Why do we still sin after salvation? | GotQuestions.org

Hi there. Many others like you have asked, why do we still sin after salvation? Let's find out, shall we? You can also discover this answer and more on gotquestions .org. Salvation begins the moment we receive, by faith, God's offer of forgiveness through Jesus.

New Birth and Salvation by Faith

Jesus called it being born again. In repenting and giving up our old life, we receive the new life Jesus purchased for us. We are washed clean and God chooses to forget our sins, but we soon notice that our propensity to sin is still part of us.

Why Believers Still Sin in Fallen Bodies

As new creatures in Christ, how can that be? We still sin because, although forgiven, we're still fallen humans. Salvation breaks the power that sin once had over us. We were slaves to sin and served it.

While slaves to sin, it was impossible to please God. Regardless of how often we turned over a new leaf, straightened up, went to church, or performed righteous deeds, our souls were still enslaved to unrighteousness and we stood as condemned before God.

Upon surrender of our lives to the lordship of Jesus, we became God's sons and daughters. But just as children sometimes disobey their parents as they grow, God's children sometimes disobey him. We rebel, we get angry, we're down for a while.

The New Nature and the Holy Spirit's Work

The difference is we can no longer live lifestyles of sin because our nature has changed. A fish may long to live on the beach, but once it has flipped itself onto the sand, it wants nothing but to return to the water because its nature is not designed for dry land.

As a fish was created for the water, so it is with us. The nature of those indwelt by the Holy Spirit is to live in righteousness. We may flip ourselves into sin at times, but we can't survive there. The degree to which we allow the Holy Spirit access to every area of our lives is the degree in which we live as God intended us to live.

Good parents don't let their toddler play in the highway. They may start with a stern warning, but if the child persists in heading towards the road, good parents stop them with memorable and effective discipline.

So it is when God's children charge toward evil. God does not allow us to get away with sin because he is a good father. His discipline in our lives is one way we can tell that we belong to Jesus. After we are saved, God deals with our sin differently than he did before we were saved.

Confession, Forgiveness, and Ongoing Repentance

We can confess our sin and be forgiven. Confession means we humbly agree with God about how bad sin is, admit we were wrong, and ask his forgiveness. This 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. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we overcome besetting sins. Peter notes steps we can take in developing our new nature with holiness as the goal.

John acknowledges that we still sin. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And in conclusion, God's desire for us is that we not sin.

Sanctification Will Be Completed in Glory

And one day our sanctification will be complete. But until that time, we still inhabit fallen bodies in a fallen world, and we struggle with the flesh, and we sometimes lose the battle. But we will not be lost.

Jesus himself intercedes for us as our high priest. All right, that answers your question. Why do we still sin after salvation? On our website, GotQuestions .org, you'll find an in-depth article with citations and resource suggestions.

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