2 Corinthians 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Most of us come up out of our baptism feeling emotions that range from gratitude to acceptance. What we don’t feel is new. We have the same memories, temptations, ailments, relationships and a host of personal problems. We don’t yet have a clear awareness of what really changed.

What makes us a new creation is the indwelling spirit that is given as counselor, companion and our eyes and ears to a life with Christ. So many comparisons have been made about being a babe in Christ. Understand that this spiritual life is in many ways just like being born. That is why Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again.

Paul told us in Romans that we should consider ourselves dead to sin. That is an awareness of our new life in Christ in which we are no longer sold under sin. Like a dead body, we do not have to respond to its presence. We can respond but shouldn’t, that is why we are to consider it. Sadly while sin has lost its sting, it has not gone away. It still hangs around as a constant reminder that we are not translated into His glorious form. That comes later, after we join Him in the air.

Meanwhile we are tempted and struggle. It takes time for us to learn how to accept help from the Holy Spirit. Adjusting to this new life takes time. We try to help each other during these struggles. We disciple one another. We teach and encourage one another from our human perspective but it is the Holy Spirit that does the real work of conforming us into a likeness of Christ.

Making decision for ourselves is what got us in trouble in our old life. Obedience of faith is the only avenue for real change.

Seven deadly sins, also called seven capital sins or seven cardinal sins, in Roman Catholic theology, the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behavior. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas, they are (1) vainglory, or pride, (2) greed, or covetousness, (3) lust, or inordinate or illicit sexual desire, (4) envy, (5) gluttony, which is usually understood to include drunkenness, (6) wrath, or anger, and (7) sloth. Each of these can be overcome with the seven corresponding virtues of (1) humility, (2) charity, (3) chastity, (4) gratitude, (5) temperance, (6) patience, and (7) diligence. (source Encyclopedia Britannica)

We have heard this from various sources. Literature and movies and television have made money in the application of this line of thinking. What I don’t find is any scriptural support for this assertion.

The problem with list is the assignment of priorities as if one sin is greater or more deadly than another. These were commonly called the seven deadly sins as if the others would not lead to spiritual death. All sins are deadly sins because all of them can lead to spiritual death.

The second issue is that sin can be overcome by human effort. This idea contradicts the need for a supernatural God intervening for us by His death on the cross. There is no way man can avoid spiritual death. Man is born spiritually dead.

John 3:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

John 6:63 English Standard Version (ESV) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

We cannot help ourselves. God has to intervene on our behalf.