In this week’s Life of Jesus class, we considered the difficult reality that Christians are far from perfect, and the fact that they continue to struggle — sometimes mightily — with the ongoing reality of sin in their lives.
St. Paul writes about precisely this struggle in Romans 7:
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
This passage resonates with many of us, but it is difficult to come to terms with.
Leon Morris writes:
No believer is completely sinless. He is still a sinner, no matter how much out of character his sin is.
There may be little or no difference between a particular act of sin, as performed by a Christian, and that same act of sin, as performed by the non-believer. The vital difference it that, for the non-believer, who is not yet being transformed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, the sin is in keeping with his character, for this person has not yet come into relationship with Christ, he has not yet been redeemed by Christ’s atonement, and he does not have the Holy Spirit abiding in his life, performing his work of turning him into someone who more closely resembles Jesus.
For the Christian, the act of sin may be the very same, but it is different because this act is out of character for this person. He is in relationship with Jesus, he has the Holy Spirit at work in his life, and he has a new identity in Christ. Outwardly, there may not always be abundant evidence of this difference, or of the sanctifying work of the Spirit, but it is nonetheless a true and vital distinction.
When the Christian falls short, and he acts in ways that are at odds with his true identity, he may feel so despondent as to doubt the reality that he is a Christian at all:
What happens when he does sin? He feels dreadful about it. Then why does he do it? He simply does not understand (v. 15). In view of all that Christ has done for him and the resources Christ makes available for him, surely he should have resisted the temptation? He does not want to sin. He knows that. He knows that he ought not sin. But he is weak (in the flesh). Because he does not want to sin he can say with Paul, I do what I do not want to do (v. 16). When he reflects on that sin he is apt to say, nothing good lives in me (v. 18). But he cannot deny his responsibility; his sin proceeds from what he is. He knows that he did it himself. But his regret is deep and genuine, and he cries, O wretched man that I am! The sin is not the product of regeneration; it takes place despite regeneration. There is that within the believer (the old Adam?) which leads him to sin even when he does not want to. And when he sins he cannot but see that there is a power of evil that is too strong for him; thus he is enslaved to sin (v. 14), a prisoner (v. 23). But his inability to explain how he, a regenerate and redeemed person, falls into sin does not give him license to deny either the fact of his sin or the fact of his regeneration.
The Christian is redeemed, and the Christian sins. Our feelings may argue that these cannot both be true at the same time, but the Bible assures us of this reality. We struggle with the tension of it, and that tension will not be fully resolved on this side of Heaven.
