Are Christians Sinners? Do Christians Sin Every Day?

The word saint means “one who is holy”.  Believers are called holy or saint over 50 times in the New Testament.  In addition, there other places where it says the God sanctifies believers.  (The word sanctify means to make holy.)  Believers are also called righteous many times.  But many Christians insist on calling themselves sinners, which is not found in the Scriptures.  In many churches, if you were to address the congregation as holy and righteous or as saints, it would sound weird to them.  But why should it?

Consider the following statements.  Do they make sense?     

1.     1. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:12)…but I’m still a sinner.

2.     2. You have cast all my sins behind your back (Isaiah 38:17)…but I’m still a sinner.

3.     3. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (II Corinthians 5:17)…but I’m still a sinner.

4.     4. Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self (Ephesians 4:22-24)…but even if you do these things, you’ll still be a sinner. 

Ask yourself these questions. Do you want to be a sinner? Does God want you to be a sinner? Is God able to change you from a sinner into a saint, or is there just not enough power in the blood of Jesus to accomplish it?

If it is true that you are sinner, then you ought to be able to list some sins which are the reasons why you believe this.  These may be sins that you have committed in the past, sins you are committing now, sins you may commit in future or sins that you are prone to commit.  Whatever the case may be, you must, at the very least, be able to name one specific sin.  Now if you can think of one such sin, try calling yourself the name of a doer of that specific sin.  It only stands to reason that if this sin is a reason why you feel the need to call yourself a sinner, you should also be calling yourself a doer of the specific sin.  So for example, if your lying is a reason why you should call yourself a sinner, then you should also call yourself a liar!  Does calling yourself a liar help to advance the Kingdom of God?  If not, then why would calling yourself a sinner be of help to anyone?  What could be clearer than that?  The word “sinner” has somehow become a more innocuous word than the words we use to describe specific types of sinners, but there is no reason why that should be. 

Revelation 21:8 says, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars,  their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." So the truth of the matter is, if you really are a liar (or any other type of sinner listed in this verse), then you are in big trouble! More bad news can be found in I Corinthians 6:9-10:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Clearly, if you are “unrighteous”, you are in big trouble!  The word sinner and the word “unrighteous” sounds pretty similar, if not an exact synonym.  And again, all the types of sinners listed in the above verse are in the same boat as those listed in Revelation 21:8.  But if we continue reading in I Corinthians, we find some good news,

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 

The word were is past tense, clearly indicating that if you are in Christ, you can only truthfully talk about yourself being sexual immoral, a thief, greedy, etc. in the past tense.  “…you were washed” means you have been immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the remission of your sins.  When Paul received Christ as his Savior, Ananias told him to “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:16)  Does it make sense, after you have had your sins washed away, to still say, “I am a sinner.”?  The word sanctify means to make holy.  The word justify means to make righteous.  This makes perfect sense because you couldn’t be saved as long as you were unrighteous. (I Corinthians 6:9) If God changes adulterers, drunkards, revilers and swindlers into people who are not any of those things—so that they can be saved, then is it too much of a stretch to say that God changes all kinds of sinners into non-sinners so that they can be saved?  In case that there is any doubt, read Romans 5:8.  It says, “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Within the same context, it also says that we were ungodly and that we were enemies (of God), but now we are reconciled and saved. 

Suppose you were to tell someone about Christ.  What would you say?  “I am a sinner just like you.”?  Why would you want to become a Christian only to remain the same sinner that you were before?  It has become a no-no to talk about hell because that is supposedly condemning and will scare people off.  So if you can’t talk about that and you can’t say that you’ve been changed from sinner to saint, then what can you say?  It is no wonder that Christians are having such a hard time spreading the gospel.

You might be saying, “OK, what about passages like Luke 5:8, Luke 7:37, Luke 18:13, and Luke 19:7.”.  These were before Jesus died on the cross.  But more importantly, they were before the washing, justification and the sanctification in the lives of these individuals.  These passages and others demonstrate the irony that, in order to become someone who is not a sinner, you must first admit that you are one!  But this should not be surprising at all.  Even in the secular world, people recognize the fact that, the first step in overcoming an addiction is to admit that you are an addict.

You might be saying, “OK, what about I Timothy 1:15.  Paul is saying, ‘I am the worst of sinners.’.”.  You have to take this passage in context.  In v. 12, “… him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.”  It is interesting to note that the word was is in the present tense in the Greek.  The word translated formerly, however, qualifies the linking verb so that it is understood by the Greek reader to be a past event.  Of course Paul did not continue to blaspheme Christ or persecute the Church after his conversion!  But who is to say that the use of the word formerly is exclusively for qualifying the tense in that sentence?  It could have been intended to extend to subsequent verses, even down to verse 15.  The whole tone of the passage is that Christ mercifully transformed Paul into a faithful servant in spite of his former sinful state.  It makes no sense to use this passage to say that he still is the “foremost of sinners” despite the transformation.

In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus says,

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

What does this passage say to a person who is “the worst of sinners” about judging and correcting people? Continuing in I Timothy 1, Paul writes, “…some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”  In I Corinthians 5, it describes what is meant by “handing over to Satan”.  It means the congregation must refrain from associating with the person and should not even eat with them.  It is the most extreme form of church discipline.  In view of Matthew 7, if Paul really is, as he is writing this, “the worst of sinners”, does he have any business making such a pronouncement on Hymenaeus and Alexander?

In Luke 6:37-34, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you…. bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you….Even sinners love those who love them… [do good to those who do good to them and]… lend to sinners to get back the same amount.”  Jesus is clearly identifying a group of people as sinners and calling for his followers to stand out from them by doing things that sinners do not do. 

I suppose some Christians feel the need, even after being saved, to continue to call themselves sinners out of humility.  The Bible does say that we should be humble (Acts 20:19, Ephesians 4:2, Philippians 2:3, Colossians 3:12, James 4:6, James 4:10, 1 Peter 3:8, 1 Peter 5:5-6).  But if you examine these passages, you’ll find that, especially for believers, humbling yourself is mainly accomplished by adjusting your attitude toward others.  Nowhere does it instruct us to try to achieve humility by putting ourselves down.  On the cross, Jesus took upon himself that ugly label “sinner” so that you wouldn’t have to have it on you!  To call yourself a sinner after Jesus has washed away your sins is to deny Jesus the glory for what he has done in your life.  Once you realize that you are free from this word, you have one more thing to be thankful for.   “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:21)  There is no problem with losing your humility when you call yourself a saint as long as you remember that it is Jesus who mercifully changed you not because of your own merit.  Knowing that you are a saint and an ex-sinner, you have nothing to boast about except what Jesus has done.

I John 3:6 says, “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” Jesus said in John 15:5-7, “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” Jesus said in John 8:34-35, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” And in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters”.

Of course this doesn’t mean that once you become a Christian, you won’t ever sin again.  I John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”  But notice that it says “if” and not “when”, indicating that for believers, sin is only a possibility, not an inevitability.  Another passage which expresses this idea is I Corinthians 10:13, which says that whenever believers are tempted, God always provides a means of escape.  Some Christians say things like, “I sin every day and that is the way it will be for the rest of my life.”   When you hear things like that, know that that statement may be true, but it doesn’t have to be!

The heart of man is a major source of temptation to sin in this world. (Genesis 6:5, Genesis 8:21, Psalms 55:15, Jeremiah 4:14, Jeremiah 13:10, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 12:34, Matthew 15:19) But upon becoming believers, Christ gives us a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19), and our hearts are continually purified (I Peter 1:22, I John 3:3) thereafter so that we don’t really want to sin.  Thus if we do sin, we ask God for forgiveness and he helps us to stop sinning.  Thus, sinner is not at all what a Christian is about, but rather we are redeemed because we are saved from our sinfulness.

In conclusion, all who are not in Christ are sinners because the heart of man is basically sinful.  We all have been sinners, but true Christians, who truly abide in Jesus are not now sinners.  Upon being born again, there is a transformation which occurs in the new born babe in Christ which makes the word sinner an inaccurate description for this new Christian.  Likewise various words defined as doers of specific sins are also no longer truthful descriptors of the believer.  There are many false converts who are unrighteous, but true believers are holy, righteous, redeemed, reconciled saints and are children of God.  The label “sinner” has been removed by Jesus and taken upon himself by his shed blood.  The result is that sin is not only forgiven, but is now uncharacteristic, undesired, and no longer an inevitable (though possible) occurrence. In the New Heavens and the New Earth, sin will no longer even be a possibility, because the hearts of the saved will be completely purified and all other sources of temptation will be completely removed.