Why do we still sin after salvation?

Answer

Salvation commences when we accept, through faith, God’s offer of forgiveness by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9;John 1:12). Jesus referred to it as being “born again” «Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. », (John 3:3). By repenting and forsaking our former life, we embrace the new life Jesus secured for us through His blood «Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. », (2 Corinthians 5:17,21) «For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.», (2 Corinthians 5:17,21). We are cleansed, and God chooses not to recall our sins «As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us. », (Psalm 103:12). However, we soon realize that our inclination to sin remains. How is this possible, considering we are new creations in Christ? We still sin because, despite being forgiven, we are still flawed human beings.

Salvation severs the dominion that sin once held over us. We were once enslaved to sin and willingly served it Romans 6:20-23, 7:14-15. While being slaves to sin, it was impossible to please God «So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. », (Romans 8:8). No matter how many times we tried to start fresh, behaved well, attended church, or did good deeds, our souls remained bound to unrighteousness, and we were condemned before God.

When we surrendered our lives to Jesus’ lordship, we became God’s sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:5;Romans 8:15). Just like children sometimes disobey their parents while growing up, God’s children may also disobey Him. We may rebel, become angry, or doubt temporarily; the difference is that we can no longer lead lives of sin because our nature has changed (2 Corinthians 5:17;1 John 3:4-10). A fish might desire to live on land, but once it finds itself on the shore, it only wishes to return to the water because its nature is not suited for dry land. A fish was made for the water. Likewise, those filled with the Holy Spirit are inclined to live righteously. While we may fall into sin occasionally, we cannot thrive there. The new nature flourishes in righteousness and obedience to God. The extent to which we allow the Holy Spirit into every aspect of our lives determines how closely we live as God intended.

Responsible parents do not allow their young child to play on the highway. They may begin with a firm warning, but if the child persists in moving toward the road, good parents will go after them, and the discipline will be memorable and effective. This is similar to when we, as God’s children, stiffen our resolve and head toward evil. Our Father comes after us. God does not permit us to get away with sin because He is a good Father. Hebrews 12:5&n

dash;11 says that God’s discipline in our lives is one way we can tell that we belong to Jesus.

To the praise of God’s glory, after we are saved, God deals with our sin differently than He did before we were saved. First John 1:9 tells us that we can confess our sin and be forgiven. Confession means we humbly agree with God about how bad sin is. We admit we were wrong and ask for His forgiveness. The awareness of our sin and the confession of it should be a regular practice. The first of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses says, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.” God can pardon us and maintain His justice because our sin was already paid for by Jesus. There is no need to punish us because He has already punished His Son «blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; », (Colossians 2:14).

As we “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” «But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.», (2 Peter 3:18), we overcome besetting sins «Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, », (Hebrews 12:1). Peter lists steps we can take in developing our new nature and ends with the promise that, if we do these things, we “will never stumble” (2 Peter 1:3-10). Our holiness is the goal, but John acknowledges that we still sin: “My

Dear children, I am writing to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” «My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: », (1 John 2:1).

God’s desire for us is that we do not sin, and one day our sanctification will be complete «Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be: but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. », (1 John 3:2). However, until that time, we still inhabit fallen bodies in a fallen world, and we struggle with the flesh and sometimes lose the battle. But we will not be lost; Jesus Himself intercedes for us as our High Priest «Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. », (Romans 8:34).