Are We Still Sinners?

Q

We know Jesus died for our sins , so that by believing in him we will not perish but have everlasting life. Believing in him is not just saying, “I was saved once and I will always be saved,” but is continuously trying to live as Jesus would have us live, and continually suppressing the whims and caprices of our flesh, which is corrupt in nature.

While we are in this state of living for Christ, remaining unblemished and fit for the rapture, do we still regard ourselves sinners? What happened to “I am a new creation”? Where is the power of the Blood that was shed if it still doesn’t stop us from being sinners?

A

Yes, Jesus died for all our sins, and for believing that, we have been given everlasting life (John 3:16). But continuously trying to live as Jesus would have us live is the expression of our gratitude for what He did for us. It’s not a condition we have to meet, either for salvation or for inclusion in the rapture.

Since we will dwell in a sinful body until we’re raptured, we are still sinners. No matter how hard we try to stop sinning we can’t completely pull it off. 2 Cor. 5:17 says we’re a new creation “in Christ” but that’s not the same as being a new creation “in fact.” It means that because of the righteousness imputed to us by faith (Romans 3:22), God is able to regard us as we will be after we’re perfected, not as we are today. He has separated the behavior from the believer, so from His perspective we’re not the one who sins, it’s the sin that still lives within us that does it (Romans 7:15-20).

The “power of the blood” lies not in preventing us from ever sinning again, but in relieving us from the penalty due us for all our sins. Jesus didn’t die so bad men could become good. He died so dead men could live.

For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement (for our sins) through faith in His blood (Romans 3:24-25).