subject: How Can a Christian Sin? [print this page] "Can Christians Sin" is one of the most perplexing issues in scripture.. When I became a Christian I sought to appreciate everything about my new life. While reading through John 1 I came across this declaration: "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." ( 1 John 1:8) I said to myself, "O,k.! My uncertainty about Christian sin has been solved. Sin is feasible for Christians. In fact, if we claim that we cannot sin, we are lying.
I continued reading through the book. A short while later I read chapter 3, that said: "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." (1 John 3:6) I objected, "Wait a minute! Just a few chapters ago the Bible said that a Christian is capable of sin, but here it seems to be asserting that a person who sins does not even know God! This is bizarre!
Since that day I have discovered that almost every Christian trips over this issue at some point. I have been drawn back toit many times because I don't like puzzlement and contradictions. I will briefly share my analysis with you because you may be confused, as well.
The key to the mystery is to get a comprehensive understanding of the meanings of these two passages. I am going to talk about them in somewhat more more detail now:
1 John 1:8. Review a parallel view of some different Bible translations of this verse. Parallel Bibles can be found on the Internet by doing a Google query. You will see that most of them use phrases like "have no sin" or "claim to be without sin." For most interpretors the passage does not seem to be declaring that Christians are sinful, but simply that they possess the capability to sin. On the contrary, scripture appears to indicate that non-Christians are by nature incapable of doing anything besides sin..
1 John 3:6. When you review a parallel translation of this passage you will no doubt notice that most translators come up with meanings like "does not continue to sin" or "does not keep on sinning". In other words, the Christian doesn't commit the same sins over and over again while knowing that they are improper. As before, non-Christians are different. They can do nothing that is not sin..
I believe that to "keep on sinning" implies "sinning with without consequences." In other words, to have the ability to declare, "I am aware that it is sinful but I'm going to keep on doing it nevertheless," or, in the instance of a Christian, to be able to continue to sin even with the understanding of what it costs the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as other people. These two passages can be aligned in the understanding that Christians can commit sins but cannot do so over and over again without being negatively affected by it. To do so is not consistent with a Christian nature..
When we discuss Christian sin we cannot dodge the question of what constitutes the "Christian nature"? We must determine what the Bible means when it states "...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17) if, like me, you want to to believe that God rebirths Christians so they are unable to sin. This, however, is not true; at least as long as we are in this "corruptible" body. (I Corinthians 15:53, KJV) The "new things" that are created when we are reborn are things that influence our our desires. We have been converted from a person that is controlled by the will to sin into a new creation that is capable of being controlled by the will to act righteously. Doing so is a rocky road that we describe as "sanctification."
