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.
Seals 2: Breach between the Church Ages and the Seals
63-0317E §44
Now, we say "sin". We just call it sin. Break it down. What is sin? A lot of people say, "Drinking, committing adultery." No, no. That's the attributes of sin. That's what sin causes. But real sin is unbelief. That's where it's named and called out. If you are a believer, you don't do those things. But no matter how holy you try to make yourself and how religious you try to be, if you do those things, you're an unbeliever. That's scriptural.
Why?
61-0128 §42
What happens to the believer? God Almighty come down from heaven, the greatest thing that there is, that covered all space and time. He never had a beginning, and He never did begin, and He never will end. But when He come down from the largest thing there was, and become the smallest thing that there is---a little germ of life that was conceived in the womb of a woman called Mary... And because sin broke that blood cell and let out that Spirit of God that fell on the day of Pentecost, now the worshipper, when he p...
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E §57
Ahab, he was an unbeliever, though he acted like he wasn't. No, no, he was amongst the believers, but he was a unbeliever. What did he do? He married an idolatress and brought it ... idolatry right into Israel. He was an unbeliever; we know that. They deny the whole of the Word of God to be true. The unbeliever is ... See, now remember, he's a hypocrite. And he acts like that ... He says he believes it, but he denies it. He said, "Well, so much of it is well," but if all of it isn't right, then that makes him an un...
To see Jesus
54-0718E §41
Drinking, smoking, gambling, doing evil things: that isn't sin; that's the attributes of unbelief. You do that because you're an unbeliever. If you was a believer, you would not do those things. It bears the fruits of joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, patience, holiness. That's the fruits of the Spirit. But the fruits of the evil spirit is doubt. "He that believeth not is condemned already." Then if the truth comes to you in such a way that you have a knowledge of it, and then refuse to receive it, there rema...
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E §17
Now, I want to speak of the three different types of believers, now. Now remember--believers. My subject is believers: one of them is a true believer, and the next is a make-believer, and the next is a unbeliever, see. Now, the first group we'd like to talk about is the believer, because I think he ought to be first, because he is the one that truly believes. Now ... believes like the disciples believes here. We're going to use this Scripture reading for example. Now, the first is believers--genuine believers. And...