Well, the poll data is by far not going to win awards for accuracy, but hey what can I expect?
Out of 5 votes….
3 picked Sinner
2 picked Saint
So, here’s the challenge to you voters and those afraid to cast the condemning vote!
If you are a Christian believer, why in the world do you think you are defined as a Sinner? Would you be surprised if I told you that throughout the New Testament, the use of the term Sinner is reserved for those who are not saved, who are “working for Satan”? Yes, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, but that’s why we need God. Once we take Him, take His gift, we are no longer condemned! Read Romans 8!
Would you be surprised to learn that throughout the New Testament the Believer is referred to as “sanctified, holy”? You may have heard that we “are ambassadors for Christ.” If we are ambassadors, sanctified and holy through the blood of Christ, then why do we tend to characterize ourselves as Sinners? We WERE sinners, but now we are Saints. We are Saints who happen to occasionally sin. Digest that.
If you feel that this is just a play on words, or maybe just a subtle theological point, think of it this way. My son is trying to play basketball. He misses his first shot and gets upset, he proclaims, “I can’t do it!!”, “I can’t do it Daddy!”. If he keeps telling himself that, of course, you know the end result. He won’t be able to do it! If he says, “I can do it!”, then eventually he WILL do it.
If we continually say and think we are a Sinner, of course, we will sin. If we say and think of ourselves as a Saint, then eventually we will overcome our sin, because we are not a Sinner. Our aptitude to sin will more and more often be overcome. We will always be Saints who occasionally sin, but we are surely not Sinners!!!
In a nutshell, a Saint is a Sinner who was forgiven. If you cling to the Sinner label, then do you feel you are forgiven? I kind of view it as a positive negative thing. It’s negative to think of yourself as a sinner, but positive to think of yourself as a Saint…plus the Bible is clear, WE ARE SAINTS.
Paul writes it best (End of Romans 7 into Romans 8):
[This is before being saved, living as an Old Testament Jew - The Deliberate Ruminator]
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 8
[This is now written to the Believer - The Deliberate Ruminator]
Life Through the Spirit
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Here’s a link to PDF with a plethora of applicable bible verses. Click here.