CAN WE BE FREE FROM SIN? DO WE HAVE A CHOICE?
Many, I would even go so far as saying most, believe that the Christian cannot stop sinning.
Of course there is always the desire of the flesh to deal with, but can the believer overcome those desires to walk by the new nature that has been placed on the inside?
I have found that the biggest threat to the believer is not the desires in the flesh that try to cause one to sin…but the lack of knowledge of what the Word has to say concerning who and what we have become after being born again.
Is the sin nature of the flesh greater than what God has placed on the inside of you?
As I said before, there are many that would say yes, using scripture to entertain their doctrine such as Romans chapter 7. Where it says such things as: for that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that I do not; but what I hate that I do.
And: Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me.
So, according to these verses, it looks as though we are bound by sin and cannot get out from under the power of it.
Thus, making a good excuse for sinning.
But then you have verses like Romans 6:12 stating to let not sin reign over you and verse 14 stating that sin shall not have dominion over you.
As always, when there seems to be a contradiction of truth, wisdom dictates that we dig deep into the Word and prayer to rightly divide the word of truth. For we will only be set free by the truth, not our preconceived ideas…or in most cases, our desire to sin without conviction.
Paul spends the first part of Romans breaking down the difference between “walking under the Law” and “receiving the gift of Salvation through Faith”. That the righteousness of God is not of the workings of the law but through Faith, same as Abraham.
As we get into Romans chapters 5 and 6 Paul writes that sin is being exposed by the letter of the law…5:20 Moreover, the law entered that the offense (of sin) might abound. And then in 6:1 what shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin (that has been exposed by the law) that grace may abound?
Verse 2…God forbid, how shall we, that are dead to sin live any longer there in.
Verse 11 & 12… we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God and to let not sin reign in our mortal body, that we should obey it in the lust thereof.
And through verses 16-20 that to whatever you yield your body to will determine to whom you are a servant of. Either to the sin that is exposed through the law -or- the righteousness that is through faith in Christ Jesus.
So now, we meet chapter 7 and Paul starts here saying, know ye not brethren (For I Speak to Those that know the Law) … he references the law and how the law affected them then, in comparison to, how the Faith in Jesus works for the believer. And, that once you become dead to the law by the body of Christ; you should be married to another, that is Jesus, that we should bring forth fruit unto God, the same fruit that he speaks of in Romans 6:22. That we being dead to sin, are to produce fruit of holiness to God.
Romans 7:5…for when we were in the flesh (under the law), the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Verse 6… But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in the newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Continually Paul makes the comparison of the man under the law that could not meet the righteousness of God, verses, the man through faith that fulfills the righteousness of God.
Once again, he is speaking to those that know the law, or you could say those that live under the law.
Verse 9…for I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Because the law exposes the sin nature so that by the law sin would be seen as exceedingly sinful.
So, then Paul goes into an example of himself as a man under the law, trying to keep the law, to attain to the righteousness of God. Which he has already stated cannot be done because the law exposes the sin nature declaring all under sin. A man wanting to attain to the law of God but cannot because of the sin nature in him. Showing the need for a savior, the need for a new nature!
Paul declares the answer to this problem in verse 24… O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
And the answer is in Verse 25… I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. so then, (as a man under the law) with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin (the sin nature that the law had exposed).
So then, one under the law, attempting to walk out the law, is in constant condemnation because the sin nature is exposed and the need for a savior and a new nature made obvious.
He then states in Chapter 8:1 & 2…that there is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (sin nature) but after the Spirit (new nature, born again).
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Verse 3… for what the law could not do (to fulfill the righteousness of God) because it was weak
through the flesh (sin nature), God did by sending His Son to condemn the sin in the flesh.
So that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us that who walk NOT after the flesh (sin nature exposed by the law) but after the Spirit (That is, the new nature given by Faith in Jesus Christ…Born again with the nature of God, as he had said in Romans 2:14 for when the gentiles which have not the law, do by nature (the born again new nature) the things in the law, these having not the law are a law to themselves. Which shew the law written in their hearts).
So it is not Paul writing and saying that he cannot help but to sin…no, on the contrary, he reveals that the sin nature is eradicated through the resurrection of Christ giving us the new nature to fulfill the law of God…His righteousness.
Verse 8… then they that are in the flesh (old sin nature without Christ) cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh (sin nature) but in the spirit (new nature)
Verse 10… and if Christ be in you (new nature) the body is dead because of sin but the spirit (your new nature) is life because of righteousness.
Romans 8:11 if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (give life to or vitalize) your mortal body (your flesh) by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Verse 12…Therefore, (or because He will vitalize your flesh) we are not debtors (Obligated) to the flesh to live after the flesh.
So then, once a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior and obtains the new nature, that is the born-again spirit…they are no longer obligated to the old sin nature of the flesh to live in sin any longer, because the Lord will vitalize or give life to the flesh also, so that sin can no longer dominate your life.
Rom. 6:14 Sin shall no longer have dominion over you.
According to Romans 8:14 We, as believers having the new nature on the inside, have a choice to make; to live after the desires of the flesh and die (letting the desires of the flesh dominate you and then reaping the results thereof) or to live after the new nature on the inside (bringing to a dead standstill the desires of the flesh and having the life promised by Christ.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God (in their new nature), they are the sons/daughters of God.
So then, who do you follow? For greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
There is nothing out there that can make you sin. He has provided all you will ever need to conquer sin in your life.
The choice is yours.
And if you say, “well the Christian life is too hard to live”; He gives a Helper to assist in this.
Rom. 8:26-28 Likewise the Spirit (The Holy Spirit) also helpeth our infirmities (our weakness to the sinful desires in the flesh): for when we do not know what to pray for as we ought, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us.
He searches out our heart and prays the perfect will of God for our lives. And in this, we know that all things (#1 the new nature, #2 Him vitalizing our flesh and #3 the Holy Spirit praying the will of God for us) work together for our good.
Verse 29…To be conformed to the image of Jesus.
What can we say then, for if God be for us, then who can stand against us?
He has provided all we will ever need to walk a sinless lifestyle.
Sure, mistakes may happen because of our lack of knowledge on who we have truly become in Christ, but greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world…”Greater”. So there is nothing in this world powerful enough, Satan or the desires in the flesh, that can make us sin against the new nature on the inside. Nothing that can make you sin against your God, …unless you chose too…
This is why he stated in Romans 12 verses 1 & 2… that we should present our bodies a living sacrifice (a sacrifice is destined to die, that is, putting to death the sinful desires in our body or flesh) and to renew our mind (to the Truth of the Word that we are to walk out the Righteousness of God that we have become in Christ Jesus).
So that we may prove (Authenticate by example) what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
The perfect will of God.
I dare say that the perfect will of God is not a sinful lifestyle, while saying God’s grace is not enough to help me stop sinning.
But the perfect will of God is to walk out His righteousness in true holiness, fulfilling the law of God…Love.
Romans 5:17
For if by one man’s offence death reigned (forcing them to sin, the inability to stop) by one (Adam);
Much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign (over sin) in life by one Christ Jesus.
Once you have been born again with the the new nature on the inside, nothing can make you sin any longer. That is, IF you chose to walk after the new nature. Sinning afterwards is either by ignorance of His Word on who you have become -or- just a blatant decision to sin. And yeah, you can always pull verses out of context to try and justify living in sin. But ultimately you have to consider whether Jesus will accept that or not. It does say that we (The Believer) will be judged according to the deeds done in the body. If it is impossible for us to live without sin, then that judgement would be unjust. And God is not unjust.