aspen2, hello :)
I'm sure Rach will want to reply to your post, but I'd like to make a few comments first.
'love without God' - is there any such thing?
'But Christian love; love given in response to experiencing God's love is good - it is what we were created for - it is the Kingdom of God in our hearts.'
Do you have scripture for this statement?
'Christian love destroys all sin - if you are loving, it is impossible to sin.'
This sounds as if you think your sin is being espunged by your loving. Did I understand you correctly? (Or, are you saying that by loving another, you are destroying their sin?) Again on which verses are you basing the statement, please?
'Jesus was without sin because He loved everyone,'
No. Jesus was without sin because He successfully resisted every temptation, as a man. He came to earth because He already loved everyone, and He laid down His life for mankind because He chose to lay it down. John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
'only God's perfect love, experienced by Christ could have given Him the ability to love others perfectly'....
Aren't the above verses from John, the opposite of what you said?
'Experiencing God's love leads to loving our neighbor,'
This may be true, but many people experience God's love and it doesn't lead to loving their neighbour...
'... which leads to citizenship in Heaven.'
No. We are citizens of heaven if we have received Christ Jesus as our Saviour, and been born again of His Spirit. Then we can love people as He loved them - selflessly - with no other agenda (like our own salvation, for instance). Please note the tense in the following verses from
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than [that of] Abel.
If your Bible doesn't say that, you're not getting the full picture.
'Justification leads to sanctification, which leads to redemption.'
No. Justification is a legal statement given to us by God when we believe in Jesus Christ who has paid our full penalty for sin. Hence, 'justified by faith'
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We are not, therefore, saved by our works. Or our love.
Sanctification is a process which would be better called 'glorification', as Paul describes it at the end of 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord. If we have separated ourselves to God and been washed in His blood, we are already 'holy'.
Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected [completed] for ever, them that are sanctified. That is, them that are in Christ. 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Redemption is what Jesus did for us by completely buying us back from the power of sin and death, with His own blood (as our ransom for sin).
Hebrews 2:14b '... that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 9 Who has saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
I've just spent quite a few minutes looking for the New Jerusalem Bible online, to compare with the KJV quoted above, and would you believe it? Every single link is broken. As it happens, I own a New Jerusalem Bible, and will check the above verses tomorrow, and let you know how they differ, or not.
