have a free conscience before God on Christ's account.
We still struggle against the old man, that's why St. John tells us, "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). That is God's promise to us, to His Church, to believers. That forgiveness is always there, God forgives us, Jesus Christ died and rose again, we are baptized, we are forgiven and washed clean, born again. It is to us, believing Christians, that are called to confess our sins, not because by sinning somehow God forgets what He's already done; but because the Christian life is a life that is found in God's grace, in God's mercy, His forgiveness. Forgiveness is ours at every hour of every day. The Scriptures declare that God's mercies are new each morning, that God is renewing us day by day, that God's work which He began in us He is faithful to continue until the Last Day. That's God's promise to us.
And so the Christian life is a life lived cleaving to, hearing, and trusting in God's promises. Because there is no where else we can go to find the words of eternal life (John 6:68), it is only in Christ's word, Christ's promises, only in Christ. And God ever speaks His word to us, the word of the Gospel, the word of Christ, the word of His grace and mercy, His forgiveness, of our adoption as sons and daughters. And so we confess our sins and repent, not because we need to "start over", but because God calls us to repentance, that we might ever be reminded of His promises.
When I confess my sins, when I repent, it is true enough that I grieve over my sin. Even if I am not aware of this or that particular sin, I am still quite aware of my sin. Because I know me, I know that I haven't been loving every neighbor I meet the way I should be. I know that my thoughts have not all been good. I know my feelings have been fickle, I've gotten angry, I've felt bitterness at some point over the last week. The Law says I'm a sinner, it's the inescapable conclusion when I see what the high and good standard of God's justice is. I certainly am not turning the other cheek every time, I certainly am not loving my enemy, feeding him, giving him drink, going out of my way to perform acts of service toward those who have mistreated me, or who said some gaffe and I am irrationally annoyed or irritated by. So I confess I am a sinner--God alone knows just how incredible the volume of my many sins are--and I trust in God's promises.
I strive to do better, and sometimes I almost do. And then when I finally do something I ought, I become full of myself, my flesh arises to claim ownership of the good work, and thus through my flesh even the good I do turns rotten, condemning me in my sin. Therefore, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.
And it is in confessing our sins, in repentance, that we are honest with ourselves about what and who we are in our sin; and that makes the Gospel all the more sweet. It is that sweetness of the Gospel that says over wretched sinners like you and me, that God loves us, that Christ died for us, that all of our sins are washed away in the blood of the Lamb, that God's promises to us in His Word and Sacraments are true and efficacious. I'm forgiven, and so are you.
The forgiven sinner has nothing to boast of except the cross of Jesus Christ, God's mercy, and the great love with which He loves the world.
So, trust in Christ, because you are a great sinner.
-CryptoLutheran
