One of the things you’ll notice that I keep banging on about in the blog is the need for us to see ourselves, we Christians, as God sees us. That is, to see ourselves from the perspective of faith (faith is accepting all that God says, including what he says about us). Christians reason all too often from what they perceive themselves as being to what they are. They see they sin and thereforeregard themselves as sinners. This is a mistake. The Bible does not speak of us as sinners but as saints.
Some are willing to speak of themselves as saints but insist they are still sinners. They cite Luther’s famous words, ‘simul justus et peccator‘ or ‘simultaneously justified and a sinner’, or, ‘both saint and sinner’. You can even buy t-shirts with the slogan emblazoned. Now, if Luther simply meant that although we are saints we still sin then that would be fine. Perhaps he did. However, he is not interpreted this way. We are told that we must view ourselves as ‘sinners’ as well as ‘righteous’.
What is wrong with Christians thinking of themselves as ‘sinners’? Well, firstly we should note, the Bible never does. Repeatedly we are referred to as ‘saints’ but never as ‘sinners’. In fact if we are justified in Christ we are quite explicitly said to be no longer sinners. Take the following text, for example,
Rom 5:6-10 (ESV)
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Do you observe the logic and the contrast involved? Paul argues from the greater to the lesser in two interconnected ways. Firstly if God loved us enough to give his Son in death to save us will he not continue to save us in Christ’s life in resurrection? Secondly, if God loved us enough to save us while we were unloveable, ‘without strength… sinners… enemies’, then will he not love us and continue to save us now that we are no longer ‘without strength… sinners… enemies’? For this is the clear implication. Indeed, he clearly states we are no longer enemies (we are reconciled).
When the Bible describes someone as a ‘sinner’ it is describing a state, a condition, a standing, an order of being. It is a description of humanity outside of Christ. Words like, ‘sinners… the unrighteous… enemies… aliens.. lawless… ungodly’ describe people who are not Christians. They describe what Christians ‘once’ were but are no longer.
Notice in 1 Cor 6 unconverted people are described as ‘the unrighteous’.
1Cor 6:1 (ESV)
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
The ‘unrighteous’ like the word ‘sinner’ is a designation for those who are unsaved. In 1 Tim 1 Paul lists a variety of words to describe people outside of Christ. These all stand in contradistinction to ‘the just’ by which he means believers. Notice the word ‘sinner’ is included in the list of those outside Christ.
1Tim 1:9-10 (ESV)
understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
Indeed in using the term ‘sinner’ for those who are not part of the people of God he is simply echoing the language of Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, speaking to believers, he says
Luke 6:32-36 (ESV)
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
For Jesus, ‘the righteous’ and ‘sinners’ are mutually exclusive groups.
Mark 2:17 (ESV)
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “… I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”Luke 15:7 (ESV)
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
I quote these texts without discussing how one becomes ‘righteous’ but simply to observe that in Jesus thinking to be in one category means not being in the other; if one is ‘righteous’ then one is not a ‘sinner’. Peter, the apostle, quoting the OT book of Proverbs, uses a similar taxonomy.
1Pet 4:18 (ESV)
And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
Clearly, Jesus and the NT writers are using well established categories. Paul explains how we belong to one of the two categories in Romans 5.
Rom 5:19 (ESV)
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Here the wider framework of ‘sinner’ and ‘righteous’ (or saint) categories is revealed. Those who belong to Adam are constituted sinners and those who belong to Christ are constituted ‘righteous’. Do Christians belong to Adam? Are Christians ‘in Adam’? The consistent voice of Scripture is that we are no longer ‘in Adam’ but we are ‘in Christ’. Indeed these are, like ‘sinner’ and ‘righteous’, mutually exclusive families. Paul uses two parallel expressions that make this point. One expression he uses is the ‘old man’ and the ‘new man’ (or ‘old self’ and ‘new self’).
Col 3:9-10 (ESV)
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.Eph 4:22-24 (Darby)
namely your having put off according to the former conversation the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts; and being renewed in the spirit of your mind; and your having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness.
Again these are absolute categaories. A similar absolute category distinction is ‘flesh’ and ‘Spirit’. ‘Flesh’ is the nature of life in Adam (the old man) and ‘Spirit’ is the nature of life in Christ (the new man). Again, as with Adam and Christ, we belong to either/or; to be ‘in the Spirit’ means to not be ‘in the flesh’.
Rom 8:9 (ESV)
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
These absolute category distinctions are expressed variously in Scripture. For example, we either belong to darkness or light.
Eph 5:8-10 (ESV)
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
We are either in the Kingdom of darkness or the Kingdom of Christ.
Col 1:13 (ESV)
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
We are either dead to God in sins or alive to God in Christ.
Eph 2:1-6 (ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Equally we either are dead to this world or alive in it.
Col 2:20 (ESV)
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations-
It should be clear by now that the categories are absolute. We cannot speak of ourselves as simultaneously a sinner and a saint (or righteous) any more than we can speak of ourselves as simultaneously an enemy and a friend or a hater of God and lover of God or opposed to God and for God or darkness and light. These are mutually exclusive categories. Each is the opposite of the other and opposed to the other (Cf. Gal 5:17). And so, again and again, Scripture emphasises this change of estate. Christians are: in Christ and not in Adam; in the Spirit and not in the flesh; alive and not dead; righteous (a saint) and not a sinner. This is not a point about which Scripture is unclear, ambivalent or indifferent rather it is crystal clear and forceful: if any man is in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away and everything has become new (2 Cor 5). Language could scarcely be clearer or more insistent. Luther’s maxim, however popular, is unhelpful and misleading; we are not simultaneously saints and sinners, we are saints and not sinners.
So, why does it matter?
Hey, I’m with you on this, although I only read the post very quickly, so this comment might not cohere.
I used to be quick to speak about the fact that Christians (believers) are not called sinners in the Bible. But we do have to confess and admit that we do sin, right?
Because, as teachers trying to explain the gospel, this can get very subtle, and the dangers or pitfalls are immense.
I have been in small groups with professing Christian people who have walked out on the group (the group collapsed) because they were adamant that they were not sinners, they were not under sin, etc. The group was an introduction to Christianity, and I was teaching about sin using, among other passages, 1John1 and 2. I wont describe the background of the people involved… enough to say that, I think we know what Luther was trying to get at in his phrase, and in his theological break through.
One thing to maintain the sinners saints division absolutely – rather different to deny the need to confront our sin, confess our sin, etc. I dont think that is what you are doing – but I wonder if the majority of Christian churches that major on the “we’re not sinners” line, arent hopelessly charismatic or pentecostal, lost in a holiness movement way of thinking that divides life into church spiritual time and secular time?
Hi David
Yes I agree with your concerns. I am addressing here the opposite pole. I read regularly folks on line insisting they are sinners and seeming to take from this that they can do nothing to please God and every effort they make is simply ‘filthy rags’. In the next post I hope to say why it is necessary to think like this and why thinking like this helps us to put sin to death rather than simply accept it in a resigned way. But we absulutely must admit we do sin. ‘If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves’ (1 Jn 1). I would probably add that while we must admit we do sin Scripture never gives us an excuse to sin. Even in 1 Jn we do not read ‘When we sin we have an advocate with the fatrher’ as if sin is an inevitability we must simply take for granted, but ‘if we sin…’ John is careful to avoid sanctioning sin.
Thanks for commenting. I enjoy our interactions. And definitely pick me up when you think I’m wrong. We all need held to account.
What about Paul describing himself as being (present, not past, tense) the “chief of sinners”?
Hi Crawford
You’ve pre-empted my next post. I intended to comment on this there. The first thing that has to be again stated is the weight of Scripture. This is what I have tried to make clear in this first post. I find it compelling. It constantly urges believers to consider themselves as saints not sinners. In my view when Paul terms himself ‘the chief of sinners’ he is so doing on the basis of what he was in his pre-conversion days and his purpose is simply to emphasize that there is none so sinful God’s grace cannot reach him.
1Tim 1:12-15 (ESV)
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
The present tense is to emphasize that in Paul’s mind none has surpassed his wickedness. No-one has overtaken his position as the greatest sinner God has saved. He is not saying that he thinks of himself as the chief of sinners on the basis of his present Christian life. It is in relation to his past life, a life so opposed to the gospel it gives hope for all. His life now would be no encouragement to the ungodly that they may be saved, rather the opposite. Now he recognises that the Lord judges him faithful, ‘ I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful…’. It is his preconversion life that gives hope to every sinner… if Paul acted as he did yet God showed him mercy there surely can be mercy for me. The chief, the most active, the most inveterate of enemies was the best and most powerful of witnesses that the grace of God abounded over sin, and that the work of Christ was perfect to put it away.