A quandary that often comes up is whether change is necessary in the presence of God’s grace. Doesn’t God accept us unconditionally? Doesn’t he forgive all our sins? Isn’t it true that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ?
This notion of unconditional acceptance on God’s part often finds expression in the idea that we are not to “judge” the sins of another person.
At the same time there are those who argue that the Bible is full of injunctions and commandments to avoid sin. This includes both actions and attitudes.
And this quandary becomes particularly intense in the face of much of society’s rejection of “traditional” morality. In particular, those who reject traditional morality do so aggressively, attacking not just the opinions of traditional moralists but their character with labels that need not be repeated here because they are so familiar.
The problem for Christians is whether we can articulate a view of sanctification that avoids, on the one hand, merciless and legalistic judgment of the sinner while on the other hand avoids baptizing the sin.
The first aspect of dealing with this problem is to be a disciple—to “learn from Jesus.” Jesus says the following in John 8:31-32:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
If we—if you—are not willing to hear and keep the word of God, there is no point in going further. It does not matter how many sticky-labels with “Christian” on them you plaster on things if you are not following what Jesus says. As he says elsewhere, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Assuming that we want to hear and keep God’s word—and after all, it is Good News—how does it interact with the question of whether we need to change or whether God accepts us unconditionally without requiring change on our part.
I believe that both positions miss the point. On the one hand, the problem with sin is not that it violates some arbitrary prohibition that God comes up with. Rather, sin is sin because it is destructive. God through his word explains to us what it means to be human, and when we go against what he says, we violate our own nature.
On the other hand, sin cannot be cured with law. This is affirmed many times in the New Testament; Paul even says (in a positive vein) “For sin will not rule over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Romans 7 even goes on to explain that the law stimulates sin.
How, then, do we as Christians think about these things?
The first thing to realize is that Christianity is, first and foremost, supernatural in its operation. We do not overcome sin by gritting our teeth to obey commandments but by walking in the Spirit. The commandments may indicate the presence of sin, but failure to obey them is not the essence of sin. We know this because of what Paul says in Romans 5:13-14:
…For in fact sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin cannot be attributed where there is no law. But death ruled from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one to come.
The Law may tell us that we are sinners, but it is not the essence of sin.
Instead, we need to think relationally about sin. Paul clues us in here by describing how love fulfills the law in Romans 13:10: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Love—the relational affirmation of the neighbor—does not harm the neighbor. For this reason it fulfills the law. The intent of law—that one would not harm one’s neighbor—is fulfilled as we love our neighbors.
In like fashion love for God is the greatest commandment. Both love for God and love for neighbor stem from the heart. Paul contrasts this view with sin in Romans 6:17: “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed….”
Sin cannot be cured from the outside by law. The cure for sin stems from a relationship with God that issues in love. Paul again tells us about this in Romans 5:5: “… the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (KJV). Note that this translation differs from the ESV. The notion that God’s love is “shed abroad” echoes the statement of Jesus in John 7:38 which says, “He that believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water’.”
So sin is cured as God’s love flows into us through his Spirit, and then out of us in love for God and (especially) for one another. I say especially because that is what John tells us: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
So how does all this answer the question of whether we need to change? The simple answer is that we come to God in response to the fact that he offered us a relationship through grace. That offer came before we changed at all. But the offer assumed that we were walking apart from God. So God simply asks us to abandon our opposition to him, turn around, and invite him into our lives. That in itself is a change—one we call “repentance.”
Repentance is simply saying that we are not enough, that only in God will we truly find ourselves. And so we abandon ourselves; we “die to ourselves” so that we can be alive to God.
If a person does not want to do this, it is useless to speak of “coming to Christ” or being “born again” or being a Christian in any real sense of the world. If you are not willing to let go of your own way, you are not really interested in becoming a Christian.
In repentance you let go of yourself so that you can become the person God intended you to be. And you trust him to make that happen. God does not impose on us a set of requirements—another word for laws—that we must obey to be right with him. Instead, he simply offers us a relationship that he promises will transform us.
This relationship is the basis for all change in our lives. Any change happens as we see Christ through the Spirit:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we all, with unveiled face, seeing the reflected image of the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Spirit of the Lord. – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
This emphasizes the relational nature of transformation for the Christian. We change as we look at the glory of Christ. It is one of the side-effects of any relationship—we are changed by the other person. And the relationship with Christ through his Spirit is more intimate and penetrates deeper than any human relationship.
We see also that the basis for this relationship is freedom. God’s Spirit does not overwhelm us or force his way into our lives. We recall Jesus’s statement in Revelation: “Look! I stand at the door and knock.”
But because our relationship with the Spirit is one of freedom, it means that we must intend the transformation that he brings. We can reject, and so grieve, the Spirit. We can cling to ourselves, not trusting that God’s will really is “good, acceptable, and perfect.” We know better—or we are afraid.
To sum all this up, the answer is “No, you don’t have to change.” But God offers you a relationship that will transform you into glory. If you trust him and let him speak into your life through his word and through his Spirit, you will be transformed. And you will be overjoyed by the result.