What happens to the individual who becomes a Christian? Is
there an instant cessation of sinning? Is there mastery of addictions? What of
the effects of sin – are they erased? John Frame in his excellent presentation
on Presuppositional Apologetics (213) provides us with an excellent insight on
the issue at hand. He says “No. Becoming a Christian does not immediately erase
all sin and its effects”. You see, God forgives our sins, but we will not be
perfect till we get to heaven. Christians will sin. But we can choose not to:
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If
we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-9)
The journey is a lifetime of pursuing Christ and His
righteousness. We still struggle to overcome temptations and we still commit
sin, both with the mind and the body. It is God who deals with all sin as He “forgives
our noetic sins in Christ” (the nature of unbelief that affects our reasoning
and knowledge, disobedience to God’s words). Frame describes the Christian as “regenerate,
born again and a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians
5:17). So how is the believer different from the unbeliever?
Well, the
believer is made new in Christ, sanctified with a hope for ultimate perfection.
The unbeliever does not have this benefit. The believer is united to Christ,
becoming a heir to all that is Christ’s and has made a turn around through confession,
repentance and baptism in Christ. The believer is the beneficiary of the death,
burial and resurrection of Christ. The believer now has what I’ll call Liberation
power – having been buried with Christ through baptism into death and raised
with Christ from the dead, he or she now walks in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
Now the believer’s life does not have to be characterized by sinfulness,
instead he or she can be righteous through the same power of the Holy Ghost
that raised up Christ from the dead. Same sinful body, but now freed from the
power of sin! John MacArthur refers to this as “Dead to sin, Alive to God” (1702). MacArthur
rightfully says “Although the old self is dead, sin retains a foothold in our
temporal flesh with its corrupt desires” (1702), but thanks be to
God, the believer is no longer a slave to sin. The one who accepts Christ as
Lord and Savior has been freed from sin, is called to live for God, should
consider him/herself dead to sin and look forward to the day when
perfection/sinlessness is gained because he or she will live with God (Romans
6:7-9). Until that great day, we will all have to deal with this sinful
body, believer and unbelievers alike.
The Struggle For All
Of Us:
I call it the struggle. We overcome by the renewing of our
mind with the truth of Christ. The Apostle Paul best describes the tug-o-war:
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do
not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do
not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I
who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 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. 19 For I do not do the good
I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that
dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do
right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner
being, 23
but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and
making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched
man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law
of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin (Romans
7:15-25).
So the new life of the believer is a turning away from sin
and evil (a turn to Christ), but for now is not a change from sin to
sinlessness, rather a change in direction. Let me use Frame’s words here: “Before
conversion, we love to sin and want to indulge in it more and more. After
conversion we hate sin, and our deepest desire is to be rid of it. Another way
to put it is that before conversion sin is our master; after conversion, our
master is Christ” (214). What an excellent description of the benefits
of becoming a believer of Christ Jesus!
In Jesus’ words: 31 So
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set
you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never
been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is
a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the
son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free
indeed”.
I thank God everyday for the truth of the Gospel of Christ.
Jesus came on a rescue mission for all mankind, but the choice is to each man,
woman, boy or girl to accept His message or to reject it.
References:
The Macarthur Study Bible. NKJV. USA: Thomas Nelson: 1997
Gundry, S. Cowan, S. Five Views On Apologetics. Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan (2000).
Written by Kevin A. Hall
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