I stood in my kitchen with my fists clenched, unsure how sin had bested me yet again. Surely this wasn’t what the Christian life was supposed to be like. I should have the green pastures and gentle walks beside still waters. I should have the gentle words, patience, and holiness. Instead, I daily warred against sin and temptation—and it felt like I was losing.
Too often, we expect our growth in Christ to look like an effortless path that guides us toward Christlikeness. We simply become more like Christ every day—right? But to have this growth, we must have the mortification, or killing, of sin, the destruction of the old man (Eph. 4:22). We must die to ourselves to be renewed in holiness (Rom. 8:13). This is the part of sanctification that looks less like peaceful growth and more like barrenness and unloveliness—more like death.
Has your fight against sin ever overwhelmed you, making you wonder if God is working in you? Has your grief over sin ever led you to despair or discouragement? I’ve been there too. Sanctification is a costly battle.
As 19th-century Anglican bishop J. C. Ryle teaches us in his classic volume, Holiness, “True Christianity is a struggle, a fight and a warfare. . . . There is no holiness without a warfare.” We must understand that God’s sanctifying work in our lives includes the violence of warfare against sin.
Right Battle
The path to Christlikeness looks less like a meadow and more like the battlefield. Ryle observes, “The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death.”
Yet we often get distracted by less worthy battles. We believe the problem is “out there”: on internet discussion boards, in our culture, or within others’ hearts. We may even grow embittered toward our Christian brothers and sisters who don’t agree with us. We become critics, easily identifying what’s wrong with them but blind to what’s wrong with us. Yet “they” aren’t our enemy; sin is.
Jesus’s teachings on temptation show us that our battle with sin is a worthy one. He says to his disciples, “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” And later, “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away” (Matt. 18:8–9). I imagine their expressions looked like mine when I read this passage. Cut off what? Tear out what?
The writer of Hebrews echoes Jesus’s teaching: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Heb. 12:4). These verses show us that sin is a worthy adversary, one we’ll spend our whole lives fighting.
Right Captain
We never fight alone. God provides the best captain amid war: our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus fought on the front lines during his earthly ministry, resisting every temptation, waging war against sin, and crucifying the flesh. Because he won the victory against sin and death, he’s able to help us when we’re tempted (2:18).
Jesus’s teachings on temptation show us that our battle with sin is a worthy one.
We look to him as our example and our deliverer. We look to him as the One who leads the charge against sin. As Ryle concludes, “Christ loves His people to lean on Him, to rest in Him, to call on Him, to abide in Him.”
What does killing sin look like when we have Christ our captain’s help? We might not literally cut off a foot, but we might suffer grief over sin and knees bent in repentance. We might not tear out an eye, but we might offer up desperate prayers to God or confess sin to our church family. We might not shed blood, but we might shed tears over the pages of our Bibles. Remembering that our lifetime is short, we don’t let up until sin meets its end, with Christ as our captain.
Worthwhile Scars
Paul writes to the church in Colossians, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you” (Col. 3:5). In Romans, he reminds believers that if we want life, we’re to put sin to death by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:13). We don’t just fight against sin—we go in for the kill.
The extreme terms Scripture uses to describe the battle against sin can feel overwhelming. We might even feel we’re not up to the task or grow weary under the effort. Yet Scripture promises the good news that God’s at work in us, “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
Ryle believed that John Bunyan’s most admirable character in The Pilgrim’s Progress was Mr. Valiant-for-Truth, who spends his life fighting sin. In the end, Mr. Valiant-for-Truth declares, “My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles who will now be my Rewarder.”
We don’t just fight against sin—we go in for the kill.
Those who take Jesus’s words seriously will end up with battle wounds and scars. If we spend our lives in war against sin, it will cost us—but oh, the reward! Ryle reminds us about this truth: “May we never forget that without fighting, there can be no holiness while we live, and no crown of glory when we die!” Christlikeness on earth and a crown of glory in heaven are the spoils of war against sin.
This fight doesn’t always feel good. We might grow weary, longing for a break from the flesh’s constant assault. The violence of sanctification might even trick us into thinking God’s not at work in our lives, after all. Yet Ryle encourages, “Where there is grace there will be conflict.”
The battle against sin is a sign that the Spirit is at work within us. And each victory against sin reminds us that the Holy Spirit is reclaiming the barren, bloody battlefield of our hearts, cultivating Christlikeness where our flesh once ruled.
