Let’s just get this out of the way…Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” This is one of the first verses shared with me when I talk about this. And I agree…we all HAVE fallen short…we all HAVE sinned. But what it doesn’t say, is we ARE falling short, or that we ARE sinning. Reminder…I am specifically talking to born-again believers. If we are saying we believe, then we CANNOT identify as sinners. How can I be so confident in that statement? Because the Word of God tells me so.
Romans 6:2 says, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Romans 6:11 says, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” One more, Romans 7:6 says, “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” Are you seeing this? By saying we ARE Sinners Saved by Grace…we are negating the Truth. We are DEAD to sin…we should be saying things like, “We are saints, a holy priesthood, co-heirs with Christ Jesus and flawless in the sight of God in Christ Jesus.”
Our identity, from the beginning, was in the image of God. When sin entered the 
picture, it became a false identity that we were born into. All of it, is a lie. Until we are saved, our real identity is hidden. See, Jesus didn’t die because WE were sinners. He died because OF sin, and He removed (saved ‘that’ which was lost: Matthew 18:11) the stain of sin in order to reveal our true image in God. The enemy attacks our understanding and belief. If we continue to fall into the subtle lies that keep us in bondage, then what effect are we in this world for the kingdom? If we believe we ARE Sinners saved by Grace, you are identifying still as something that we should be recognizing as DEAD. It’s like waking up and TRYING to not sin, instead of waking up in His image and not even being able to do so.
Friends, you are so much more than ‘just a Sinner Saved by Grace.’ Jesus freed us from that belief, so that we can live each day revealing our true identity in Him. We WERE sinners, and we ARE saved by Grace…so that we can become the righteousness of God that is in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). If we don’t believe we are right with God, then how can we ever see the promises of God, that ARE Yes and Amen, manifest in and through our lives?
There is a difference from realizing your sin and recognizing your need to be saved to still identifying in that sin after being born-again. ALL things are new…old things are gone (2 Corinthians 5:17). We must grab a hold of the Truth, and not let any worldly teaching sway our belief, well intentioned or not. It is our individual responsibility to work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12b) in the secret place with God. It is in that place your true identity is revealed and you are able to discern something being taught as Truth, or not. I’ll finish with this…
Our world has a lot of ‘stuff’ that is messed up, right? Guns, racism, war, abortion, politics…and on and on. Not a single one of any of the countless issues in the world are actually the problem. The problem? It’s that people (yes, even Christians) are waking up for themselves and not for the image of God. It’s an identity issue, and now is the time to take hold of that which Jesus saved!
