Does a Christian Possess a Sinful Nature?

Some preachers and seminary professors teach that we as Christians should not view ourselves as sinners because we do not possess a sinful nature (a natural-born tendency to sin). They teach that if a Christian views himself as a sinner, then he will sin. Is this a biblical teaching?

Did the apostle Paul view himself as a man without a sinful nature? No he did not, for he wrote, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Rom. 7:18-20 NIV, emphasis added). My critics may argue that Paul was referring to the life of an unbeliever, because he said he was “unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (v. 14b). Even if they are right, who is anybody to say this passage does not apply to a believer as well? Did he not teach that all Scripture is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16)? Even if I am wrong, and Romans 7:18-20 does not apply to believers, Paul still called himself “the chief” of sinners (KJV) or “the worst” of sinners (NIV) in 1 Timothy 1:15. If it is wrong for a Christian to view himself as a sinner, then Paul was among the most carnal, unfruitful Christians of all time!

The apostle John taught, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8 emphasis added). Notice that he did not use the term “sins” (as in v. 9). He was not referring to acts of sin, but rather the sinful human nature that produces those acts. The term “sin” is used in the same regard throughout Chapters 6, 7, and 8 in Romans.

Jeremiah prophesied, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reigns, even to give every man [believers and unbelievers] according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jer. 17:9-10 KJV, emphasis added). My critics may argue that believers actually possessed a sinful nature only in the Old Testament; that Jeremiah’s words are not true of New Testament believers today. That does not seem to be what the prophet is saying, because v. 10 foretells the judgments of God upon mankind, which are not fulfilled yet. Naturally that suggests that Jeremiah’s prophetic analysis of the human heart is true of all people up to the end of God‘s judgments.

In Christ we are saints (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2), new creations (2 Cor. 5:17), and God’s righteousness (v. 21). Those Scriptures do not imply that we are no longer sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). Rather they imply that we are no longer slaves to sin, whereas lost people are (Rom. 6:14-18; 7:5-6; 8:6-9; Eph. 2:3). By God’s grace we are no longer bound to sin, but we are still bent on it.

Think about it: If we Christians do not possess a sinful nature, then why do we still sin? We have a free will, but that does not explain why we so freely choose to sin when we do not have to. There are evil forces outside ourselves (demons and unbelievers) that influence us to sin. That is true, but it still does not answer the question. If those forces can never make us sin against our will (1 Cor. 10:13; Jam. 4:7; 1 John 5:18), then why are we still so willing to listen to them, and sin under their influence? The answer is simple: we still possess a sinful nature.

Some Scriptures teach that when a person becomes a Christian, his sinful nature is “crucified” (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 5:24). Crucifixion implies death, but throughout the Bible, death (whether physical or spiritual) is separation, not extinction (Luke 9:60; Rom. 6:11; Jam. 1:15). We have been set free from our sinful nature, but that nature is not extinct, not until we get to heaven.