There are those object the gospel of grace because their concept of certain verses in the scriptures. One of such is 1 John 3:9
"Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God."
A better translation
of 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:8 and 1 John 3:8 would be ‘practice sin’ as
translated in the ASV. This is because the tense of the verb ‘sin’ is not
‘aorist’ (sinning in a moment of time, even once,
but ‘present active’ or sinning continually.
He also
talks about practicing righteousness in the following scriptures:
1 John 2:29 “If you know that he is righteous, you know that
everyone also who practices
righteousness is born of him”
1 John 3:7 “Little children, let no one deceive you, the one who practices righteousness is
righteous even as he is
righteous”
1 John 3:10 “By this the children of God and the children of the
devil are obvious, anyone who does
not practice righteousness is not of God”
The Apostle John is describing who we are in
the spirit. In other words our spirit man (Christ in us) practices
righteousness and cannot sin.
If he was saying that it is impossible for a
believer to sin then why did he say;
“My little children, these things I write to you,
that ye may not sin: and if any one may sin, an advocate we have with the
Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one,”
The believer has born of the incorruptible seed
that cannot sin. His Spirit is same with Christ in nature. That is why he says that "his seed remains in him". The question many
cannot answer is if we have Christ in us and we have a brand new nature inside
of us as believers, why do we still want to sin?
That is why some believe that we have two
natures now, a sinful nature and a Christ like nature that are locked in the
same vessel involved in some sort of tug of war?
The truth is that we don’t have two natures. A
believer only has one new nature. However, the scripture does tell us that
there are two opposing forces – the flesh and the spirit at war inside you.
Gal 5:17 “For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
Paul narrated a similar conflict of desire which
many Christians can relate to in Romans 7:
Romans 7:15 “For that which I am doing, I do
not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do but I am doing
the thing I hate.
Romans 7:16 “But if I do the very thing I do
not wish to do I agree with the Law confessing that its is good.”
The summary: Even though he doesn’t want to do
bad things, he has no power to actually stop doing bad things – even if he
wants to. Hiding away from all temptation to sin will not change the fact.
Why
is this so?
When you got born again, your Spirit was born
out of the very nature of Christ. The issue is that you have the same mortal
flesh and soul that has “cased” your memories, will, sexual drive and so on. It
already runs on a program that is contrary to that of the Spirit.
Romans
7:23 “I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the
law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my
members”
It takes feeding on the word for the nature of Christ in you to
gain the ascendancy over the soul and body. This is why renewing the mind is
essential as it reprograms your mind to the grace of God which is your victory
over bad habits and addictions.
Paul
made some important realizations which is good for us to consider;
Firstly,
there is no good in his sinful flesh (note he is intentionally says in his
flesh because he knows that his spirit man is good and desires good)
Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that
which is good I find not.”
Also he points out that if he doesn’t want to do it, then it’s
not really him doing it. In other words, it’s sin in the flesh. His true
identity therefore, is not in the sinful behaviour but in the new man.
Romans 7:17 “Now then it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
Romans 7:20“But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me”
This doesn’t not mean that he has a
sinful nature in him. He is saying that the flesh that responds to sin is the
one responsible. He also links the response based on being subject to the law.
It will only be normal for people to turn to
religious standards in their bid to curb the voice of the flesh in them. The only
problem is that the law will only point out the problem to you and bring you to
condemnation for not living up to expected standards. Legalistic performance
will end up sniffing life out of you.
The Solution?
Paul
states in Romans 8 that being in Christ is the foundation for victory. Grace at
work through the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which is in US. This is the
revelation of the identity of the believer which frees from any form of
condemnation. Paul has a clear revelation of who he is in Christ (I MYSELF). He
understands now beyond a doubt, that his sinful flesh is not his identity even
though its his responsibility.
Romans 7:25 “So, then, on the one hand I
MYSELF with the mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, WITH MY
FLESH, the law of sin.
So the question again, “Can a believer sin? and why does he sin?
We still sin because we have the sinful flesh!
The
sacrifice of Jesus has taken care of it. There is no single reason why any
believer should live under condemnation for it. He should look to his true identity
in Him. He should let that life find expression through his decisions.
Galatians
2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I (the old identity) . but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in
the flesh (the physical existence) I live by faith in the Son of God; who
loved me, and gave himself for me”
If Christ is indeed in you, then outwardly you may not look like
Jesus but your spirit is identical. You are like Christ! His seed in you cannot
sin.
