He who trusts in his own heart is a fool. – Proverbs 28:26a
The Reality of Indwelling Sin
God’s Word contains numerous cautions to His people about the feebleness of the human heart. Among the more notable texts in that regard is Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
The question posed by the prophet Jeremiah is arguably one of the most profound rhetorical inquiries you will find in all of Scripture. By posing that question, Jeremiah isn’t so much asking for an answer as he is pointing us to something we already know: that our hearts are wholly unpredictable with regard to its capacity to commit all manner of evil (Gen. 6:5). That sobering truth is underscored by the man known affectionately as the “prince of preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who, in a sermon delivered on June 1, 1856, titled Indwelling Sin, rightly said, “When a man is saved by divine grace, he is not wholly cleansed from the corruption of his heart.”[1] Spurgeon’s words are supported by Scripture in 1 John 1:8, where the apostle John says, “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Please note that in 1 John 1:8, John is speaking to believers in Jesus Christ. Consequently, any idea that salvation renders a follower of Christ entirely free from the capacity to sin is to be regarded as patently false. As pastor John MacArthur writes in his commentary on 1 John 1:8, “Any so-called Christians who claim to have reached a higher spiritual plane, where sin no longer exists in their lives, completely misunderstand their condition and the Spirit’s work of progressive sanctification.”[2] Conversely, the 16th-century Puritan John Owen said, “We carry about in us an enmity all our days, incapable of cure or reconciliation. Destroyed it shall be, but cured it cannot be. . . . And in this lies a great part of its [sin’s] power. It can submit to no terms of peace, nor even a truce. No man can expect to rest from his lust, except by its death.”[3]
The Falsity of Sinless Perfection
There have been, and perhaps still are, many evangelicals who have taken issue with the aforementioned assertion by Charles Spurgeon, that when a person is “saved by divine grace, he is not wholly cleansed from the corruption of his heart.” One notable example is the 19th-century revivalist Charles Grandison Finney[4]. Finney subscribed to a vigorous application of what is commonly referred to in theology as the doctrine of sinless perfection.[5] As explained on the website of the apologetics ministry Got Questions?: “Those who hold to the doctrine of sinless perfection believe that it is indeed possible for Christians to be so sanctified in their behavior that they no longer sin. According to the doctrine of sinless perfection, it is possible not to sin, and some believers actually fulfill this possibility in their daily lives. Sinless perfection is then presented as an ideal that is attainable for any believer.”[6]
When considered objectively there are many aspects of the heterodoxy of sinless perfection that are theologically problematic, not the least of which is that it contravenes the orthodox doctrine of progressive sanctification. Progressive sanctification has been defined as: “the ongoing work of God’s grace whereby the Holy Spirit enables the regenerate to put sin to death more and more in their lives. The goal of progressive sanctification is conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit unites a sinner to Christ, He begins the progress of renewing the whole person. Because sin has affected every part of fallen mankind, sanctification affects renewal throughout the whole person” (https://www.ligonier.org/guides/sanctification).
The contradistinction between sinless perfection and progressive sanctification is crucial to understand as only sinful people need sanctifying, sinless people don’t (Jn. 17:17; Phil. 1:6; 1 Thess. 4:3, 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2; Mk. 2:17; Lk. 5:32). To assert that salvation in and of itself results in a believer being rendered incapable of sinning is nothing short of heresy. As the late Dr. R.C. Sproul said, “Even after we’re regenerated we still lapse into sin; and not only into sin but into serious sin. And we say that it is possible for a Christian to be engaged in a very serious fall. We talk about “backsliding,” we talk about “moral lapses,” and so on, but I can’t think of any sin, other than blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, that a truly committed Christian is not capable of committing.”[7] If sinless perfection were truly attainable, why, then, would the apostle John, in 1 John 1:9, write: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse of from all unrighteousness” or, conversely, would King Solomon declare in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins”?
The Fealty of Our Unredeemed Flesh
When taken to its logical conclusion, the doctrine of sinless perfection would seem to suggest that followers of Jesus Christ no longer need to confess their sins as there would no longer be any sins to confess. But contrary to what that doctrine teaches, even believers in Jesus Christ are susceptible to disobeying God by virtue of the remaining sin that indwells them even after conversion. That reality is precisely why the apostle Paul could lament in Romans 7:24a, “Wretched man that I am!” Paul’s heartfelt despondency is borne from an inherent awareness that though he was spiritually regenerate (Jn. 1:12-13; 2 Cor. 5:17), his flesh was not (yet) so (1 Jn. 3:2). And such is the reality for every believer in Christ (Phil. 1:6). As Rev. John P. Sartelle writes in an article for Ligonier Ministries titled Misconceptions of Maturity, “Our maturity is indeed a battle. We not only struggle with the pressure from the world to conform in thinking and action to the culture, but we also are in a daily conflict with the remnant of a sin nature that resides deep within us. Like the sirens of the Odyssey, those false paradigms seductively call to us from the powerful cultural forces which surround us and from the base desires that still live in our own souls.”[8]
In his excellent book Keeping the Heart which, if I may interject a personal comment, every professing Christian should read, the 17th-century Puritan John Flavel said, “The keeping and correct managing of the heart in every respect is the great task of a Christian’s life.”[9] Flavel’s words are in keeping with the counsel found in Proverbs 4:23, where believers are urged to keep a diligent watch over their heart for, as one commentator writes, “It is the heart that makes a man what he is and governs all his actions.”[10]
Indwelling sin in the heart can render even the most mature believer vulnerable to betraying their witness for Christ in the world (Matt. 5:13-16; Mk. 9:49-50). That is why the 17th-century Puritan William Fenner mourned in A Treatise on the Affections, “Oh, this is a hard duty to our corrupt flesh, and so you shall find it, to set your affections on God. There are many obstacles that hinder us from doing so.”[11] The main obstacle that hinders followers of Christ from setting their affections on God (Col. 3:1-3) is sin. As the 17th-century Puritan Thomas Watson aptly expressed in his book The Mischief of Sin, “Sin, like a bloodhound, will pursue you.”[12]
It was the 17th-century Puritan William Spurstowe who, in his book The Wiles of Satan, said, “It is true, a child of God cannot be a hypocrite, but he may have hypocrisy in him. The best way therefore to resist this temptation is to examine whether hypocrisy reigns in you.” Sin makes hypocrites of us all. It is a lesson the apostle Peter learned through tears (Lk. 22:31-34, 54-62).
Prior to His arrest and subsequent crucifixion, Jesus exhorted His disciples to, “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41a). And why did Jesus give that departing admonition to His disciples? He gave it because He knew “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41b). And in that particular regard, as it was with Jesus’ disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, so it is with you and me in our daily lives. We must vigilantly watch and pray for, to again quote Charles Spurgeon, “Until you die, you will always have fresh appearances of the world to wrestle with.”[13]
Humbly in Christ,
Darrell
A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Darrell B. Harrison serves as shepherding and teaching pastor at Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, Arizona, and as an associate professor at Redeemer Seminary in Gilbert. He is president and founder of Just Thinking Ministries, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and cohost of the Just Thinking podcast, with Virgil Walker. Darrell is a biblical counselor, author, cultural apologist, and sought-after conference speaker. He is married to Melissa and father to three adult children: Collin, Naomi, and Yasmine, each of whom resides in Georgia.
[1] C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), C.H. Spurgeon Sermons, New Park Street Pulpit, Vol. 2 (1856), Reformation Heritage Books (2024), hardcover, p. 233.
[2] John MacArthur (1939-, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 1-3 John, Moody Publishers (2007), hardcover, p. 29.
[3] John Owen (1616-1683), Indwelling Sin in Believers, The Banner of Truth Trust (2018), paperback, p.22.
[4] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/who-was-charles-finney#:~:text=Charles%20Grandison%20Finney%20was%20the%20figure
[5] https://www.gotquestions.org/sinless-perfection.html
[6] https://www.gotquestions.org/entire-sanctification.html#:~:text=Entire%20sanctification,%20also%20known%20as%20Christian (accessed 10.2.24).
[7] R.C. Sproul in an episode of the Renewing Your Mind podcast, which aired Friday, October 4, 2024.
[8] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/misconceptions-maturity (accessed 10.2.24).
[9] John Flavel (1627-1691), Keeping the Heart, Aneko Press (2022), paperback, p.4.
[10] B. O. Banwell, “Heart,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 456.
[11] William Fenner (1600-1640), A Treatise on the Affections: The Soul’s Pulse, “The Fifth Sermon” (Colossians 3:2), Monergism chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/fenner/A%20Treatise%20on%20the%20Affections-Fenner.pdf
[12] Thomas Watson (1620-1686), The Mischief of Sin, Soli Deo Gloria Publications (1994), paperback, p. 24.
[13] Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Victory of Faith, delivered March 18, 1855 https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-victory-of-faith-2/#flipbook/