2 Timothy 3:16 English Standard Version (ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

If I were to say that teachers, pastors, evangelists, theologians, and shepherds have absolutely nothing to do with training in righteousness, I would expect to receive an augment from everyone who serves in those capacities. I would also expect their students to say, “I don’t understand.”

If I were to say the abiding Spirit of truth in you breathed life into the scriptures then some would agree and say they understand. There would still be a class of students that are withheld from understanding. That does not mean they do not have the Spirit of truth in them to help them. It only means they have not completed the first steps in understanding Truth.

Note closely that I capitalized Truth. Truth is a person not an idea. Seeking understanding is a mental operation, seeking Truth is a heart condition.

Deuteronomy 4:29 English Standard Version (ESV) But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

From the very beginnings of instruction it was made somewhat clear that there is a distinct difference between seeking with the heart and seeking with the soul. The soul is the mind, will and emotions of an individual, all of which are flesh. The heart, the one we now have, is created and under the control of God by the presence of the Holy Spirit. That is where Truth is found.

1 Corinthians 8:2 English Standard Version (ESV) If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

The imagination is a function of an undisciplined mind, one who seeks understanding by reason rather than revelation.

John 16:12-13 English Standard Version

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Romans 6:16 English Standard Version (ESV) Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Free will leads us into the arena of serving either sin or God by obedience of faith. Free will allows us to change which yoke we put on and for how long. That sounds like freedom but one must remember this warning, our choices are death or righteousness.

The good news for us is that when we take on the yoke of sin, we take the Holy spirit with us and He will not be bound by sin and will fight on our behalf to break the bondage of sin yet again.

Galatians 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV) For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Think about this in a new way. You have chosen Christ to be your Lord. You now belong to Him. He has sent the Holy Spirit to guide you in all righteousness and when you choose to sin, you have opposed the will of God for your life. Don’t expect God to sit by idly without taking back what is rightfully His.

This is where the difference between willful sin and the sin of ignorance comes into play. We do not know what sins hinder God in the performance of His will. Willfulness is rebellion and will not be tolerated. Ignorance on the other hand is a matter of being taught what is dangerous to this relationship we have with our creator. 

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Sound familiar, 1 John 1:8 is incomplete because this is followed by the words, “and the truth is not in us.” The Spirit of truth is still in us but when we say we have no sin, we have put on the yoke of sin which allows the flesh to lie, deceiving ourselves. Once again, the Holy Spirit has to break us out of the bondage to the lie and set us free once again from the lies we tell ourselves.

This should tell us that God does not have a problem with sin, we do. Just how big a problem is up to us in the exercise of free will. Do we choose to remain ignorant of sin or are we going to allow ourselves to be trained in righteousness?

Having the righteousness of Christ abiding in us does not mean we know how to exercise that righteousness.

It is not a matter of law abiding. It is a matter of love abiding.