Christian people today are shackled by many bonds that churches have, wittingly or unwittingly, imposed upon their spiritual lives. And, one of these great bonds is this idea of the Christian life being a ‘struggle’. Now, immediately someone is going to say, “Are you saying that the Christian’s life is not a struggle; that it is an easy thing, and, that all will be well without struggle, conflict, or unhappiness?”, no, this is not what I am saying; that is something that is commonly heard from the cults! What I am saying, is that the idea of what Christian people are being told is a ‘struggle’ is not biblical, and is a doctrinal error. It is an error that is causing much harm in the lives of God’s saints.
To begin, I shall define some terms. First, this word ‘struggle’. I’ve found that it does not appear once in the Authorized Version, and in some of the older versions it appears once or twice; but, in the newer versions it appears 5 times in the NET, 7 times in the NASB20, 8 times in the NIV1, and 12 times in the NLT. Now the word ‘struggle’ in it’s original meaning and etymology is not problematic, but what it means in 2025 is a problem. The meaning of this word in most everyones mind is — “to experience difficulty and make a very great effort in order to do something:(Cambridge), or, “to try very hard to do something when it is difficult or when there are a lot of problems”(Oxford Learners), or, “1: to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition ‘struggling with the problem’ 2: to proceed with difficulty or with great effort ‘struggled through the high grass’”(Merriam Webster). And, this meaning is not the meaning that the Bible infers in the places where these popular modern versions use this word. Now, I am not against other translations of the Bible, what I am against is the use of wrong definitions of words, especially when it results in weakness and confusion in the Christian person. The modern meaning of ‘struggle’ implies, — that one is being engulfed in difficulty on all sides, and must fight violently to get oneself out from underneath the hardships and problems. At first glance this might appear to be true, and in a sense it is; but in the sense that it is not, is where the tremendous error lies in wait, like a lion waiting for its helpless prey to stumble by.
The Christian is not meant to ‘struggle’ in the sense we have stated above. No, the Christian is a victorious person, one who has victory in the blood of Christ, one who is more than conqueror! Everywhere in the New Testament we are exhorted to be as strong men, who belong to the Army of the Captain of our faith, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”(1Cor.16:13)
The apostle Paul is especially fond of using military terms to describe our lives as Christian people, he urges us to “fight the good fight”, using terms that mean ‘being enlisted’, in the Army of Christ, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”(2Tim.2:4) ‘Warreth and warfare’ are common terms used in the New Testament; we learn about the ‘armour of God’, of which we must wear to protect ourselves from the enemies attacks; we are told to ‘stand’, which is a military command to maintain our ground; and, of course, we are referred to as ‘soldiers’, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”(2Tim.2:3) We also have use of Olympic sports terms that were common in ancient Greece, like ‘run’, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”(1Cor.9:24) and boxing terms, “…so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:”(1Cor.9:26), and wrestling, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”(Eph.6:12)
Ephesians 6:12 is especially problematic when it is understood in terms of a ‘struggle’. The NASB and the NIV, amongst others, translate the verse in this way, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”(NIV) Whereas the Authorized Version uses the better translation of “…we wrestle not against flesh and blood…” ‘Wrestling’ is the word in which the apostle used; it is in the image of a ‘wrestling match’ by which he intends us to digest this important declaration; so this is the way in which we should understand it.
To say that we ‘struggle’ against these evil spiritual forces is to imply that we are under their dominion to begin with, and this is entirely contrary to the Scriptural teaching. We are told that our Lord Jesus Christ “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”(Gal.1:4), and that “the strong man armed”(Luk.11:21), has had his armour removed by our Lord, and that this same strong man’s spoils have been divided; which, of course, refers to the Christians having been translated out of the kingdom of Satan and having been delivered into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. So, any warfare in which Christian people are engaging in with the evil spiritual powers, is engaged in as the bond slaves of Christ, and not of the devil. This is, in fact, the entire purpose of the apostles message in Ephesians 6, viz. that we know that we are in a war, and that we must fight head on, and in order to do so we must do two things, — we must “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”, and, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”(Eph.6:11) We attack our adversary before he gets a hold of us; if he does get a hold of us, for he is very subtle, we struggle to make ourselves free, and then we attack. “…resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”(Jas.4:7)
So, to reiterate, the problem with defining the Christian life as a ‘struggle’, is that it implies that we are already in a hold, either, to our own flesh or the devil. One need only ‘struggle’when one is in a place of being subdued; so to ‘struggle’ per se, is a part of the overall fight in which we as Christians are told to engage in, but it is only a part and not the whole. For example, in a wrestling match, when your opponent has you in a hold, you must ‘struggle’ to get out of that hold; but, once that hold is broken you must then attack your opponent and place him in a hold, with the purpose of gaining victory over him. The apostle’s illustration of a wrestling match is a very good one, for, like in a war, there can be but one victor; and this fact only reinforces the importance of using the apostle’s chosen word ‘wrestle’ as opposed to the translations that use ‘struggle’. The biblical word used in this passage of Scripture for wrestle means, “a contest between two in which each endeavours to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck.” This is what we are called to do, it is how we defeat the fiery attacks of the devil.
‘Struggle’ does not imply a war, per se; but rather, it implies a defensive posture against continued attacks; and it is certainly no purpose of the Army of Christ army to only defend, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”(Mat.16:18)
And, this very aspect of war is what is missing in the understanding of what we are meant to do as Christians; we are called to engage with the enemy, not in our own strength, but in the power of the Lord. We must use our own will to the extent of which we can, for God has given us one; but, to go up against our own flesh and the devil in our own power is certain defeat, we cannot do it on our own. And, thank God we do not have to, as Christian people we always have the power of God, as long as we stand, He will grant us the power necessary for the victory. For, we are soldiers of a rank and not individuals, we belong to His Army. Therefore, we are commanded to wait on the Lord; for He is our Captain. It is a very poor army in which the soldiers are about waging their own private wars against the enemies of God.
And, this leads me to another false idea concerning this ‘struggle so called’, and it is in this false idea that Christians struggle against their own sin. There is nowhere that this is taught in Scripture. I imagine one might say, “What of Romans chapter 7 then? Does the apostle not go on about this struggle?”
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”(Rom 7:17-20)
The answer is no, the apostle is not dealing with an internal struggle, whereby the Christian is always in a losing battle to the sin of his fleshy desires. This is an absolutely fatal misunderstanding of Scripture, not to mention entirely contradictory to the entire teaching of the apostle in this very epistle to the Romans in which these verses are found. In chapter 7 the apostle is dealing with the law of the Old Testament and how it lays in contradistinction to the law of grace in Christ. Not that they are contrary, but that the two laws are like night and day, they compliment one another, but they can never be mixed. This is what we refer to as the law-gospel distinction. This is not to say that there is not a war between the desires of the flesh and the Spirit, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”(Gal.5:17) All that the apostle is truly saying is, that as long as you attach yourself to the law, which belongs to the night time, then it is impossible for you to live in the Spirit of the gospel, which belongs to the daylight. It has to be one or the other. We are a spiritual people who have been born again and we are not to be in the flesh, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.”(Rom.8:9)
I have heard so many a time those verses, at the end of Romans chapter 7, used to say that “this is the Christian at his best.” Well, this is not the Christian at his best! The Christian at his best is when he reckons himself to be “…dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”(Rom.6:11); and, when he comes to know this very truth, “…If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”(Rom.8:13) The spiritual evil of which we are commanded to war against includes the very deeds of our fleshy, worldly desires; desires that are a relic of our past lives, viz. when we were in the kingdom of Satan. We, as Christians, are to ‘mortify’, that is kill, those old worldly desires as they come to us as temptations. For the truth is, that we are already dead to our old selves, and these temptations are fiery darts thrown at us by the devil and his angels, darts that tempt us through the relics of our former self, relics that are scattered throughout the landscape of our past, relics that the devil encourages us to rebuild to satisfy our fallen flesh. So, when those temptations arise, we, as soldiers of this glorious faith, are commanded to kill these temptations. And, of course, the Scripture equips us with how we are to do this, viz. via hearing and doing the exhortations put forth by the apostles, exhortations like this one, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”(Phil.4:8)
The Christian is a soldier, a saint, and one who is equipped by God to be victorious in this life for the Glory of God. “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”(Rom.8:37) To say that a Christian is one who ‘struggles’ to live his Christian life is to deny the fact that “we are (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” And, having planted us in Christ and indwelling us with the Holy Spirit, He has enabled us to be able to die to sin and to live unto Him and His glory. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”(1Cor.10:13)
There are no excuses for the Christian to sin, it is a sin to even consider putting forth an excuse. Yet Christians do sin, this is true, so why do they sin? There are essentially two reasons that a Christian sins; one, he is ignorant of the fact that something is a sin, at least until his conscience grows in the knowledge of the faith and tells him better; or two, he loves his sin more than he loves God.
There seems to be an opinion in the Church today that since Christians are under grace and not the law, that their lives are easier than that of the Old Testament saints. Well, this is nothing but ‘antinomianism’!2 The fact is, the New Testament Church is a part of the exact same kingdom of God as the Old Testament was; to say that God has relaxed His standard of perfection is nigh unto blaspheme! Are we to believe that the blood of the Son of God was such a light thing in being shed for the forgiveness of sins, that we should not be so concerned with our Christian conduct? God forbid! For in God there “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”(Jas.1:17) And, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Let it never be thought that God is slack concerning His character to those who are of the New Testament!
There is one last verse that I will examine where it seems as though Scripture tells us that Christian people ‘struggle’ with sin; and, again, we look to the NIV, as it appears to be one of two well known translations that use the word struggle (the other being the NLT). The verse is in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 4, it reads, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” For comparison, the Authorized here reads, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, strivingagainst sin.”, and the NASB95 reads, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;” Both of these later translations is far better than that of the NIV. The word used, that is translated as strive against and struggle against, literally has the implication of ‘fighting against’, not ‘struggling with’. The key word is ‘against’, nowhere is the Scripture indicating that we are ‘with’ sin in a fight or a struggle; no, we are ‘against’ sin! Even the original language is witness to this truth; as the word used here, transliterated, is ‘antagōnizomai’. It is not difficult to deduce the fact that our English word ‘antagonist’ has its roots in this very word. Merriam Webster defines antagonist as, “one that contends with or opposes another: adversary, opponent”, so, the idea is established that there are two sides at odds, as it were; one fighting against the other. And, this is exactly what the apostle is intimating in this verse in Hebrews, he is saying (I paraphrase) “You have not resisted sin with all your might, you have not shed your blood to defeat sin, the Lord has shed His for you, and what do you do now but sin wilfully with nary a battle. If you were truly a son of God and understood what was done for you then you would fight until you bleed!”, and the consequences of this less than valiant effort to defeat sin are then declared in the verses following. In verses 5 through 8, we learn that God will not tolerate this type of wilful sinning and that he will punish His children, and that we should reverence Him when He does; and, if He doesn’t punish us as His children, then we are bastards, and none of His.
So, again, the message that we get from Scripture, concerning our battle against sin and the devil, is exactly that — it is a battle, it’s a war, it’s a fight; one in which we may at times ‘struggle’, but our ‘struggle’ is a part of the fight, not the entirety of our engagement. In other words, we are not to be continually in a state of violent effort to do something. If the snow across a field is waist deep, it will be a struggle to walk five yards, let alone a mile; Scripture tells us, that if we see a mile of waist deep snow before us, to put on some snow shoes. “What are these snow shoes?”, you might ask. They are the doctrines of the apostles, the exhortations of Scripture, prayer, fellowship with saints, and pious living; it is, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”, and also, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”(Eph.5:20) amongst many other things that we are exhorted to do. But, no matter what it is, there is one thing that is certain, it is something that glorifies God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Scripture Alone 