Christians still sin, so what’s the difference between them and the world when it comes to sinning? When believers sin it is not intentional, “willful,” (Heb 10:26) nor “presumptuous” (Num 15:25). Paul said he now never willfully sins. He reveals that it is the “old man” or sin nature within that sins, but not him in his “new nature” (Rom 7:15, 17, 20). Thus, the sins of believers are committed in “ignorance,” unaware that they were going to sin. I know of no Christians that admit they knew they were about to commit a sin, and did it anyway.
Paul said it is like one who is “captive” against his nature, which doesn’t want to sin (vs 23). “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I do.” This doesn’t mean he never does good, nor that all he does is sin; he is merely demonstrating the normal life of a believer. This could be paraphrased as, “the good I want to do I do not always do; but the evil I do not want to do, I sometimes do. Paul says he does not want to do evil.”
How can Christians say they do not sin with the “new man,” or new nature (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10)? 1John 1:9 writes, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin (perpetrate - “to execute, commonly in a bad sense” - The American Heritage® Dictionary); for His “seed” (“new man”) remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God:”
John Gill (1697-1771): “Doth not commit sin; does not make it his trade and business; it is not the constant course of his life; he does not live and walk in sin, or give up himself to it; he is not without the being of it in him, or free from acts of sin in his life and conversation, but he does not so commit it as to be the servant of it, a slave unto it, or to continue in it.
“For His seed remains in him; not the word of God, or the Gospel, though that is a seed which is sown by the ministers of it, and blessed by God, and by which He regenerates His people; and which having a place in their hearts, becomes the engrafted word, and there abides, nor can it be rooted out; where it powerfully teaches to avoid sin, is an antidote against it, and a preservative from it: nor the Holy Spirit of God, though He is the Author of the new birth, and the principle of all grace; and where He once is, He always abides; and through the power of His grace believers prevail against sin, and mortify the deeds of the body, and live (Rom 8:13): but rather it is the grace of the Spirit, the internal principle of grace in the soul, the new nature, or new man formed in the soul, is meant His “seed.”
Paul also wrote, “You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit” (Rom 8:9). The “flesh” is in us, but we are not in it! To be in the flesh in this sense means to be after the old man, desiring it. In the NT the word “flesh” nearly always means the “old man” or sin nature. In the OT, flesh is always in reference to the physical flesh of the body.
Though we still sin, God never sees the Christian as a sinner, which answers to why there is no Scripture reference relating the believer as a “sinner.” “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear” (1Pe 4:18)?
Paul said it is like one who is “captive” against his nature, which doesn’t want to sin (vs 23). “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I do.” This doesn’t mean he never does good, nor that all he does is sin; he is merely demonstrating the normal life of a believer. This could be paraphrased as, “the good I want to do I do not always do; but the evil I do not want to do, I sometimes do. Paul says he does not want to do evil.”
How can Christians say they do not sin with the “new man,” or new nature (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10)? 1John 1:9 writes, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin (perpetrate - “to execute, commonly in a bad sense” - The American Heritage® Dictionary); for His “seed” (“new man”) remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God:”
John Gill (1697-1771): “Doth not commit sin; does not make it his trade and business; it is not the constant course of his life; he does not live and walk in sin, or give up himself to it; he is not without the being of it in him, or free from acts of sin in his life and conversation, but he does not so commit it as to be the servant of it, a slave unto it, or to continue in it.
“For His seed remains in him; not the word of God, or the Gospel, though that is a seed which is sown by the ministers of it, and blessed by God, and by which He regenerates His people; and which having a place in their hearts, becomes the engrafted word, and there abides, nor can it be rooted out; where it powerfully teaches to avoid sin, is an antidote against it, and a preservative from it: nor the Holy Spirit of God, though He is the Author of the new birth, and the principle of all grace; and where He once is, He always abides; and through the power of His grace believers prevail against sin, and mortify the deeds of the body, and live (Rom 8:13): but rather it is the grace of the Spirit, the internal principle of grace in the soul, the new nature, or new man formed in the soul, is meant His “seed.”
Paul also wrote, “You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit” (Rom 8:9). The “flesh” is in us, but we are not in it! To be in the flesh in this sense means to be after the old man, desiring it. In the NT the word “flesh” nearly always means the “old man” or sin nature. In the OT, flesh is always in reference to the physical flesh of the body.
Though we still sin, God never sees the Christian as a sinner, which answers to why there is no Scripture reference relating the believer as a “sinner.” “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear” (1Pe 4:18)?
