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By David on May 15, 2025
I believe this is one of the most important questions to get right. It speaks to the most central question of the gospel, which is how humanity is reconciled to God. Any error on the one hand will distort grace into a license to sin, while any error on the other hand will cause us to miss grace altogether.
When I was younger I was given an answer that nearly destroyed my soul: I was told by my youth pastor that my sin – pornography – was normal and that God “understands.” While this answer comforted me in the moment, it did nothing to heal the deep anguish and torment that I felt inside, which culminated in a spiritual crisis that couldn’t be ignored. Had I continued down the path that I was on, I know I would’ve fallen asleep in the darkness and perished. Though I knew the historicity of Jesus and had grown up in the Church, these things are meaningless unless one knows the abiding presence of the Lord. But I had only been given a theological faith, but not a living faith!
I came across this question being asked on X and the sampling of answers there illustrate the errors that led me to the crisis of my soul. One person wrote “yes, Jesus said ‘come as you are’ not get yourself right first.” Another said simply that “it’s a misconception that Christians ‘just magically’ overcome their sins” and concluded that “we’re all just humans”. But, are these kinds of answers true? And, do they lead to life or destruction?
To answer we must begin with the person and nature of God:
1 John 1:5–6 (CSB) — 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.
God’s nature is holy. Therefore, those who come near to him must likewise be holy. To say otherwise fundamentally misunderstands the nature of God. For this reason, God tells us in Scripture that those who wish to abide with him must walk in the light. The remainder of John’s first epistle will explain and contrast “the light” with “the darkness” so that we can know if we truly have fellowship with God, but the short explanation is that “the light” correlates to the life of faith that is expressed by love through the Spirit, while “darkness” correlates to an unrighteous life that is expressed by hatred through the flesh. So it’s necessary for those who want to fellowship with God to walk in the light.
The answer continues:
1 John 1:7–10 (CSB) — 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous 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.
Our personal sin is actively cleansed in fellowship with Jesus as we walk in the light. Here we discover that we do have sin. We are not yet restored to perfection in this life because of our flesh. And to ignore this reality is to deceive ourselves and lose the truth. But, as we live out our life of faith by love, the Spirit of God cleanses us from the sins of our flesh so that we can have fellowship with him. We continually confess our sins to God, seeking his forgiveness, and receive from him the mercy by which we are transformed.
Although John develops this answer in more detail, the template of his answer concludes:
1 John 2:1–2 (CSB) — 1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
The expectation of Christian life is that we should not sin. But, if we do sin, there is grace before the Father in Jesus Christ the righteous one!
One way you can know if you’re understanding John’s point is if you understand why John wrote “but if we sin” rather than “but when we sin“; sin is an ever present reality of the believer’s life because of our flesh, but it’s not a foregone conclusion. Instead, victory over sin should be the believer’s full expectation.
Here is where our faith waivers like the Israelite’s looking at the giants who inhabited the promised land, or like Israel growing weary of the conquest; we look at our sin and believe that it cannot be overcome, even by the indwelling Spirit of God, and so we are tempted to accept our sin just as they accepted the inhabitants of the land. But, to accept our sin – not merely to recognize its presence and confess it to God, but to indefinitely accept it – requires that we embrace lies that distort the gospel and can make shipwreck of our soul! The victory of faith comes only to those who fully regard Jesus as the Lord in their hearts, even over their failures and fiercest wars.
So, “can Christians follow Jesus and still struggle with their old habits?” Unfortunately, the answer to this question is neither a simple “yes” or “no” because the question uses modern language that blends Biblical categories. Do Christians contend with the realities of their flesh? Yes. Are Christians slaves to sin? No. Do Christians have familiar temptations that they must “daily die to” or risk committing sin? Yes. Do Christians remain in a state of sin so that sin is both their nature and expectation? No. We should expect to fight our flesh, but, through the cross of Jesus, we should also expect to win even when our fight goes on for a long time!
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