John does say "If we say we have no sin - we lie." John is addressing those that say they have no sin. All people still have sin in the flesh. The inner man in Christ - the new creation - does not sin nor can sin but we can give in to the deeds of the body.
Romans 7:16-23 (NASB)
[SUP]16 [/SUP] But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
[SUP]17 [/SUP] So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
[SUP]18 [/SUP] 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.
[SUP]19 [/SUP] For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
[SUP]20 [/SUP] 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.
[SUP]21 [/SUP] I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
[SUP]22 [/SUP] For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
[SUP]23 [/SUP] 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.
Romans 8:10 (NASB)
[SUP]10 [/SUP] If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
John was also addressing in 1 John 1 gnostic beliefs - They were the beginning of a sect called the Gnostics who believed that they had no sin and thus didn't need Christ.
Muzungu256 - what Grace777 is conveniently bypassing is the section of Romans just after the passages above:
Romans 7
[SUP]24 [/SUP]O wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of death? [SUP]25 [/SUP]
I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
At this point pause......which one should you serve? The Law of God, or the Law of Sin?
Let's go on:
Romans 8
8
There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[SUP][
a][/SUP]
who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
<if you walk according to the Spirit = no condemnation; If you fulfill the lusts of the flesh you will be condemned> [SUP]2 [/SUP]
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
<muzungu - do you see this? That the new law overrides the old law, and we are no longer bound by the law of sin and death, so long as we live by the new law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus> [SUP]3 [/SUP]For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God
did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
[SUP]4 [/SUP]that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. <we fulfill the law in the Spirit, if we walk according to the Spirit> [SUP]5 [/SUP]For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those
who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. [SUP]6 [/SUP]For to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. [SUP]7 [/SUP]Because the carnal mind
is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. [SUP]8 [/SUP]So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
<you cannot live according to the flesh and still call yourself a saved Christian. You need to forsake your sins. God wishes all to come to repentance. He is longsuffering towards us. But the day of judgement is at hand. Whom will you serve?>
[SUP]9 [/SUP]But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
<many here will claim to have the Spirit, yet by their behaviour and sinful lifestyle, they are disqualified. Unrepentant. You will know them by their fruit.> Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. [SUP]10 [/SUP]And if Christ
is in you, the body
is dead because of sin
<you have victory over the flesh>, but the Spirit
is life because of righteousness. [SUP]11 [/SUP]But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
<give life to our mortal bodies, by implication, means that we will not serve the fallen nature but be led by the Spirit. We have a new master. And our bodies respond in obedience and holiness to the new Master>
Romans 12
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy,
acceptable to God,
which is your
reasonable service. [SUP]2 [/SUP]
And do not be conformed to this world <an instruction>, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind <new man in Christ>, that you may prove what
is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.
- that is the will of God. Our transformation. Holiness. Separation unto Him. A holy sacrifice. Present your bodies. Not spotted by the world.
If any man tells you that you can have your sins and Christ together, flee from such a man.