Over this past year I began to strongly believe that through Jesus Christ, because we have been transformed into new creatures, we are no longer sinners but saints. We have freedom from sin and do not HAVE to sin ever again. We may sin, but it is not necessary because we are new creatures.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17If that's not a convincing enough verse, how about checking out Romans 6?
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:1-7So from what I thought I had learned this past year I was convinced. It makes sense. The new life Christ offers us is not only for the eternal, but for the here and now! Alright. Theology issue solved!
I recently read Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith. In it he talks about how we are not sinners saved by grace.
When I hear christians say 'I'm just a sinner saved by grace,' I want to say, 'That makes as much sense as a butterfly saying, 'I'm just a worm with wings.''See where I'm going? But then... I encounter conflicts with this theology, or so it seems. Time and time again I hear the phrase being used. "We're all sinners". I read Jesus' words in Luke. He talks about the Pharisee and the tax collector, where the tax collector beats his chest and says 'God, have mercy on me a sinner'. And I think about the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner".
I want to combat it all and say, no that's not true! We are new creatures, we have been transformed into saints! But then I have to ask myself whether or not I have found complete transformation and I realize I haven't. Even last night as my pastor talked about how we all sin and need forgiveness and we always need to ask for forgiveness, at first I wanted to say, "Wait, what about transformation?" but I couldn't, cause in that very day I chose disobedience to God and sinned.
All of this to say, I can only come up with this conclusion for the time being, and this being one that I felt God give me peace about:
We ARE all sinners. We each have sinned and only found grace and renewal through Jesus Christ. There is also freedom from sin in Jesus Christ! We ARE new creatures, even now! However there are times that the habits of who we once were still try to claim us. Without the blood of Christ we would be mere sinners. Without the blood of Christ we are NOT righteous or saints, but we can expect his strength to give us freedom from sin in our lives. Sure none of us may ever figure out how to always rely on his strength so that sin never comes again, but EVEN IF that were to happen, it would only be by the power of Jesus delivered through the Holy Spirit. And if it doesn't happen, if we find ourselves in sin again, we can turn to God knowing that his love surrounds us and Jesus' blood cleanses us and turn to our brothers and sisters knowing they understand us.
We, as Christians, are not just worms with wings, but we are butterflies that know what it means to be a worm and must never forget that it is only by Jesus' blood that we were transformed.
Your thoughts are more than welcome! =)
I remember that the way the Chaney lecture guest speaker put it: We are saints that sin (in the sense that the sin is intermittent, not habitual, from what I understood). It seems an odd thing to say, at least to my ears, but this does seem to fall in line with the way Paul seems to have used the term in 1 Cor 1.2:
ReplyDelete"To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours" (NASB).
The first three parts of the greeting seem synonymous--the church at Corinth are those who have been sanctified; those who are saints by calling. The fourth part appears to direct the letter to all believers. Thus, the believers in Corinth are referred to as saints. But, looking at chapter 3 and 11 of the epistle, the Corinthians were not exactly the type of folk that one might categorize as "saints." Paul points out their jealousy and discord, as well as their getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper. Of course, Paul tells them to knock it off and shape up (rather like Paul’s words from Rom 6 that you referenced in your post).
However, a distinction of some sort does seem to be made in chapter 5. It is here my own difficulty in understanding begins. Paul says some interesting words (words that I would imagine would be unpopular in a contemporary church setting). He judges an immoral member of the church at Corinth, instructs that he be kicked out, and also appears to identify the person as a false believer. I find the bit near the end especially interesting, “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one” (1 Cor 5.11 NASB). Paul’s distinction between believers and non-believers here is very… Interesting. I’m not sure I totally understand the difference between saints that sin and these immoral fellows. I hope to study it more. However, at a cursory glance, the characteristics mentioned in the verse seem to be habitual sins--something that might be considered a lifestyle. But, again, I’d like to study it.
Of course, this is all without bringing 1 John into the mess…
Returning back to the saint vs sinner topic, I wonder this: What is a sinner saved by grace? Could it be, perhaps, that a sinner saved by grace IS a saint? Perhaps we are no longer sinners--that is to say, perhaps we are no longer dead in our sin. Sinners are not saints; perhaps we can draw a difference between sinners and sinners-saved-by-grace? Can we say sinners-saved-by-grace are saints, but sinners-saved-by-grace are not sinners?
Of course, now I may be splitting the fine ends of hairs that really should be left alone (after all, I'm sure that who/whatever is attached to the hairs doesn't want to deal with split ends).
Thank you for a very thought-provoking post; if I had a thumbs-up emoticon to use at the end of this comment, I’d totally do so.
Thank you for your reply! That is definitely some food for thought and it makes sense. I never would have made that distinction between a sinner and a sinner saved by grace. And it does put a twist on things to think maybe the saint is a sinner saved by grace.
ReplyDeleteAnd it does put things in perspective when you consider Paul's introduction to the Corinthians and then his message to them. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!