This is one of the most confusing questions in the Bible. When I became a Christian I desired to know everything about my brand new life. While reading through John 1 I discovered this assertion: "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." ( 1 John 1:8) I thought, "O,k.! There is theresolution to my uncertainty about Christian sin. Sin is possible for Christians. In fact, if we say that we cannot sin, we are lying.
I enthusiastically read further. In a little while I arrived at chapter 3, where I read: "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." (1 John 3:6) I deliberated, "Wait up! I just understood from chapter 1 that Christians have the capacity to sin, and now I'm reading that a person who sins does not "abide in" or even "know" God! What is happening here?
Since that day I have learned that almost every Christian stumbles on this concern at some point. I have reviewed it on many occasions because I am annoyed by contradictions and uncertainty. I will concisely share my analysis with you because you may be perplexed, as well.
The perplexity can be eliminated by discernment the real meanings of the two verses. I am going to discuss them in a little more detail now:
1 John 1:8. Review a parallel view of a few different Bible translations of this verse. You can find a parallel Bible by searching for the phrasee on the Web. You will notice that most of them use terms like "have no sin" or "claim to be without sin." For most translators the passage does not appear to be saying that Christians are sinful, but merely that they possess the capacity to sin. Quite the opposite, Biblical doctrine seems to declare that non-Christians are unable to do anything other than sin..
1 John 3:6. If you investigate a parallel Bible translation of this verse you will agree that most translators use phrases like "does not keep on sinning" and "does not continue to sin" to express the nature of the Christian. In other words, the Christian doesn't perpetrate the identical sins again and again despite knowing that they are sinful. Once more, this is in contrast to the non-Christian, who does not merely sin repeatedly, but cannot do anything else.
I like to say that "to keep on sinning" means "sinning with without fear of consequences." In other words, to have the ability to declare, "I am aware that it is improper but I am going to keep doing it anyway," or, in the instance of a Christian, to have the ability to keep on sinning even with the knowledge of what it costs the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as others. I believe it is consistent with both of these passages to say that Christians find it possible to sin but can't sin repeatedly without being affected by it. That is discordant with the redeemed nature.
When we talk about Christian sin we cannot escape the question of what comprises the "Christian nature"? We have to comprehend what the scripture implies by "...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) I imagine most Christians would prefer to believe that the "new creation" can't sin. This, however, is not true; at least as long as we are in this "corruptible" physical body. (I Corinthians 15:53, KJV) The "new things" that result from our deliverance are the things of the will. We have changed from a being that is enslaved by the will to sin into a new creature that is capable of being controlled by the will to act virtuously. Doing that is a journey that we describe as "sanctification."
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