Sinful Desires and Repentance

“Whoever abides in Him does not sin…. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” I John 3:6,9

“Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Romans 7:20

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:14-15

 I noted in a recent article that the passage in I John is absolute in the original – it is not that a Christian does not “habitually” sin but that a Christian does not sin period. Yet we also know from John 1:8 that even Christians sin. What John is telling us is that when we become Christians we obtain a new sinless nature like God’s nature. That now is who we are. However, our flesh (old nature) remains and wars against our new nature (controlled by the Spirit) so we do not always live as we wish (Galatians 5:17). When we sin as Christians it is not we that do it any longer but the sin that still resides in our old nature.

As any true Christian will hate their sin and have a desire to not sin, the question becomes why do Christians sin as much as they do and how can we overcome it. I believe the key starts with the moment that the desire to sin first rises. Rosaria Butterfield, a converted former lesbian, author and lecturer who speaks against the the current homosexual/transgender culture from a Biblical perspective has said that all sins are a deed of the flesh and the only way to defeat them is through true repentance. She believes that a person has to “drive a nail” into sinful desires every day. The desire itself is the beginning of sin and cannot be left alone or will eventually be acted on. As soon as the first desire comes you flee from it as Joseph did Potiphar’s wife and over time you will gain victory over your sin as the desire grows weaker.

You first must be sure you have truly repented of the sin and no longer desire the sin in your life. Repentance is defined as “a change of attitude and action from sin toward obedience to God”. We are not to let sin reign in our mortal body (Romans 6:12) and we have the power through the Holy Spirit not to if we have truly repented of our sins. It is our choice to utilize the power of the Spirit through faith to enable us to live an ever increasing holy life. As a child of God we can no longer sin and this is our eternal destiny. Only choosing to allow our old nature back in the game causes us to sin.