Questions & Answers

Hebrews 10:26 ("deliberately keep on sinning") and 1 John 3:6 ("keeps on sinning . . . continues to sin") speak of a person who claims to be a Christian but then deliberately and continually keeps on sinning. That is, he is not sinning in weakness, but instead he doesn't care if he is doing something against God's will (deliberate) and keeps doing the same thing day after day without any remorse for what he does. These passages are saying that no one who truly loves Christ will be proud of his sinful conduct and will keep on doing a particular sin without caring whether it is a sin against God or not.

Romans 7:19 speaks of what Christians like Paul and each of us don't want to do but then do because the Old Adam/sinful nature in us wages war against the New Man/new person in us (7:23) and at times gets us in weakness to fall into sin. When this happens we confess our sin (1 John 1:8,9), God forgives us for Jesus' sake, and we seek with Jesus' help to avoid that sin when the Old Adam tempts us again. If we fall again in weakness, we flee to the cross again for forgiveness and help to amend our sinful life. We are not proud of our sin and do not have the attitude that we can keep doing that sin without caring that we are sinning.

Every sin is a serious matter. So we never take sin lightly. But it is also true that the blood of Jesus Christ wipes all our sins away. It is that forgiving love of Jesus that leads us in faith to want to do no sin. But as long as we are this side of heaven, our sinful nature will often get us to do the sin we don't want to do (Romans 7). But at the same time the love of Jesus leads us to offer our bodies in service to him and to ask him to help us do that in our lives more each day (Romans 6:1-11).

Instead of seeking a Bible verse that explicitly says something like, "Sex between two unmarried people is sin," you would do better to approach the whole issue as the Bible does. God establishes marriage and then says to those being joined together in marriage that they are to be intimately united and that they also become one flesh (see Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:5). Thus two things are linked to marriage: union (the intimate joining of a man and a woman as husband and wife) and becoming one flesh (sexual, physical intimacy too). To become one flesh (have sexual union) aside from this marriage bond is never allowed and never spoken of as God-pleasing. It is, however, clearly identified as wrong, as sin (see 1 Corinthians 6:15-18, for example). Any use of the gift of sex aside from the marriage bond is adultery, whether this is premarital or extramarital. God has graciously provided for the sexual desires of men and women to be satisfied only in marriage. To engage in premarital or extramarital sex, before or outside of marriage, is to sin in God's sight. That is precisely the point of Hebrews 13:4, a verse often referred to in this kind of discussion.  "Marriage" and the marriage bed (the Greek text only has the word "bed") go together and are to be kept pure. Using the "bed" aside from "marriage" is sin that God will judge.

The counsel given in 1 Corinthians 7:9 makes the same point. If a person has sexual urges and the sex drive (a good gift from God in itself) expresses itself within a person, that person has a God-pleasing remedy identified: to be married and thus obtain the right to be sexually active. Before or outside of marriage, sinful lust is sinful lust. Marriage partners may express the same desires for each other and there is no sin. This kind of "lust" is not sinful. (The Bible word used here is also used for legitimate and proper strong desires, even though the English word usually always carries a negative idea).

I suggest that you sit down with your pastor and seek additional clarifications if you wish more. He may also have resource material in his library that can be helpful to you as you seek to serve others who ask you about these things.

To give you specific help, the kind of help you should receive, I would need to know you much better, be able to share a variety of questions and answers with you to help with a diagnosis, and should be able to speak with you in person as I offer answers and counsel. All I can do now is address your concerns in a general way. I invite and encourage you to sit down with your pastor, express to him your questions and concerns, and allow him to address them more suitably.

Not all repeated and persistent sins in the life of a Christian are the result of impenitence. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 7:14-25, describes a lifestyle that is continuously marked by unintended yet real sins stemming from the influence of the sinful nature he had just as we have. This was not from an absence of a repentant lifestyle. Some sins, including some that stem in part from deeply ingrained bad habits and reflect in part personal histories and cultural biases, often grip people strongly. We daily sin much and daily look to our gracious God for forgiveness. The truths of 1 John 1:8-10 apply to us all, even when the Lord grants us the gift of godly repentance. Over the centuries the church has used terms like "sins of weakness" or "sins of ignorance" to indicate that conscious, deliberate, or willful sinning is not what we're talking about here.

And, yes, there are certain kinds of sin that may best be described as occupying a gray area that challenges us to offer a firm definition. Sins like persistent speeding, masturbating against conscience, or sinning against our neighbor by gossiping are normally not done instantaneously or in a moment. They take time, and each event involves a succession of decisions on one's part to continue the activity once begun. Perhaps you are not speaking of sins of weakness, but you may be flirting with a serious and grievous lifestyle of deliberate sin—despite your claim of really being sorry or really wanting to reject and turn from such sins. You may be playing a kind of game with yourself, one flowing from a lack of self-discipline and perhaps a spirit of defeatism or pessimism. Maybe you really do not trust the Holy Spirit to grant you renewal and newness of life along with the free and full forgiveness of sins. You may be trifling with grace. Please note the "perhaps," and "maybe" words here—I cannot diagnose well from this distance. But you must face the issue. Do not neglect to discuss it with a qualified Christian counselor in person.

Ultimately, the important thing is not coming up with improved definitions for sins and possible classifications. These won't change attitudes or behavior patterns. What counts is our growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ, growing also in our holy hatred of any and all sin, and our turning from sin and toward Christ continuously as lifestyle. These are gifts of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. Focusing on terminology will not bring that about. Listen to your God-given conscience and even more to your Lord who guides you into newness of heart and life.

In Scripture, "murder" means "unjustly to deprive someone of life." As C. S. Lewis wisely put it, all killing isn't "murder" any more than all sex is adultery.

God is the giver of life, and it is up to God to decide when life will end (Job 1:21). We don't charge God with murder every time a person dies. Usually God carries out his decision to end a life directly. He may, however, carry out that decision through his representatives--for example, the government (Romans 13:1-5).

You might also ask your friend what makes him/her so sure that the inhabitants of Jericho were "innocent." The Bible paints a very different picture of the culture and lifestyle of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan (e.g. Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

At the time of the conquest of that land by Israel, God had decided that the lives of the inhabitants of Jericho should end, and that is God's prerogative. Israel was simply acting as God's representative--as the means that God used to carry out his decision.