Question:
Can you please explain 1 John 3:9? I thought Paul said he was renewed daily, making me think we are likely to sin at any time.
Answer:
Paul was indeed converted daily. “I die daily,” he said, and it was by being converted daily that he was kept from sin. For man, sin is natural in his carnal nature. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” But when a man crucifies the flesh and dies to self, then the Spirit of God becomes the actuating power in his life, and for him to obey God is natural. His higher nature, as one born, or begotten, of God, does not sin; for his seed (the living Word of God, made by the Holy Spirit the seed in him of a new life, and the continual means of sanctification) abides in him, and he cannot sin. He does not willfully do anything that he knows to be sin. He does not plan to sin. He may make mistakes, but sin is not imputed to him as long as it is in his heart to obey God. As long as the seed abides in him, he does not sin. Sin has no place in his life. The principle within his heart is at utter variance with sin. The regenerate life is incompatible with sin and gives the believer a hatred for it in every shape and an unceasing desire to resist it.
As expressed by Luther, “The child of God, in this conflict, receives indeed wounds daily, but never throws away his arms or makes peace with his deadly foe.” Sin is ever active but no longer reigns. The believer’s energies are constantly directed against sin, and the law of God after the inward man is the ruling principle of his true self, though if the old nature is not entirely dead, it will rebel and sin. He who has perfect faith in God lives the victorious life constantly, hourly, and “Satan cannot overcome him whose mind is thus stayed upon God.” He will hear the voice behind him saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” when he turns to the right hand and to the left.
And while all this is true–that God has provided a plan by which we may live a victorious life–yet “He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we·are dust” (Ps. 103:14); and therefore He knows that through the weakness of the flesh, in unguarded moments, we may give way to sin. But that we might not sink in discouragement under these conditions, He has also given us these words: “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: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2). Our divine Father desires that we should walk without stumbling, but when we do stumble and fall, He lifts us up and encourages us to press twords the mark.
