So sin -- any sin? -- makes us "of the devil" huh?A simple test to see who you are of....
A fantastic post. Thank you.We need to define our terms here if we're going to have this discussion -- yet again!
What is willful sin? Is it sin that we plan? It is a thought we have that, even after considering it to be sin, we implement into action anyway? What exactly is "willful sin"? The verses that get kicked around on here regarding such sin are commonly Hebrews 4:4-6 -- which lifts the center of a paragraph out of context to reach it's conclusions -- and Hebrews 10:26, another verse that, removed from it's context, blinds people to the fact that it is talking about one thing and one thing only: Apostasy.
Apostasy is a deliberate turning from sound doctrine and believing some fanatical nonsense that purports to be related to the Gospel of Christ. We have many people like that on here, though they haven't made the total break, being unwilling to admit what they believe is completely, totally, and utterly unbiblical. People who believe in water baptism, for example. People who believe salvation can be lost, for another. There are entire "families" of people on here to huddle together and support one another in outrageously unbiblical nonsense and bash everyone else over the head with it because the rest of us refuse to be blinded by those lies.
Essentially, willful sin is going back to self-trust, believing that by something within one's self, one can "not sin." It's an utter fabrication of belief, for no where in the Bible does God say that believer's behavior is dependent upon anything within him/her, other than the Holy Spirit. It is He who "keeps" us from sin, which is why, when we sin unthinkingly -- and by that, I don't mean we don't know it is sin, but that we blow through our own safeguards against sin like a car thief running through a police roadblock -- the Holy Spirit prods our own spirit and convicts us of the sin.
If we ignore that prick of conscience, we put our relationship with Christ in peril. It is like a wound that festers, heals, and develops a thicker skin over it. We can insulate ourselves from our sin so that we then begin rationalizing it, which further damages the relationship with Christ and continues us on a road of disobedience that will not end until we renew that relationship, confess our sin, and restore ourselves to fellowship. No where in that process have we "lost our salvation," but we have certainly walked in darkness that, if it were possible (and it is not), would cut us off completely from the Light.
OK, long-winded set up, but to answer the question, yes. Everybody does. If you say you have no sin in you, you are a liar. John said so in 1 John 1:8. But he also said immediately afterwards ...
1 John 1, NASB
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In Galatians 5, Paul uses the juxtaposition of "Spirit" and "flesh" to contrast the ways in which we walk in Christ. He says we walk in both, and our acts are according to which one we choose to obey: Our own desires, or Christ's through the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5
7 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
But we have control over this war, by the simple decision we make to follow not the flesh, but the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5
8 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Paul then lists the obvious results of walking in the flesh, contrasting them with the fruit of the Spirit, which everyone knows is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, against which there is no law. And he finishes his thesis with this:
Galatians 5
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
We say we live by the Spirit, but we do not always walk in the Spirit. Paul makes an eloquent plea for us to be aware, it is a choice daily how we will walk. When we choose the flesh, confess and get on with our lives, and keep no accounts that we think might add up to losing our salvation, and in particular, don't keep others' accounts for them. That's the error so many make around this board.
Like asking the question in the OP, for example.
Though I agree with you that salvation is being saved from sin, and not saved in sin, could you really say you never sin ever? You have never once messed up since coming to Christ, and had to repent?
So sin -- any sin? -- makes us "of the devil" huh?
Rubbish.
Romans 7, NASB
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
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.
The great apostle struggled, and yes, that is him, in the present day of his writing. It isn't a metaphor, an image, or a pre-saved Paul's perspective. That was Paul's perspective as he sat in a house church in Corinth, dictating directly to Tertius, his scribe. You who claim sin costs us our salvation are blind to the reality of what power we have, but more importantly, Who it actually belongs to. Hint: Not you.
A simple test to see who you are of....
1 John 3:8[SUP] "[/SUP]He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."
1 John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
Messenger get shot again?
LOL
Paul often spoke like a sinful man in order to relate to sinners.
Romans 6:19
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Im sorry op but what you are asking is a trick question its not a yes or no answer because if we are all honest the answer is yes but we willingly sin because of the weakness of the flesh for the most part the other part is simply our choosing to sin. if any person claims to be without sin not only are fooling themselves they are probably worse off than those who admit to sin. and imo anyone who posts scripture how if we sin we belong to the devil or how we are supposed to have no sin is throwing the stone at the woman when jesus said let him without sin throw the first stone.
there is a reason the world sees us as hypocrites you know......