If I am saved and all of my sins are forgiven, why not continue to sin?

The Christian Life as a Changed Life

If I am saved and all my sins are forgiven, why not continue to sin? The Apostle Paul answered a very similar question. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means.

We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? The idea that a person could trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and then go on living just as he or she lived before is absolutely foreign to the Bible.

Believers in Christ are new creations. The Holy Spirit changes us from producing the acts of the flesh to producing the fruit of the Spirit. The Christian life is a changed life because the Christian is changed.

Christianity Versus Every Other Religion

What differentiates Christianity from every other religion is that Christianity is based on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Every other world religion is based upon what we must do to earn God's favor and forgiveness.

Every other religion teaches that we must both start and stop doing certain things in order to earn God's love and mercy. Christianity teaches that we start and stop doing certain things because of what Christ has done for us.

How could anyone, having been delivered from sin's penalty, go back to living the same life that had him on the path to hell in the first place? How could anyone, having been cleansed from the defilement of sin, desire to go back to the same cesspool of depravity?

How could anyone, knowing what Jesus Christ did on our behalf, go on living as if he were not important? How could anyone, realizing how much Christ suffered for our sins, continue sinning as if those sufferings were meaningless?

Dead to Sin and Alive to God in Christ Jesus

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

What then?

Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? By no means. For the truly converted, then, continuing to live sinfully is not an option, because our conversion resulted in a completely new nature.

Our desire is to no longer live in sin. Yes, we still sin, but now we hate it and we wish to be delivered from it. The idea of taking advantage of Christ's sacrifice by continuing to live sinfully is unthinkable.

Examining Whether We Are Truly in the Faith

Christians who find themselves living lives indistinguishable from those of unbelievers should examine whether they have ever genuinely received Christ as Savior. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you, unless, of course, you fail the test? That answers the question, if I am saved and all of my sins are forgiven, why not continue to sin?

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