An Undesirable Title

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners: of whom I am chief.”  I Timothy 1:15

I’ve always wondered about this statement by the Apostle Paul.  He was one of the most committed men of God, yet he considered himself the chief sinner.  If he was, where does that leave the rest of us?  He wrote, “Of whom I am chief”, not “of whom I was chief”.  All of his writings, his letters, and his dedication to the word of God as he traveled throughout the Middle East into Turkey, Italy, and Greece organizing churches and preaching the gospel were proofs of his commitment to Christ.  Yet he still referred to himself as a sinner.

Thus that begs the question:  after we have been born again, had our sins washed away by the blood of Christ, and have become a follower of Christ, are we still a sinner?  Well, do we still sin?  I am afraid that we do, at least I know that I do.  When Jesus pardoned our sins, our guilt was removed before a holy and perfect God.  We died to sin, but to our dismay, sin didn’t die.  It is alive, being heavily promoted by that old devil Satan whose chief aim is to tempt God’s people to sin so that their commitment to Christ can be tarnished before the world.  To be tempted is not a sin, but to give in to the temptation diminishes our witness for Christ and causes us to take a step backward in our journey of faith.

We are still living in the flesh which can acquiesce to the desires of our souls, the seat of our emotions and wills.  An analogy came to mind.  A person who is addicted to alcohol, but overcomes his or her addiction is still called an alcoholic because he or she has the propensity to begin drinking again.  I remember in the church where I grew up, wine was served along with unleavened bread at communion, or the Lord’s Supper.  It was a little more than a thimble full of wine, but it was fermented wine with some alcohol content.  The reason that they served wine was in keeping with the words of scripture that Jesus and His disciples drank wine.  They had no refrigeration in Jesus’ day, so grape juice would naturally turn into wine.  However, a new couple began coming to our church, and the wife had formerly been addicted to alcohol.  They asked the church to change the communion celebration from serving wine to serving grape juice, which they did out of respect for the new member’s concerns.  Any sort of addiction requires a steadfast and committed endeavor to overcome it.

We also have the propensity to sin, but the good news is that Jesus has already forgiven us.  When we make a real effort at walking in the Spirit, our sin nature has less and less influence over us.  It can be a real battle between the flesh and the spirit, just as an addict is challenged daily to avoid the things, places, and people who can cause him or her to slip back into his or her old ways.  However, God gives us the grace to be victorious.