I am not saying that a man can be a Christian and still sin.
So what is this...
You are in Romans 7 but please ignore those who say that the chapter is about the unsaved man. It is not, it is a man who has come under conviction by the Holy Spirit that you have a need to be delivered from the law of sin and death because you have been trying to walk by the flesh.
You position is...
1. A Christian can be carnal and sold under sin.
2. The Romans wretch is saved.
Please ignore those who say that the chapter is about the unsaved man? What has the wretch been saved from exactly? Certainly not sin because he is still in bondage and a slave to whom he obeys.
You are upholding the classic Arminian error of Entire Sanctification or the Second Work of Grace. Under this theology an individual is saved IN their sins. They are saved and left in a state of bondage. What is your solution to this predicament? It is this...
What you need is to pray that you will be delievered by seeing what Christ did on the cross in killing your old nature and be willing to submit yourself entirely to Him.
Pray that "you will be" delivered by "seeing what Jesus did on the cross in killing your old nature" and be "willing to submit entirely." That is nonsense.
You have a "saved Christian" who has not submitted entirely to Jesus. Your advice to this individual, whom is still in rebellion, is to "pray, see and be willing to submit." The Bible does not take that approach at all. You have bought into a theology which offers an indefinite grey area of ongoing disobedience which serves as a fantastic excuse to delay a genuine repentance.
Also what is this, "what Christ did on the cross in killing your old nature" ???? Where is that in the Bible?
The Bible says...
Rom 6:5 For
if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
IF we have been planted in the likeness of His death. Jesus doesn't do it for you. Jesus didn't do it for you. We have to follow the example of Jesus and DIE TO SIN in repentance. The cross is a picture of the repentance and subsequent new birth experience. The cross is an example for us to follow.
IF we have been planted together in the likeness of His death then our old man IS crucified with Him. Our old man is crucified with Jesus for the express purpose of destroying the body of sin which brings an end to the service of sin in our lives. The body of sin is that old man who walked in the flesh subject to the lusts of the flesh, it is the beast man.
The Romans wretch is a picture of the beast man being brought under conviction. The Romans wretch has not died to the law (which only regulates the outward man) in order to be raised up to serve the Spirit (which regulates the inward man). The Romans wretch has to die to the law by the body of Christ (ie. identifying with the death of the old man in repentance and the rebirth by the Spirit through obedience to the truth) in order to escape bondage.
None of this is complicated.
What complicates it is the erroneous teachings of people like John Wesley, John Calvin and others. People read commentaries and have there minds corrupted with fallacies and then they cannot perceive the simplicity of what the Bible is saying because they read it through a theological filter.
Scripture is clear, whoever sins is of the devil. I call those who are struggling with sin and have come to Christ at one point, believers just like the disciples before they were baptised by the Holy Ghost and became Christians. Tell me please what your definition of sin is? Do you have thoughts that are outside of the will of God? Do you lust when you see an attractive woman? If so then you are not a Christian yet despite not acting on your thoughts.
All your questions are rooted in a foundation of Second Blessing theology. You have to count all that stuff as dung before you can even hope to grasp what I am saying. If you continue to force the traditions of men into the Bible then you will always be confused as to what I am saying.
Sin means "missing the mark" or "not going the correct way." Yet the context of "sin" goes much deeper. The sin that kills is rebellion, not ignorantly missing the mark.
Repentance purges rebellion by destroying the iniquity in the heart of a sinner. Thus it is the willful sin which ceases once and for all for a Christian. We are still tempted for temptation is common to man but we bring our minds into submission to Christ and thus are not drawn away by our natural passions. We bring every thought into submission to God.
Thus we no longer lust after women or entertain sinning in our minds. We are crucified with Christ and we no longer live but He lives in us. This is what Christianity is all about. It is a MANIFEST STATE or an ABIDING WALK.
Wesleyian theology tries to split it into two parts allowing room for "partial obedience" whilst giving people comfort that "total obedience" will come some time later down the track. In other words it is just another disguise for teaching you can sin and not surely die.
Don't be fooled.