Sin Is Not Who We Are
By John R. Gavazzoni

Sinners, yes, in the sense that we do sin. But as to our identity, consistently the writers of the New Testament identify believers (particularly, but not exclusively, since the destiny of all mankind is the same as those who have presently experienced election) as saints of God, and/or sons of God. On that basis they each proceed to deal with the fact of sin's presence in our lives existentially.

Their dealing with that fact includes a fundamental explanation: that sin, as it were, lies at the peripheral of our being where spirit and flesh meet. None of the writers clearly posit sin to be central to our being. I say, peripheral, as in Paul writing that sin dwelt in his flesh, and its presence there was an operation not of him: "I therefore conclude, it is not I that does it, but sin that dwells in me." Then He goes on to write... in parenthesis in the KJV... (that is, in my flesh). It's inescapable that Paul is talking about sin doing the sinning, not him. Sin sinning. What a concept. Sin belongs in the dimension of creaturehood, while righteousness belongs in the dimension of sonship.

Conclusion: something alien to who I am as a son of God and saint (set apart) of God, is posing as me, and acting as if it's me. St. John is very strong about this, writing in his first epistle that "he that is born of God (in the Greek) continually does not sin." That which is "born of the flesh" in fact does sin continually, but not that "which is born of the Spirit."

Our Father, God/our Savior Jesus, never comes to us saying, "Hey, sinner, listen up." No, no. If we're hearing God accurately, The Father always addresses us as sons, with the Lord Jesus addressing us as "brethren." One has to dive deep to understand such things, and you won't find the average preacher doing much more than barely dunking his head into the water before deciding, "Uhh, I don't think I want to look down there."

We want for words of explanation. But this we (ought to) know: we are deliberately subjected to, and suffer from, what we are NOT... so much so that, without the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that which we are not veritably existentially smothers our consciousness of who we are. It is very interesting that you'll find so much in hymns and gospel songs speaking of setting our spirit free. The flesh seeks to imprison our spirit, which is in union with Christ.

Examples:

And this one that brought me to deep sobbing tears after my deliverance from depression:

And lastly: