Bullets Kill People

Paul, while lamenting about his unconverted behavior in Romans 7, stated twice, “It is no longer I who do it…” speaking of sin. He was swamped with sin, but he wasn’t sinning. John stated that “If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” and walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous One.” (1 John 1:6-2:1 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®)
John wrote in the same letter, “Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®) He “is not able to sin.” That’s pretty stark.
There is a fiery argument in the United States these days with regard to the second amendment to the Constitution, which gives citizens the right to bear arms. One side of the argument states that guns need to be removed from the possession of citizens, because they cause unnecessary deaths. The other side likes to use the phrase, “Guns don’t kill people – people kill people.”
If I ran into a pedestrian with my truck, they would likely die. The same debate could arise that my truck didn’t kill them, but that I did. I could add to the argument above that guns don’t kill people, bullets kill people. The responsibility for what my gun or my truck or my knife or laser does to someone is with me, not my weapon.
Paul was taking responsibility for what his body brought into the earth by its unrestrained behavior, but also clarifying that he was not that body. He was in that body, but it was not who he was, it was simply where he was. John brought up the same contrast, with little explanation: that if I say I don’t have sin, I am a liar, but that anyone who is born of God doesn’t sin.
My flesh is where the sin is. My spirit is born of Yahweh, and can’t sin. My flesh, then, is like a vehicle. I am not a Toyota, but what happens to people around me when I am in my Toyota is my responsibility. After chapter 7 of the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, who don’t walk after their flesh, but after the Spirit. Even the things that go wrong because I have flesh were paid for by the blood that covered the cross.
Take responsibility, but don’t take condemnation for things that go wrong. Keep walking under the influence of the Spirit of Jesus, and the number of missteps will decrease. Be awesome.