Why do Christians Sin? (Pt1 – Unrenewed Mind)
06.01.09
Why do Christians Sin? (Pt 1 – Unrenewed Mind)
(All Bible verses quoted are from the New King James Version)
This message is a follow-on to our previous message entitled: Do Christians have a sinful nature? (Indwelling Sin). Last week we proved from scripture that God has completely removed our sinful nature when we were born again (if you haven’t read this message we recommend you read it first by clicking here: http://www.newcovenantgrace.com/christians-sinful-nature-indwelling-sin/.
God COMPLETELY changed us when we came into salvation, we are brand spanking new! 2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Is our body gone? No. Is our mind gone? No. But this verse says something “old” has passed away! It is our old spirit man, the sinful nature (indwelling sin) that was completely removed, and replaced with a righteous, born again spirit that was created perfect in the image of Christ. Eph 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Also see Eph 3:10.
Now the question poses: If God completely removed our sinful nature, why then do we still make mistakes? Why do we still do things that seem contrary to this Godly nature that was birthed in us? The answer is 2 fold:
1) Because of our unrenewed minds (this week’s message)
2) Because of external temptations / distractions (next week’s message)
When we were born into this world (with a fallen, sinful nature that is enmity with God), we live according to this nature, fulfilling its lusts. When this sinful nature (also called the “old man” in the Bible) told us to commit sin, we did it. We had no desire to please God, and as a result our minds were trained to obey the desires of this sinful nature, with our body simply running after what our mind told it to do. The sinful nature can be seen as the “control room”, the driving force behind our decision making. And the mind (soul) was then trained and became accustomed to operating in whichever mannerisms and habits the old sinful nature exercised over it. Our minds were therefore trained and programmed in sin, lustfulness, self preservation and unbelief and we learnt all sorts of bad habits.
Then at salvation, when our sinful nature was completely removed (when we were born again), God gave us a completely new, fully righteous spirit man on the inside, created 100% in the image of Christ, with all of Christ’s righteousness and virtue. Eph 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. Now suddenly our mind (soul) realises there is a new “control room” on the inside, but it appears as though this new “control room” operates in an entirely different way than the old one. And that’s why it sometimes feels as though there is a war raging inside of us, with the mind battling against our new man, the born again spirit. For years and years the mind (soul) has been trained in a certain way, and now the “new man” has to train the mind to operate in a different way.
Last week we spoke about the Greek word “sarx” (which means “flesh”) that has different meanings in different contexts. Let’s look at its context in the following scripture:
Gal 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (sarx). 17 For the flesh (sarx) lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (sarx); and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh (sarx) are evident, which are: adultery, 20 fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 21 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 22 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries,
Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, who were born again believers. Thus they did not have a sinful nature anymore. Bearing in mind what we have discussed above, it can clearly be seen that that in this context, the word “flesh” (sarx) simply means the unrenewed mind (it can NOT mean “sinful nature” since we proved last week that Christians don’t have a sinful nature anymore). Paul was saying that all these lusts were simply works (fruit) of the believers’ unrenewed minds. An unrenewed mind is wired to operate as though we still have an old sinful nature.
And then Paul contrasts this by listing the very well known fruit of the spirit (the new man, born again inner spirit): Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. These are also called the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but actually our born again spirit and the Holy Spirit are joined together, so these can also be seen as the fruit of our born again spirit. 1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. When we do these good things, they are only a FRUIT of the 100% righteous new spirit man that is inside of us, we don’t do them to try and please God or to be more holy, because we are already 100% holy on the inside!!
Therefore it can clearly be seen that our (unrenewed) mind is at war with our born again spirit, and this is simply one of the reasons why we read the Bible, go to church, pray, worship, etc: To renew our minds. NOT to earn God’s acceptance, because God is already pleased with us. How can He NOT be if we were created in the very image of His Son Jesus?
This concludes the first reason why Christians still sin (even though we don’t have a sinful nature anymore), namely because of an unrenewed mind. Next week we’ll deal with the second reason: External temptations.
Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe
www.NewCovenantGrace.com
Let’s get this straight, your sin nature has been removed and you cannot sin, but you still have a unrenewed mind so that you still sin. So what you are being told is that your mind is not part of your body and that somehow your thinking experiences are not terrestial ,,,,
question: when your sin nature has been removed and you have become a new creation, then why wasn’t your brain also changed and renewed?
Is Andre willing to comment on this?
Hi Marco
Under the Old Covenant, sin is defined as breaking the laws of Moses. Under the New Covenant, the law has been taken away and we are not under law anymore, but under Grace. [Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace.]
Therefore sin is defined differently under the New Covenant. We are now not under the law anymore, but instead we live by faith. And here is a shocker, something that will no doubt shut the mouths of those who still try to be justified by obeying the law. Lets look at 2 verses first: [Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith…] and also [Rom 14:23b … for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.] Can you see what it says when you combine these 2 verses? Can you see it??? Since the law is not of faith, and since anything that is not of faith is sin, then it means that those who try to be justified by their own good works and try to live up to some moral code (the law) are actually living in sin!!
Why did God not renew our minds too? Because God has given man a free will, and by changing your brain He will actually take your free will away too. God doesn’t want zombies to serve Him and have a relationship with Him, but people who do it out of their own free will.
We live in the world Marco, but we are not OF this world. Look at part of the prayer that Jesus prayed for the believers: Joh 17:14 I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Phi 3:20 For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we are looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
In Grace
Andre van der Merwe
So your saying that the only sin in the New Covenant is Unbelief, as anything apart from Faith is sin?
Yes Dave, that is correct.
Rob Rufus from City Church international (Hong Kong) preached an awesome sermon on this topic, you can download it here (the date of the sermon was 22 Feb 2009): http://www.citychurchinternational.net/2009.html
In Grace
Andre van der Merwe
To Dave,
Well, not to knit-pick but unbelief in Jesus is the only sin under the New Covenant, not unbelief in general. Failure to believe in Christ is the only sin that will keep you out of the New Covenant. Under the New Covenant there is no sin because all have been forgiven. If general unbelief was a sin under the New Covenant, then eating without faith would become a sin, sitting without faith would become sin and we would be right back where we started, full of sin. It is not unbelief in general but specifically unbelief in Jesus. Once you believe, you hit the mark and make it!
Hope that makes sense…
Cornel
To Cornel,
Thanks for clarifying that. I have listened to some of Rob Rufus teaching on it. This is a glorious message that everybody needs to hear!!!