If Christians Are New Creations, Why Do They Still Sin?
- Barbara Latta Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
- Published May 24, 2021
When we make our commitment to Christ, we are born again and enter into the family of God.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV), "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
This verse tells us we are transformed. At this new birth moment, some people experience emotional highs and exhibit exuberant behavior. Over time, these feelings can fade, and the person may wonder if he or she really did receive anything from God.
Other people don’t have these extreme feelings of giddiness and may also doubt their salvation.
But in both cases, we are told that if we confess Christ we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8).
Our salvation is not dependent upon our senses. While emotional responses are understandable when we have received the greatest gift in the universe, our feelings are not what produced salvation. It was received by faith through the grace of God. The inner part of us is what has been born anew.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:6)
Because we are now translated from the power of darkness into the light of God, our behavior changes (Colossians 1:13-14). We want to please God and act in a Christlike manner.
But life happens, temptation lays traps, and we sometimes fall into it.
So, if we have a new nature, why do we still commit sin?
To answer this question, we need an understanding of our three-part identity.
Some theologies and commentaries use the terms soul and spirit interchangeably as if they are different words for the same thing. But the following verses make it clear these are two separate parts of us.
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:23b)
For the word of God is active and alive. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing of spirit and soul, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
As we explore each function of our being, we can better understand how we communicate with our heavenly Father.
1. The Spirit
Our spirit was dead before the new birth and that’s why we lived in darkness. But at salvation, our inner person became righteous and holy because of redemption. The new nature will never again become stained. When God came to reside inside us, we were raised to new life in Christ (Colossians 2:13). Committing sin doesn’t change who we are in the spirit.
At the cross, the Savior bought and gave us access to all His benefits. But unless we come to know what those benefits are, we will not dwell in the fullness of the Lord’s promises. We will continue to react according to old speculation, while ignoring the inner part of us.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:11)
2. The Soul
The Complete Jewish Bible states Romans 6:6 in this way, "We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-stake with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin."
This version paints a more vivid picture of crucifixion as the cross is called the execution stake. Jesus was executed and our sin was executed with Him.
The old nature was placed in the grave and a new person was resurrected with Christ. We were made new in our spirit, but our soul (mind, will, and emotions) wants to hang on to the old traits.
A Christian can still sin if the mind is not renewed. Before salvation, our soul was corrupted by the ways of the world. Old habits took root and became the norm. After we are born again, even though our spirit is righteous, our thinking must be changed by the Word of God to educate us on our identity in Christ (Romans 12:1-2). The more we come to know that truth, the more our behavior changes.
Our bodies and souls will only be totally redeemed when we receive our glorified body in heaven (Romans 8:23). But we can continue to grow in knowledge so our actions will become more like the One who resides in us (2 Peter 3:17-18).
After Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, He told Peter, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean.” (John 13:10)
Jesus was telling Peter that Peter didn’t need to rewash his whole body just because his feet were dirty. Likewise, we don’t have to become washed again in our spirit when our thoughts get contaminated. Peter needed to wash his feet to get rid of what he had picked up on the road. We wash off the effects of the world by regenerating our thought life.
When we have a revelation of this, it changes how we respond to the Lord and how we respond to temptation and punishing voices. We can stop the action before it starts, if we say to those words, “I am not condemned, I am the righteousness of God in Christ.”
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
The flesh cannot be fixed by castigating ourselves. All this does is keep us wallowing in guilt. Instead, we should focus on the righteousness that has been given to us by looking to Christ.
A mirror shows us a reflection of our physical self. We can look in the mirror and not like what we see. Wrinkles, a few gray hairs, flaws, zits, and limitations stare back.
The Bible is the mirror of who we really are. As long as we see ourselves through God’s eyes, we can know the holy image He gave us. But when the mirror’s answer is distorted through our thoughts or lies of the devil, we become enraged at ourselves. We let disapproval paint a wrong picture, and we act on that lie instead of the truth.
3. The Body
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)
The disciples of Jesus fell asleep while He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane because their flesh dominated their actions. They wanted to stay awake as He asked them, but their sleepy eyes controlled their bodies.
The way we weaken our flesh is to deny its desires. Fasting is a way to control our bodies. The more we deny our body what it wants, the less strength the appetite has over us.
We are tempted by lusts of the flesh (James 1:14). It is not our spirit being tempted. The more we listen to our inner being, which is connected to God, the more we deny ourselves and temptation has no power over us.
The more our bodies and minds come under the power of Christ, the less we give in.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:15-16)
We can still sin if we are giving in to the temptations of the flesh, but that iniquity is not affecting our heart and our right standing with God. We may feel guilt and shame but that is our conscience censuring us. Yes, we should repent so will stop the bad actions and meditations because sin may damage relationships with others, can produce consequences in physical bodies, and inflict penalties from society.
But God is not punishing us for those actions because He already punished His Son for our transgressions. (Isaiah 53:4-6) The Holy Judge poured His wrath on Jesus in our place at the cross and there is no more punishment for a born-again person. Those who reject Christ will still be under the wrath of God because even though their sins were paid for at the cross, if they are not accepting that payment, they are under condemnation. (John 3:36)
Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6: 11-14)
It takes effort to operate in the supernatural realm. Not the effort of works to earn favor, but the effort to not listen to what the flesh is saying. We exist in a physical world and we are bombarded daily, hourly, and every minute by words people say, images we see, and emotions we feel. We must make a conscious effort to spend more time listening to the Holy Spirit so that He is controlling us and not our flesh.
God isn’t finished with us yet. His work in us will continue until we see Him face to face. But each revelation we receive can be another step closer to fulfilling His plan in our lives. He doesn’t give up on us and He doesn’t want us to give up on ourselves.
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Photo Credit: ©GettyImage/fcscafeine
