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NASB | Romans 6:12 ¶ Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 6:12 ¶ Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and passions. |
Subject: Can we live life without sinning? |
Bible Note: Greetings Kcabml4! Excellent questions my friend! Your questions seem to fall into two categories, so I will try to address those two. 1) What power does sin have over a believer? Before a person comes to Christ, sin holds absolute sway over a person. Each one is subject to (as the old preachers used to say) the power, presence, and penalty of sin. Christ breaks that hold, but that does not mean that we can no longer sin. Even Adam and Eve, who had no sin nature, still had the possibility of sin, but they also had the possibility of obedience as well. The ability to obey God comes as a result of salvation, so a person who obeys God after being redeemed is not saving themselves since the very ability to resist sin only comes as a result of God's saving grace. 2) Can a Christian lose his or her salvation? The short answer is 'no'! Allow me to clarify though! There are two main schools of thought concerning salvation in Christianity - Calvanism and Arminianism. Neither one teaches that someone can lose his salvation. However, Arminianism does teach that someone can willfully reject his salvation. Allow me to illustrate: Suppose a Christian tells a lie. That Christian does not cease to be a Christian because he or she committed an act of sin. A person is not saved by what he or she does, neither can a person be unsaved by what he or she does. However, sin can harden a person's heart. So, if that Christian continues to engage in willful sin, the danger is that the person's heart could become so hardened that he or she will reject Christ. This seems to be the person described in Hebrews as the one who is unable to be renewed unto repentance. I would never use the word 'lose' in terms of salvation. One can lose a wallet, but one can never 'lose' salvation. ;-) Now, for all my Calvinist friends on the forum, I am not interested in a debate on this topic. I was simply responding to a direct question about my post. A post, which had nothing to do with Calvinism and Arminianism. :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |