Sinning saints

I’ve been troubled in the past few months by the sin I see all around me. I know, we live in a fallen world and sin is the “norm,” but the sin that concerns me most is not what I observe in “sinners” but in saints. I’m bothered by those who profess to be Christ followers, yet fail so miserably to live up to that calling. I’m disappointed by those I raise on a pedestal by a few inches or a few feet who fail to be the example I expect them to be. I’m disillusioned by sinning saints.

First a couple of definitions, lest I be accused of coining a contradictory term. I’m using Unger’s* definition of saint: “New Testament believers, member of the Body of Christ, the Church of God. All the saved of the New Testament era are saints by virtue of their position in Christ.” And sin: “Everything in the … conduct of God’s moral creatures that is contrary to the expressed will of God.” Saints, then, are not perfect by objective measure, but sinless by definition as a result of the redeeming work of Christ.

One does not need to delve deeply into Scripture to see that sinning saints are nothing new. Paul (Saint Paul), who zealously obeyed the letter of the Jewish law, then just as zealously followed the Christ, himself confessed, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19, NIV)

David, whose faith as a youth was so great that God used him to destroy a mortal enemy, and who is considered one of Israel’s greatest rulers, committed sins that had devastating consequences for his family. (2 Samuel 12)

So what am I to make of those who profess Christ but fail to live accordingly?

First, it’s all of us. I am confronted by a sinning saint every morning when I glance in the bathroom mirror. None is exempt. I am as often the disappointer as the disappointee. Soberingly, we are told that we are judged in the same manner and by the same measure that we judge. (Matthew 7:1-2)

Second, God has graciously provided a way out of our predicament. When we find ourselves mired in the muck of sin and being pulled ever deeper, we have no other recourse than to grasp the hem of the garment of the only One who can supply the mercy we so deeply desire yet so little deserve. (See Matthew 9:20-22)

Sinning saints should not so much surprise us as remind us that we all share this fallen condition, yet God has provided a remedy.

Yes, the church is full of sinners. Come join us. You’ll fit right in!

*Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Bible Dictionary