Habitual Sin: Why You Keep Sinning and How the Pattern Breaks
Habitual sin is a pattern the old nature trained into your body, and it keeps returning because your flesh remembers what it learned, not because the old man is still alive. A born-again believer does not have to keep sinning. You stop by starving the old patterns, building up your spirit, and receiving from God instead of striving.
Why do I keep sinning even though I love God?
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."Romans 6:6 (KJV)
The most honest answer I can give comes from something I had to learn about my own life. When Paul says that our old man is crucified with Christ, he means that the old nature you inherited from Adam, the dead spirit that made you a sinner before you ever committed a single sin, was put to death. So the part of you that ever truly wanted to sin is gone, and nothing in the real you wants to sin anymore.
What remains is your flesh, which was trained for years by that old nature. Your body learned to get pleasure, relief, and comfort in very specific ways, and it remembers, which is why it still craves what it was taught to crave. In Chapter 5 I picture it as an old work coat hanging on a peg, where the man who wore it is gone but the elbows are still bent and the shoulders are still rounded, so the coat holds the shape he left behind.
That means a habit that keeps returning is not proof that the old man is alive or that your salvation is thin. It is your flesh doing what it was trained to do, and I sum it up in the book this way: the habits outlived the man. I wore that coat myself, in habits of how I saw myself and how I compared myself to other people, and none of it came from my new spirit.
Does the pull of an old habit mean the old man is still alive?
No, and I believe this is one of the most freeing things a struggling believer can hear. Feeling the pull of a habit means your flesh remembers, which is a very different problem from a living old man, because a body whose old master is dead can be retrained.
I also describe the flesh as a terminally ill dictator, because it knows it has no future and behaves like a tyrant whose reign is ending. It screams for what it wants right now and creates a false urgency, which is why old patterns can feel loudest right when you begin to get serious with God. That is not the old man coming back to life, but the sound of a flesh that is losing its grip.
This also means you are not at war with yourself. The Bible says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, and I take that to include my own, so rather than fighting my body I tell it to submit to who I am now. A man at war with himself is exhausted and divided, while a man who knows the old master is dead is simply teaching a student who had the wrong teacher for a very long time.
Can a Christian stop sinning?
"Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."Galatians 5:16 (KJV)
The book's answer is yes, and it rests on the difference between being born again and not being born again. If you have not been born again, sin is inevitable, because you have a dead spirit and a sin nature, but if you have been born again, sin is not inevitable. We say that everybody sins as though it were a law of nature, and then we plan for it and make room for it, and I think that expectation is part of what keeps believers in the cycle.
The reason lies in your nature, since my born-again spirit does not have the capacity to sin and is the same righteous spirit of Christ that Jesus had, and I explain that more fully in what 1 John 3:9 means. Paul puts it as a promise, and he does not say that you will fall less often but that you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
I also want to be honest about the timing. I say in the book that there is a day coming when you will never sin again, that this is the process of sanctification, and that God willing it comes before this fleshly body is done away with, though I do not build a whole doctrine on it. What I am saying is that a believer who thinks sin is inevitable is walking in the opposite direction from the one God set him on.
How do I stop a habitual sin?
"And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."Galatians 5:24 (KJV)
The first thing to know is that you cannot strive your way there. Striving comes from the old man, who thinks he has to earn everything and prove himself before God will move, and Paul asked the Galatians whether, having begun in the spirit, they were now made perfect by the flesh. So the answer is not one more promise and one more burst of willpower, but receiving what God gives.
In Chapter 11 the picture is starvation, because crucifixion does not argue with the one being crucified but cuts off what keeps that body alive, so when I say I am crucifying my flesh I mean that I am starving it of its old habits and refusing to keep feeding the loop the old man trained into it. Fasting is one of the primary ways I know to do that.
I am careful to say that fasting does not make the old man dead, because he is already dead, but that it enforces that reality on a body that has not gotten the message yet. When I fast I name the pattern I am starving, I pray in tongues during the time I would normally eat, and I read the Word when the hunger comes. Fasting and praying in tongues together deny the flesh while the spirit is built up, and over time the balance shifts until the spirit is stronger and the flesh loses room to control the decisions of your life.
Some patterns, I believe, do not break without fasting, because they are not only thoughts but trained appetites in your outer man. Jesus told His disciples that a certain kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting, and I see a principle in that for our own lives. You do not have to start with forty days, since one day a week or one day a month is a fine place to begin, and the obedience matters far more than the length.
What if I fall again?
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"1 John 2:1 (KJV)
There will be moments when you fall short, especially while your flesh is still being retrained, and when that happens you should not run back to the old identity. You are not a sinner again; you are someone who is righteous and who made a mistake. Notice the order of John's verse, because his purpose is that you sin not, and the Advocate is there for the moment you do.
So the goal is not sin managed but sin defeated, with grace underneath you the whole way. Get up, bring it to your Father, and go right back to your spirit, and then do again what Chapter 5 teaches by naming the pattern and asking what your flesh got from it. God has also promised in Philippians 1:6 to finish the good work He began in you, which is why I keep going.
What if I do not believe I can stop?
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."Romans 6:11 (KJV)
Perhaps the reason you keep falling is that you do not believe you can stop. If you think sin is inevitable, you will brace for it and half-expect it, and when temptation comes, part of you will already have agreed that you are going to lose.
Paul tells us to do the opposite, which is to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God. To reckon is to count something as true and live accordingly, so he is not asking you to pretend but to agree with what God already did. He also promises in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will with the temptation make a way to escape, and I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit in the moment where that way out is.
Some believers hear Romans 7 as proof that the struggle never ends, and I understand why, because it sounds like the most honest chapter in the Bible. I read it differently, and I explain why in what Romans 7 means.
From the book
This page is drawn from New Creation, Old Habits by Benjamin Riggins. Read more in:
- Chapter 5: The Habits Outlived the Man
- Chapter 7: You Can't Strive Your Way There
- Chapter 11: Starve the Old Patterns
- Chapter 13: You Don't Have to Fall
Questions people ask
Can I ever stop sinning?
The book's answer is yes, because if you are born again, sin is not inevitable and your spirit is righteous and does not have the capacity to sin. Paul promises that if you walk in the spirit you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. I am not asking you to strive for perfection, because holiness comes from being with God and being built up in your spirit, not from trying harder.
Why do I keep sinning the same way over and over?
In Chapter 5 I teach that your flesh was trained for years by the old nature and still remembers how it got pleasure, relief, and comfort. The old man is dead, but the habits outlived him, which is why a pattern can keep returning until the flesh is retrained.
Does being tempted mean I have sinned?
No, because in Chapter 5 I draw a clear line between being tempted and thinking evil on purpose, which are two very different things. Temptation is the old pull of a flesh trained one way, and God promises to make a way to escape with every temptation.
Does fasting stop habitual sin?
The book teaches that fasting does not make the old man dead, because he is already dead, but that it starves the flesh and enforces that reality on a body that has not gotten the message. I pair it with praying in tongues, so that the flesh is denied while the spirit is built up.
What should I do right after I sin?
Do not run back to the old identity, because you are someone righteous who made a mistake. John writes that if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, so get up, bring it to your Father, and go right back to your spirit.