We live in a sinful world. Most people are in bondage to sin and powerless to control their bad behavior because sinning is their nature. Getting born again shifts the balance of power because it radically changes us on the inside. This gives us victory over sin and makes us the righteousness of God, regardless of our actions.

Accepting Jesus Gives Us a New Start

We aren’t what we do. We’re spirits living in physical bodies possessing souls. Our souls are where our thoughts and feelings reside. When we accept Jesus Christ, an exchange takes place with our spirits; the old, sinful spirit man that previously existed dies, and a new creation possessing a nature as perfect and sinless as Jesus is born in us. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT).

Before we get saved, we’re perfectly comfortable embracing sin and living a sinful lifestyle, because that’s our nature. After we receive our new natures, however, we’re no longer comfortable saying or doing sinful things, because they contradict who we are. When we do, it’s like buying a new computer but keeping the old, outdated software. We get the same output. The old man has passed away and we’ve been gifted with a new nature which simply can’t sin, because that new nature is just like God. A sinful lifestyle, which is born out of our flesh (our soul), clashes with our new nature.

That new creation we receive is Jesus, Himself. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). God living in us and directing our every step is a reality that wasn’t available in the Old Testament. It was only made possible by Jesus willingly going to the cross, bleeding, and dying for us, so that we could have a relationship with Him. With our new, born-again selves, we now have access to new life the way God originally intended.   

Christ Changes Us on the Inside

As believers, we can now partake of the new creation inside of us. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). To partake is defined as taking part in or experiencing something along with others, having a portion as of food or drink, or possessing or sharing a certain nature or attribute. Belief in God’s “exceeding great and precious promises” allows them to begin changing the old software in our minds so that we can partake of what He wants for us.

Just like birds fly because it’s their nature and fish swim because that’s their nature, unsaved people sin because it’s in their nature to do so. That’s what makes them sinners. It’s impossible to turn a mule into a racehorse because his nature gets in the way; it’s the same principle with people. The way God changes our nature is something only He can do.

Our Old, Sinful Nature is Gone

Our old selves had no problem sinning through our speech or our actions; our new selves have a problem with doing that. Now when we sin, the Holy Spirit in us points out that’s not who we are anymore. We feel uncomfortable with what we said or did because it contradicts our new nature.  

Grace will never condemn us for our shortcomings, but its intent is to teach us holy living. Grace isn’t a license to sin; we therefore mustn’t reason to ourselves that it’s okay to keep sinning because we’re under grace. After we get born again and become new Christians, we’ll continue to do sinful things as we continue our walk toward greater spiritual maturity. The difference is that we’ll be able to hear the Holy Spirit’s promptings and directives; we’ll sin less and less because sin will no longer appeal to us.

Human beings never do anything without thinking about it, first; sinful behavior springs from wrong thinking. Although our born-again spirits are already perfect and heaven-ready, our souls still need work; this is the only part of us that the devil can still tempt. Thankfully, even if our old “software” hasn’t been fully updated, we’re sealed with the Holy Ghost, and the devil has no access to our real selves. “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:9, 10, NKJV).

God Changes Our Identity

Even when we make mistakes and fall short of our goal, we’re no longer sinners in God’s eyes. For us to believe this requires that we rightly divide the Scriptures here. “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:8, 9). We aren’t defined by what we do, but who God says we are. Although our bodies and souls can sin, our spirits can’t, because God’s seed is in us.

Getting born again assures our salvation, which is permanent and can never be taken away because of our behavior. One-third of us—our spirit—is already sinless. The other two-thirds of us—our souls and bodies—are still in the process of being transformed; those are the parts that keep sinning.

Although We Sin, We’re No Longer Sinners

God knows perfectly well we’ll continue to sin periodically after we get saved. Jesus has already made provisions for this. He goes ahead of us to intercede with the Father on our behalf and defend us. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1, 2).

We live in the world but aren’t part of it. Others struggle with sin, but it no longer has the power to defeat us. Despite what we do, our faith in Christ has transformed us from sinners to saints.