Rediscover the Gospel

BELIEVERS CANNOT SIN (1 JOHN 3:9)

1 John 3:9 (NKJV) 

9 Whoever has been born of God doesn’t sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 

Many people struggle to understand this passage because its context clearly shows that Christians still sin:

1 John 1:8 (NKJV) 

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

1 John 1:10 (NKJV) 

10 If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 

1 John 2:1 (NKJV) 

1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous. 

These are three instances from the same letter where the writer, the apostle John, talks about sinning. The first two passages communicate that, “If you say you haven’t sinned, you are a liar.” Then, in the third passage, John adds this, “I am writing to you so that you will not sin (future tense). But if you do sin, you have an Advocate with the Father.” Then, in 1 John 3:9 he declares, “If you are born of God, you cannot sin.” That sounds very contradictory, isn’t it? Both Scripture and experience reveal that Christians can sin and still sin. Even the entire context of the book of 1 John shows that it’s possible for a born-again believer to do something that is sin. Yet, 1 John 3:9 clearly says that if you are born of God, you cannot sin. How can this be?

Some people take 1 John 3:9 to mean you cannot “habitually” sin. Several Bible translations now even render it this way. People who think along this line preach something like this: “If you were a drunk before you were saved, you might get drunk once or twice, but if you are truly saved, you will not habitually sin. Eventually, you will see victory in that area, or you were not truly born again.” However, in order to embrace this view, you have to categorize sin – which God doesn’t. To Him, there are no “big” sins and “little” sins. By His definition, we all habitually sin. We all habitually fail to study God’s Word as much as we should. We all habitually fail to love others the way we should. We all habitually fail to be as considerate as we should. We habitually get into self-centeredness, and God has to habitually deal with us about it.  Sometimes, we also pass over things that God calls sins. For instance, God views gluttony the same as drunkenness, adultery, and murder (see Deuteronomy 21:20). Gluttony is a sin that can only happen habitually. You cannot become overweight by eating just one large meal. Even if you gorged yourself one meal, it would only make a pound or two of difference. However, in order to gain an extra fifty to a hundred pounds, you would have to do it repeatedly. Being overweight is a habitual sin. I don’t say that to condemn anyone, because I know there are overweight people who are not that way necessarily because of food. But I want to put things into perspective. 

If you interpret 1 John 3:9 to mean that you cannot habitually sin if you are truly born of God, then nobody would qualify, because we all habitually sin. The only way this can be preached is to say, “Well, you cannot habitually do the big sins, but the little sins, yes, you can habitually do them.” However, this is not what this verse is saying. 

I believe that the apparent contradiction and confusion created by the book of 1 John concerning the new creation and sin flows from the frequent and subtle alternation between sinning at the level of the body and soul and sinning at the level of the new spirit. If you understand the human composition of spirit, soul, and body and that God deals with the born-again believers in the spirit or at the spirit level, then a better interpretation of this passage would be the following. The only part of you that is born of God is your spirit. Your soul is not born of God and your body is not born of God. They have been purchased, but they are not redeemed yet. Your soul and mind are being renewed, and your body will be glorified at the end. But the only part of you that is changed right now in an instant is your spirit and your spirit cannot sin. That spirit was created in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). Once you believed, your spirit was sealed (Ephesians 1:13), preserved and encased in the Holy Spirit in such a way that sins that you commit in your actions and in your thoughts don’t penetrate it. Since the recreated spirit cannot sin by itself, it retains its purity and its holiness. You don’t lose your spirit’s holiness based on your performance. This understanding is pivotal to having a relationship with God and fellowship with Him. 

Based on Hebrews 9 and 10 and on what we’ve discussed so far about future sins, we can also interpret 1 John 3:9 in the following way: if all past, present, and future sins of born-again believers have already been removed by Jesus’ sacrifice once and for all, then there is no sin that a believer could do that would fall outside of what the sacrifice of Jesus has already dealt with. As such, a Christian cannot commit sin anymore. 

Next, let’s see how and what does the Holy Spirit convicts the world and believers of, because most of the time the condemnation coming from our conscience is confused with the Holy Spirit’s conviction. 

THE CONVICTION OF SIN AND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

In the night before His crucifixion, in John 16:7-11, Jesus gave His disciples some instructions, telling them the following: 

John 16:7–11 (NKJV) 

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It’s to your advantage that I go away; for if I don’t go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 

8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 

9 of sin, because they don’t believe in Me; 

10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 

11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 

In verse 8, we can see the three-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit: to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. It’s amazing how religion in general has twisted this verse to make it sound condemning, when it’s in fact the exact opposite. The Lord Jesus seems to have known that this passage will be misinterpreted, or that it could be misinterpreted, so He went on in the following verses explaining in detail exactly what He meant. In verse 9, it says “of sin” (singular) and not “sins” (plural). The Holy Spirit convicts the world and not believers, of only one sin: the sin of not believing in Jesus. He doesn’t convict the world of all their individual immoral sins, because the conscience already does that. The Holy Spirit doesn’t convict people that are not born again about whether they are drinking, lying, or stealing; that is the conscience’s job. The primary reason for which people will be going to hell is the sin of rejecting Jesus, not their individual sins. This is the direct cause, because the sins of the entire world have been paid for:

1 John 2:2 (NKJV) 

2 And He Himself is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 

Jesus didn’t die only for the believers that would accept Him, but He also died for the people that maybe will never accept Him. He has already paid for their sins as well. The sins of the whole world have been paid for. The Lord Jesus has paid for the sins of the whole world, even those that haven’t been committed yet. Consequently, people are not going to hell for their sins. Their sins have been paid for. People go to hell for rejecting the payment that was made for their sins, which is the sacrifice of Lord Jesus. Christ has paid for the sins of every single person. It doesn’t matter whether you are a good person, a moral person, or a bad person. Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.” Every person has missed heaven. Some of us have lived maybe a little better than others, maybe we haven’t done the evil things other people have done, but compared to God’s standard of holiness, all have sinned and come short of His holiness. If you are trusting in your own goodness, your own holiness, and in your good deeds, without receiving Christ into your heart, you will go to hell. Jesus paid for your sins and you cannot come before God based on your goodness and tell Him, “God, I deserve heaven because I lived holy. I didn’t curse, steal, or kill anyone. I am a good and moral person.” You would be sent directly to hell. But Jesus paid for the sins of everybody. Everybody! All your sins have been paid for. It doesn’t matter what you have done. It doesn’t matter if you are the sorriest person in the world. Jesus has paid for your sins the same way He paid for every person’s sins, so sin is not the problem anymore. Jesus ended the sin problem once and for all. It’s all about Jesus. All that matters is that you put your faith in Jesus. That is what the Holy Spirit convicts the world of: Jesus’ payment of all sins. 

Free of Condemnation

Another way your conscience is cleansed of the consciousness of sins is by realizing and acknowledging in your mind and heart that, even when you sinned, you still remain free of condemnation. Let’s read the most famous passage on freedom of condemnation found in Romans 8:1-2:

Romans 8:1–2 (NKJV) 

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 

Who is Paul referring to in the above passage? He addresses those who are in Christ, meaning the invisible church (which is the true church), and not the visible one. Now, what does it mean for you to be in Christ? It means that you are a born-again believer and a new creation. It means also that you are saved, justified, that you have eternal life, and have the Holy Spirit in you. These are all equivalent phrases about being in Christ. So, this passage is addressed to believers that still commit sinful actions.

In the physical and natural realm, when can a court of law condemn you? You are condemned when you break the law of the country you live in. In the spiritual realm, being condemned before God means that you are a sinner. What does “no condemnation” mean before God? It means justification, or having the “justified” legal status declared by God on you as a believer; it’s right standing with God. That means you are “unblammable,” as if you’ve never sinned. Justification is more than forgiveness of sins. In our inter-human relationships, forgiveness means that the wrong done to someone remains still unpaid, but the wronged party chooses to overlook it or forget about it. The phrase “forgiveness of sins” in relation to God can be used only in the sense that believers didn’t pay themselves directly for their sins because of His mercy. But Someone paid. Christ is the One Who paid for them and in their stead, and they paid in Him. God didn’t just overlook or forget their sins without any payment. Christ paid for them. Justification means that believers paid in full for their sins in Christ, and that they have been reborn into a new justified creation that has never sinned. If you received Jesus Christ into your heart as your Savior, then you became justified, you paid in full for all your sins through Christ, and you have been reborn into a new justified creation that has never sinned and will never actually sin ever again. I will explain that in detail later. As a believer in Christ, all your sins - past, present, and future - have been completely and permanently removed, not just forgiven. 

In the story of Daniel, after he was thrown into the lions’ den and God saved his life, if someone came to king Darius and told him that Daniel broke the law, it would have been unjust for the king to punish Daniel again for the same law break. Daniel had already been thrown once into the lions’ den. In the same way, God’s justice today demands our acquittal because of Christ’s sacrifice. We are not justified based on mercy, but based on justice and righteousness, because our sins were paid in full in Christ. In the night of the Passover, when the people of Israel were getting ready to leave Egypt, God told them: “When I will pass through your door and see the blood (not your good works or your good name), I will pass over” (Exodus 12:13). Blood means that there has already been a death. Jesus died for us and that’s why God’s righteousness is on our side.

Many Christians read Romans 8:1-2 and, unconsciously, add to it in their mind the following phrase:

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus [as long as they don’t do sinful deeds].” However, Paul addresses born-again believers in this verse, who still have sinful deeds in their lives. If they didn’t have any sinful deeds at all, there would not be a reason for them to feel condemned in the first place, and the verse would be irrelevant. The apostle Paul has in mind exactly those people who were regenerated, who were made righteous, but still have sinful deeds in their lives, like you and me. It’s exactly those deeds that have the tendency to make you, as a believer, feel condemned, although you are not condemned anymore.

Another way some Christians read the above verse is the following: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus [as long as they do works of righteousness and walk according to the Spirit].” However, at the moment of salvation you have received an eternal redemption and justification, completely apart from works and independent of your good or bad works:

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV) 

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it’s the gift of God, 

9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

Romans 3:28 (NKJV) 

28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Law. 

Salvation came by grace through faith and not through good works, which are the deeds of the Law. Faith is the only condition of receiving eternal justification. Good works are not a condition, but a natural effect, and a normal result of a genuine saving faith. Faith alone justifies, but not the faith that is alone. James seems to paint a slightly different picture than apostle Paul in James 2:14-26, by affirming both faith and good works as conditions for salvation, apparently contradicting Paul. I said “apparently” because James is not actually contradicting Paul and we will see why. Let’s read the passage from James 2:14-26:

James 2:14–26 (NKJV) 

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but doesn’t have works? Can faith save him? 

15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 

16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you don’t give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it doesn’t have works, is dead. 

18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 

19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 

20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 

22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 

23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 

24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 

25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 

James states in verse 24 that a man is justified by works as well, and not by faith alone. James seems to have been bent towards the Law more than apostle Paul, emphasizing the works more. However, James is not saying that believers need good works as the CAUSE of their justification. He is saying that they will have good works as a CONSEQUENCE of their justification. Works cannot be added as a primary condition to justification, but as a necessary result of a genuine faith. There is an indestructible connection between faith and works. For example, if electric power runs as it should, there will be light in your house. But you, as the owner of the house, cannot produce light by yourself to prove that you have electric power coming through to your house from the electrical plant. 

Generally speaking, Christians have a genuine faith at the moment of salvation concerning the escape from hell in the future life, after death. However, most of them don’t apply the same simple faith to sanctification and to good works in the present life. Because of wrong beliefs and wrong teaching, they are saved from hell, but they bear very few fruits of righteousness. They fail to do a lot of good works and are sometimes in doubt that their faith is even genuine or wonder if they are still saved or not. Good works should not be done by believers to obtain or MAINTAIN justification (salvation), but rather they should be done out of gratefulness and thanksgiving towards God for what He has done. Those good works will also receive rewards at the end of times. However, good works don’t create faith; they only reveal a genuine faith that is alive. In the same way, the bad works or the lack of good works don’t kill genuine faith, but only reveal a faith that was already dead in the first place. 

If we go back in the Old Testament at the incident with king Solomon

The Great Exchange

2 Corinthians 5:21 says the following:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) 

21 For He (God, the Father) made Him (Jesus Christ) Who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

Question: In what way was Jesus Christ made sin on the cross? Was He made sin only legally OR was He made sin vitally in His nature as well, meaning in His spirit? Then, in what way were believers made righteousness? We have already seen and proved earlier that believers had to be made righteousness both legally and vitally in their nature. Here we will focus on how was Jesus made sin on the cross and on what kind of death He experienced as a result of being made sin. Did His spirit experience spiritual death and complete separation from God together with His physical death? These are very important and complex questions that we will attempt to answer. When I talk about nature throughout this section, I will refer to the spirit of a human being, respectively to the spirit of Jesus Christ. 

There are two prevalent perspectives concerning the answer to the above questions. The first perspective is that Jesus was not made sin vitally in His nature, but sin was only legally or judicially imputed to Him. By the same token, born-again believers remain sinners in their nature and righteousness is imputed to them just legally as well. The second perspective is that Jesus was made sin both legally and vitally in His nature, and He took on the nature of Satan on the cross. By the same token, born-again believers become righteousness both legally and vitally in their nature. Both these perspectives have difficulties. The problem with the first perspective is that it makes believers in Christ only legally righteous. The issue with the second perspective is that Jesus takes on the nature of Satan. The viewpoint that I will present and explain in this book is a third alternative: that born-again believers were made righteousness both legally and vitally as I have already proved earlier, but Jesus was made sin only legally, and not vitally in His spirit as well. Moreover, I will advocate that Jesus experienced only soulish death and physical death, but not spiritual death in His spirit.

Why do I believe that sin was only imputed legally to Jesus? There are about four reasons for that. First, it’s because whenever the people of Israel brought animals for their sin and guilt sacrifices in the Old Testament, and laid their hands on the animals for the transfer of guilt, those animals never became sin in their nature. It was just a legal transfer. The same happened with the azazel scapegoat that was sent in the wilderness in the yearly Day of Atonement, caring legally all the sins of the congregation. The scapegoat didn’t became sin in its nature. Second, we see that God credited righteousness to Abraham and the other people of God in the Old Testament only legally and in advance, before Christ came to die on the cross. In the same way, sin was imputed to Jesus Christ just legally, but in His case, it was both retroactively (in order to include Abraham as well) as well as for all time. Third, if Jesus had been made sin in His nature, meaning in His spirit, then He would not have been anymore the perfect, blameless sacrifice for humankind’s sins. Let’s read two passages that illustrate how the Passover Lamb of the Old Testament (Exodus 12:21) was a “typology” of Christ and how Jesus Christ, Himself, was going to become the Lamb of God (John 1:29):

Exodus 12:21 (NKJV) 

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 

John 1:29 (NKJV) 

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

If we continue with this parallel, we can notice that the sacrificial lamb in the Old Testament had to be “unblemished.” At the time of sacrifice, a hand would be laid on the unblemished sacrificial animal to symbolize the transfer of guilt. We can see that in many passages like Exodus 12:5, Leviticus 4:3-4, Leviticus 23-24, Leviticus 32-33, and Leviticus 22:20, but let’s read just two of those passages:

Leviticus 22:20 (NKJV) 

20 Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. 

Leviticus 4:3–4 (NKJV) 

3 If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. 

4 He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the Lord. 

The sacrificial lamb didn’t actually become sinful in nature, but rather sin was imputed to the animal legally and the animal acted as a sacrificial substitute. In like manner, Christ, the Lamb of God was utterly unblemished, as we can see in 1 Peter 1:19, and humanity’s sin was imputed judicially to Him. He was humanity’s sacrificial substitute on the cross of Calvary. The transfer of sin on Him was just legal and not vital. Let’s read 1 Peter 1:18-19:

1 Peter 1:18–19 (NKJV) 

18 Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 

The whole world is currently in sin and separated from God from birth, because of the sin nature transmitted from Adam, and not because of their own sinful actions. Likewise, Jesus becoming sin in His nature would have meant He would have been separated from God and blemished, defiled, even if He had never sinned through His actions during His lifetime.

The fourth reason for why I believe that sin was only imputed judicially to Jesus is because Jesus would not have had the right to resurrection if He was made sin in His nature. Let’s read Romans 6:23 to see why:

Romans 6:23 (NKJV) 

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

This passage says that the wages of sin is death. If Jesus had become sin in His nature, He would not have come back from the dead and He would not have defeated death. The only people on whom death cannot reign over are righteous people. Therefore, Jesus had to remain righteous in His nature and spirit in order to have the power and legal right to come back from the dead.

Now, why do I believe that Jesus experienced pain and death only in His soul and body, but not spiritual death in His spirit? First, it’s because Adam and Eve sinned with their soul and physical body before their spirit became dead. In the same way, Jesus had to experience death only in His physical body and soul that were blameless and without sin, in order to determine the resurrection and recreation of the human spirit into a brand new creation. He only tasted death with His soul and body, but didn’t experience spiritual death with His spirit. 

Hebrews 2:9 (NKJV) 

9 But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. 

Jesus tasted death with His soul on the cross by experiencing all the negative soulish emotions that humans can possibly go through: sadness, hopelessness, discouragement, fear, worry, depression, confusion, loneliness, boredom, anger, etc. Moreover, Jesus tasted death with His body on the cross by experiencing all the physical pains, sicknesses, and diseases that humans can possibly have, all at once at that moment on the cross, and by finally giving his breath. 

Second, if Jesus had become sin in His spirit and died spiritually as well, there would have been a cosmic breach in the Trinity of God. The Godhead Itself would have been contaminated by sin. Let’s not forget that Jesus was also God; He was one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in essence, and He had eternal life in His spirit. This is unconditional fixed existence without end in the life and presence of God. Jesus’ spirit had to be preserved. Not only that, but if such a separation had been possible to happen, that the Son of God would enter spiritual death and lose eternal life for a moment, then there would not have been any assurance for believers’ salvation and for the gift of eternal life they have received either. They could lose their salvation and eternal life at any moment as well and become eternally damned.

You may ask now: “So, if Jesus’ spirit could not be made sin, then did He really have the potential to sin while He was on earth? Were Jesus’ temptations real temptations or was He just pretending to be tempted like us? What would have happened if Jesus had sinned in any way?” The fact that Jesus didn’t become sin in His nature on the cross doesn’t mean that Jesus didn’t have the full potential to sin. He was the Son of Man, He came in Adam’s initial pos

What Is Sin?

Now that we defined righteousness, we are in a better position to define sin, by comparison with righteousness, in a more holistic way. We said earlier that righteousness is the nature of God that defines His character and His ways of doing all things. 2 Peter 1:2-4 says that those who are in Christ have also become partakers of God’s divine nature and righteousness:

2 Peter 1:2–4 (NKJV) 

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 

3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 

4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

Just by looking at the definition of righteousness, we can deduct two things about sin. First, sin is also a nature the same way righteousness is a nature. In fact, the Bible shows that all human beings are born on this earth with a sin nature in their spirit, that was inherited from the first man, Adam. Second, sin is  everything that God is not. Sin is the complete opposite to righteousness, to God’s character, and to His ways of doing things. We can see this contrast illustrated in many passages of the Bible. Let’s read just a few of them:

Romans 6:18 (NKJV) 

18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 

Romans 6:20 (NKJV) 

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) 

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

Similar to righteousness, there is positional sin and practical sin or, better said, inherited sin and manifested sin. Inherited sin or inherited righteousness decide your eternal destiny and have to do mainly with eternal damnation and eternal salvation respectively, while manifested sin and manifested righteousness have to do with the quality of your life here on earth, as well as with eternal rewards after this life. People who remain with a sin nature by not accepting the sacrifice of Jesus, will go to eternal damnation in the lake of fire after physical death, no matter how many good and righteous deeds they did while living on earth. By contrast, those who change their sin nature into a righteousness nature and are transferred from death to life by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus for their sins (John 5:24), will go to eternal salvation in the presence of God after physical death, even though they still did sinful deeds in their lives on earth. Their eternal salvation is secured by their righteous nature received by faith as a free gift and not by their righteous deeds or manifested righteousness. 

How should we define “manifested sin” that accompanies the sinful nature or is still present sometimes even in people with a righteous nature? In the eyes of most believers, manifested sin amounts only to immoral and wicked deeds, which have first been revealed by the human conscience when the first man fell, then by the Law of Moses as transgressions of the Ten Commandments, and later on by Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, where He expanded the moral law to the level of thoughts and intentions of the heart (Matthew 5-7). Finally, apostle Paul described in detail in his epistles this kind of manifestations of sin, in passages like Ephesians 5:3-4, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:10-21, and Colossians 3:5-9. These are: sexual immorality, adultery, homosexuality, impurity, lust, uncleanness of any kind, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, slander, abusive language, gossip, idolatry, theft, lying, drunkenness, abuse, sorcery, hate, envy, jealousy, strife, anger, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, murder, evil desires, and wickedness. These sinful deeds and attitudes are all sins of commission, mostly external, and they are the most obvious among all sinful behaviors. Then, there are sins of omission like when believers can do some good and yet don’t do it (James 4:17), or when they don’t love God with all their heart, and their neighbor as Jesus loved them. 

However, there are also some other sinful deeds of omission that are less obvious, yet still sinful in God’s eyes. If you remember, I mentioned somewhere in the beginning of this book that righteousness does not consist only of morality, although morality is included in it. Righteousness is much more than that; it consists of God’s nature, character, and ways of doing things. Righteousness includes removal of all sin through Jesus’ sacrifice, as well as healing, prosperity, blessing, victory, peace, joy, wisdom, and eternal life. Since sin is the opposite of righteousness and the opposite of God’s nature, then allowing in our lives sickness, disease, poverty, financial lack, debt, lack of peace and joy, worry, sadness, melancholy, depression, stress, failure or fear of any kind, insecurity, overeating, etc. is also sin. Yes, you read that well: allowing sickness in your body is sin. Accommodating lack, poverty, and debt in your life is sin. Being stressed and worried is sin. I am aware that what I’ve just said may come as a shock to many, because we might have never thought of sin in that way. Before you turn away and discard this teaching, allow me to give you biblical support for why I believe sin includes all those things. 

Can you ever picture God, the Father, the Holy Spirit, or Jesus as being stressed out, worried, fearful, sick, poor, sad, insecure, or depressed? No, of course not, these attributes cannot even be mentioned in connection to God. Were any of these facets of death present in creation in the Garden of Eden before the Fall of man? As we know from the Bible, God didn’t include them in His creation of the world and man. When did these sinful states of being enter the world? They all came in when man disobeyed God and sin entered the world. They are all manifestations of sin and death. Do you think by any chance that any of these effects of death will be present in heaven in the future life? No, of course not, even now they don’t exist in God’s presence or anywhere in the third heaven. Moreover, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 6:19 that the born-again believers in Christ have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Let’s read them:

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV) 

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV) 

19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 

If we go back to the Old Testament and think about the Tabernacle or the physical temples of God, was there any defilement or uncleanness allowed in them? No, there was none permitted. Since our bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit, any defilement of the body should not be allowed to stay in the body. Sickness is a defilement and a blemish of the body, which should not be permitted to remain in our bodies, as new creations in Christ, even if it attacks our bodies. 

Let’s see another proof from the Bible that sin indeed includes all those things. Romans 14:23 says that whatever is not from faith, or is not of faith is sin. Moreover, Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Now, you may ask, “Faith in what?” Faith in the Word of God, or in the Word of Grace, or in the Word of Christ. This Word is the instruction manual of the new creation. Romans 10:17 says the following:

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) 

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

Everything that is not from faith in the Word of God is sin, and without faith in the Word of God it is impossible for anyone to please God. The first act of faith in the Word is receiving salvation by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8), and entering into the Kingdom of God. However, after entering the Kingdom of God, everything that is not of faith in the Word on this earth, is sin. Accepting sickness and disease in our body is lack of faith in what God’s Word says that healing was purchased for us with Jesus’ blood at the cross. Cultivating stress and worry in our lives is lack of faith in God’s promises of protection and provision. Being fearful or insecure is lack of faith in God’s love. 1 John 4:18 says that perfect love casts out fear. When you know with all your being that God loves you and He’s always on your side, you don’t fear anything. Being fearful in any way and being aware of God’s love cannot coexist together. Lust and sexual immorality is lack of faith in what God’s Word says that we have received a spirit of self-control at salvation (2 Timothy 1:7). Romans 6:7, 11 says this:

Romans 6:7 (NKJV) 

7 For he who has died (in Christ) has been freed from sin. 

Romans 6:11 (NKJV) 

What Is Righteousness?

We’ve been talking so much about righteousness and about the fact that our new spirit has become the righteousness of God in Christ. But what is righteousness really? You may or may not have asked yourself that question before. Righteousness is that nature of God that defines His character and His ways of doing all things. It’s the character of God to always be right and perfect in everything. It’s about who He is. How He thinks is always right. What He says is always right. What He does is always right, because He is God. We can also call it the quality of rightness. It’s the rightness of God. He is never wrong. He is always right no matter what any other being might say. He could never be wrong. When it comes to the things of this world, if God says to a flower “You’re a tree,” that flower will have no choice but turn into a tree, because God can never lie and He has to be always right. When God said in Genesis: “Light be!,” light came into existence. When Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11 and decreed over it: “May no one ever eat fruit from you again,” the fig tree had no choice but to comply and wither away. That is power. He creates and curses with His words. He imposes His reality into things and circumstances. However, when it comes to people, God’s righteous words will never infringe people’s free will and authority. God’s words referring to people need to be first freely accepted by them through faith before they come to pass in their lives. In other words, people have the choice and they decide whether a righteous word from God will come to pass in their lives or not. When God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:5 “I have made you a father of many nations” and He even changed his name from Abram to Abraham to reflect that reality, what God said eventually came to pass, but not without Abraham’s cooperation of faith. When God said to believers in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that they have become His righteousness in Christ when they received Christ into their lives by faith, what God said came into being. When God said to believers in 1 Peter 2:24 that they were healed, that righteous word comes to pass in their lives, only when they freely choose to accept it by faith.

When this righteousness of God is imparted into our spirit at the new birth, it gives us right standing with God, because there is a legal side to righteousness as well. However, first and foremost, righteousness is a nature the same way sin is a nature. When we were born physically in this world, we were born sinners before we did anything bad, because of the sinful nature we inherited from Adam. That sinful nature carried along with it the legal guilty standing before God as well. Likewise, when we were born again from the Spirit, we received a new nature of righteousness by faith, before doing anything good. Our good deeds didn’t make us righteousness the same way our sinful deeds didn’t make us sinners. But our righteousness nature prompts us to good works while our sinner nature makes us do sinful deeds. Our actions are vastly influenced by our nature.

When Adam entered spiritual death, he became sin both legally and vitally. His spirit’s nature was altered, he entered death, and his legal standing with God became that of a condemned person. Because of him, the whole human race died in its nature as well. However, the Bible tells us in Romans 5:15-19 that Christ, who is the last Adam, not only canceled what the first Adam did, by reconciling us back to God legally, but did much more. He gave us the free gift of righteousness as a nature. Let’s read this whole passage together:

Romans 5:15–19 (NKJV) 

15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 

16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 

17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 

18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 

19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 

Christ should have accomplished at least what Adam did, right? Otherwise, He would have been less powerful than Adam. Of course, what Christ did was towards spiritual life, and not to spiritual death. But Christ had to perform an alteration in both the legal status and the vital state of believers and put them back in the position of righteousness in which Adam was, right? The interesting part is that Christ did something much better than what Adam did. The position and nature of Adam before the Fall was one of positive righteousness maintained by and conditioned on Adam’s obedience to God’s command. It was not a fixed, eternal, and unconditional righteousness independent of his deeds. If Jesus Christ were to just undo what Adam did, that meant that people who were going to believe in Him, would have only been brought back from minus to zero, having a clean slate and a temporary conditional righteousness. People in that position would have had to earn unconditional and fixed righteousness on their own by their obedience to God’s laws and commands. But Jesus didn’t leave believers in that position. He has undone what Adam did, but He also earned unconditional eternal righteousness by His obedience to the Law during His life, and then gave it as a gift to believers. That is amazing!!! 

Romans 5:19 says that, since through Adam, humans were made sinners both legally and in their nature, through Christ, the born again Christians were also made righteous both legally and in their spirit’s nature. That’s reciprocity. If they were not made righteous in nature as well as legally, Christ would have been less powerful than Adam and that is not biblical. Since sin (or spiritual death) was not just imputed legally to Adam and to the rest of the human race, now righteousness (or spiritual life) is not just imputed legally to Christians. However, Christ did much more than that. He freely gave believers God’s unconditional eternal righteousness that He earned on earth by His irreproachable obedience to the Law. The quality of His righteousness is superior to the one Adam had initially. Jesus didn’t let believers earn it on their own by their obedience as Adam was supposed to do before the Fall. That is amazing! Jesus obeyed and fulfilled all the commands and conditions of God from Deuteronomy 28 and gave that obedience to believers as a gift. It’s exactly this righteousness of Jesus Christ present in the reborn spirit of the new creation that gives Christians the legal right to health and prosperity on this earth. That is why they are no longer subject to the law of sin and death, but live by the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2). They are immune to sickness, disease, and lack, if they start believing that they have Jesus’ righteousness. That is why sin, with all its negative effects, no longer has dominion over believers (Romans 6:14). And it doesn’t have anything to do with their good deeds or their sanctification, but it’s only based on Jesus’ righteousness.

Before the cross, Abraham was only credited righteousness (Romans 4); it was given to him just legally in advance; it was imputed to him because of his faith, but his nature was still a sinner’s nature and it wasn’t yet righteousness. However, after the cross, when we are born again, we are no longer given righteousness just legally. We are born into righteousness; we are born righteous. Eternal life is given to us as a gift because of righteousness. Human beings are not given the human nature and life in general as a gift after they are born. They are simply born as humans. In the same way, the new creations in Christ are born righteous in their spirit’s nature. Before the cross, righteousness was given and imputed to sinful people only legally, based on their faith or obedience to the Law. However, after the cross, righteousness is imparted to born-again believers as a nature, as well. Christians have the exact same nature as God Himself, here on earth, just as Jesus had. They have the ability in their spirit, through the Holy Spirit, to think right, talk right, be in the right places at the right time, and do the right things, even unconsciously. They are the wisdom of God in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30). They are led by the Holy Spirit even unconsciously if they choose to believe in this righteousness and are aware of it.

When you believe and declare “I am holy” or “I am righteous,” based on what the Word says, despite your sinful behaviors, you don’t deny the presence of those sinful deeds in your life. You are not arrogant or not humble enough. You rather deny the right of the sinful actions to remain in your life. You dictate change to your sinful actions, because you are righteousness and you cannot lie, exactly like God. Just as God decreed "Let there be light" to the darkness that covered the earth, so are you dictating the Word of God to your emotions or circumstances and your reality has to obey and align with t

The Mirror Principle

Let’s read James 1:21-25:

James 1:21–25 (NKJV) 

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. 

22 But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 

24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 

25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty (namely the Gospel) and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 

Most Christians read this passage and interpret the mirror as being the moral Law of God, in which you have to look continually to see your flaws and sins. In other words, you see what you need to change and then go try changing it, without forgetting the moral flaws that you saw in the mirror, until those issues are removed out of your life. Only THEN will you be blessed in what you do. 

There are multiple problems with this interpretation. First, the mirror is the perfect law of liberty, and not the moral Law or the Ten Commandments. What is the perfect law of liberty? The perfect law of liberty is the Gospel or the Word of His grace. The perfect law of liberty is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). That law stipulates that we are dead to sin (Romans 6:11) and no longer under sin’s dominion (Romans 6:14), that God loves us (John 16:27), that we are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), that all possible blessings are already established and granted to us in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3), that even when we sin we are not condemned anymore (Romans 8:1), that we have power to live in holiness (1 Corinthians 10:13, Philippians 4:13), that we have been healed (1 Peter 2:24), that we are a success (Psalm 1:3), that we are prosperous (2 Corinthians 8:9), victorious (Romans 8:37), above failure, and protected. This is the Gospel and the perfect law of liberty that we need to be doers of, meaning believing these things and walking in them. 

In the New Testament, the act of doing the Word is believing the Word about you and acting accordingly. The act of doing the Word is not obeying a set of moral rules like in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, you will not be blessed BECAUSE you obey the moral Law. Obedience is no longer a condition for God to bless you, like in the Old Testament. You are blessed regardless of your level of obedience. The more you believe the Word of grace about the perfect being that you have become in your spirit, the more grace is released in your life, and the more blessings manifest themselves from the inside out into the material world. When you come to realize how blessed you are, then the blessing begins to flow in everything you do. You are blessed even before you believe it, once you have come in Christ. But when you believe that you have been blessed, that blessing starts manifesting in your life physically and emotionally.

Notice that verse 21 says that the Word is already implanted in you and able to save your soul. What does that mean? It means that your new spirit is the Word Itself, because it has been born of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23), and consequently, you have become the Word of God in your spirit. That Word is just locked inside of you and blocked by your mind. When you look in the mirror of the Word, you see yourself, the Word. When your mind receives the revelation of who you really are inside, and accepts it by believing it, that’s when you begin putting “flesh” to the Word inside, the same way Jesus was the incarnated Word. That is the moment when you bring the Word out and manifest it to make your soul immune to the works of darkness on this earth. The works of darkness are: sickness, depression, confusion, lack of peace and joy, failure, anger, lack of wisdom, etc. This is how your soul is saved by the implanted Word of God in you. The salvation of your soul in this context does not refer to the salvation from hell in the future life, but to the salvation of your whole being here in earth from sin and from all its effects that entered the world together with it. 

Renewal of the mind is not refreshing your mind with the moral Law of God, or the Ten Commandments. The moral Law of God has already been written into your conscience since you were born on this earth. We know good and evil because of the Fall. We don’t need to refresh that knowledge because it’s already in us and in all people. That’s why you have moral people that have never been born again, and neither heard or tried to keep the Ten Commandments, yet behave at the highest moral standards and sometimes better than some born-again believers. That is why you have Greek Orthodox and Catholic people, that are mostly not born again, going regularly to confess their sins to the priests. The conscience is always working in everyone, either we like it or not, and it doesn’t need our help. Renewal of the mind means to renew your thinking about your new identity and nature, to focus and meditate on that, and be aware of that. The new identity is not something obvious to the eyes, but something that you need to behold with the eyes of the Spirit, and refresh your mind with it constantly. Your new nature is what you should not forget about and be a doer of. Then your soul (mind, will, conscience, and emotions) and body will be transformed into, and align to, the same image of Christ, in which your spirit has already been reborn.

In the mirror, you don’t see your old self, the sinner, or your sinful deeds. Instead, you see Christ, Who is glory, Who is the Word of God incarnated, and that’s who you are as well in Him. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 is also a passage about the mirror that goes along here and it says:

2 Corinthians 3:17–18 (NKJV) 

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

The way to be transformed into the image of the Lord is to behold the glory of the Lord, that is, to focus on who Christ is in you and who you are in Christ. You do this by reading and meditating on the Word of God and by listening to sermons and biblical teachings. This is how you look into the perfect law of liberty and see who you are and who you have become – the very glory of the Lord. The new creation is no longer fallen short of the glory of God as Romans 3:23 says. That is the state of unbelievers. The new creation in Christ is the fullness of the glory of God here on earth (John 1:16; John 17:22).

Most of the times, believers read the Bible with an Old Testament perspective, instead of reading it with a New Testament mindset. They read the New Testament in the light and through the lens of the Old Testament, rather than reading the Old Testament in the light and through the lens of the New Testament. The grace and the glory that came after Jesus’ death and resurrection are the culmination of the entire Bible. Everything else is included in that grace as an intermediate stage to the unfolding final plan of grace: the election of one man, Abraham, the election of one nation, Israel, the giving of the Law, and the period of the prophets. Those were shadows of the real to come. God had to announce the birth of Jesus and what He was going to accomplish at the cross through the mouth of His prophets, so that He would have man’s authority to bring Jesus on earth. That is probably why it took hundreds and thousands of years until the promises about the seed of Christ given to Eve and to Abraham came into being. In the same time, God had to be very cryptic in those announcements, so that the devil and the princes of this world would not understand His secret plan of salvation. Otherwise, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). Can you imagine that? The devil would have never crucified Jesus if he knew that by one man’s death, more sons of God like Him would come into being. God had to work in the Old Testament in stages to reveal His plan progressively and carefully, but grace is what unifies and makes sense of all those phases together. That is why some truths that were a present reality in the Old Testament cannot become principles of interpretation over the entire Bible, and especially of the New Testament. It’s rather the other way around: the New Testament has to interpret the Old Testament. There are present truths that pertain to the new creation in Christ and past truths that don’t apply to believers today, although they paved the way to  Christ and applied to the people that lived in those times and contexts. That is why the Bible contains an OLD testament and a NEW testament. Many things in the Old Testament prepared people through symbols and analogies, so that they would understand what was going to happen at the cross. 

Let’s look at a few examples of reading the New Testament with Old Testament assumptions. In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 we read:

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 (NKJV) 

The Mind Renewal Process

In Romans 12:1-2, it says:

Romans 12:1–2 (NKJV) 

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 

2 And don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

Verse 2 says not to be conformed to the world. The word “conformed” means “to be poured into a mold.” In other words, there will always be pressure from the world, from the devil, from unbelievers and from circumstances to make you conform to them. You cannot go through life without being pressured and melted one way or another, but you can choose what mold to fit in. You don’t have to be bitter like the world, and you don’t have to experience the defeat this world offers you either. Don’t be conformed and poured into the mold of this world, but be transformed. The word “transformed” in Greek is metamorphoo, from where we have the word “metamorphosis,” which is the transformation of a worm from a cocoon into a butterfly. If you want that kind of transformation where you are changed in your physical and emotional realm from a bitter and hurtful person into a loving and joyful one, from a sick person into a healed one, from a defeated person into the victorious person God wants you to be, then you need to renew your mind. Your spirit is perfect. The body just goes with the flow and it goes along for the ride. But what you think with your mind determines whether you experience the life of God or death and defeat in the natural realm. The renewing of your mind changes all that. The renewing of your mind produces your transformation and that transformation approves and confirms the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God in your life. How does this happen? The good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God for you—revealed in the Gospel— is that you would have life in abundance, peace, joy, health, prosperity, and victory over sin. All these things, that represent the will of God for you, are already present in your born-again spirit. The moment you begin to be transformed outwardly and when what is inside of you becomes visible on the outside, you prove to the world that what God said about you and what God has put in your spirit is true and real. Your transformation certifies and confirms what God has already accomplished in you. 

The verb ”prove” in Romans 12:2 comes from the Greek word dokimazo, which means ”to approve something or someone, to examine or test something or someone and prove him or it reliable and trustworthy, to determine, to certify, or to confirm” (The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Lexicon by Kittle and Friedrich Gerhard and Geoffrey William Bromiley). The exact same Greek word is used in 1 Corinthians 16:3 as well, where apostle Paul says:

1 Corinthians 16:3 (NKJV) 

3 And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem. 

Paul says that he will send the Corinthians’ gifts to Jerusalem through people that have been tested by the church in Corinth and approved as reliable to carry such gifts. Now, returning to Romans 12:1-2, some more interpretive translations of the Bible (ESV, NRSV) have rendered the Greek word dokimazo as “discern.” The verb “to discern” in the English language is defined as “to find out, to distinguish, to detect, or to perceive” creating the following connotation in your mind when reading Romans 12:2: “that by renewing your mind with the moral laws of God from the Bible regularly, you will learn to discern good and evil or what God likes and dislikes, which actually represents the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Is this interpretation correct? As we have already learned, our mind doesn’t need additional refreshes of the moral laws of God (namely the Ten Commandments), because our conscience already knows good and evil very well and it reminds them to us on a regular basis, either we like it or not. Also, as I will explain later in more details, the renewing of the mind does not consist in looking continually in the moral Law of Moses to see our flaws and sins and then try to improve ourselves morally. Therefore, the translation of the Greek verb dokimazo as “prove” in the literal translations of the Bible (KJV, NKJV, NASB, LEB) is more accurate, because it correctly portrays the mind renewal process as an assimilation of a new identity, and not as a merely moral improvement of your old person. By the transformation that results from your identity replacement with Christ’s identity, you can confirm the will of God, which is not only morality, but righteousness, life, and power in all aspects of your life.

How do you renew your mind? It’s through the Word of God which tells you what is spiritually true and  gives you a new mindset. You then have to conform yourself to what God’s Word has to say about you. 

Acts 20:32 (NKJV) 

32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 

Apostle Paul says that the Word of His grace is able to build you up and give you an inheritance; it helps you enter in the possession of it. The Word of God or the Word of His grace is the instruction manual for the new creation. The New Testament contains most of those instructions and principles pertaining to the new creation and to the righteousness of God, but the Old Testament contains such instructions as well, because the Law and the Prophets greeted from a far the grace that was going to come to us. Allow me to share with you some other Scriptures that will bring even more clarity to what has happened in you. They will illustrate the truths about the change that took place in your spirit. In Ephesians 4:17 it says:

Ephesians 4:17 (NKJV) 

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.

The word “Gentiles” here refers to non-Jews. In that context, Paul was referring to people that were not in covenant with God. The way he would probably express the same thing today would be something like the following: “Don’t walk like lost people and like people that don’t have a relationship with God.” In other words, don’t just let your mind be controlled and dominated by carnal physical things. If you don’t begin to think spiritually and be spiritually-minded instead of carnally-minded, then you will shut off the flow of the life of God through you. A Scripture that reflects this well is Romans 8:6, where it says:

Romans 8:6 (NKJV) 

6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 

Carnal mindedness doesn’t mean sinful mindedness necessarily. Yes, it’s true that all sin is carnal, but not all carnality is sin. The word “carnal” literally means “everything you perceive through the five senses.” In other words, don’t let your mind be dominated only by what you can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. You can also perceive realities that exist beyond the senses, as your soul believes the Word of God. In the physical realm, you already can believe things that you cannot see with your physical eyes. For instance, we’ve come to realize that there are invisible germs all around us that can be seen only under the microscope. Because of that, we wash our hands even though we don’t see those microscopic germs with our physical eyes. Likewise, there is the electrical power, radio waves, television signals, internet wireless networks and bank transactions all around us right now whether we are in the car or home. We don’t see all these with our physical eyes, but we see their effects in our daily lives and we benefit from them. We’ve come to realize that there are things we cannot see, taste, hear, smell, or feel, but they are real nevertheless. And this is only the physical and natural realm that we’re talking about, but if we transition to the spiritual realm, there is a whole spiritual world all around us that is real. In Ephesians, the Bible calls that spiritual world the heavenly places. Moreover, there are also certain spiritual realities present in you, in your born-again spirit. I am referring here to the spiritual part of you that you cannot perceive through your senses, but you can believe it as you discover it in the Word of God. Begin to use your mind as the Word of God instructs you, and not like the Gentiles, being controlled just by the flesh, because if you’re carnally minded, meaning dominated by senses, that is death. But to be spiritually-minded is life and peace. The verse in Romans 8:6 that we’ve just read didn’t say that spiritual mindedness tends towards life and peace or that it helps in some way to push you in that direction. No, it said that spiritual mindedness is life and peace. In other words, you could consider these statements as being a mathematical formula: spiritual mindedness equals life plus peace, while carnal mindedness equals death. This isn’t talking just about physical death. Death is anything that

Cleansing the Conscience of Sins

Who Are You in the Spirit?

The diagram of three rings in a row like a chain also illustrates the lack of a direct link between the spirit and the body. That’s why everything that comes out from your spirit into your body must go through your mental-emotional part. 

With the pipes diagram below, one side of the pipe represents your spirit and the other your body. Your soul acts as a valve in between the two. When you open the valve, what’s in your spirit can flow through your soul to your body. Depending upon how open it is, the flow of life can be just a trickle, a small stream, or rivers (John 7:38). When the valve is closed, the flow from spirit to body shuts off. That’s a great illustration of how a born-again believer functions!

The spirit is encapsulated inside the soul and it doesn’t have direct access to the physical body. It has to go through the soul. Romans 8:11 says that the same Spirit and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead already indwells every born-again believer. But if your mind is closed to this truth and it doesn’t embrace it, that resurrection life cannot flow through you. If what you see in the spiritual mirror doesn’t become more real to your mind than what you see in the physical realm, then it’s possible for this resurrection life that is in your spirit to be completely shut off and made of no effect, just like you would shut the valve to a pipe. You can get to a point where you are totally dominated by what you feel and you say: “But I feel sick, my body hurts. The doctor says I am dying. Here is my medical record.” And if those things dominate you, then even though you have the raising-from-the-dead life of God in your spirit, your soul can shut off that power, so that not one drop of God’s life-giving power ever touches your physical body. And you can die sick having the resurrection life of God on the inside of you. It would be like dying of thirst while leaning against a well full of life-giving water! And of course you can apply that to every area of your life. You can have depression, you can have anger and bitterness in you when the whole time in your spirit there is love, joy, and peace. So the critical part in releasing the resurrection life is your soul. 

Your spirit is always for God, always like God, and it has everything in it that God has. Your body is really  neither good nor bad; it’s not moral or immoral; it’s amoral. Your body doesn’t really dictate or control anything. Your soul is the one controlling what happens to your body. Your spirit is always for God, while your body is going to go with the flow. If the soul doesn’t influence it, then your body is going to go by just what it sees, tastes, hears, smells, or feels. On one hand, if you get your soul in agreement with your spirit, then it’s two entities fighting alongside against the physical one and the life of God that is in your spirit will manifest itself in your physical body much quicker and easier. It will produce healing, deliverance, victory, and power. On the other hand, if your soul gets in agreement with what your physical body senses to the point that you cannot believe anything that you cannot perceive with your five senses, then you will shut off the life of God that is in your spirit. It’s sad to say this, but this is where a large number of Christians are. And the major reason for this state of things is because most Christians don’t have a functional working revelation of spirit, soul, and body. They really don’t understand that a radical change has already happened in their spirit and they are not fully aware of who they are in Christ, thinking that if they cannot see, taste, hear, smell, or feel something, then it’s not real. Their intention is not to be liars or hypocrites by ignoring their senses; they are just trying to be real and honest. They search their physical and emotional realms and if they cannot perceive in some way the power of God with their five senses, then they think: “Well, it’s not here.” But the truth is that if you have made Jesus your Lord, there was a change that took place inside of you. You became a brand new you. Old things passed away, all things have become new. And this is the beginning place of victory in your relationship with the Lord. I cannot overstate enough how important this understanding is. What this did for me is that it transformed my life and my thinking, because I have also experienced from time to time the power of God at my physical and emotional levels like you probably did too. But after the emotion of that power wore off, I thought that it was gone. I knew that God was real and all the things that He promised were real, but I didn’t think that they were in me. And because of that, I went through periods of frustration, desperation, and discouragement, not because of sin, but because of the desire to live for God and experience His best. I felt like I could not get there. This happens a lot with many Christians that experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit at one time, they receive the power, and then because they don’t feel anything in their bodies anymore, they believe it’s gone, or that they have to wait and pray again for it, or that they have to sanctify themselves and fast to get it. But all the while, the power is there, it just needs to be stirred up and activated, by mind renewal, worship, and praying in tongues. 

In your born-again spirit, you already have all the power of God. It’s just a matter of releasing what you have, not going and trying to get something from God. This concept revolutionized my life and I hope it will do the same for your life. Once you are born again, the Christian life is not a process of getting things from God, but rather a process of renewing the mind to where you just learn to release what you have already received. It’s so much easier to release something that you already have received rather than trying to get something that you don’t have. The process of attempting to get something that you don’t have and it’s not a reality for you, it already has an element of doubt in it. In other words, you believe it’s possible, but you don’t believe that it’s already a done-deal reality. Your perspective is one of trying to head towards it, to start believing God for healing, for joy, for victory, for power, for prosperity, and for holiness. This perspective has already an element of doubt. You believe it’s possible, but you don’t believe it’s already done for you and in you. But once you believe it’s already done, how can you doubt that you are going to get something that you already have? In practice, you don’t doubt that you will get a car if you already have it, right? Likewise, a job or a house, right? And I know that some of you are thinking: “Well, of course you don’t doubt. Why would you doubt that you are going to get something that you already have?” Well, that’s the point that I’m making. I’m trying to make an illustration here. In the natural, we don’t do that. If you already got it, you don’t doubt that you will get it. But if you say: “I’m believing God for healing” and then you start struggling and saying: “I cast down that thought of doubt. I believe that I am going to receive. God is going to heal me. I will receive my miracle from God,” you are in the same situation. One of the reasons why you doubt is that you don’t believe you’ve already got the healing. You believe you can get it, but you don’t believe you do have it already. 

This is exactly what happened at the moment of salvation, which will further emphasize my point: when I confessed Jesus as my Lord, I was instantly changed and my spirit became totally brand new. My spirit is not in the process of changing, it’s not growing up, and it’s not maturing. In my spirit, I am totally changed  and complete and the rest of the Christian life it’s not learning how to get from God, but it’s rather learning how to release the life that He has already placed in me instantaneously through that new birth. What a radical truth! Let’s read Philemon 1:6 where it says the following:

Philemon 6 (NKJV) 

6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 

The word “sharing” in this verse means to release and to transfer. So, the release of your faith becomes effective (or active, effectual), or faith begins to work and to be productive when you start acknowledging every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus. Paul didn’t say that your faith begins to work by getting a new anointing from God, a double portion, or from getting more of God. Those are concepts that you’ll hear often, but the truth is that’s not a New Testament reality. You’ll hear people say things like, ”In the Old Testament, Elisha had a double portion of what Elijah had. This is the double portion night. Come on, people, we’re going to pray for you to get twice as much from God.” That is an Old Testament principle. Elijah and Elisha were not born again, they didn’t have the Holy Spirit in them without measure and the fullness of God in them like we do. They had the Spirit over them in small portions and for a short time. That’s why Elisha could have twice as much as Elijah. But in the New Testament the Scripture says in John 1:16 that:

John 1:16 (NKJV) 

16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 

Moreover, Colossians 2:9-10 says that we are complete in Him in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead:

Colossians 2:9–10 (NKJV) 

9 F

Cleansing the Conscience of Sins

As I mentioned briefly earlier, the conscience can be cleansed or it can remain clean by not violating it in the first place. However, when you sin and violate it, the conscience can be cleansed of the guilt of that sin by remembering, meditating, believing, and even speaking out loud four things: 

(1) you were made righteous in your spirit’s nature forever at the moment of your salvation; 

(2) you are free of condemnation forever even when you still do sinful deeds; 

(3) your past, present, and future sins have been completely removed at the moment of your salvation; 

(4) in the reality of the spirit, if you were truly born again, you cannot even commit another sin ever again.

Spirit, Soul, and Body

A good understanding about the spirit, soul, and body of the human being, and about their particular roles,  is of vital importance in the process of cleansing our conscience, and in growing spiritually. This teaching has revolutionized my personal life and eliminated some of the frustrations and confusion that I experienced when I read and studied the Word of God. It provided a firm foundation for everything else that the Lord revealed to me along the years about righteousness, conscience, confession of sins, eternal security of salvation, and sanctification. It also helped me get rid of a lot of wrong thinking in my life. I pray that it will do the same for you while reading this book. 

I would like to begin this section by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that clearly illustrates the three parts of a human being. People are spirits that have a soul and live in a body. There are many Scriptures that reveal the trichotomy of the human being, but 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is the most clear passage in that direction that doesn’t need any other proof:

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) 

23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

This is so obvious that I don’t think there can be any credible argument against the fact that we, humans, are made up of a spirit, soul, and body. This is very important because there are some theologies that actually believe man is only made up of two parts, which is body and soul. That is probably not a dominant theological position, but as far as practice goes, as far as people in their day-to-day living goes, very few people understand the concepts of spirit, soul, and body. Most people confuse soul and spirit as being the same thing and acknowledge only two parts of them: a physical part and a mental-emotional inner part that most people refer to as their personality. As a matter of fact, if you will take a look in the Strong’s Concordance, which is one of the main concordances that people use to look up Greek words in the New Testament, it even defines the word “spirit” (“pneuma” in Greek) as being ”the immortal soul” and it doesn’t make a distinction between those two. My study of the Word of God has revealed that there is a very distinct difference between spirit and soul, so I cannot agree with that Greek definition of what the word “pneuma” means. It means more than the immortal soul; it’s talking about the spirit man, the inner part of us. 

There are three distinct parts: spirit, soul, and body. Now the body is obvious. If you go look in a mirror, that is the part you see immediately. If you were talking to me face to face right now, you would be looking at my body, but you would be speaking to my soul, which is my mental and emotional part. Some people define the soul as being made of mind, will, and emotions and I think that is certainly true. However, I don’t think that is all inclusive, there is more to it. I believe that our conscience is also a part of our soul. The soul is basically the personality of a human being. If I were to touch your physical body, you can feel that. But I can also touch you by words. For instance, through this book, without me touching you physically at all, I am speaking to your soul and it can touch your emotions. It can either make you glad, sad, or angry. You can also say words and hurt people without physically touching them. Every person is in touch with their soulish part as they are with their body part. It’s easy for you to search and check how you feel, whether you are happy or depressed. 

The body and the soul are two areas that everyone is in touch with constantly and we really don’t need a lot of explanation on that. But the spirit part is a totally different matter. In John 3:1-8, when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, one of the rulers of the synagogue who came to Him by night, Jesus told him that he had to be born again. Nicodemus responded: “How can this be? How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb?” In the process of explaining this to him, Jesus said: “That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.” And what He was saying was that spirit is spirit and flesh is flesh, and there is no direct connection between the two. They are inter-related and I am going to explain some of that in just a moment, but spirit is spirit, and flesh is flesh.

You cannot feel your spirit in a physical and natural way. Again, if you want to know how your body is, all you have to do is just think and your body instantly tells you if it’s tired, or pumped up and your adrenaline is flowing, or if you are excited and ready to go for a run. You can pull an inventory instantly and find out exactly how your body is. You don’t even have to think about it, you are constantly being fed that information. You can also pull an inventory on your soulish realm and you can know whether you are glad or sad, whether depression is your problem or fear, or if you are worn-out mentally and need to take a rest. You are instantly in touch with all that. But you cannot contact your spirit through your emotions or through any physical way. The spirit cannot be accessed in any natural way and herein lies one of the great problems in the Christian life: the spirit is the part of us that was radically changed at the moment of salvation. The spirit is the part of us that God communicates with and the spirit is the part of us that all the life and power of God flows through. You cannot just feel and discern spiritual reality and truths through your normal senses. And if you don’t understand that, then when the Scripture says that you have the same power in you that raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11), or that you can do the same works that Jesus did (John 14:12), or that you are a completely brand new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), then you will search your physical body and your mental-emotional personality part, and if you cannot see, taste, hear, smell, or feel what the Bible says about you, then immediately you will perceive it as a contradiction and feel conflicted. You will start thinking that the Bible is so hard to understand, you will see the disparity between your experience and what God’s Word says, and you might want to throw up your hands in the air and conclude that it’s just not true what the Bible says. 

One of the greatest keys to walking with the Lord for me has been to understand this reality of spirit, soul, and body, and that the spirit realm cannot be seen or felt. The only way to discern and define spiritual truths is through the Bible. You just need to believe that what God says in His Word about you is true, without trying to access those truths through your senses. Jesus said this in John 6:63,

John 6:63 (NKJV) 

63 It’s the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 

The Word of God is spirit and life. The Word of God reveals to us the spiritual reality. If you want to know what your spirit is like, then you have to go to God’s Word to find it out. You cannot just go by an emotion, or some type of perception. You have to go to God’s Word. Here is another passage of Scripture in James 1:23-25 that says:

James 1:23–25 (NKJV) 

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 

24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 

25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty (namely the Gospel) and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 

This passage of Scripture is likening the Bible with a mirror that you look into, not to see your physical face but to see your spiritual face, to see what you are and who you are in the spirit. When you want to see if your hair is combed, what do you do? Did you know that you have never seen your hair? You have never seen your face either. If you are a woman, you put on makeup in front of a mirror; you are not really looking at your face. What you are doing is looking at a representation, a reflection of your face in a mirror. The truth is that you, with your eyes, have never looked directly into your face. You have always looked at a reflection or a representation, but you got to a place where you trusted that. 

The Word of God is a perfect reflecti

The Consciousness of Sins and of Dead Works

Now that we have come to the Lord and we were born again, God doesn’t want us to have an evil conscience anymore, but a good and perfect conscience. He doesn’t want us to be conscience-ruled. He wants us to purge and cleanse ourselves from an evil conscience. There is a better way to relate to the Lord. 

Now, let’s see how our conscience in conjunction with our behavior can generate two types of consciousness that are both detrimental to us: a consciousness of dead works and a consciousness of sin. As we already know, our conscience announces us when we did something wrong. When the conscience is quiet for a longer period of time because maybe we do some good works, we are moral, or maybe we don’t violate most of God’s commands, we may begin to think and feel, without even realizing, that we have become worthy of God’s favor and entitled to His blessings and power because of our works. In that moment, we have formed a consciousness or an awareness of our good works. The Bible calls that the consciousness of dead works and I will explain better in a moment what dead works are. Likewise, when the conscience tells us repeatedly for a longer period of time (and we allow it to do so) that we did wrong, that we sinned before God, and that we failed, it makes us feel condemned and unworthy of God’s favor, blessings, and power. In that moment, we have formed a consciousness and an awareness of sin, a mentality that we are still sinners. Neither of these two types of consciousness are good. A perfect conscience is a conscience that we don’t allow it to rely on good works for approval before God, neither to condemn us because of sin. The book of Hebrews covers both of these cases in chapters 9 and 10. Let’s read first the passage in chapter 9:

Hebrews 9:9–14 (NKJV) 

9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— 

10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. 

11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 

12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 

13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 

14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

If we put together verses 9 and 14, we can notice that to be made perfect in regard to conscience is to have our conscience cleansed of dead works. The Old Testament Law of sacrifices could not do that. What are dead works? Dead works are either good works done with a wrong motive, or good works that we rely on as righteousness before God. For example, the Pharisees and the Sadducees didn’t see themselves as sinners, but as righteous, because they obeyed the external Law, they focused on the exterior, and in their minds they didn’t violate their conscience. They were moral and good people in their eyes. Their conscience didn’t accuse them, but boosted their self-confidence. They didn’t have a consciousness of sins, but a consciousness of dead works. In other words, they were more conscious of their good works than the multitude of their sins.

When believers in Christ think that because they fasted and prayed much, or because they didn’t do immoral things, or because they did some work of service for God, God should bless them or work with power through them, then their conscience is evil and full of dead works that needs to be cleansed of. Believers need to have the consciousness of Christ’s righteousness, and be aware of the fact that their approval before God, the favor of God, and the blessings of God are based only on Christ’s righteousness and not on their good works or spiritual disciplines. Not being conscious of our good works doesn’t mean that there is no absolute good in the world; it doesn’t mean that we should be oblivious to any good work or deny that good exists. Good works are good, God loves them and we should pursue them in greater measures. In fact, God is the One that has already prepared many good works in advance for us in Christ, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10), for which He will also reward us at the end. However, not being conscious of our good works means to not rely on those good works in our mind as a basis for receiving something from God. The same is with spiritual disciplines like fasting, praying, worshipping, or meditating on the Word. They are all very good and need to be done, because they change us and our mind to release greater faith in our lives, which will materialize more blessings for us into the natural world. However, these disciplines don’t change God, neither make Him do anything for us. He has already done everything for us and given us everything. The disciplines just help us to acquire faster and in a greater measure what God has already given us. Now let’s read about the other case of consciousness in Hebrews 10:

Hebrews 10:1–4 (NKJV) 

1 For the Law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 

2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 

3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 

4 For it’s not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 

This passage talks about not having a consciousness of sins anymore. That has been accomplished in Christ, but it could not have been accomplished during the Law. Atonement in the Old Testament just covered the sins temporarily. The blood of Jesus didn’t just cover our sins when it made atonement for us, but cleansed us from all our sins forever. Our sins – both past and present as well as future ones - have all been removed and taken away once and for all. That is why we should no longer be conscious of our sins. We shouldn’t see ourselves as sinners anymore, even when we still sin, because our future sins have been removed as well. Not being conscious of our sins doesn’t mean that sin is not sin anymore, that evil doesn’t exist, or that God has became softer with sin; it rather means not to focus on our sinful deeds, but on Christ’s righteousness. It means that on a continuous basis, when our conscience condemns us of something that we did wrong, we don’t dwell on our conscience’s condemnation, but come quickly in agreement with what the Word of God says about us, that we are still righteous through Christ, because the blood of Jesus has already removed that sinful deed.

I heard some preachers saying that in the New Covenant, not having a consciousness of sins means that there is no real good or evil anymore in the face of God, but only the Holy Spirit is now the One deciding what is good or evil, even though some of those decisions and deeds might have been considered evil in the Old Testament. For instance, lying is clearly a sin in the Bible, but in certain circumstances, it could be viewed not as a sin. If the government persecutes the church and they ask us to tell them where our brothers and sisters are hidden, what do we do? Do we tell them or do we lie that we don’t know? Some say that lying in this case is not a sin because it’s done out of love for the brethren. Is it really so? In other words, the purpose justifies the means. What if there is another option that we haven’t seen yet, where we both protect our brothers and sisters and we don’t have to lie either? If we think about the instance when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus, humanly speaking, it seemed that Jesus had no way of escape out of that dilemma. On one hand, if He said, “Don’t kill her,” He would have been against the Law and would have attracted people’s rage. On the other hand, if He said, “Kill her,” then nobody would have believed anymore in His message of love and mercy. However, in God’s wisdom, Jesus came up with a third alternative that nobody thought of, where He preserved both the Law and His message of love. He succeeded in harmonizing two apparent contradictory things: the justice of the Law with the love of the Father. In the same way, not having a consciousness of sins doesn’t mean that good can become evil and evil can become good, based on the circumstances. Good is still good, and evil is still evil; but we have to focus on Jesus’ righteousness that fulfilled all the good and paid for the punishment of all evil. In Him, justice and love embraced each other, truth and mercy have met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other, as it’s written in Psalm 85:10:

Psalm 85:10 (NKJV) 

10 Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. 

It’s so sad to see today that in most churches the consciousness of sins is cultivated instead of the consciousness of righteo