About Doctrines
Battling Sin
Psalm 32:1-2
1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
NIV
Read the above Psalm again. Notice that David teaches the Lord forgives sin. Lawless deeds are forgotten. Sin is no longer counted or imputed. Since this is true, what should be our posture toward battling sin.
Scripture never teaches us to fight against sin. We are told to flee sin and attempt to put up barriers whereby sin may not enter. We are taught to renew our minds to better understand sin and avoid it. But we are never told to fight against sin. Some examples of the teachings are:
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (NIV)
Michael the great (and only named) Archangel would not fight Satan.
Jude 9
But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" (NIV)
We are told to put on the armor of God – defensive in nature. The only offensive weapon listed is the Bible!
Ephesians 6:11, 17
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. . . . Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (NIV)
Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (NIV)— Is this a second offensive weapon? Or, is prayer the basis for all of the weapons, but not properly a weapon itself?
Enoch, who in three verses is twice said to have "walked with God" (Gen 5:22-24) fought sin by preaching the word of God.
Jude 14-15
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (NIV)
Without quoting any of the verses, we might also note that while Moses received the law, Moses taught forgiveness of sin by sacrifice. None of the laws told people to fight against sin. They were taught to avoid it. And, finally, we might note that Noah preached against sin then climbed into the Ark and avoided the fight. The fight belonged to God, and God alone. God Himself shut Noah in the Ark to protect him (Gen 7:16).
The point of this is that sin is not a battle we can win separate and apart from the teachings of God. We must learn to walk in obedience to God in order to have the power to call upon God to defeat sin for us.
