if you have been redeemed, and are a new creation in your heart, but you fall into temptation and steal - yet repent, hating what you do in your heart, though you may still fall into sin in your weakness -- then are you a "thief" because you have done it, or are you only a "thief" when you do it without repentance?
like, the former me was a thief. for sure. with no remorse: i did not call it sin in my heart.
the new, redeemed me, hates theft, and and if i fall into temptation and steal - i hate myself for it, and the act, and call it sin in my heart.
so the old me: definitely thief.
the new me: am i still a thief?
when would i become a thief, how do i stop being a thief, how long am i a thief?
say tomorrow i steal something.
the day after, i realize how wicked i was, and i repent. in my heart, i call it sin, and my will is not to do it anymore.
tomorrow am i a thief, but the day after i am not?
or am i still a thief forever until i *prove* i'm not any more by *never stealing again* -- which takes infinite time, doesn't it? because if i don't steal for 10,000 days, i might steal on the day 10,001, so i haven't proven i've stopped yet even after 10,000 days.
or did i cease to be a thief the day my heart was first changed?
these things need definitions.