I never realized what a division there was among believers about this. Only in the last few have I heard people mention that once we become a Christian we can't sin anymore.
Can Christians still sin?
Jas 1:15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
Jas 1:22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
Jas 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Jas 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Jas 5:15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
Jas 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Jas 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Now I don't believe we lose our salvation if we commit a sin. But if we deny that we do any sin, and say that we can't sin, that is another thing entirely.
1 Pet 2:12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
1 Pet 2:16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
1 Pet 3:10 For, "THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT.
1 Pet 3:11 "HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.
1 Pet 3:12 "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL."
1 Pet 3:17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.
1 Pet 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
The warning below isn't for unbelievers, but those in the faith.
1 Pet 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Pet 5:9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
1 Pet 5:10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
2 Pet 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
2 Pet 1:6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
2 Pet 1:7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
2 Pet 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Pet 1:9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
2 Pet 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
2Pe 1:11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
2 Pet 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own
2 Pet 2:19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
2 Pet 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
2 Pet 2:21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
2 Pet 2:22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
1 John 1:7 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.
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
1 John 2:3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
1 John 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
1 John 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
1 John 2:9 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
1 John 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.
1 John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
1 John 3:5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
1 John 3:6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
1 John 3:7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
1 John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
1 John 3:20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
1 John 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.
1 John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.
1 John 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
2 John 1:8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.
2 John 1:9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting;
2 John 1:11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
3 John 1:11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
Matt 5:19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven
John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."
John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
1 Cor 7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.
Rev 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
There is a huge difference between saying, yes I was a sinner, now I am saved. I still sin sometimes and I still need a savior.
Yes I am forgiven for my sins.
...and...
I have no sin at all, I cannot sin now. The law never applied to me anyway.
It's true, none of us will be justified by following the law. None of us can keep all of the commandments.
It's true, none of us will get God's acceptance by putting our faith in our ability to keep the law rather than in Jesus.
But does that mean we shouldn't still try to live righteous lives?