When a person is born again, he/she becomes a child of God and is adopted into the family of God. It is a gift of salvation which cannot be earned and certainly is not deserved.

The righteousness of Christ is placed upon the Christian and the sins of this person were already placed upon Christ on the cross.

The Bible then says that believers in Christ are CHILDREN of God whom He loves. So, does God ever call one of his children an “alcoholic”? Is that a label that a Christian must daily confess to being? Should a Christian ever say, “Hi, I’m John, I’m an alcoholic”? Is that a defeating statement?

Certainly, a Christian may be acting like a “drunkard,” the biblical label for the behavior of drinking to excess, but God NEVER uses the label “alcoholic” in His Word to define one of His children. In I Cor. 6:9-11, God says that believers WERE drunkards, idolaters, revilers, adulterers, and the like but it is in the PAST tense. Current believers are seen as righteous in His eyes only by the righteousness of Christ imputed to a believer.

Therefore, it is a poor idea to daily confess to being a slave to sin (i.e. alcoholic) when you are a child of the King who possesses the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Instead, confess: I am a Friend of God. I am a child of God. I am a son of God. My identity is in Christ not in alcohol (or anything else!).

-Mark (confessing with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and that I am loved and forgiven by Him)