Ceased From Sin

Living to Do God's Will

In his first letter Peter declares that Jesus bore our sins in his body so that we may cease from sin and live for righteousness. He followed that by saying that some people had ceased from sin.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. (1 Peter 2:24)

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for corrupt human desires but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2)

Peter says that there were people who had ceased from sin. Moreover, he tells how they became people who had ceased from sin: they suffered in the flesh. He also gives us a glimpse into how such people lived: no longer controlled by corrupt desires, but by God's will.

The real possibility of ceasing from sin should be of great interest to those who

• love Jesus (John 14:15, 21, 23, 24)
• seek to be controlled by God's will (1 Peter 4:1-2)
• seek to live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24)
• seek to be free from sin
• seek the spiritual growth and fruitfulness that comes with being free from sin
• seek eternal life (Matthew 5:29-30, 18:8-9, Mark 9:44-47)
• seek fellowship and union with God (John 14:15, 21, 23)

Satan is interested in keeping people from ceasing from sin. He is seeking to rob Jesus and us of the results of his sacrifice through one of the greatest deceptions in history: causing people to believe that it is impossible to cease from sin.