We can truly be saved and still have struggles, fights, even addictions.
But I would want to make some distinctions here. There may be an individual who’s leading a double life, meaning this is something that they’re not confessing and repenting of. Maybe they go to church, and they look really good externally. But they have these secrets—these things that they hold onto—idols that they worship in the dark, that they’re not willing to confess. Maybe they don’t even think that they’re sin. I think of the Pharisees, for example: They looked really good externally, but Jesus said they were full of dead men’s bones (Matt. 23:27–28). He says they need to clean the inside of the cup (Matt 23:26).
Now, that doesn’t mean that genuine believers can’t struggle with sin. The reality is, you will! We will. We are in this real fight between the lust of the flesh which we experience and being led by the Spirit. Paul talks about this in Galatians 5 and Romans 7. He describes the intense battle that we all experience: We are called day by day to put to death the sinful deeds of our bodies. We can’t do that alone or in our own strength. It’s only through the grace of the Holy Spirit.
That’s the real Christian experience. There isn’t one person who does good and doesn’t sin in the whole world. But if someone is concealing their sin—if they look good on the outside but they’re addicted to all these sins and they’re not willing to repent of them—well, I would be really concerned about that. That could indicate that maybe this person doesn’t truly know Christ.
Can someone really struggle as a Christian and still be saved? Yes they can. What saves us is not how perfectly we handle that struggle, it’s the fact that Jesus holds on to us. He keeps us, and he forgives us.
This article is part of our Frequently Asked Questions series. You can listen to the episode where Pastor Adriel answers this question here.
