...before Christ and Salvation

There is nothing more frustrating for a Christian than the struggle with sin. Early on in my faith, in ignorance of who I was in Christ, I wondered why I could not stop sinning. I can remember times when I would beg God not to send me to hell for my inability to stop sinning. Lord knows there were plenty of times that I questioned my salvation because of my behavior. After all, everything that was drilled into me as a new believer centered around being sinless. So, it is understandable why I would feel the way I did in regards to my behavior. As I have come to discover, the problem I had was not so much my behavior, but in my misunderstanding of my identity in Christ. Yes, sin is still sin, but a Christian is to learn to trust God as they mature in the faith, not focus on their flesh and the futile attempts to completely eradicate sin in their lives. I recently read where a pastor, who believes that Christians can, and are expected to, become sinless, said the following:

"Romans 7 becomes much clearer when read in the context of which it was written. In chapter 7 Paul was referencing when he was under the law and before Christ and salvation; please read chapter 8, as it speaks to man after salvation."

Romans 7 is one of my favorite passages. The reason I enjoy it so much is because it brings Paul, who we can put on a pedestal at times, down to the level of the rest of us. When I read that he struggled with sin, just like the rest of us, it revealed to me that God can use us in spite of our sin, not when we overcome it. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not advocating we sin or that it is okay when we do. However, we must realize that sin is our constant companion as long as we live in these fallen bodies. God used Paul to write nearly two thirds of the New Testament. He did so because Paul allowed the Lord to live the Christian life through Him. God did not wait for Paul to stop sinning in order to use him. If He had, we wouldn't know who Paul was because he would have died prior to becoming sinless.

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:15-25

The word "I" is used no less than 25 times in this passage above. The fact that Paul uses it describes what his motivation was behind his efforts to stop sinning. It was him. Contrary to what the pastor writes, Paul was not referring to his life prior to becoming a Christian. If this were true, it would give the impression that after salvation, Paul, and every other Christian, doesn't struggle with sin any longer. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that is not the case. What Paul is describing is that when he tried to stop sinning, in the energy of his own flesh, all he discovered was that he could not stop. Why? When we try to stop sinning we must come up with ways in which to stop sinning. What Paul was familiar with was the Law. But, the purpose of the law is to stir up more sin to show us our inability to stop sinning and, thereby, lead us to Christ. Paul was writing this as a Christian. Like any other believer it takes time for us to learn to cast off our old ways. Paul was no different. It took Him years to shed the habits he developed as a Pharisee. How long has it taken each one of us to change our ways since becoming a Christian?

When I was begging God not to send me to hell, it was because I thought I had to find a way to stop sinning. I thought God expected me to stop sinning in order for me to have a relationship with Him or experience His love. The truth is that we cannot have a relationship with God apart from the forgiveness of sins. God never expected us to stop sinning completely. If we could there would have been no reason for Christ to come. But, scripture tells us that Christ "died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit (1 Peter 3:18)." It is the finished work of Christ that brings us to God. It is not our attempts to stop sinning that bring us to God. The sin issue no longer is a barrier between man and God. We don't live a life trying to be like Christ or use Him as an example of how we are to live as Christians. Rather, we live a life of dependency on Him, in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, to live His life in and through us. The byproduct of which is that we learn to trust Him. And as we learn to trust Him we will begin to see a decrease in the sin in our lives, but it won't entirely disappear. This is evidence of Jesus conforming us to who we already are in Him.

The sins I have been able to overcome in my life are because I realized that in God's eyes I am already seen as perfectly sinless. Therefore, I learned that certain sinful behavior is not consistent with who I am in Christ. This is an inheritance I have as a child of God imputed to me because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Every Christian, including the Apostle Paul and the pastor I quoted, have this same inheritance. Understanding this truth is not God's green light to indulge the flesh or throw in the towel against what we know to be true about ungodliness. Understanding this truth is the foundation of getting our focus off of ourselves and on to Jesus Christ. The righteous live by faith and not by self-effort. That faith is in trusting in Jesus Christ who died for our sins so that, raised from the dead, He could live in us now. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age (Titus 2:11-12)" It is God's unmerited favor that we are able to draw near to God, not our best efforts to do what we cannot.