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NASB | Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 3:23 since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, |
Subject: Are christians sinners or not? |
Bible Note: Dear Retxar Are christians sinners or not? I was thinking about this question as I was walking this morning. I had been asking the Lord to forgive me of my sins. I have made it a practice to confess my sins, at least once each day. I always have something to confess. Thank God I have the witness of scriptures such as Rom 7 to comfort me and to give me hope. I do believe that all my sins, past, present and future, have been imputed to Jesus and that His righteousness has been imputed to me. May He be praised forever! But I still see myself as a sinner whose only hope is my position in Christ. Rom 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. I am a sinner because my sanctification is not yet complete, and will not be complete until I see Him face to face. Until that time, I will rejoice in my justification and look forward to the day of my glorification. Rom 8:29,30 "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." To say we sin but are not "sinners" seems wrong to me. I know that we are not under the domain of sin and that we now hate what we formerly loved, and that we do not "practice" or follow a sinful lifestyle any longer. But we are still sinners, in that we still sin. To say otherwise is to deny the obvious. There is an important distinction between the sinners we were (before our new birth) and the sinners we are now. That distinction is that the Father sees us as holy and righteous. Not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has done on our behalf. It is not because we do not "practice sin" that we are called saints, it is because we have believed that we are saints (hagios: most holy thing, a saint.) Rom 3:28 "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." 2 Rom 4:6 "just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:" If we tell non-believers that we are not sinners, who will believe us? Certainly not those who know us! I am content that I can say: Yes. I am still a sinner but God is not finished me with me yet and in the meantime, He does not charge my sin against me because the they have been paid fo by Jesus Christ. God Bless, John |