"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."

But the issue at hand is, are we even under the Law? If we are not under the Law then how can we transgress it? Perhaps more context for James 2:10 will help us.

James 2:8-9
"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors."

Ahhh, so this “Law” is not merely the Law of the Old Covenant but the “royal law”, the very “law” that Christ said sums up the Old Covenant Law - "Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." – Mt 22:37-40

Now, would anyone say that these commands that Jesus gave are done away with? So, is it possible to transgress these commandments? – “The royal law”.

Perhaps instead, James is doing the same as Jesus, contrasting the Old Covenant Law with the summation of that Law – “the royal law”.

But our questions continue, especially as we DE-construct what we have been taught by faulty teachers and instead we now go right to the source – the Scriptures.

Many of us have been taught that justification was instant but that sanctification is a life long process, that is what Jesus did on the cross had an instant effect, and as people “believe” they are instantly justified by Christ’s sacrifice. But we have been told that we then begin the process of sanctification, being remade into the image of Christ via the process of defeating the “old man”, the sins we sin. Who would argue with this conclusion as it is obvious we all still seem to sin.

Next we come face to face with a verse like this:

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” – 1 John 3:9

Does this mean what it sounds like it means? That Christians CANNOT SIN? But we know we do actions that can be defined as sin so what does this really mean? Further, let us add this verse:

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” – 1 Cor 6:11

Whether this verse is speaking of a specific group in time is not important at the moment, for we are merely trying to ascertain if Christians could ever be instantly “sanctified”, and from this verse it seems so.

What then is happening when a Christian “sins” if it is not possible for them to really sin? Some may say, it is not sin because sin is only imputed where there is law such as reads Rom 5:13 – “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

If we stopped at Romans 5:13 we may be able to say now that there is no law, Christians who are not under law cannot be held accountable but there is more to the context.

“Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” – Rom 5:14

So, it seems sin can rule over people even when there is no law to impute that sin.

We have hardly begun to scratch the surface of the real issue, that being can a Christian sin to a point of living in sin? It seems first we must agree on what “sin” is and what affect Christ’s work had on sin’s imputation to mankind and specifically to Christians.

Some people may read further in Romans 5 and seek to say that Christ has justified all people, as is taught in universalism.

“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.” – Rom 5:18

Or perhaps more like an Arminian view, people will say salvation is an offered “free gift”, thus making Christ’s atonement a “possibility” for all but not a certainty. This brings us to the discussion of what actually happened to Adam and what he actually “spread to all mankind”. And that is another discussion.

More specifically, we are trying to now ascertain if sanctification is instant and if it is, why Christians still appear to sin. I have not attempted to answer the question because this is not a monologue but a discussion.

There are so many more verses, indeed entire chapters and books of the Bible that must be brought into a discussion like this.

Let us all come together and reason from the Scriptures and perhaps the answers will be made clear.

In Christ,
Roderick