In late June of this year, I published an article entitled “Double–Minded Christians.” In that article, I discussed the doubt that Christians have about what God can do and based it on James 1:6-8. After writing that article, I felt that I had not gone far enough. In this article, I present the case that many Christians, including pastors and Bible scholars, doubt not just what God can do but their Christian faith in its entirety. This article is based primarily on Galatians 5 and discusses the one common cause of doubt in God and in one’s Christian faith.
Paul has been talking to the Galatian Church about those who still believe the Jewish understanding that obeying God’s law is the only way to salvation. He clearly states that faith in Jesus Christ working through love is the only way to their salvation (Gal. 5:1-10). He wonders who persuaded them not to believe the truth (Gal. 5:7, 8), but he expresses confidence that God will keep them in the fold and that the deceiver (i.e., Satan) will ultimately receive the punishment (Gal. 5:10).
The thing that causes a Christian to doubt God, Jesus, the gospel, or their Christian faith in any way lies within them. So, what is it?
THE LAW
The law was given to everyone after the fall so that they would know what sin is (Rom. 3:20). But the law is not the cause of sin (Rom. 7:7). The Bible tells us that the law and the commandments are righteousness and good (Rom. 7:12), and that they are the way to our salvation through Jesus Christ.
The law alone is not the way to salvation, though. Holy Scripture tells us that when we believe in Jesus Christ, we live by the Spirit, not the law, and therefore we have salvation (Rom. 7:4-6). The law tells us what sin is but cannot save us; we gave up the law for belief in Jesus Christ to gain salvation and eternal life.
SIN
Sin is one of the most commonly occurring phenomena of a person’s life, and it is one of the saddest.[i] In the simplest terms, sin is a violation of God’s law. In fact, Berkoff defines it as “lack of conformity to the moral law of God, either in act, disposition, or state.”[ii] Sin is not just a passive fault of a human being that comes upon them in some way, but it is the active transgression of God’s law (Rom. 1: 32, 2:12-16, Gal. 3:22; Jas. 2:9).
SATAN
Isaiah tells us that Satan is a fallen angel and calls him the “morning star” and the “son of the dawn” and that he was thrown out of heaven to the Earth (Is. 14:12; Luke 10:18). He was thrown out of heaven by God because his pride corrupted his wisdom (Eze. 28:17). Before he was thrown out of heaven he was righteous (Eze. 28:15).
The Bible calls him the “great dragon,” the devil, and Satan, and God threw him and the angels that agreed with him (possibly one-third of the heavenly angels according to Rev. 3, 4) out of heaven to earth, where they cause the earth and its inhabitants to be corrupt (Rev. 12:3, 4, 9). He is also called “the tempter” (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5), “the murderer” (John 8:44), “an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14), “the evil one” who controls the earth (1 John 5:19), and many more.
Satan and his minions are the instigators of sin. He communicates with the corrupt nature of human beings, the flesh. Satan was the master of this corrupt nature from the Fall till the first coming of Jesus. After Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection, Satan’s mastery was ended by the work of Jesus Christ, but the corrupt nature in Christians remains until physical death. For non-Christians, the corrupt nature remains in full force in those who are not Christians. But for Christians, Satan no longer has dominance, yet a remnant of the old-self remains.
THE FLESH
In this article, we have discussed law, sin, and Satan to provide the reader with background for this article’s point, “the flesh” (Jer. 17:5; Rom. 7:18). The subjects discussed in this article before this section were information that some of you don’t remember, never heard, or have not read. You must know these things now before we start talking about the flesh.
We have heard preachers and commentators talk about the flesh many times before. The flesh represents the spiritual desire to obey Satan instead of God for a particular act of disobedience to God. It is called the flesh, the old-self, the old-man, and other things. But it all indicates a propensity to sin.
So, the first thing we need to do is define the flesh. This term refers to the human being’s leaning toward sin. It affects our thoughts and our actions. The flesh is always in opposition to the Christian God.
Paul writes often about the flesh in his epistles and calls it the “old-self” (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22-24). The “old-self” is a synonym for the flesh and represents a life of corruption regarding God. Without a doubt, it is opposed to everything God is for.
He also writes about the “new-self” (Eph. 4:22-24). Paul discusses the “new-self,” which represents the new spiritual life when someone turns to God, as a renewed spirit that leads a life of righteousness (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:1-11).
Christians put on the “new self” when God, acting through the Holy Spirit, regenerates and converts them to a belief in Jesus Christ (Col. 3:9). This is done by an act of God, because human beings cannot renew their spirit and become justified Christians without God’s help (Rom. 3:21-28; Eph. 2:8, 9; 1 Cor. 1:30, 31).
Now, you would think that all Christians, knowing they believe in Christ and having been justified by God, would have no doubt regarding the gospel of Jesus Christ and their salvation. But this is not true. Pastors, scholars, and everyday Christians have gone through periods in their spiritual lives when they wonder whether they are truly saved.
Christians do have a renewed mind for God and the gospel of Jesus Christ when they become justified (Rom. 12:2). But they carry with them a remnant of the flesh, the old-self, and this old self, or the flesh, is the corrupt nature that obeys Satan instead of God. It is Satan who tempts our old-self so that we Christians occasionally listen to him and do the things that God does not want us to do.
When Christians do the things that God does not want them to do but succumb instead to the temptations of Satan, they do so because they choose to obey the remnant of the old-self or the flesh instead of following God. If this happens, it is not because the Christian is not a true Christian but because he is still a sinner and must work on this every day of his life after God justifies him. That is what sanctification is all about. It is a cooperative effort between God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit with Christians.
GALATIANS CHAPTER 5
Paul, in the first part of chapter 5, writes to the Galatian Church that they should not believe Jewish theology, as it would require them to follow the law of God perfectly to earn eternal life and salvation, which they were unable to do. By becoming Christians, the Galatians are not under the law (Gal. 5:18) but eagerly wait, through the Spirit and by faith, for eternal life through love (Gal. 5:6).
Then he writes to the Galatians to remind them to “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). The Spirit and its desires are opposed to the flesh. Therefore, Christians want to do the things of the Spirit, not the things of the flesh.
However, Paul tells them that sometimes they succumb to the desires of the flesh. Then he goes on to list the things of the flesh that Satan uses to tempt them. He tells them of the fleshly works that satisfy the senses, such as “sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality” (Gal. 5:19). Then he writes about the works that satisfy one’s ideas about their gods and magic, such as idolatry and sorcery (Gal. 5:20). And finally he talks to them about the fleshly works concerning interpersonal relations such as, “enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,” and other things like that (Gal. 5:20, 21).
Paul explains to them that practicing these things routinely will prevent them from inheriting the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:21). He makes it clear to them that they are to walk by the Spirit and not do the works of the flesh, which happen as a temptation from Satan and the Christians’ assent through the flesh or the old-self to these fleshly works (Gal. 5:25, 26).
CONCLUSION
Every Christian must understand that becoming a Christian does not mean they will not sin again. The Bible teaches that sin remains with Christians until their physical death (Rom. 7:15). During their sanctification, when they sin, they ask God to forgive them, and he does (1 John 1:7, 9). But if we say that we don’t sin, we are deceiving ourselves and do not tell the truth (1 John 1:8, 10).
Sinning by a Christian does not affect what God does. Still, it will “grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Eph. 4:30). So when we ask for forgiveness of our sins, as we should, we are cleansed from those sins (1 John 1:7). God chooses not even to remember them (Is. 43:25; Heb. 10:17), even though He can. A Christian’s sins do not adversely affect God’s ability to perform, nor do they negatively affect our Christian faith (1 Cor. 10:13). Sin is expected of the Christian. Still, we should seek forgiveness to maintain our walk with God as we are sanctified (see 1 John).
A Christian should always walk in the Spirit. But when they fail to do so and commit the works of the flesh, they should repent of that sin and ask for God’s forgiveness. As the Bible teaches, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”
So, it should be clear to the Christian, based on my previous article, that God can do anything. The Christian should also know that they will fall short of the glory of God because of the fleshly remnant within them, which is what allows them to make that decision. But that does not mean that they have lost their Christian faith. It means they need to repent and ask forgiveness from God. Living something less than a pious Christian life, walking in the Spirit at all times, is not possible for a human being, but it should be our aspiration as a Christian. But failing to do so does not mean the end of our Christian faith.
[i] Louis Berkhof, “Systematic Theology” (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2021), p. 224.
[ii] Berkhof, p. 230.
