Is It Possible To Be Without Sin?

If it were possible for us to be without sin, we would never have needed a Savior, it would make Jesus’ death on the cross null and void, and we wouldn’t have to fight so hard to avoid temptations every single day. The Apostle Paul said he was constantly warring against the flesh and the things he knew to do good he could not:

“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.” (Romans 7:18-20)

The Bible is full of examples of how the flesh, which is our home for now, is constantly warring against that which is spiritual. The most we can do as long as we’re in our human bodies, is to strive to follow Jesus’ example and live our lives as close to His example as we can. Even Paul had to do that, and you can see how much of a struggle it was, even for him. No matter how much we try to do good, we are constantly warring against the flesh.

The Bible says:

“There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:11-12)

There are many such examples in the Bible of how impossible it is, on our own efforts, to obtain perfection and how vital it is to submit our lives to God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. Even with that, we still need to make a conscious effort every single day, not to quench the Spirit by giving in to sin and temptations. It's a daily struggle within all of us.

Putting aside the examples of Paul, the Bible verses, and even Jesus, let’s look at another reason why it’s impossible for us to be without sin. If it were possible for us to be without sin, this world would have outgrown the need for God a long time ago. As more and more people become sinless, the world itself would eventually reach perfection, with no more wars, murders, or other crimes. We all know this is never going to happen until Jesus comes. The very fact that all these things are still in this world and escalating, proves that sin is rampant.

There has only ever been one man on this earth without sin, and that was Jesus, only because He was born of God and was one with God. We, on the other hand, are born of the flesh and are one with sin. All we can really do is try to follow His example and live our lives as close to His as possible. It is not possible to reach perfection as long as we are cloaked in the sin of our own flesh. Only when we come to the end of our journey, and our souls are freed from the flesh that hinders us, can we ever be one with God and be without sin.