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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: Hi Brother Robert… I hope you don’t mind that I picked you to ask this question, since a couple of others in this thread have quoted 1 John 1:8. Are you saying that 1 John 1:8 is one reason Christians should consider themselves sinners? (btw, I am using the biblical word for sinner: hamartolos - devoted to sin, a sinner, not free from sin, pre-eminently sinful, especially wicked, all wicked men, specifically of men stained with certain definite vices or crimes, tax collectors, heathen) Another point I have been pondering is this: Just because we have sin, as 1 John 1:8 states, does that automatically mean we will sin? I ponder this for 2 reasons: One because of what John said in 1 John 2:1: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He wrote that they sin NOT. BUT, he said IF any sin, not WHEN any sin. I see a big difference in those 2 little words. And two, because of what Paul said in Romans 6:11-12: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. From John and Paul, I gather that while we have sin, we are to consider ourselves dead to it and not let in reign in our mortal body. But IF we do sin, thank GOD Almighty, we have an advocate, our big Brother! Another reason I believe we are no longer sinners (as defined by the bible) is because we have been made new creatures and we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. When I think of the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (what we have been made into) being called a sinner, I think of 2 Cor 14-16: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. While I understand that this passage is talking about being yoked together with unbelievers, when I think of the righteousness of God and sinner being ‘joined’ in the Christian, I think ‘what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?’. And that is where I have difficulty calling a Christian a sinner (the biblical definition). My, this is longer that I had intended! : ) Grace and peace to you Meredith |