"Go and sin no more."

Did Jesus really expect born-again believers to "sin no more"? Our forefathers throughout church history have argued He did. For example, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, not exactly a Wesleyan, much less part of the Holiness movement, preached, "Jesus will not walk with His people unless they drive out every known sin." But how can human beings, even born-again, Spirit-filled human beings, drive out every known sin?

In his second letter, Peter describes the false teachers of his day as men "with eyes full of adultery" who "never stop sinning" (2 Peter 2:14). In the Old Testament the psalmist wrote that, even after God smote the Israelites for disobedience, "In spite of all this, they kept on sinning" (Psalm 78:32). Moses told the terrified people of Israel who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai that the reason God had come down in awesome, fiery glory was so "the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning" (Exodus 20:20).

Today, however, as Keith Drury stated, it is popular in evangelical churches, even holiness churches, to teach that Christians will, to some degree, continue regularly to sin in thought, word, and deed. Indeed, many pastors use the phrase "sinning Christians" without any embarrassment at all. But if Christians continue to sin in thought, word, and deed, what distinguishes them from those who are not Christians? The gospel preached by Jesus and the early church did not characterize believers as continuing in sin, at least not intentionally. The gospel message in a nutshell is that Jesus came to save us from our sins, not in our sins.

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, the disciple makes it clear Jesus came to "take away" the sin of the world (John 1:29) - freely, by His grace, mercy, and goodness - so that we might serve Him with all our hearts, free from the dominion of sin (Galatians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:14-18). The New Testament emphasizes that the blood of Jesus not only cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7), but it frees us from sin as well (Rev. 1:5). It liberates us from the tyranny of sin, enabling us to say no to temptation and to resist the pull of the flesh, consecrating our bodies and minds to the Lord. When we sing "There is power in the blood [of Jesus], that is the "power" we are singing about.

In other words, when a person becomes a Christian, when he or she is "born again," according to the New Testament, there is a definitive break with a lifestyle dominated by sin. This is why Paul raises the question in Romans about how can new creatures in Christ continue to live in sin. His answer is: They can’t. In Romans 8:13 Paul makes it very clear to the believers in Rome, "For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."

But, again, you can visit hundreds of evangelical churches today, many holiness churches included, and never hear that passage emphasized. Why? Because Paul uses rather violent language. There is no question or doubt in his mind about this. What Paul says makes us uncomfortable. But he is very clear. We are to treat sin ruthlessly by "mortifying" - killing, destroying, slaughtering - its power in our lives. Clearly, there is no place for sin in the Christian’s life.

When worldliness crept in among the Corinthians because of their denial of the future resurrection, Paul rebuked them very sternly. In 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 he says:

Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God - I say this to your shame.

In other words, there were people in the church in Corinth who were "ignorant of God" because they did not stop sinning.

The warning in Hebrews 10 is even stronger:
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God (Hebrews 10:26-27).