Few mysteries of the faith are as perplexing as the ongoing presence of sin in the life of the believer. On the one hand, Christians are no longer slaves to sin. On the other hand, we find ourselves buffeted by it, daily wrestling with conflicting impulses and neuroses, caught in the middle of a cosmic tug-of-war between good and evil desires. What are we to make of this? Whatever our theological beliefs, in practice the struggle is universal. The honest truth is that we are not as good as we would like to be. In other words, the answer to the question "Could I be better?" is always a resounding yes. Throughout church history, various answers have been offered to this dilemma: Insufficient faith. A lack of willpower. Incomplete sanctification. Yet all of these answers envision a kind of progress where we shed our former "sinner" self and undergo a metamorphosis into the new "saint." But does this explanation truly align with what we experience? Does this operating principle hold true consistently in the lives of the great heroes of faith? And most importantly: is it truly in line with the whole counsel of God? What if there were another option-a way of understanding ourselves that sidestepped simplistic "either/or" explanations and proposed a more honest "both/and" approach? What if there were a way to be realistic about our failures while insisting that, in Christ, they do not define us? Welcome to the Reformation doctrine of the simul, where we find ourselves sinners and righteous, broken and redeemed, and, above all, unconditionally loved by the God who overlooks our faults for the sake of His Son.

Pocos misterios de la fe son tan desconcertantes como la presencia constante del pecado en la vida del creyente. Por una parte, los cristianos ya no son esclavos del pecado. Por otro lado, nos encontramos sacudidos por ella, luchando diariamente contra impulsos y neurosis conflictivos, atrapados en medio de un tira y afloja c