ARE WE STILL SINNERS?

Do Christians (we who are already saved) need to repent? – Becky

The question asked by Becky is an important one. However to address it to the core, it is important we understand that the Bible, especially in the New Testament (NT) through the Pauline epistles, differentiates between SIN, SINNING (sins), and SINNER.

In Bible study, the study of Sin is as complicated as that of Salvation itself. The two are important because once you get one wrong, it is because you actually got the other wrong already. Let me try to simplify it this way:

SIN = Cosmic Casautive Power (Romans 7:8,16-17,23)

SINNING = wrongs acts, mistakes in practice and in thought as manifested in man’s daily living and dealings (Galatians 5:19-21, Luke 17:3-4; Colossians 3:5-6; Mathew 5:27-28; James 2:10-11)

SINNER = A fallen man under a fallen body with the propensities and inclinations to sin regardless of the practice. (Jeremiah 17:1,9-10; Psalms 51:5; 58:3; Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:1).

Notice the chronology here; first, there is Sin that causes sinning and it is by this sinning that we qualify as sinners. Sin is the cause, sinning is the conduct of man and the sinning man is the conductor. That is our state. So there is no sinning without sin and there is no sinner without sinning. Sounds easy, right? Not until you find out this:

Good Bible students should understand that the Bible is translated from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. With this information at hand, we should know that the New Testament uses 9 terms of which 90% in our vernacular (English inclusive) translations are communicated as sin yet they do not necessarily mean sin the Cosmic Casautive Power.

In the New Testament we have:

1. HAMARTIA: SIN (that power from which all our sinning is caused and not just our sinning but that power that eats and erodes the environment). This appears in the New Testament 58 times. Because this, we are naturally off the mark.
2. PARAPTOMA: TRESPASS (practical fallenness or deviation from the truth). This is about our sinning in our daily dealings. This appears 15 times.
3. ANOMIA: LAWLESSNESS the Greek word for Law is Nomos, Anomia is not antinomianism, for antinomianism is against the law but Anomia is being without any law. It is being under no authority whatsoever (1John 3:4). This term appears 6 times.
4. AKATHARSIA: DIRT this term appears 9 times and it intends any uncleanness (physical inclusive). Any lack of purity.
5. PARABASIS: TRANSGRESSION it is when you seem like doing something but not doing exactly it. It is used five times.
6. PARAKOEE: DISOBEDIENCE it features twice in the NT.
7. ASEBEIA: UNGODLINESS. It is the paganism of the modern day so-called Atheism. It is a lack of reverence to God. The term appears 4 times.
8. PLANEE: INACCURACY it is any lack of precision. It is an error. And this features four times.
9. ADIKIA: UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. adikia has no literal English equivalent (in my vocabulary) because when we say unrighteousness, many of us think of morality and we assume unrighteousness is bad manners. However, like Anomia and nomos, Adikia is a Greek word dikaisoune (righteousness) with a prefix ‘A’ which changes its meaning from righteousness to the total absence of righteousness. The word appears 12 times in the NT.

Now this means that categorically the Biblical discourse of Sin falls under:

1. Hamartia (the principle cause) and
2. Paraptoma (the effect, affect and influence of the principle cause)

Under Hamartia we have:

• Akarthasia
• Anomia
• Adikia

And under Paraptoma we have:

• Asebeia
• Parabasis
• Planee
• Parakoee

As you can see, SIN (hamartia) is an amoral mysterious cosmic power that has caused the fall of the world (naturally decaying) and the fall of man (physically decaying and psychologically misled).

Hamartia is WHY everything wrong is happening in our environment and it is the WHY of our sinning (Paraptoma). When Jesus died on the cross, he did not die to save us from WHAT we do, but he died to save us from the WHY behind what we do.

All the bad manners (Paraptoma) we do, can be fixed (with or without God). What cannot be fixed, however, is why we do whatever we do. According to Romans 7, we are sinners whether we practically participate in sin or not. So even the most obedient person on earth is guilty by position (in sinful world Psalms 51) regardless of the practice.

We are not sinners because we sin, we are sin-filled and became one with sin (Romans 7:17,24). In Agriculture, a mango tree is a mango tree with or without mango fruits

So Jesus died on the cross to give us a new identity, from mango trees to human beings (let’s say).

So the SIN in 2Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus became was not Paraptoma but Hamartia (adikia) and that is how the transaction was possible that now we became dikaisoune. (I hope you remember these terms up there).

Sin (Hamartia) is disbelief and a dismissal of Jesus Christ and his righteousness (John 16:9 Adikia).

Sin (Hamartia) is disbelief and a dismissal of God as the sole authority (1John 3:4, Anomia).

Sin is the incurrable virus eating and eroding the physiology of the cosmos (Romans 8:18-22, Akarthasia).

This is why Jesus died on the cross but not because of the violation of any of the ten laws in Exodus 20. Those he could forgive and fix but only Sin, he was to fight.

So believers in Christ are saved from Sin but still vulnerable to sinning. That means, as a Christian, you are a sinner (by thought and practice) but unlike those who have not believed Christ, you are not Sin (by identity).

This is why there is no condemnation for sinners in Christ but there is a permanent condemnation for those outside Christ (Romans 8:1)

Apostle Paul addressed himself as chief of sinners (1Timothy 1:15), so Paul was a sinner but in Christ, and SIN had no power on him

John warned all over us not at any one point to esteem ourselves as not sinners (1John 1:8). You are not perfect and you will never be. If there was such a hope, God wouldn’t have died on the cross but could have waited until you are perfect. But he knew that was futile.

Does this mean we cannot overcome SIN?

Yes, we can only through taking on the righteousness (identity) of Christ, since we are talking about Hamartia here.

That does not mean though that we have forever stopped sinning, but rather that the Sin (Hamartia) that would take us to hell, has been overcome in Jesus and we are now sinners who need mere forgiveness of our sinning (Paraptoma).

And that is why we or ought to repent every now and then. And the more we associate with the Lord, the more the effects of viral load (sinning) reduce, and we become better people in this sinful environment.

Without Jesus, however, our goodness and evilness are equal.

God bless you, I invoke Truth, Reason and Faith

Pr. ITM White
The Gospel Hawker