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Scripture commands believers to turn from sin to righteousness many times. Examples of this are found in Romans 6, Eph. 4:17-32, and Phil. 2:12-13. Romans teaches us that in principle, in God’s reality, a person’s habits of sin die when they are co-crucified with Christ. If a person wants to stop sinning, it is helpful to know and believe that the person you were “in Adam” has died, so you are no longer a slave to sin.
Ephesian 4:23-24 says to “be renewed in the spirit of the mind,” which sounds like the direction or set of the mind needs to change in order to stop sinning. We cannot stop our habits of sin unless we know that who we were “in Adam” prior to conversion, and the “body of sin” (bodily habits of sin) that were part of our life before conversion, have died or been rendered inoperative in our death and resurrection with Christ. In addition, a believer cannot forsake sinful habits without being renewed in the spirit of the mind and being delivered from their blindness of heart.
Philippians 2:12-13 says we should “work out” our “salvation with fear and trembling” because “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Our salvation is “worked out” or brought to completion as we have a healthy respect for God’s commands and cooperate with God as He works in us the willing and doing of His will.
The Bible condemns sinful behavior and commands righteous behavior, but people’s sinful behavior is always produced by deeper sinful attitudes and feelings and thoughts. Sinful acts must be viewed as “surface issues” or fruit that is rooted in deeper sins. It is almost impossible for people to experience long-term deliverance from sinful behavior by treating the behavior (expressions of anger, for example) as the most important or basic sin, or by trying to instruct a person into not committing acts of sin. If this is all you focus on, people will almost always continue in their sin.