A Day Without Sin

What? Are you telling me it is possible to live without sin? During my college days, my wife and I had enjoyed dinner with an older couple. They were great people and were deeply grounded in the Wesleyan tradition^[1]. I was reminded of this when my wife brought it up at small group last week. The gentleman talked about theology and specifically the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification or Christian perfection^[2]. He told me that he has gone for at least a year without sin in his life, that he had been sanctified entirely. At the time, as a college kid I thought, this guy is crazy! Knowing myself, and my peers, I could not imagine going a day without sin.

A couple years ago, eleven years after that discussion, while reading through my Bible, this concept hit me smack in the face. If I am in Christ and walk in the Spirit, I am free from the power of sin and death (Romans 8:2). I am a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Sin now becomes a conscious choice because we are children of God, heirs to His throne (Romans 8:17), and counted as righteous before God ( Isaiah 53:11; Romans 4:5). Why does this need to be possible? As Christ followers we strive to be like Christ (Philippians 3:10). That would be our Goal. If that goal is impossible, then why even try? If we can't reach perfection until death, isn't that what baptism is for (Romans 6:4). Die to sin and this world to rise up new in the Kingdom of God. I am curious what you think about this? Is it possible to go a day without sin? Leave me a comment below. 

[1] Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology is the system of Christian theology of Methodism taught by John Wesley. At its heart, the theology of John Wesley stressed the life of Christian holiness: to love God with all one’s heart, mind, soul and strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

[2] Perfection is the process of sanctification which is both an instantaneous and a progressive work of grace. It may also be called entire sanctification, in which the heart of the believer is cleansed from inbred sin by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Christian perfection, according to Wesley, is “purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God” and “the mind which was in Christ, enabling us to walk as Christ walked.” It is "loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves". It is “a restoration not only to the favor, but likewise to the image of God,” our “being filled with the fullness of God.”.