What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-14)
Unfortunately, it is commonly believed by many professing “Christians” today that it is not possible to live a sinless life. This heresy basically states that Jesus is our free ticket to heaven. Now, the word “heresy” it pretty strong, and applies to those doctrines that deliberately contradict the Scriptures. The Scriptures say that we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:18)
Now some may say, “OH! You’re advocating grace by works! We are just gonna sin! If not, then why do we need grace?” Let me state that we are indeed saved by grace through faith, not by works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8) But, from what are we saved? By the blood of Jesus, we are saved from sin! We believe that Jesus was the Son of God and the Son of Man; we also believe that He lived a sinless life. We also believed that He died for our sins. What does that mean? He took the punishment for our sins, yes. But it was an act of reconciliation between God and man. Let me remind you all why that reconciliation was necessary:
God is all-mighty, all-knowing, and all-holy, therefore He cannot look upon sin. Man sinned. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Sin is the breaking of God’s commands. The glory of God is that communication with God that man once had. In the presence of God is all that is good. But we, in our filthy state which we call human nature, cannot enter into that glory. It doesn’t take a very long observation of the Ten Commandments for us to realize that we are guilty. We may try to keep God’s law, but we always fall into sin somehow, especially in our mind. But Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and though He was completely sinless, He took our punishment; He paid our fine. Then He rose up from the grave, conquering death and therefore conquering sin. He “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:25) Therefore, He saved us from our sins, from our himan nature, restoring our communication with God. By the Holy Spirit in us we have overcome sin; in this life, we are being transformed into the image of Christ, passing from glory to glory. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” (Romans 6:20)
I have thus concluded that anyone who says it is impossoble to live a sinless life is simply making an excuse to sin. Those who are born of God do not sin! (1 John 3:9) For anyone who still doubts, please read the book of 1 John.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
Hey, I love this guy’s jacket.
Amazing grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see!”
For more on Word for Wednesday, see Yeah, Right…
True!
Let me add that if you ARE a Christian then you WANT to be like Christ and sinless. If you are making excuses that you are just human and will sin and don’t do a thing ato try and stop it, then you are NOT saved!
I am so glad you talked about this… I keep thinking about the fact that Jesus said, “Therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” How could He tell us to live a perfect life if it’s not possible? Yes we all sin, but through the grace of God, we can repent of our sins, learn from it, and go on forgiven! “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (One of my new favorite verses!)
…”Unfortunately, it is commonly believed by many professing “Christians” today that it is not possible to live a sinless life.”…
If it were possible to live a sinless life there would be no need for repentance.
True:
“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
However, this refers to our past state, before we were washed with the cleansing blood of Jesus. Read this:
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)
“Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 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.” (1 John 3:7-9)
That seed in us is the Holy Spirit, producing in us holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)
If we had no sin, we would not need a Savior. But the Savior’s purpose was to save us from sin, so we can now live a sinless life. Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes we do sin. But temptation is never too much for us. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:14) For this reason I believe that it is indeed possible to live a sinless life. What freedom that is, to be able to live with no temptation overcoming you, and that not of yourself, but by the grace of God!
It is popular to quote Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Doesn’t that mean that through Christ we overcome sin?
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
I can’t find a credible rebuttal, so I will concede that it may be possible, yet I find it highly improbable.
Yes, hallelujah, for such a precious gift.
Excellent post, Alice!
Here are a few more Scriptures that go along with this topic:
Ephesians 4:11-13 — “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” Here, Paul says that it is possible to be like Christ — it is possible for us to come to “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” the perfect Man.
Genesis 17:1-2 — “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, ‘I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.’” We know from the NT that Abraham’s seed was multiplied (and we see from this Scripture that it was BECAUSE he walked perfectly before God), so if Abraham could be perfect according to God’s standards, then we can too!
1 John 5:18 — “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.” If we truly love God, we will be afraid to sin against Him; we will keep ourselves from sin, because we want to please Him.
Superb point, Miss Szymanski.
There are SO many Scriptures on that topic. When it all comes down to it, that is the gospel right there: By God’s grace, accepted through faith, Jesus Christ has saved us from sin by becoming sin for us so that we could be the righteousness of God in Him, so now we must bear works worthy of repentance!
This is a great post, Alice, with great comments, and most of my thoughts on this have already been written. The only thing I can think to add is that the instant we as Christians confess our sin to God, we are sinless again.
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)
What an incredible thing that is! When we sin, we get to completely start over with a clean slate! Talk about taking a load off!