Since we are saved totally and completely by God’s grace, and our personal performance has absolutely no part in our ability to go to heaven, is it OK to just keep living a sinful lifestyle?

First of all, let me just say very clearly, if this question has not occurred to you, then your church is probably not preaching the same Gospel message that the Apostle Paul preached.

The majority of the New Testament was written by Paul. And Paul dealt with this same question more than once and with more than one church.

And so if Paul’s Gospel message produced this question in his listeners on multiple occasions, we should absolutely expect the same question to arise in the minds of modern believers IF they are listening to a faithful rendition of the Gospel.

Now for much of my Christian life, I never considered such a question! My religious background never brought me to such a place in my thinking about my relationship with God.

In fact, most of my thinking was focused on how I could keep my personal performance at a standard that would be pleasing to God.

And it would not be inaccurate to say that the majority of Christians in the majority of churches have not considered this question either.

Sadly, this is a symptom that is pointing out a health problem in the body of Christ.

As a rule, what is passing for the Gospel in the modern church is not the same Gospel that Paul preached. It has been tweaked. But it wasn’t supposed to be tweaked.

Christians are being directed to focus on their behavior and become a better person. But when we are focusing on what we DO, this is not the Gospel.

The Gospel doesn’t focus on what you DO. Rather, it focuses on who you ARE. Or who you HAVE BECOME.

This is critical for a believer to understand or they will be constantly focused on their own weaknesses. And wherever our focus is directed always becomes stronger in our lives.

Focusing on what we DO will keep us focused on who we WERE. Not on who we ARE.

Paul does not ask the question here in terms of what we DO. He doesn’t ask if we should keep on sinning (a verb) that grace may abound.

Rather he asks if we should continue in SIN (a noun). He isn’t focused on our actions. Instead, he is focusing on our NATURE.

The real question he is asking here is, shall a person who has a new born-again nature keep living like they have the nature of a sinner?

Understanding the question like he really asked it will shed a whole new light on our understanding of the Gospel.

It isn’t about what you are doing or about how you are performing at all! It is about who you ARE! And you are certainly not who you used to be.

You don’t have the nature of a sinner any longer. And if you can understand that you have BECOME someone new, then you, as a new person, with a new identity, won’t continue in an identity that no longer belongs to you.

The Gospel will make you realize that your performance is meaningless. But it will also present you with the fact of your brand new identity.

You won’t continue in your old identity if you understand your new identity.

But if you are focused on trying to change the actions of your old identity instead of simply embracing your new identity in Christ, you are probably living a defeated lifestyle and struggling with condemnation.

Your old identity is dead and gone! It’s buried with Jesus! So don’t dig it up out of the ground and try to resurrect it with behavior modification and new resolutions.

The Gospel gave you a brand new identity. And when you realize this, you can put your old identity card in the shredder.

You can’t keep your old I.D. card and live in victory. But your new I.D. card that you get when you accept Jesus will change you from the inside out.

That’s Good News! That’s the Gospel!