“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1John 2:1)
John writes “if any man sin...” Of course, we all sin. It may be confusing. How can we say we do not sin and yet we do sin? To understand this, we must understand that we are three-part beings. We are spirits who live in a body and have a soul (mind, will and emotions). Our minds are influenced by either the spirit or the flesh. If we have been born again of God, our human spirit is holy and pure. It’s sinless and eternal. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” (1John 5:18) Our human spirit is in constant communion with the Holy Spirit in us. But we battle daily with our flesh. Our flesh is of this world. It will stay here when our appointed time comes to leave. Meanwhile it wants what it wants.
It's undeniable that we live in this world. This world is influenced by God’s enemy, the devil. After the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on an ass, John records the words of Jesus on hearing that some Greeks wanted to see Him. “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” (John 12:31) While He was on this earth, His ministry was to the Jews. The time for the Gentiles would come after His resurrection, when He'd obtained salvation for all. But His declaration of the devil as the prince of this world gives us insight. The devil roams this earth and influences this world. Peter wrote: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (1Peter 5:8) Just as the Bible Jews were certain that Jesus would overturn the Roman government and rule, we erroneously think that the triumph of Jesus over the devil should have happened here on earth and that he’d be ousted from this world. Yes, Jesus triumphed over the devil, but it was from the devil’s hold on our souls that He rescued us. The devil has no power over those who choose Jesus as their Savior and Lord, who choose to change their alliance from the devil to God and who give lordship over their lives to Jesus.
The question still remains. Why do we continue to sin? Now our growth in the Lord depends on which part of us we feed. Do we feed the born-again spirit with God’s Word? Or do we feed the flesh? The Word of God is alive and active. It has the power to renew us and change us. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The word “quick” in the original Greek means alive. Paul wrote to the Romans, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) The Word of God renews our thinking to align with God, changing us more in the image of Jesus.
John wrote about sin. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1John 2:16) All sin is contained in lust or strong desire of the flesh, the eyes and pride. It’s of the world, in other words of the devil. The flesh wants the easy way, the fast way and wants it now. It doesn’t want to wait nor work for anything. It wants to be satisfied immediately. The eyes see what appears glorious and desires it. Pride is thinking it all depends on self. Self can do anything it determines it wants. Not reading God’s Word makes us vulnerable to the lies of the devil. The flesh is able to influence our mind, will and emotions to sin.
God’s way is the Lordship of Jesus in our lives. Jesus bought us with His Blood shed on the Cross. He rescued us and we chose Him, now we choose to lay our lives down for Him. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) We did not have the freedom of choice in the kingdom of sin and darkness. We could not choose goodness and righteousness. We were trapped in sin and darkness. But we now have the freedom of choice, and our new spirits cannot but choose righteousness, goodness and God. It will not return to the bondage of sin. Jesus said, “My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” (John 10:29) Jesus is our champion and supporter as the Scripture says, our Advocate. He defends us against the devil’s accusations of our failures. Yes, our flesh may sin, but our spirits are pure and holy, born of God and eternal, bought with the Blood of the Lamb. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” (1Corinthians 6:19-20)
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