Sin, Sin, or Sin?

 

Sin. What is sin anyway?

I am not asking for the typical definition of sin… I am speaking of sin in a different way.

When you see a verse like this, what do you think?

• James 4:17 - “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin”
• Matthew  1:21 - “And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins”
• 1 Peter 2:24 - “Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right”

Now these verses have much deeper meaning than what I am going to bring out, but that’s ok.

SIN, SIN or SIN?

There are 3 words that are so important to understand in our Christian walk:

• SIN- (hamartia in Greek) - this is a noun meaning THE SIN [NATURE] that we are born with because of Adam’s fall. When we get saved, the power of this sin nature is broken & no longer has control of us ONLY IF we have faith in Jesus & what He did on the cross - This is the only way the Holy Spirit can work in our lives… is through this faith.
  • Sin ‘Nature’ – We are born in sin. This is why we need to get saved or born again. Don’t believe me? Put two babies in a crib with only one bottle. See what happens.  This is the sin nature. 
    
• SIN - ( hamartanō) - this is a past tense verb. A past ACTION. This is one single act of sin that happened in the past. This is the kind of sin that a Christian does. Once. Past. “I sinnED yesterday.”  It should be a mistake that does not happen regularly & continously.
  
• “To Do Sin” - The last word is prassō - This is a PRESENTS TENSE VERB - meaning "To habitually practice sin" – that is continually happening.
  • A  sinner habitually sins. A Christian habitually lives for Christ.

Let’s take Galations 5:19-21:

• The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins,²⁰ worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people,²¹ feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God's kingdom.

"They which DO these things will not inherit the kingdom" – in other words, if we do these things we will not make it into heaven?

No.

This word “do” is prassō – this is the ‘continual, habitual practice’ of a sinner.  A Christian should not be ‘practicing’ any of these sins as a continual habit. Of course Christians are not perfect… so we will mess up & sin. But this should not be a habit. As I said above, a Christian should be habitually living for Jesus.

My point to all of this ‘sin talk’?

Before you go throwing scripture around… know what you are talking about because these words are very important.

If you want to do a study on the Greek or Hebrew scriptures I recommend the  free download called e-Sword. You can download free bibles (many, many translations), dictionaries, concordances, commentaries, and many other historical books like Josephus.

“Shall NOT Inherit The Kingdom Of God”???

WHO will NOT inherit heaven?!? ME?!? YOU?!?
Consider these verses:
Galatians 5:19-21 (King James)
¹⁹Now the works of the flesh (sins of the flesh) are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (lewdness), ²⁰Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance (quarreling, disputes), emulations (jealousies), wrath, strife (selfish ambitions), seditions (divisions, disorder), heresies (distorting the truth), ²¹Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
So? What do you think?
“They which DO SUCH THINGS shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God”? Which translates into: We won’t go to heaven if we do any of these things?!?
Oh Man… I do some of those things, yeah I’m not perfect. No I don’t drink. I’m not into witchcraft. I don’t cheat on my hubby. No I’ve never murdered anyone. But wait… ‘murder’ could be considered ‘murdering’ someone’s name. When you talk about someone you can slander their name. Envy? Oh I might have been there before. Strife, jealousy, variance? Maybe at some point or another. Like I said, I’m not perfect.
So what does this mean?
{This is an important verse to me because of my recent past. We were going to a church that preached the “holiness” doctrine. Meaning this: Once you get saved, you should be perfectly holy. IF you sin then there is something wrong with you & you can not possibly be saved. It also taught that WHEN you DO sin… you are no longer saved. You need to repent and once you do repent – you are saved again. So forget about struggles, battles, falls. If you fall to temptation you are UNSAVED. Whew!! That is exhausting just thinking back to it. I guess they didn’t understand sanctification or justification. Sanctification is the process of becoming ‘Christ-like’. The growing process. The process in which the Holy Spirit cleans you up. Prunes your branches. Takes away the bad (works of the flesh) & instills the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’. We won’t be perfectly sanctified until we reach heaven.}
Ok. So where was I?
I am going to focus on the words “they which DO SUCH things”.
First of all this tells us that a person cannot have sin & God at the same time. There are people who think that their lifestyle does not matter. Some people think only their faith matters & not their actions. However, if we have the proper faith in Christ then our actions will match our faith. Now this doesn’t mean that the believer is perfect. None of us are. The bible does not teach sinless perfection.
Now on to the good stuff.
The word “do” in “they which do such things” is the Greek word “prasso” which means “to practice”.  This word is a present tense verb. (A continuous action.)  The Holy Spirit (through Paul) is speaking of the character of the person. The habitual practice of the person shows their character.   The person is either a habitual sinner or a habitual believer.  Paul’s statement does not mean that if a believer falls to a sin then he loses his salvation. He is speaking of a habitual continuation in sin with every intention to continue in this lifestyle. A believer is practicing a habitual lifestyle of a believer who slips & falls to a sin. This Greek word for ‘sin’ is a past tense verb. Meaning when we believers commit a sin – it is ONE SIN that we committed. PAST TENSE. It is a one time occurrence that happenED and is over. Not the same Greek word as here in this verse which is a present tense verb meaning continually going on.
God will forgive the individual seeking forgiveness. However this person seeking forgiveness should want these sinful situations to stop. To repent means to turn away from the sin. The person should not be seeking forgiveness just to continue in the sin.
Sin has no place in a believers life. “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Rom. 6:1,2) In other words: shall we continue sinning because God’s grace is big enough to forgive us? God forbid!  “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (vs.. 2) In other words: Once we get saved we are dead to the sin nature. The sin nature is still IN us, but it has no dominion over us anymore.
To read more on the sin nature & victory over the sin nature read my post "Battles/Struggles & The Sin Nature".

{in}courage

I recently started reading a ‘blog’ (more like a ‘site’) called "(in)courage". I have not read much of the site since I am new - but what I have read,  I do like. It is ‘encouraging’. I signed up to have new posts come directly to my email. This morning I received my first post. It was called "Putting a Bullet Through His Phone". (Don’t read just yet…finish reading THIS first!) It was basically about struggles in life & ‘how bad’ do you really want to ‘give it up’?  I do really agree with what is said –however- they left out one ingredient.

One.Very.Important.Ingredient: Jesus. Actually the MAIN ingredient is Jesus… He is not just one of the ingredients. He is like the flour in bread. Without it you don’t have bread. Without Jesus you have no relief from your struggles, no freedom & no peace. Without Jesus you can never really be free. You may have times, even a very long period of time where you think you are winning over your battle. However, you will never really be free from it without HIM. 

There is nothing WE can DO to make this happen. It happens by FAITH in His work on the cross. Keep that in mind when reading this post from “(in)courage”. Our ‘works’ will not give us the true victory over our battles. FAITH in JESUS WILL give us victory over these battles! The Holy Spirit will not work properly if we are functioning by works and not by faith. The Holy Spirit works by faith alone.

Without Jesus and what He did for us on His cross – we can never have true victory from our struggles & we will never be fully FREE. We need to place our faith in His finished work on the cross. He died not just for our eternal life.  His death on the cross broke that ‘sin nature’ we were born with.

The ‘sin nature’ is still IN us…

~BUT~

Once we get saved, the ‘sin nature’ is no longer controlling us! We are dead to it!

It is like a lamp plugged into the wall socket. The electricity lighting the lamp gets TURNED OFF when the plug is unplugged! There is still electricity in the wall socket – but it can not reach the lamp to light it unless the lamp is plugged in. We are unplugged from the  ‘sin nature’ when we get saved!

How awesome is HE! He did this for us!

God’s Holy Spirit will work great wonders in our life as long as we have our faith placed in the correct object. The Cross of Christ. No not just the wooden beam… but what He did on the cross! He broke the power of the ‘sin nature’! Have faith in this finished work & the Holy Spirit will work in your life to give you a helping hand!

So now. Go read the post from (in)courage called, "Putting a Bullet Through His Phone".

It is an encouraging read. And it makes sense.

Just don’t forget the most important ingredient: JESUS and His finished work on the cross!

Ok. Now go read!

Battles/struggles & the "sin nature"

When Adam and Eve 'fell' they fell from the level of total God-consciousness ... down to the lower level of sin-consciousness. They were then controlled by the "sin nature". And then the entire human race became one of sin. Every single unredeemed person is controlled by the sin nature. No matter how you want to argue this fact - it is a FACT that the unsaved are ruled by the sin nature. US before we got saved were also ruled by the sin nature. The sin nature has POWER OVER us if we are unsaved. Our own WILL POWER is not strong enough to fight the sin nature. We may win at times. But ultimatly the sin nature has complete dominion over us. From the minute a baby is born the sin nature is in control. Do you need to teach a child how to lie? No. If you put two infants in a crib together along with one bottle... what happens? They fight over it. THIS is the SIN NATURE. (Eph. 2:1-3) Born in original sin, mankind is controlled by the sin nature, which is the cause of all war, strife, and man's inhumanity to man.

So how does a Christian STOP SINNING? If you take a poll and ask, "How do you stop sinning?" (I will use some big examples here: alcohol, drugs, sex, cheating, gossiping) - The answer you get will probably be the WRONG ANSWER! This saddens me. It is sad and depressing to battle something in your Christian life. It is sad and difficult to see someone else battle something in their Christian life when you don't know how to help.  If you have ever battled something in your walk that is similar to an addiction - then you have probably wondered the same thing: "HOW DO I STOP DOING THIS THING THAT I REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO...but I can't help but DO?" This answer can be found in Romans chpt. 6 & 7.  However the answer you will get from most ministers, teachers, fellow brothers & sisters in Christ... "DO" something. Read your bible more. Pray more. Stay away from the things that may lead you to be tempted to sin. Go to the preacher and have him lay hands on you. Stand in the prayer line. All these things are wonderful things to do in your Christian life, but they are not the answer to your struggles. My personal favorite...GIVE IT TO GOD! My answer to that one...HOW?!?!? Have you ever had a battle and sat there and talked to God and said, "Ok God - take this battle from me. I am giving it to you." How has that worked for ya? You have probably slipped to the battle not long after you asked God to take it from you, right? The reason that will not work is this: The believer who talks to God and says, "Take this from me"...is NOT putting his faith in the right area.

Unfortunatly this stuggle with the sin nature happens more to the believers who are the most consecrated. They love the Lord and to fail the Lord is a burden almost too heaye to bear. This make a Christian - a MISERABLE Christian. Not understanding how and where to get the victory, they are constantly failing the Lord. These people are lead to believe that the Christian experience is a daily struggle. IF a Christian is struggling with sin then he is fighting a battle which he can not win. Christians are to "Fight the good fight of faith" (1Tim. 6:12) but that should be the extent of our stuggle. Scripture says: "But this Man (Jesus), after He had offered one sacrafice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from hence forth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering, He has perfected forever them who are sanctified" (Heb. 13:20) In other words: Our Lord totally and completely defeated sin at the Cross of Calvary. His sacrifice of Himself was so perfect, so total, so complete, and so finla that it will never have to be repeated. Paul refers to this at "The everlasting convenant" in Heb. 13:20.

THE  ANSWER...
When a believing sinner comes to Christ, the sin nature is then made absolutely dormant. The sin nature has NO HOLD on the person anymore. The sin nature has NO CONTROL over the person anymore. The chains of sin fall off. The only way for this to happen is for the believer to register his faith totally and completely in Christ and the cross - and then MAINTAIN that faith. FAITH that when Jesus died on the cross and rose 3 days later... HE BROKE THE DOMINION that the sin nature HAD on us!! THIS IS WHERE OUR FAITH MUST BE!!! JESUS and the CROSS!!!! Jesus did so much more than just die on the cross!!! HE BROKE the POWER of the sin nature when He died!!! So the only answer to our sin 'battle' = Jesus and Him crucified!!!! FAITH in what HE DID on the cross!!! "FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH" (1Tim 6:12) We don't have to fight the sin nature - JESUS ALREADY DID!!!! That is exciting!! !!! There is NOTHING we can 'DO' except have FAITH in Jesus and His FINISHED WORK on THE CROSS

Here is a little formula regarding the sin nature and victory:
FOCUS:  The Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 14:6)
OBJECT OF FAITH:  The Cross Of Christ (Rom. 6:3-5)
POWER SOURCE:  The Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:1-2, 11)
RESULTS:  VICTORY!! (Rom. 6:14; Gal. 2:20)

Now - this is the formula that most Christians will tell you to use:
FOCUS: Works (Rom. 4:2)
OBJECT OF FAITH: Performance - try harder (Gal. 2:21)
POWER SOURCE: Self (Gal. 5:2)
RESULTS:  FAILURE! (Gal. 5:4)

WANT HELP FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT?
 IF a believer continues to place his faith in Jesus & His finished work at the cross, then the Holy Spirit will work mightily in the heart and life of such a believer, bringing about righteousness, holiness, Christlikeness, and the Fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit can not work any other way. The Holy Spirit is the 'dispenser' of the GRACE of GOD. Paul said, "For the LAW of THE SPIRIT of LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS has made me FREE from the LAW of SIN and DEATH" (8:2) The Holy Spirit works ONLY within the parameters of the Atonement.  It is the CROSS which makes it possible for HIM to live permanently within our hearts and lives, and to carry out HIS ministry as The Dispenser of GRACE on our behalf. HE ONLY REQUIRES FROM US FAITH IN CHRISTAND WHAT HE DID AT THE CROSS!!!!  However if the believer places his faith in anything other than the finished work on the cross... (for example: pray more. read more...) the Holy Spirit can not function. The Holy Spirit will not help that believer function under works & law. The Holy Spirit only functions under GRACE & FAITH in what Jesus did at the cross.

To sum it all up:  ALL the believer has to do is to understand that everything that comes to us from God has all been made possible through Christ and what He did at the CROSS. This is why Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself (deny his own ability & strength), and take up his cross daily, and follow ME.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it" (Lk. 9:23-24) The "Cross" is so important that Jesus said we must take it up ON A DAILY BASIS. This is the only sucessfull way to follow Christ. When we do this, the Holy Spirit then works within our hearts and lives... to be sure the sin nature will then REMAIN DORMANT causing the believer no problems whatsoever.

It's all a matter of faith.

To read more about the sin nature I recommend this study guide:
"The Sin Nature"