Yesterday I made the case that
Romans 7:14-25 is talking about Paul’s present experience, as he was writing
that epistle. My biggest argument is—I believe—an appeal to Occam’s razor:
Paul throughout that passage is using the present tense, not the past. To me,
this says that he’s not talking about his life pre-conversion, nor about a time
of falling away from faithfulness to the Lord, nor is he talking about a
hypothetical person. When he’s talking about a struggle with sin—one which he
sometimes loses—he’s talking about his present reality.
One of the biggest problems some
people have with my interpretation actually is rooted in a larger theological
divide I have with them. The root issue is not how to interpret that certain
passage, but a much more fundamental question: Is it possible for a believer—in
this life—to get to a point in his walk with Christ where he’s without sin? My
short answer, as best as I can tell from Scripture, is no.
Like I mentioned, I have dear ones
within my own family who disagree with me. I highly respect them, and our
disagreements haven’t been rancorous but cordial. I respect them, and they
respect me. In short, they believe in perfectionism,
the doctrine that it’s possible, in this life, for a believer to attain a level
of obedience and closeness to the Lord that they’re sinless. Their arguments
are as follows:
First, the main
Scripture they present for their case, that I think is their strongest, is 2 Peter 1:3-4:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life
through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that
through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Peter says explicitly that God has given us everything we need for a godly life. I have no excuse for my sin. A nonbeliever doesn’t have what I have, primarily the Holy Spirit within him. I can participate in the divine nature, and I can escape the corruption of the world.
Peter says explicitly that God has given us everything we need for a godly life. I have no excuse for my sin. A nonbeliever doesn’t have what I have, primarily the Holy Spirit within him. I can participate in the divine nature, and I can escape the corruption of the world.
But...I don't think this passage is referring to a life completely sin-free. In my mind, there's a difference between a godly life and a sin-free one. The passage assumes that all believers have "escaped the corruption in the world" in some sense, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you've escaped it in the sense of being perfectly obedient.
Another
passage they point to—and entirely justifiably so—is Romans 6. The main point
of that chapter is that we're no longer slaves to sin. He declares
unequivocally that “sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not
under the law, but under grace.” He is not trying to make a case in that
chapter that you shouldn’t live a
lifestyle controlled by sin. If you’re a believer, you will not do so because you cannot
do so.
I totally agree
with them that a believer’s lifestyle in general will be marked by greater
and
greater obedience. If no one can tell from the general direction of your life
that you belong to Christ, then I think you need to reread 1 John, especially these
verses. As I’ve forcefully argued before,
if someone doesn’t experience a change in the direction of their life, there's real reason to doubt that they’re saved to begin with.
But I make a huge distinction between 1) a
“believer” who doesn’t make any attempt to live a godly life and 2) one who makes
a determined effort (utilizing God’s grace like Peter mentioned above) but who
falls and fails frequently. They don’t see sin as a sexy ex-girlfriend whose number they keep on their speed dial, hoping they might get together someday if the circumstances are right. They see
sin as a mortal enemy who needs to be fought tooth and nail using every
resource they have. Person # 2 is still basically living a godly life (meaning oriented towards God and not towards something else), and in a very real sense any believer is participating in the divine nature and has escaped the corruption in the world. If they haven't--if there's no sign of them resisting this corruption at all--then I don't believe this "believer" is truly saved at all.
I can explain the verses they put
forward, but—quite frankly—I haven’t heard them deal with mine yet. If you
don’t accept my interpretation of Romans 7 (which is understandable,
considering the language he uses about the person being described), then how about
today’s passage? Or how do you deal with 1
John 1:8-10: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have
not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” John says
that if you claim to be without sin, then you deceive yourself. My friend, if
you claim to be without sin, then that’s the only person you’re really
deceiving. I guarantee you that if I asked your spouse or someone who
lives with you “Is this person sin-free?” they'd give a very different
answer than the one you just gave.
And let's not forget the most famous prayer in the Bible, one repeated every day by millions of believers: "The Lord's Prayer" (although I have a little quibble with that title). This prayer is designed for you to pray daily, right? I mean, we're meant to ask for our daily bread. But in the line right next to asking for our daily bread, Jesus instructs us to ask the Father to forgive our debts just like we forgive our debtors. So it sure looks like he's assuming that 1) We need to ask for daily forgiveness and that 2) that we'll also need to forgive others as they sin against us.
I’m running a bit long here, so
we’ll carry this through to tomorrow. In the meantime, why don’t you make
today’s passage your meditation? I think it’s the perfect way to look at your
sinful past, your progressively better present, and your glorious future.
Lord Jesus, that’s my prayer. I want to
forget what's behind and strain toward what is ahead, pressing on toward the
goal to win the prize for which the Father called me heavenward in you. By your
grace, I’m going to press on to take hold of that for which you took hold of
me. Let’s both of us get to work, shall we?
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