Is it possible for a Christian to live without sinning?
I could say that I don't sin-but then I would be lying! There is no way that a person could live free of sin. Pride, selfishness, deceit, greed, lack of faith, or lust...all of those things are sin. But, remember, sin is not always what you do wrong; it is also what you fail to do right. Sin includes the needs around you that you ignore: It is the neighbor to whom you have not witnessed, it is the sick friend whose children you have not offered to baby-sit.
God is not looking for perfection on this side of Heaven. He knew we could never do it. That is why He sent Jesus to pay for our sins. What He is looking for is a heart that desires to please Him. We are promised that, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
"He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust" (Psalm 103:10 – 14).
"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 7: 22 – 8:2)
(An entire book could be written on the theology stuffed into these few passages. In short, Paul was an apostle and pillar of the early church. If a mighty man of faith like that sinned, you can bet we all do. In this passage he is simultaneously venting frustration at his hopeless condition and thanking God that Jesus is the One who frees him from his wretched captivity to sin.)
"By the which will [God’s will] we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Jesus], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:10–14).
