Ernest T. Bass
Well-Known Member
Cause I'm sort of confused about this. Anybody and everybody who isn't Jesus sins,.. but yet since we are all saved by grace and the blood of Christ, does that mean we can't actually be called sinners since God no longer looks at our sin? Then again, we still need to repent whenever we do sin so which is it? Since murders are still murders even if they've felt remorse for it and have been forgiven for it afterwards.
A sinner is one who will not repent of His sins hence God imputes sin unto him whereas a Christian does repent of sins and God does not impute sin.
Example:
Luke 1:6 tells us about John's parents:
"And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."
They are said to be "blameless" but that does not mean they were perfectly sinless for they did sin (Romans 3:23). Though they sinned God saw them as "righteous" because they were obedient to God walking in all the commandments and ordinances which included repenting of sin, offering sacrifices for sin. To such people God will not impute sin as Paul quotes David in Romans 4:6-8. Had they quit walking in all the commandments and ordinances then their sins would not be forgiven and God would impute sin unto them.
John's parents lived under the OT law but the same is true for Christians under the NT:
1 John 1:7
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
The Christian will not be perfectly sinless but as long as the Christian continues walking in the light (includes repenting, confessing sin) then all his sins are continually washed away, not imputed to him. Yet if the Christian quits walking in the light (quits repenting, confessing sins) then his sins are not cleansed away, his sins are then imputed to him making him now a lost sinner.