IN every believer there remains the liability to sin. The new birth is not, as so many suppose, a change of heart, nor the removal of the carnal nature, but is the reception of an entirely new nature. The new birth is neither the elimination nor the transformation of the old nature, but is the communication and impartation of a new nature, a spiritual nature, the Divine nature. In every born again person there are two natures—the old and the new—the flesh and the spirit—which the Apostle Paul tells us are contrary in disposition, continually warring against each other. As then the old, carnal nature, remains in the believer as long as he continues in this body, there is always a possibility of him sinning.
While this is true, yet the believer is responsible not to sin. The death of Christ annulled it. The Cross has freed us from the dominion of sin. Once we were its slaves, but now it has no right to control us. The Word of God forbids it: “Awake to righteousness and sin not” (1Co 15:34). “As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (1Pe 1:15). The indwelling Holy Spirit condemns it. Our bodies are His temples, and it is our bounden duty to exclude everything which would in anywise defile them. The grace of God repudiates (1) it. The promise of our Lord is, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” The resources of Deity are held at our disposal. All power is ours if we will appropriate it. No believer is obliged to sin, and there is no legitimate excuse for the indulgence of it.
But the fact remains that all believers do sin. “For there is not a just man on earth that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecc 7:20). Every believer sins every day of his life, sins both negatively and positively. By this we do not mean that he violates the laws of the State, or that he deliberately breaks one of the Ten Commandments. We mean, that all come short of the standard of holiness revealed in God’s Word. The thought of foolishness is sin (Pro 24:9). Anxiety and worry are sinful, because forbidden by the Scripture. Covetousness is sinful, pride is sinful, sloth is sinful, yet who can plead guiltless? “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1Jo 1:8).
While it is true that every believer sins, sins daily, insomuch that he fails to measure up to the standard of holiness revealed in God’s Word and fails to perfectly follow the “example” left us by the Lord Jesus Christ, yet, we would insist upon the fact that there is a fundamental difference in this respect between the believer and the unbeliever. The unbeliever is “the servant (slave) of sin” (Joh 8:34), but the believer has been “made free”—delivered from the power of sin (Joh 8:36). Furthermore; we read, “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil” (1Jo 3:6-8). Now these verses do not teach that the daily walk of a believer is sinless, but they do teach that such an one will not practice sin. The tense of the verb in these verses must be carefully noted. It is the perfect which is here employed: “he that committeth sin”—commits and continues committing is the force of the word: he that makes a regular practice of committing sin. Observe it does not say, “He that sins is of the devil,” but he that sins and goes on sinning. In the same way “he that doeth [practices] righteousness is righteous.” The apostle is referring to the general course and tenor of our lives. He is speaking of that which is our habit. Let the Christian’s life be summed up as a whole and though like David he may wander from the path of rectitude (2),yet shall he return thereto; though like Peter he may fail in the hour of testing, yet shall he repent of his failure; though like Paul he may sin with his lips (Act 23:3-5), yet shall he confess his wrong-doing; and it will be seen that his complete record can be characterized and summarized only as one that “doeth righteousness.”
Ere proceeding to the details of our theme, we must in faithfulness state the issue clearly. Reader, if you love sin you are no child of God, for God is holy. If you are living to please self and are enjoying the pleasures of sin, you are no Christian, for a Christian is one who denies himself, takes up his cross and follows Christ; a Christian is one who is subject to the lordship of Christ, and no man can serve two masters. If when you succumb to temptation you are not cut to the heart, if the fact that you have offended against the Lord God is not followed by genuine contrition and repentance, it is proof you have never been born again; for when a real believer sins he “grieves” the Spirit within him, and the Spirit will cause him to grieve over his wrong-doing. If you are not “fleeing youthful lusts” (2Ti. 2:22), if you are not buffeting your body to “keep it under” (1Co 9:27), if you are not “yielding yourself unto God” (Rom 6:13), you have no ground for concluding that you are a member of the household of faith.
1. The One Overtaken in a Fault
But what of the one who is “overtaken in a fault” (Gal 6:1)? What of the one who really and daily endeavors with all his might to please God and glorify Christ, who actually does seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mat 6:33), but who, nevertheless, is conscious that he offends in many things (Jam 3:2)—what are the consequences of such sins in the believer?
He does not cease to be God’s child. A child of God is one who has been begotten by the Holy Spirit and made a partaker of the divine nature. The new birth is very much more than an external reformation, it is an internal regeneration. The new birth does not mean turning over a new leaf, but is the beginning of a new life. Now in the very nature of the case, one who has been born again cannot be un-born. We have been born again of “incorruptible seed” (1Pe 1:23). Can that which is incorruptible die? Impossible (Eph 2:5). Can those who have been spiritually resurrected be destroyed? Impossible. The new birth is a new creation (2Co 5:17, R.V.). Can that which has been created be un-created? Impossible. “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it that men should fear before him” (Ecc 3:14).
He does not forfeit eternal life. When the believer sins he does not forfeit eternal life, and why? Because it is a gift—a free gift from God. “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23, R.V.). He could do nothing to merit this gift (if he could, it would cease to be a gift: in such a case it would be a reward), consequently, he can do nothing to demerit it. Moreover, the gift which God bestows upon the believer is eternal life. This needs to be stressed. God gave to Adam a probationary life: it was his so long as he obeyed God’s command and refused to eat of the forbidden fruit. God gave to Israel in Canaan a conditional life: their continued tenure of Palestine was made contingent (3) upon their compliance with the divine Decalogue and their abstinence from idolatry. But to the believer in Christ, God gives neither a probationary nor a conditional life, but eternal life. And, “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom 11:29). To say that eternal life may end is a contradiction in terms.
He does not lose the Holy Spirit. David prayed, “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” (Psa 51:11), but this was under the dispensation (4) of law. In contrast thereto, under the dispensation of grace, the promise of the Saviour is, “And he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (Joh 14:16). The believer may and does, “grieve” the Holy Spirit, but he cannot drive Him away. And for this reason, the Holy Spirit takes up His abode in the believer not on account of any personal fitness He finds in him, but on the ground of the finished work of Christ, and nothing can disturb that. Therefore we read, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30), that is, until the day when we shall be glorified in spirit, and soul, and body.
A striking demonstration and confirmation of this fact is seen in the case of the Corinthian saints. Due allowance must be made for the fact that they had only just emerged from an idolatrous and licentious (5) heathendom, yet when this is said, it remains that these Corinthians were guilty of the most awful sins. They were schismatics (6); brother went to law against brother; and what was worse, some had profaned the table of the Lord, having turned the supper into a drunken revel. And yet to this very Church, while admonishing the same, the apostle says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1Co 3:16). In spite of their sins then, the Corinthian saints had not lost the Holy Spirit!
A striking demonstration and confirmation of this fact is seen in the case of the Corinthian saints. Due allowance must be made for the fact that they had only just emerged from an idolatrous and licentious (5) heathendom, yet when this is said, it remains that these Corinthians were guilty of the most awful sins. They were schismatics (6); brother went to law against brother; and what was worse, some had profaned the table of the Lord, having turned the supper into a drunken revel. And yet to this very Church, while admonishing the same, the apostle says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1Co 3:16). In spite of their sins then, the Corinthian saints had not lost the Holy Spirit!
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(1) repudiates – casts off or disowns publicly.
(2) rectitude – conduct according to moral principles.
(2) rectitude – conduct according to moral principles.
(3) contingent – dependent (on or upon something uncertain); conditional.
(4) dispensation – the ordering of events under divine authority.
(5) licentious – morally unrestrained.
(6) schismatics – those causing or trying to cause a split or division in a church.
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