Can a True Believer Commit Serious Sin?
1) Direct answer
Yes—in the sense that a true believer, still in this flesh, can fall into a serious wrong. No—in the sense that he cannot continue in it, excuse it, or be at peace with it. The life of God in him will drive him to repentance and restoration.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin… and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9; 5:18). That speaks of a nature that will not practice or live in sin.
- Yet it also says, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). So a believer may stumble, but he is not left there.
- David fell grievously, but cried out and was restored (Psalm 51). Peter denied the Lord, wept bitterly, and was restored (Luke 22:61-62; John 21).
- “Sin… because they believe not on Me” (John 16:9). Sin at its root is unbelief. The born-again heart believes the Word and cannot settle in unbelief.
- “Shall we continue in sin? God forbid… Sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:1,14).
- A real son is chastened when he errs (Hebrews 12:6-8). God corrects His own.
- If we confess, He forgives and cleanses (1 John 1:9). The Spirit seals unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).
3) Simple clarifying logic
Now notice, the new birth activates God’s seed in the soul. That inner life says Amen to every Word and cannot deny it. The outer man may stumble, but the inside man cannot live in rebellion. A sheep may fall in mud, but it will not wallow there; it cries to be washed. If a person can live in willful, ongoing sin without conviction or chastening, the Scripture says that is not sonship (Hebrews 12:8). But if he is God’s, conviction strikes, godly sorrow works repentance, and he is restored to walk in the light.
4) Reinforcing statement
So a true believer may fall, even seriously, but he will not remain in sin. The seed of God in him breaks the dominion of sin, brings confession, correction, and a clean walk with God.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §74
...don't care what you ever do, you're finished. And you cannot do it. That proves right there that you're not of God, because the seed of God remains in the man and he cannot sin. And what is sin? Unbelief. When he sees the Word made manifest, he'll believe it. And he can only... See, there's only one sin, only one sin. How many knows that? That's unbelief. That's right. Committing adultery's not a sin. Smoking cigarettes, telling lies, swearing, that's not sin. That's attributes of unbelief. You do it, because you'r...
Hebrews, Chapter 7, part 2
57-0922 §39
Then if we sin willfully, if we sin (disbelieve) willfully... Not after we receive the truth (been borned again), we couldn't sin then. A sinner cannot commit the unpar... A Christian cannot commit the unpardonable sin. He can't do it. It's the ungodly that does that. It's the make-believer, not the believer. Those Jewish rabbis, oh, they thought they were "starch," and they was D.D.'s and Ph.D.'s. They thought they had it "all sewed up, in a bag," but they was the worst of sinners! Oh, they might ... you couldn't...
The unconditional covenant that God made
54-0306 §80
Look. I said not long ago, preaching a message in the church, I said, "Stealing is not a sin. Lying is not a sin. Committing adultery is not a sin." I couldn't get much farther than that till a little old Methodist mother (sanctified, you know) raised up, she said, "Then, "Reverend Branham, what do you call sin?" I said, "That's not sin. Unbelief is sin." That's the attribute of sin. You do that because you don't believe. Because you don't believe on Jesus Christ, that makes you ... then you can lie, steal. But whe...
The Queen of Sheba
61-0219 §30
What is sin? Unbelief. There's only one sin, unbelief. You commit adultery, you smoke cigarettes, you curse, you drink, because you're an unbeliever. If you was a believer you wouldn't do that. Them things are attributes of unbelief. A true believer's soundly solid, based on Christ. And there's nothing will shake him. But because that you're waving, pulling off to one side, that's the reason you have these things happen in your life. True unadulterated faith will hold you faithfully against the cross. It will.
Revelation, Chapter 4c Throne of mercy and judgement
61-0108 §16
See how narrow it is? They don't have spiritual understanding, that's all. See. Blind, dead in sin and trespasses! Sin means "unbelief." Anything in unbelief is sin. If a fellow's got a title that long (a DD, double L, PhD, LLD) and says there's no such a thing as divine healing or the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the man's dead in sin. He might be able to explain all kinds of mysteries in the Bible, but his very life (his testimony) proves that he's dead. He's dead in sin and trespasses because he's a sinner. Sin is...