Why do we sin?

 BY Argie Simonis

Before I get into the explanation of why someone sins, I will make an introduction that I believe will help. Let us see what the apostle Paul tells us:

"For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." Rom. 7:15 

These words of Paul have created many controversies. Does he describe himself before his conversion or perhaps the carnality that still existed within him after all these years of walking with the Lord? Does it describe a situation that has already been dealt with through the new birth, or did he say that even mature Christians are doomed to a life of schizophrenia, (that is, a split mind) where part of us wants to serve God and part of us wants to serve the devil?

Basically, it is none of the above. What Paul is explaining here is the inability to serve God with our own strength, either lost or saved. Paul describes the vanity of trying to gain God's favor through our own ability, whether we are Christians or not. This is the main theme of the letter to the Romans.

Paul did not live a life of constant failure where he could not achieve the good he wanted to do, but he did the evil he did not want to do. He did not live such a life because he no longer lived, but the Christ who lived in him and the fruit of that was the holiness in his life:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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." Gal. 2:20

From the moment you give up your dependence on Christ and try to live a christian life with your own strength, then you experience the situation that Paul describes in Romans 7:15-24

Therefore, to answer the question I asked at the beginning of the message, "Why does someone sin?" I will say this:

We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.

The sinful nature of man inherited from Adam is what makes one sin, but from the moment someone is born again he becomes a new creature:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2Cor. 5:17

His nature changes because he receives the Spirit of God, and the reason he continues to sin is the unrenewed mind, because although the sinful nature left, it left behind a "carcass" of bad habits and distorted mentality, which only with meditation and submission to the Word of God can go away, through the renewal of the mind:

"And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Rom. 12:2 

Unfortunately there is ignorance in the matter of sin conscience as described in Heb. 10:2 and eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). Sin can now enter body and soul, but not the born-again spirit which sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise:

"In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" Eph. 1:13 

Here comes the good news of the Gospel. Because of the weakness of our flesh, we cannot satisfy God on our own, which is why He did it for us through our Christ:

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" Rom. 8:3 

All we have to do is accept this redemptive work of our Lord and receive it in faith. Blessed be His name!

Amen.

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