You are a saint, a child of God, who has been washed and cleansed, by His precious blood.
- You are joined to Christ, and are one with Him.
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him
. 1 Corinthians 6:17
- A sinner is separate from Christ.
26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us,
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. Hebrews 7:26-27
- A sinner is someone who practices sin, as a lifestyle.
We all struggle with sin and weakness's in our life, however He gives us grace to get free from those things and overcome them, God knows I struggled for years, but got free by confessing my sin to Him, and repenting and learning to be consecrated and set apart unto Him.
Some of my deliverance came from me getting on my face and crying out to God, and some came from other's who worked with me one on one, and by the Spirit helped me get free from iniquities, [some call them generational curses] which are passed down from the father's to the children.
This is especially true with various forms of idolatry in the family line, which in my case was the masonic lodge, which has it's own set of familiar ungodly traits associated with it.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He
was wounded for our transgressions,
He was
bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace
was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:4-6
The same way He paid the price for our sins, He also paid the price for our iniquities, and for our healing, and for our peace, for everything that pertains to life and godliness.
The same way we receive the forgiveness of sins, is the same way we are healed of sickness, is the same way we are delivered from iniquities... by faith.
An iniquity is different from a sin, in that it is an inward weakness towards a certain sin.
Like a bruise is under the skin, it is deeper than the surface.
A sin is an outward expression of an inward iniquity.
One definition is: Primarily, it denotes "not an action, but
the character of an action" (Oehler), and is so distinguished from "sin" (chaTTa'th).
JLB