“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1st John 3:9)
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1st John 1:8)
Those who do not study the Word, who do not read from those whom the Lord has blessed with wisdom and Spiritual discernment that came before us, call these two verses contradictions, and will inevitably chose one of the two to adhere to, or believe one above the other.
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2nd Peter 1:20)
This does not infer that a prophetic utterance must be verified by another, but that every verse in the Scriptures can be seen in the context of another verse, and thereby the entire Word of God can be viewed as a cohesive unit, each verse, each statement, each truth backed up with each other as a whole.
We will sin, every born-again believer realizes this truth, the flesh cannot be forced to submit to the will of the mind that serves Christ, it is too strong, it is our old nature, and so at best, and only by the power of the Holy Spirit can it be subdued for a time. And as you well know that time may only last as long as the next tick of the clock.
But we do not willingly continue in sin in this life, we know it to be an offense against the Lord, and thereby offensive to us.
You must realize what sin is though, and unless you continue in the Word daily, unless you seek out those men whom the Lord God has blessed with the knowledge of His will that now live and that came before us, you will struggle your entire life with misconceptions.
“Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.” (Psalm 19:12)
I fear that far too many who truly have been crucified with Christ live in a form of continual repentance, for the thoughts of their mind, thoughts that seem to appear out of nowhere that dishonor the Almighty, momentarily inner visions of sin, trouble them greatly, and they believe that moment of time to be in need of repentance.
“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” (Romans 7:19)
Our brains store images, it is one of ways that we recall items, unless a brain cell that stores a particular image dies, that image will be with you until you die. Whether it be in the following of that image, whether real or imagined, or a desire in the present that our ears and eyes, even any of our senses follow, and we do so with a desire that is knowingly not pleasing to the Father, that is sin. When we step off the path by our own free will with full knowledge and intent towards those desires, we have chosen a path of sin.
These are seasons of sin, and if you, as the prodigal son did, do not come to yourself and realize what you are doing, you can expect the Father to chastise you, for He does not suffer errant children, servants who go astray for long.
Those who have been born-again will sin, but they do not continue long in that sin. The images that enter into your mind that last only a few ticks of the clock, are they sin? If you follow them intentionally, yes, if you thrust them from your mind’s eye, if you rebuke them with the mind that serves Christ, no, they are not.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15)
You have not seen or experienced even the most miniscule sins the Lord Jesus Christ experienced, He never sinned, yet “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2nd Cor. 5:21)
The battle will continue until your last breath my friends.
