The following "Question" was asked by an attendee at the 2003 Shepherds' Conference (a ministry of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California), and was "Answered" by John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the CD, #SC1007, titled "General Session #5 John MacArthur - Q&A."  A copy of the CD, cassette tape, or MP3 can be obtained by going to:  www.shepherdsconference.org  ©2003. All Rights Reserved. Grace Community Church.

Questioner

My question is about Romans 8. Apostle Paul teaches that there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ, and then he explains the life of the spirit and he assures that we have the victory in Christ. And, in verse 29, he shows that His purpose is to make us according to the image of His Son. And my question is, what could you share with us about how this verse has changed your life to have a personal holiness in this world that is completely contaminated by sin?

John MacArthur's Answer

The question our brother is asking is related to, I think, one of the issues that always is thrown against the doctrine of eternal security, and that is: if we are all secure, no condemnation is ever against us in Christ, there is no one who can bring any charge against God’s elect, there is no one who can condemn us. Does this not contribute to sin?

And that is the oldest sort of logical argument against the doctrine of security—that if we are saved and if nothing can ever alter that, nothing can ever change that, doesn’t that give us license? And, of course, Paul answers that in the 6th chapter of Romans, when, having identified this reality of grace, he, coming down to the end of chapter 5, he says, “As sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”—with the immediate response in chapter 6 of his sort of hypothetical adversary is, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?” ‘Me ginomai’—“may it never, never be.”

The answer to that is this: you will not continue in sin because you have been transformed. You will not. And the reason you will not is not because you have some threat on the outside, but because you have a new life principle on the inside.

It’s a mute argument to say, “Well, if a person’s a Christian and they know they’re secure forever and that nothing can ever change that, then they’re free to sin.” And Paul’s answer is, “You can’t do that because you’re a new creation. You used to yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness in sin, but now you yield your members as instruments of righteousness.” This is I John 3:4-10: “No one who abides in Him sins. He cannot sin. His seed remains in him.” So it’s a silly argument.

And Paul says, “Look, you’ve been buried with Him through baptism into death. You now walk in newness of life. You’re a new creation. You are different. Your old self,” verse 6, “was crucified with Him; the body of sin done away with—eliminated—that we should no longer be slaves to sin. We have died; we are freed from sin.” The language of death is the language of finality, isn’t it? And that’s why Paul likes to use that. Whatever was true in the past is dead! There’s a finality to that.

And John, in his wonderful black and white approach, says that whoever is born of God doesn’t continue in sin. In fact, all the tests of I John that have to do with behavior evidence the same reality. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are gone; new things have come.” And the core of that newness is the righteous disposition, the nature of the believer on the other side of regeneration, dramatically changed so that there is no longer that unbroken pattern of sin; there is however, a pattern of righteousness interrupted by sin. And I like to say it this way: but to that sin, there is a righteous reaction!

In other words, what do you mean when you say someone who is a Christian does not continue in sin? Of course we sin. John is talking about unbroken patterns of sin; he’s talking about habitual sin without a break. When you become a believer, that is not the case. The pattern of your life is not habitual sin, present tense—“practicing” is the verb in I John. But rather, the pattern of your life is righteous. And when sin does occur, I believe that a true Christian has a righteous reaction to that sin so that there’s a sense in which righteousness even prevails in those times of sin.

That’s what you find in Paul in Romans 7, right? He’s not denying sin, but he demonstrates a righteous reaction to sin by saying, “When I look at myself and I see my sin, the sin that is in me, that is, in my flesh, it operates according to a principle or a law that is different than the law that’s in my heart. I love the law of God. I do the things I don’t want to do; I don’t do the things I do want to do.” That’s evidence of that righteous pattern.

So, the pattern of righteousness is that you do righteous deeds, you are obedient to the truth of God; there’s a flow of righteousness in your life, a desire to be obedient; and even when sin, of course, in your flesh is present there, there is, to that sin, a righteous response. That’s what produces conviction. So the question, in a sense, is a silly question, that “If grace is grace and if salvation is forever, then we’re all going to run out and commit sin everywhere?” And Paul’s answer to that is “You can’t.” Not “don’t” but “you can’t” because you are a new creation. OK?

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
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