Why is a Christian believer more vulnerable to sexual sin than to other sins?
You have probably heard this opinion before, and I also confirm that there is truth in it. I will briefly explain my opinion on this topic and why I came to this conclusion.
When a person converts to Christ, they change. That person is now born again. Their nature has changed, even though sin still lives in their members, as the Epistle to the Romans tells us (Romans 7:23). They don’t enjoy living in sin anymore. It is not part of their new nature.
So, their previous habits, such as lying, stealing, or doing things the wrong way, are no longer meant to be part of their life.
I am not talking of perfection, because as long as people live in this flesh, they will still sin. I am referring to persevering in sin. The Bible tells us that believers guard themselves from sinning. That means that they fight and resist it. By this, we conclude that the type of sin that a believer who guards himself from sin and another person who is careless about it will be different. Still, I am not saying that a believer is perfect. The epistle of 1 John tells us that if we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us (1 John 1:10).
“If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)
The same epistle tells us that whoever is born of God does not sin (1 John 3:9). There is no contradiction here. It simply tells us that we all sin, but still, the level and gravity of sin in the life of a believer are not the same as in the life of a person who does not know God. A believer usually does not persevere in sin and does not continue deeper in it.
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9)
The Greek expression used in 1 John 3:9 for “does not sin” is ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ (hamartian ou poiei). It combines the noun for sin, ἁμαρτίαν (hamartian), with the verb ποιεῖ (poiei), which is in the present active indicative. In this context, the expression is commonly understood to refer to a continuous, habitual, or ongoing practice of sin.
Believers don’t persevere in sin because they don’t enjoy it as they did before. Since they have been born again, they have a new nature, but sin still lives in their members, and they can still be tempted.
When I talk about sexual sin, I am not only talking about adultery, but about all kinds of sins related to sexual desire. This also includes pornography, which we need to be very aware of. But what is the difference between sexual sin and other sins? The difference is that sexual sin often has to do with impulsiveness. It is connected to something that is already within us. We were naturally created with these desires because God placed them within us, so that we can enjoy a healthy sexual life with our spouse and also procreate.
Still, man often uses this gift in an unnatural way and not in the way God established it, which turns this gift of life into sin. Something that was meant to be good turns into evil when it is used in the wrong way. We are witnessing how many broken families there are because of adultery, infidelity, and porn addiction, and how many victims of sexual abuse there are.
Many people who have abused others justify themselves by saying that this is part of their nature. Yes, sexuality is part of a person’s nature, but its perversion is not. That is the result of sin, and a person can be set free only by faith in the redeeming blood of Jesus. When God is not at the center of someone’s life, they abuse their nature and use it in the wrong way. The same can be said about many other talents and gifts with which we are created, which can also be used for wrong purposes.
This is where the difference between sexual sins and other sins can be seen in the life of the believer. He knows that stealing, lying, or taking advantage of others is wrong, and he will rarely, or never, commit some of these sins, because they are not part of his lifestyle anymore. He desires to be right with God. He walks in the light. He is not a child of darkness anymore, and he does not want to sin deliberately.
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 5:5-7)
A believer will always guard himself from sin and from walking in darkness. This does not mean that he is blameless; it simply defines who he is and what his life values are. His choice, most of the time, will be to walk in the light.
When talking about sexual sin, however, we are talking about a different kind of sin, because sexual desire is part of a person’s nature. A person will always feel sexual desire in some way. That is why a person, and I am also talking about a believer, can be tempted by it. Here, it is not only the desire to fulfill personal goals, like when someone steals or lies, for example. Here, it is a natural desire that, at times, awakens in us without invitation. By saying this, I don’t want to justify sexual sins committed by believers. I am only stating how vulnerable they can be to it.
Our brain is wired to function in such a way that when it sees an attractive person of the opposite sex or a sexual image, it almost automatically awakens sexual desire in us. At that moment, we are much more vulnerable and provoked to give in to it. Here, the devil also plays a huge part, as he knows very well where godly people can be tempted and fall. If they are hard to tempt with other sins, he will tempt them with sexual sin. This is a very cunning method, because sexual desire is already in us. We do not always need a specific motive for it to awaken, because it is already naturally within us. With many other sins, however, a person usually needs a motive, and those decisions are often made after some kind of premeditation. That is why a believer does not give in to those kinds of temptations most of the time. One of the places where the Bible warns us about sexual sin is Proverbs 7.
24 Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;
26 For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
27 Her house is the way to hell,
Descending to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 7:24-27)
This is a warning to believers. Notice what it says in verse 26: “For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong men.”
Strong men were slain by her. It means that they were strong in faith and great men of God. We have the examples of Samson and King David in the Scripture. Even those men fell into it, and by saying this, I am not justifying any person who stumbles into it or making light of the issue. We know the consequences those men went through because of it. These were events that we read about in a few chapters of the Bible, but they marked their entire lives. I am not saying this to condemn anyone who has stumbled. I am saying it as a warning.
Of course, we have a merciful God who sent His Son to die for our sins. If it were not so, He would not have made such a great sacrifice. Still, He repeatedly warns us in Scripture about the danger of sin because, in this way, we interrupt our relationship with Him and give place to the devil.
This is why the Bible warns so much about it, and this is why great men of God have fallen into it. Yes, there are many examples of men who sinned in the Bible, but you will often see ungodly men falling into many other sins, such as idolatry, stealing, greed, and others. These are sins that Christians can also commit, but when it comes to godly men in the Bible, we often see them falling into sexual sins, or pride, for example, rather than into some of those other sins. The enemy particularly tends to tempt Christians who haven’t given in to other sins with sexual temptation. He knows that even though they have resisted other temptations, they can still be vulnerable to that kind of temptation.
With this, I repeat that I don’t make light of or justify that kind of sin, as in God’s eyes, it is still sin. That is why self-control is needed, and that is why it is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, through which we can resist it.
We know the stories of great men of God who stumbled into sexual sin. Among them are David, Samson, and King Solomon. These were men who were given as examples of faith and courage, but they are also examples through the mistakes they committed. King David was even called a man after God’s own heart. He stumbled by committing adultery with Bathsheba, and there were many consequences in his life afterward. What we can notice here is that he was led by a moment of distraction, and I believe he stumbled impulsively. He was a righteous man and did not want to displease God, but still, the enemy found a breach through which he could attack him. We see that after committing that sin, he committed many other sins afterward, some of them worse than what he had done at first.
Those were premeditated sins, such as lying, manipulation, and murdering Bathsheba’s husband by sending him to the front line of a fierce battle. We see that falling into sexual sin, which was the result of not being watchful, not being where he was supposed to be at that moment, and giving in to his passions, led him to commit other sins that he would not have committed. This means that when we are not attentive and are not girded with God’s armor, even while having good intentions, we might stumble and open ourselves to other sins as well.
This is the space through which the enemy enters and fulfills his purposes — the breach through which we are most vulnerable.
Many times, putting on God’s armor and being watchful is not to protect us from what we have already decided we will not do, and about which we are confident, but from what we are most vulnerable to and cannot control by our own strength. From something that can surprise us and catch us off guard. A believer will not usually feel the urge to lie, steal, or commit other sins, but he can be tempted in his mind with sexual desires, pride, and self-glory. These are things that he needs to resist by staying firm in the faith.
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