Are you saying that a Christian is expected to be perfect and never sin again once saved?

Unfortunately, that is the common charge made against anyone who preaches a strong holiness message. So let me put it this way, I am not saying that a Christian won’t ever be tripped up as a result of temptation, what I am saying is that we should not expect that to be a common, regular occurrence for the rest of our physical lives. That somehow, even though we are new creations in Christ with all things being made new, he has actually left us in a woefully crippled state and that because we still reside in a body of flesh, we can expect no better than to regularly sin in thought, word and deed for the remainder of our lives on earth. That was our predicament prior to salvation, not after. 

Once we truly come to Christ and are redeemed, we are transformed, given the Holy Spirit and set completely free from the law of sin and death. In fact, we are told to no longer consider ourselves “in the flesh”. This is clearly stated in Rom 8:9 – But ye are NOT IN THE FLESH, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is *none* of his. We are told in Rom 8:14 to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and MAKE NO PROVISION for the flesh in regard to its lusts. But yet, remarkably, we “bake” that very provision into our creeds, confessions and doctrines and it leaves Gods people in a state of carnality, perpetual spiritual infancy and plagued with the myriad of problems and conflicts that come with that. 

This was the Apostle Paul’s main frustration with the Church in Corinth. 1 Cor 3:1-3 – And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 

Clearly this was not the state we were expected to remain in until we “get our glorified bodies”. As I mentioned earlier, until that time, we will be subject to temptation, and because of that, Christ has made ample provision to overcome, but we should not consider ourselves destined to continue a life of stumbling and sin. God forbid, how can we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom 6:2). We are NOT simultaneously “sinners and saints”, as some teach, but are now beloved children of God and *Saints* as is reiterated over 50 times throughout the epistles. Most of the epistles are prefaced with statements similar to Rom 1:7 – To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be SAINTS.

To still consider ourselves sinners and subject to a lifetime of continual stumbling into sin is to wave the white flag of defeat and to take on the very identity that Christ came to deliver us from. It is not an expression of humility, but a declaration of unbelief. Let’s take up the full armor of God and recognize that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.