Is it Even Possible Not to Have Sinful Thoughts?

No.

For a long time, this blog only had that one word "no." I really wasn't sure what to add.

Romans 7:14-20

"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me" (ESV).

Wait, isn't circumcision of the heart or the new covenant supposed to take care of that?

Hebrews 8:7-13 quotes the prophet Jeremiah:

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away (ESV).

Indeed, if God's laws were on our minds and in our hearts we would not need teachers of the law because all would know it. The laws would become obsolete because there would be no lawlessness (sin). This hasn't happened yet. It does happen in Revelation.

Consider what Paul writes in Philippians 3: 12-16 when he gets done talking about the need of Christ in order that we are made perfect, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained" (ESV).

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I could not find where the term "progressive sanctification" originated, but it is a term meaning it is a process to become more Christ-like. As Paul states here that he is pressing on to what is ahead because of Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul writes of a "thorn in the flesh" that was given to him in order that he would remain humble. He asked God to rid him of it, but it was there for his good. What this thorn was is not described except that it is a "messenger of Satan to trouble me." Most preachers tend to apply this to something they personally have trouble with and believe that this must have been what Paul was facing. I have done this myself, although my wife (who has migraines) suggests what was given to him was a migraine and she notes that he mentions that his fellow believers would be willing to give him their own eyes if they could. Knowing how a migraine can put her out, and how that symptom fits, I can believe that completely. I think the vagueness in what the thorn was, and how easy it is to apply to ourselves, suggest that thorns are there to draw us closer to God.

A thorn in the flesh draws you closer to God. As hard as it is, we should be thankful for it.

Paul goes on to say in the chapter that he is content in his weaknesses and tribulations because God uses his weaknesses. The power of Christ fills those who are weak. 2Corinthians 12:10 states "Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong" (ESV). Growing closer to God and becoming Christ-like is because of these thorns.

The weaker we are, the more we need Christ in us.

God bless.