An important question asked today concerned the effects of sin on the spirit of a true Christian:

Once a person has had a new spiritual birth, what effect does sin have upon the spirit of the person?

First we need a true understanding of the question and the anticipated simple answers. The Bible teaches that the spirit of man is dead until he is born of spirit. Sin was the cause of that dead spirit. So, if we assume simple cause and effect, it would be logical to believe that the spirit would again die.

But this born again spirit is not now born of a human spirit but of the indestructible spirit of God. As a result, sin affects the Christian differently than a person who has not yet found life in Christ. God resides in the born again spirit and He cannot be touched with sin. Sins committed by a believer then are an outside invasion, not an inside job. (Romans 8)

Death is separation. When the spirit of man sins in the beginning, death rules. His spirit is beyond his reach. He lives in the realms of soul and body and his spiritual core is in decay.

When he is regenerate, born again, God lives in him and wants to rule over soul and body. When he sins now, his soul rises up against God once more separating his soul from his spirit. But now he is in a conflict with himself. He has a living spirit at peace with God and a mind at war with God. This will cause destruction in his experience of life, but his spirit is protected by God.

Sin needs to be rejected to restore the experience of communion with God. Jesus must be Lord. Our soul, the self, must made subject to Christ to experience our real purpose and to truly find life. (Romans 12:1-2)

Since Christ himself died and rose again to atone for our sin, the risen Christ now lives in our hearts, able to forgive and bring us the life we could not attain for ourselves. No one can live perfectly enough to live with God. Therefore, as He has chosen to live in us, He makes peace and restored relationship possible through the destruction of death itself. He rose from the dead and brings life to the spirits of those who ask him to. He forgives as we choose to submit to his will. (This is repentance.) This forgiveness is not cheap. It cost Christ his life and only when you surrender your life to Him does it benefit you in this life. You can now experience the power that defeated death.

If you have not been born again, you are unforgiven and living in death with no hope of resurrection. God wants you to ask Him to change this for you. He’s the only one who can. If you have been born again, stop erecting a deadly sin barrier between you and God in your own spirit. It is destroying your life here on earth. Only living in submission to him will allow you the benefit of life more abundantly. A functional spirit, soul and body able to live as you were created to live.

As a born again Christian, you have been given power to choose life. All the time. You may regularly choose communion with God or separation from him. Life or death. Benefit or consequence.

Repel the invasion. It’s no longer who you are.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9