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.
Why?
60-1126 §68
...little more, but he will examine you till he finds the cause, and then go to working there. Now, not as a medical doctor, but as a servant of Christ, I know the cause. It's sin. What is sin? "Brother Branham, I don't sin." Unbelief is sin. "He that believeth not is condemned already." Unbelief is the only sin there is. He that believeth not is condemned. Lying, stealing, committing adultery, that's not sin. That's the attributes of unbelief (That's right), attributes of unbelief. If you believed, you wouldn't do th...
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E §97
And now, as this is surely true, both here and the invisible audience, we are pictured here tonight in one of these classes. Either we are genuine believers ... Test it with the Word. If the Word said a certain thing and the church said something different, what would you take? Look in the glass of God's Word and see which class you're standing in. And if you're not tonight (both here and in the invisible audience)-- if you're not with that believing type, could I offer just a word of prayer for you now that you wo...
Where I think Pentecost failed
55-1111 §84
While they're praying, I want to ask you something. "What is sin, Brother Branham?" Smoking cigarettes? That's not sin. Committing adultery? That's not sin. Telling lies? That's not sin. That's attributes of sin. There's only one sin, and that's the sin of unbelief. "He that believeth not..." Saint John 3, "He that believeth not is condemned already." Now you're either a believer or an unbeliever. And if you say, "Well, Brother Branham, I quit drinking." That still don't mean that, don't mean you're a Christian, se...
Doors in door
65-0206 §86
...faith---one faith, one Lord, one baptism---that faith. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Saviour divine! Now hear me while I pray, Take all my unbelief away. Sin: sin, there is only one sin, that's unbelief. A man that drinks isn't a sinner. See, that isn't sin. It isn't sin to drink, it isn't sin to commit adultery, to lie, to steal. That isn't sin; that's the attributes of unbelief. If you was a believer, you wouldn't do that, see. There is only two: you're an unbeliever or a believer, see, one or...
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E §46
Then secondly, there comes now, the unbeliever. Let's speak of the unbeliever next. What does the unbeliever do? We see the believer what? accepts the Word: every race, every generation, follow all the way from Noah all the way up. We could take six months of revival right on that right there, bringing up the characters--they believed. The believer don't question. The believer believes it, regardless of what it sounds like or what anybody else has got to say about it, how impossible it seems to be. The believer bel...