Sins of weakness

By “sins of weakness” we usually mean those sins of Christians that result from the sinful nature winning the battle against the new self even though we do not want to sin (Romans 7:15-25). As Christians, our new self delights in doing the will of God; our sinful nature wants nothing to do with godliness and what God says. Yet, sometimes in the hour of temptation, the sinful nature gets the upper hand. In those situations, there is no plan to sin, but weak people give in to temptation. That sin is followed by confession and repentance, trust in God’s forgiveness and the resolve not to sin again.

Sins of weakness differ from what we can call “willful sins.” Those sins take place when people know what God’s will is, but don’t care. Instead, they act against better knowledge—and perhaps conscience—and do what they want.

Regardless of how we might define and categorize sin, sin is deadly. It needs our continual attention. The price to pay for our sins was extremely high (1 Peter 1:18-19). Our desire as God’s children is now to avoid sin as best we can and live life to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). God help us to do just that.