Every person who sins is rightly called a sinner. The question of guilt is one of degree only, but our place in the category is fixed. A person without sin would be in an entirely different category. For such a person, one sin, one small failure of any kind, would mean that he or she was no longer sinless and so would immediately and irreversibly join the rest of us, a sinner among sinners.

Only a sinless life is in harmony with God who is holy, and only such a life can therefore live in His presence. All else must be judged – God will never compromise with sin.

To better understand this, and to see what we are, let’s try to imagine what you would be like if your life was totally sinless. This will enable us to compare our actual life and experience to that sinless life and perhaps see more clearly what it means to be fallen and in need of a Saviour. This is not an easy exercise – it is hard for sinners even to imagine such a life, much less live it.

To begin with, your sinless life would be governed by love, first for God and then for those around you. All your interactions with family, friends, colleagues and strangers would reflect your love for God and your neighbours. You would never fail in your duty to others or your duty to God.

Your love for your neighbours would be willing and complete. You would never be reluctant to care for others before yourself and you would never have to acknowledge that you could have done more or better in any given situation. You would never be lazy, selfish or self-centred. You would never indulge in self-pity or revengeful thoughts. You would never exalt yourself over others, or slight or denigrate others. You would never speak falsehood but only the truth in love. You would never have had to apologise for anything done or said, or left undone or unsaid, nor would you ever have to withdraw anything said rashly or foolishly.

Your love of God would be total – heart, soul, mind and strength. There would be no deviation or change in your love, because it would not be less that it ought to be, and it could not be more. Your love would be seen in your obedience to God, an obedience that is willing, joyful, complete and immediate. Your faith in God would never waver and your prayer would be real, abundant, intimate, unaffected and free .

Your daily walk would be characterised by peace which would never be disturbed by circumstances, insults or harassment, and your good humour and joy would stand in stark contrast to the fearful, moody, cynical and greedy. You would not be proud or smug, but your humility and simple contentment would be a blessing to everyone who touched your life. You would be the same person to both the beggar and the king.

None of this would be something to which you had attained through training, devotion, discipline or commitment, but it would have been your way from your earliest childhood, and only matured and deepened with the passing of years.

You would never have known the pangs of guilt, you would have no fear of future judgement, you would never have had to repent, nor ask God’s mercy or man’s forgiveness. You would be conscious of no fault in yourself. There would be, and there always would have been, perfect consistency and harmony between your thoughts, words and deeds. Your mind would be pure, your love real, your compassion active, your prayer genuine.

There may be much more that might be added, but even the difficulty we have trying to imagine a life without sin shows us how foreign it is to our nature. We are so far removed from anything like such a wonderful life it would be laughable if it were not so serious. With just a few moments thoughtful consideration we can see that sin is so much a part of our being that there is no way, no matter what we might do, to escape its corruption.

Yet Jesus of Nazareth lived the life described here, and much more. No one else has ever come close, nor even claimed to have lived as He did. Because we are lost, He chose to be the sinless sin offering to save our lost souls. His sacrifice of Himself, and the power of God that raised Him from the dead, opens for us the only possible way to escape the corruption of sin and to find salvation.

We are saved, not by our own efforts, nor by our vain attempts at reform, but by the grace of God, through simply turning to the Lord Jesus and putting our trust in Him as our only Saviour.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)