He was not speaking of "sinless perfection."
Hi Randy. There is no such thing as sinless perfection. But Revelation 22:11 says that when we die we remain in the state we died in. "11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is
righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is
holy, let him be holy still.” Sinlessness is righteousness. Perfection is holy. Two different stages and types of sins of all Christians who are baptized with His Spirit and abide in Him and He in them.
1 John 3 deals with righteousness only after Jesus takes away the sin of lawlessness vs. 4, the Catholics call a mortal sin meaning that in the Old Covenant a person breaking a law of God like "picking up sticks on the Sabbath" were stoned to death. Numbers 15:30-36. 1 John 3:5 tells us Jesus was manifested to TAKE AWAY our sin, and in Him is no sin. So where do you think would be the most thorough place to make us clean, John 15:3? Our sin nature Paul calls "the flesh". Romans 7:5-6 "5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not
in the oldness of the letter."
Sinless of lawlessness is
righteousness. This happens the moment we are born again of the Spirit and Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness and sanctifies and justifies us. All three, 1 Corinthians 6:11 "But you were
washed, but you
were sanctified, but you
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." All three. This is the same as Acts 2:38 "Repent, ... and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 1:9 is not our get out of jail free card as is taught by so many in the church who believe and teach that Jesus leaves our sin nature in tact, because He doesn't cleanse it. What a slap in His face. "They trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he
was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace." They also teach we have two natures. Sorry, NOT! We have a clean human nature, and free will. From there we need to make sure we do not sin when we don't have to. The desire is gone.
Think of circumcision. Our nature is left clean after the sin is cut away. Colossians 2:11 "In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body (whole) of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. Paul also calls our sin nature "the old man." Romans 6:5-7 "5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be
in the likeness of
His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Perfection on the other hand is holiness, but takes sometimes a lifetime to achieve. After becoming born again and righteous, then the Author and Finisher of our faith starts on maturing the fruit of the Spirit within us. Peter says when these are mature we will "never stumble." 2 Peter 1:5-11.
To use an OT example, the Israelites had to bring to God "unblemished animals" for sacrifice. This obviously couldn't mean the animals were "absolutely physically perfect." What it meant was that there were no "obvious blemishes" to indicate that the worshiper was not simply disposing of his unwanted animals.
They needed to represent Jesus. The Jews were quite particular that they were as perfect as possible.
I humbly admit I'm not sure what this means. I entertain the possibility that a "sin unto death" can simply mean that someone is put to death for a transgression. This could happen to either a righteous man or an unrighteous man (or woman).
They are IN the church.
But it hardly means that God is damning these righteous people who had to die. In reality, we all have to die for our Sinful Nature, to put an end to it physically. At what point God determines not to forgive and let a person die is really God's domain.
Yes, but it is we have to die for Adam's sin we inherited, not for the sins we committed from our sin nature. No, Jesus cleanses our sin nature of all unrighteousness making us righteous. But only in our spirit and soul which are the only parts of us that are born again and sinless/righteous. Our body does not have sin IN it. It is like a lifeless floppy puppet that the spirit and soul (its nature) controls and activates.
Yes, the difference between someone who simply has the knowledge of God and obeys it mechanically and the one who is truly born again, and renewed in heart, is the difference between Salvation or not.
I agree.
Christians can be saved even if they don't live properly, but they will suffer loss if they do so.
You are referring to 1 Corinthians 3:15 "15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." The "work" are his teachings. Read it in context sometime and you will see how it starts out mentioning different teachers including Apollos. Paul's work was not "burned." We have it. But not Apollos, unless he wrote Hebrews and not Paul or Barnabas. My vote is on Barnabas.
The basis of Salvation is always the determination to follow Christ and to love him--not how much righteousness we do.
As long as you don't do unrightousness instead. Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin
leading to death, or of obedience
leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that
though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
But I agree on the importance of Christians maintaining their righteousness. When we do so we will accomplish a lot, even if we don't know it. God's word does not go out vain. When we obey the Lord and His Spirit, we are cooperating with His word, and there *must be* fruitfulness. This is evidence of true Salvation. Thanks.
For either sins unto death/lawlessness, or sins not unto death/immature fruit of the Spirit I found a common denominator - abiding in Jesus. 1 John 3:24 and John 15:4. So easy. "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He is the one who makes us righteous and holy. That is why the New Covenant is called the gospel of power. And the two different types of sins that are cleansed or matured are from
faith to faith.
Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from
faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
