Since this one came up so much over the past week, I’ll go ahead and do it.
I have 24 things on the list, by the way, so this will mark the halfway point of TICFITB.
On some level I’ve heard it my whole life. I hear it in different ways. “Well, you know we can’t help but sin.” “We are still sinners.” In one of our meetings in Korea, a young man with the motivation to encourage everyone said, “I can’t go five minutes without sinning,” which resulted from a very loving rebuke from me and the group as a whole.
Ultimately, I believe people are attempting to be encouraging with a statement that basically says, “its okay to sin once in a while, everybody does it.” I’m reminded of what my Dad used to say. If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you? Besides the fact I’m uncomfortable with using peer pressure to excuse sin, I have to admit …
I can’t find it in the Bible.
Now, there are two verses that people use to justify these types of statements, so let’s discuss them now.
First off we have the passage out of Romans 7 where Paul discusses the times when he wants to do good and cannot do it and instead does the bad stuff he doesn’t want to do. I’ve heard this from individuals in personal conversation as well as public teaching or preaching. “See? If Paul cannot be righteous, what hope do we have?”
The context of this passage tells a different story, however. Paul is discussing the law in chapter 7 and is explaining from personal experience that although the Law taught him right and wrong, and he even desired to do it, he found that he could not be righteous on his own under the Law. So he was not discussing a Christian’s inability to be righteous but someone under the Law. In fact, he thanks Christ for the ability to live apart from the law and live by the Spirit, continuing into chapter 8.
What does it mean to live by the Spirit? Be reminded its the Holy Spirit. How can we live by the Holy Spirit and not live a life that is holy?
The other verse is from Paul again. Poor Paul … even Peter knew he was misunderstood. Paul says in 1 Timothy that he is the chief of sinners. But again, if you look at the context of that statement, he calls himself the chief of sinners BEFORE the grace and mercy of Christ so that Paul might be an example (remember he persecuted and killed Christians!).
An example of what? That even the worst sinner is redeemable by God. And redemption is not living like the chief of sinners while you call yourself Christian.
Romans takes great pains to let us know that sin no longer has any power over us through our death from sin to life in God, freedom from slavery to sin to slavery to God and through the death a divorce from our evil husband, the Devil, to our new husband, God. Paul says that God’s grace is sufficient, that there is no excuse any longer for sin. We are called saints, kings, priests, sons and daughters of God, but never sinners by the New Testament writers. Sinners are those who need Christ.
Despite whether you are evangelical or charismatic, you believe you are “filled with the Holy Spirit” at some point in your walk. How can you be filled with holiness and not have the ability to be holy? How can you be filled with something you can’t be?
The scriptures that support a walk in Christ that can be righteous are too numerous to put here, not without getting a TLDR from Eric, at least (I might be too late!). Peter tells us to be holy as God is holy. Where does sin come into that?
This does not mean that if you sin at all you aren’t a Christian. Thank God for the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. It means that we are not defined by sin any longer, if we are truly in Christ, and that means that a life of sin will not define us.
Two more things here to help us understand the holy life we can live through righteousness. First of all, this does not mean that we will not make mistakes. An honest mistake is not a sin. If you stub your toe on the dresser on your way to the bathroom, that doesn’t mean you’re not holy. It just means you live in a fallen world where the just and the unjust all fall side by side. If a mistake causes a problem with others, take responsibility for it and apologize, but that doesn’t mean you sinned. That just makes you humble and actually more righteous for how you responded in the midst of it.
Secondly, temptation is not a sin. Hebrews tells us that Christ was tempted with EVERYTHING we’ve been tempted with in order to make Him the perfect high priest. That means that the most heinous thing anyone could ever be tempted with, He was tempted with. I wouldn’t counsel sitting and thinking about all those things, but the principle is valid. Even though Christ was tempted more than we can imagine, He did not sin.
Holiness also does not mean that we necessarily want to do what God wants us to do. Jesus had a will that was different from His Father, too, and struggled to the shedding of blood in the Garden with giving up his will. But He chose His Father’s will in the end.
If Christ lives within us, that’s the victory we have within us. This does not mean it will be easy. Many times it is extremely difficult. But the same grace that can pass you from death to life can keep you righteous. Lay hold of it in moments of temptation. There will always be a way out of it.
Peace to the SAINTS.
Someone whom I love very much argued with me that holiness is something that describes only God while godliness is something we mere mortals can ascribe to. Thoughts?
I would agree that only God is holy, but would also point to scriptures where God says “be holy as I am holy”, even quoted by Peter in the New Testament.
I think being filled with the Holy Spirit gives us the opportunitity to be like God, which is defined in holiness.
It seems mostly semantic to me, though. How can we be godly but not holy if God is the substance of holiness? That would be my question, I guess.
peace.