How does God’s Word keep us from sin? (Psalm 119:11)
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Psalms 119:11
ESV - 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
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Asked February 24 2021
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Jack Gutknecht
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Danny Hickman
Jack,
David penned the words you reference. He could read and study the scriptures without ceasing and he'd still sin.
It speaks of what was in David's heart. He loved God's word, and he knew the power of God's word. That's the point he (and this scripture) is making.
David was born in sin under the law. Everybody is born that way; under an old agreement (covenant) with God. Adam and Eve were the first people to enter into a relationship with God. He gave them a place to live, plenty to eat, and a law. They broke it. So we were all born in sin.
Believers have been "born again," not of sinful flesh but by the Spirit of God. The believer is a spirit who lives in a body of flesh. His flesh sins but he, the spirit, doesn't. He can't, because he is born of God's Spirit (1Jn 3:9). It is no longer the believer who sins, but sin that lives in the flesh of the believer (Rom 7:17).
The flesh doesn't receive the spoken or written word, the spirit does. The flesh continues to sin, the spirit doesn't. He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet (Jn 13:10)..
Jesus to the disciples (and us by extension): "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you (Jn 15:3). Believers are clean whether we recognize it or not.