Assuming the Spirit

A Christian is “at the same time justified and a sinner” (simul iustus et peccator). It is one of the more well-known phrases of the Reformation. God in his grace and mercy has declared the Christian to be righteous due to the atoning work of Jesus Christ. And what God declares something to be, truly is. And yet at the same time, sin is still at work in our flesh. Though declared righteous in Christ, we will not be completely free from sin this side of heaven. We are at the same time righteous and a sinner.

But how does this express itself in the life of the believer? Is it a 50/50 split? No. Picture for a moment a person’s life as being like a see-saw in a children’s playground, where one end is righteousness and the other wickedness. Very few people have ever been completely evil, and only one person has ever been perfectly righteous. The norm is that our lives tend to go up and down, see-sawing between the two. The problem for the non-Christian person who still takes after the first Adam is that there is a badly overweight kid sitting on the wickedness seat, and only a scrawny child remains on the side of righteousness. The scrawny kid might have his occasional moment, but the big kid inevitably prevails. The sinful nature dominates.

But what does this look like for the person who takes after the second Adam? What is the situation for the person who has been born again? We may be at the same time justified and a sinner, but this does not mean that we now have two evenly balanced kids sitting on the see-saw. Justification does not merely introduce an equilibrium. The reality is that we are now slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:17-22), no longer governed by the sinful nature but by the Spirit (Rom 8:1-11). The Holy Spirit himself is seated on the righteousness end of our see-saw and the overweight child of our sinful nature has been placed on a diet! Unfortunately, our sinful nature will continue to have its way sometimes, but theologically speaking the righteousness side has the upper hand in the character battle. God is at work in every believer, renewing our minds, transforming our desires, and conforming us to the likeness of Christ.

My reason for pointing this out is because this reality should impact the way that we spur one another on in the faith. While we can assume that the Christian person in front of us struggles with sinful desires, habits and behaviours, we can also assume that this same Christian person, deep down, finds those same sinful desires, habits and behaviours unwanted. Deep down, because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Christian person desires to be godly and is frustrated by their own sin when they fail.

Sometimes we can get cynical about people’s willingness and ability to change. We act as if the odds are always stacked in favour of the ‘sinner’ side of people’s natures. Now, while it might be naive to assume that everyone in your church or life who calls themselves a Christian truly is one, it would also be wrong-headed not to give the benefit of the doubt to those who profess faith and show some indication of the Spirit’s fruit in their lives.

If you are ministering to your fellow believer who is battling with sin—whether in person, in prayer, or from the pulpit—assume the Spirit. It is faulty theology that assumes that we need to drag our fellow Christians kicking and screaming in the footsteps of Christ like a reluctant toddler at a shopping centre. I believe we can be more optimistic than that. We have a powerful thing working for us as we strive to see people grow in Christ: they want to grow.

Appeal to the struggling Christian’s enlivened spirit. Set before them the vision of the author and perfecter of their faith, so that they might fix their eyes upon him. Then show them in practical ways how they can cast off the sin that seeks to entangle them and move in the direction that their own Spirit-transformed heart wants them to move. 

Photo credit: DieselDemon