In the process of life, many of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and justification, who have been set free from sin, find ourselves recaptured by it.

Many things could be said about this, about the necessity of repenting and running back to God, about the ability to begin again, not being crippled by guilt. But I want to say something about the process of "quitting" a sinful habit or addition.

You can't make deals with sin. You can't hold onto a little secret part of it to take out and cuddle with. This is because you cannot control it. It is a spreading cancer. Consuming and dominating by nature.

You can't rid yourself of sin and sinful habits by weaning yourself off of it or gradually quitting. This system of gradually reducing how much you practice something may occasionally work to quit smoking or biting your nails—but sin works differently, it runs deeper. Let’s look at some Scripture...

Two Masters

From Matthew 5:24

We are not here represented as the free will agents we would like so much to believe ourselves to be. We are instead slaves, constrained to obey the force that controls us. We will be slaves to only one of two contrary and mutually exclusive masters. The master is either God or anything else. The term "mammon," used by Matthew here has sometimes been translated "money." But it means money and all money can buy—so possessions. Not just the ones you can own, but the ones you can covet, which is why covetousness is like idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

Jesus' main point here is that serving the empty godless longings of the world while also presuming to serve God is not ultimately possible. He doesn't bother with it being "dishonest" or "hypocritical"—it is just impossible. Your inner self will only ever be serving one master.

So serving God rather than the sinful world is a matter of single-minded devotion to God.

From Romans 6:15-23

In Romans 6 Paul explains that we were slaves to sin until Jesus rescued us through his gospel. Now we are to be slaves of righteousness to God. Before we had no choice of masters, because we were wholly under sin. After redemption the power of sin is broken, and we can turn to God and serve him as master. Paul concludes that we need to turn from our old master, to serve the living God (12-14). This process of leaving behind our old master to serve God wholeheartedly may be a long and difficult process fraught with setbacks and failures, but God is bringing us through by his grace. The fruit of God in us leads to sanctification and ultimately eternal life (22).

The War Within

From Galatians 5:16-17

Let’s look at the Greek behind these verses a little to get a sense of the strength of this statement.

Paul says, "But I say, walk [or go about your life] in the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires that come from the sinful flesh." (personal translation)

Paul uses a double negative. This is a very strong negation. There is no way a person can walk in the spirit and yet obey their old sin nature. It doesn't happen.
The word translated "flesh" is a different word from the physical body. It indicates our sinful nature. It is also an ablative of source, showing that the sinful self is the source of the desire.

He goes on in the next verse, "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these oppose each other, so that you cannot do the things you would." (personal translation)

The "flesh" and the "spirit" are both ablatives of opposition—which means that their relationship is one of natural hostility. They are enemies. While the ablative usually implies separation, ironically, these two enemies are forced together in the same body.
The verb "lust" or "long for" is a durative present, meaning the focus is on the fact that they are constantly "lusting against" each other. This state does not end. They continually long for the destruction of each other.
It is also worth noting that the verb “oppose” is a dynamic middle; meaning that each opposes the other with a vested interest, or for their own sake. Because this is a kill or be killed relationship.

So let's spell out exactly what Paul is saying here. There are two eternally opposed forces vying for control over your actions. You are pictured as always being under the control of one of these two forces, or at least acting in accordance with it. Obeying one necessitates disobeying the other.

However, Paul gives us a command—the imperative verb "walk." This means we have a choice and a responsibility. We can choose to focus on and obey God, whereupon he will give us the grace to live as we ought and abstain from sin. Alternately, we can choose to depend and focus upon ourselves, and regardless of our intentions, sin will result, because we are serving the flesh.

Conclusion

Now let us come back to the idea of breaking away from a sin or sinful habit. The only way is to stop the sin and turn to God. If your heart does not turn to God, it will return to sin; for it must have a master. If you do not stop sinning, sin will retain a presence in your life—battling against the spirit.

There are no deals to be made with sin, just as there are no deals to be made with a flesh-eating bacteria. You eradicate it or it eats you. You can't gradually get yourself off sin the way you can stop smoking, because sin is not satiated like a chemical dependency. It is not content until it has total control. This is its nature.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying you can turn sin off like a light. In fact, I would say that we can't turn sin off at all, but the Spirit of God sure can. And to turn to God, you must fully turn your back on sin. We must live our lives seeing the stark contrast between sin and God in our own lives. As John writes, "in him, there is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)

Many believers repent of a sin, only to have that sin return, gradually less and less as they grow in Christ. Yet each genuine attempt to turn from sin to God must be a genuine repentance. An honest intent to never return. Not a deal—switching a sin to once a week rather than every day. Neither the flesh nor the spirit makes those kind of deals.

Under Grace,

John Fritz

John Fritz is the Volunteer Coordinator for Thoughtful Life Ministries and the primary author of the Thoughtful Life Journal, which is published weekly from March through September. The purpose of this blog is to challenge and encourage those who have a desire to cultivate a more meaningful walk with Christ. Visit our Homepage to learn more about the ministry and our annual two-week summer Discipleship Program for teens and young adults.