Whenever someone preaches of being free from sin and claiming that it’s possible to live sin free, one of the immediate reactions from Christians resisting that idea is to ask, “then why do we still sin?” The answer to that question is very clear in scripture, and it doesn’t rely on putting the blame onto a sinful nature or other flaw in our identity in Christ.

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (18) They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. (19) They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— (21) assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, (22) to put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds…” – Ephesians 4:17-23

What I highlighted are the places where Paul talks about why the Gentiles walk as they do.

Paul says the Gentiles walk as they do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from God because of their own ignorance and their own hardness of heart. In other words, God isn’t the one hiding from them, they’re the ones hiding from Him as a result of their thinking (Col. 1:21).

Why do I bring this up? Because it’s the way the vast majority of Christians think! Countless Christians live like they need to convince God to reveal Himself to them when in reality they need to convince themselves that He’s already been revealed in the person of Jesus.

God didn’t run and hide from Adam, Adam ran and hid from God. It’s not Him who needed convincing about you, it’s you who needed convincing about Him (“He has reconciled the whole world to himself… so we implore you on his behalf: be reconciled!” [2 Cor. 5:19-20)). That’s why Jesus came and said, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen God!” We were darkened in our understanding about him, walking in the shadow of things to come, ignorant of their true glory, but now the reality of God has been found in Christ.

But Christians still live in the same “”futility of their minds” that they did when they didn’t know Jesus. They still walk in the land of “God works in mysterious ways,” when Paul said “the mystery has been revealed! It’s Christ in us!” They still walk in a darkened understanding of who God is and who they are in him.

This is why they live like they’re trapped in sin, even after receiving him. They think Jesus came to forgive their sins, but chose to leave them in the same condition they were in: slaves under the influence of a sinful nature. So what did He really fix? What did He save you from? How can you say He saved you from your sins if it’s still your nature to do what you were doing before you met Him?

It’s not a lack of what Jesus did that’s the reason you continue to sin, it’s your own lack of understanding what God actually accomplished in him on the cross. That’s what the verse above is talking about. They give themselves up to sensuality and every kind of impurity because of what they fail to understand in their own minds–their own ignorance of God. But look at what it says about the believer:

But that is not the way you learned Christ!

Paul doesn’t teach us that we’re doomed and damned to continue giving ourselves to sensuality and impurity. You don’t find that stuff in scripture, you only find it in the experience of Christians because of how they interpret their bad experiences into scripture. Look,

Put off your old self

It says our old self because it’s not your current self. And again,

which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

Your old self, your former manner of life. There’s nothing present-tense about it. It’s all past-tense, done away with. Paul didn’t teach a Christ who only forgave sins but never gave a real solution to sin “until we die.” The Christ we learn about from Paul became the solution to sin for us, not in empowering us to try harder, but in “taking away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).

But if our job isn’t to try harder to be good boys and girls, what is it? It’s to put off the old self. That is, to stop thinking like the old person thought so you can live like the new person is created to live. Why? Because you’re not the old person, you’re a new person.

“Anyone who is in Christ has become a new creation, the old things have passed away! Behold! All things have become new!” – 2 Cor. 5:17

Where is the old? Passed away. Dead. Why do you still spend so much time talking about it like it’s alive? Paul said “think of yourselves dead to sin once and for all, but alive to God in Christ.” (Rom. 6:11)

So why do Christians still sin?

Short and simple: Christians still sin because they aren’t being renewed in the spirit of their minds.

They are taught that they are rotten sinners who Jesus came to forgive for their rottenness. They will be made new when they die and get to heaven, but not as long as they live in their disgusting, sinful bodies. The problem is you won’t find that in new testament scripture, unless you cling to the faulty interpretation of Romans 7 that says you can’t do good because “nothing good dwells in you.”

What kind of gospel (good news) is that? I’m doomed to be a disappointment to God and myself for the entire time I’m alive on this planet? No thanks! You can count me out of that religion.

In scripture you find that you’re already holy (Heb. 10:10), already righteous (2 Cor. 5:21), and already perfected (Heb. 10:14). Some will come up with a thousand New Testament verses about how “all have sinned” and “none seek God,” but I highly recommend reading those verses in their context. You’ll find that most, if not all of those verses (including Romans 7) are in the context of people in the flesh and under the Law. That’s not the Christian.

Many of those verses are quoting Old Testament prophets in order to make a comparison between the old (before Jesus) and the new (with Jesus). Where are you? The old or the new? Without Jesus or with Him?

Jesus Actually Did His Job

Jesus didn’t come, tease you with eventual change in heaven, and then say, “See ya later, nerds!” before He floated away into the sky and abandoned us to the sinful nature for thousands of years after. He took what was “eventual” to every old testament prophet and made it a reality for us (Col. 1:26-27, Col. 2:17).

Jesus only ascended into heaven because there was literally nothing more for Him to do for us (Heb. 10:12, Mark 16:19). He “took away the sin of the world,” He saved us from the sinful nature we were ruled by since Adam (Gal. 5:24, Col. 2:11), He gave us everything we need to live godly lives (2 Peter. 1:3-4), and everything we will ever need in heaven is already ours on earth (Eph. 1:3). What else do you want from Him?

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” – Romans 5:19

The problem is that the church still thinks with the same “eventually” mindset that the prophets did when they were looking for their Messiah. The only difference is they actually believe it would be fulfilled on the earth when the Messiah came. And it was. We have what they didn’t have, but we still act like they did, which reveals the truth of our thinking: we give lip-service to Jesus and the cross, but we still think and live like we’re waiting for a Messiah to save us. We say “Jesus saves!” but don’t believe that he actually has.

He “destroyed the devil’s work.” Now you’re free. You can no longer blame the devil for the way you behave because Jesus destroyed that vehicle of influence forever. Does it mean you can’t be tempted? Obviously not. But it means you can always say “No!” to sin (Titus 2:11-12), and there is no temptation stronger than the Spirit that influences you from the inside, so there’s never an excuse to sin (1 Cor. 10:13).

Now there is only one thing left for you to do in order to walk free:

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Romans 12:2

Change the way you think; repent.