ChristRoseFromTheDead said:
ScottAU, please don't send me any more long posts like the one above. I don't like to get bogged down in long drawn out discussions on one post. If you have multiple issues you want to address, please make them separate posts.
When I said I think you are imagining a sinless purity that may not exist in your life I was referring to the truth set forth by both David (I am a worm) and Paul (nothing good dwells in my flesh). You have no idea if you are leading a sinless life. Your conscience may be defiled to the point that you don't see your sin. What about sins of omission? I believe in theory we can be sinless; but practically? no. What does John say? If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves. And James: we all stumble in many things.
I will get to the rest later. Please no more long posts.
I was showing many of the scriptures that pertain to ransom. If you don't wish to read it then you do not have to.
What does John say? John teachers that the children of God are MANIFEST by the fruit they produce which is righteousness as opposed to sin.
1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1Jn 3:10
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
John also teaches that those born of God don't sin (unto death) because they keep themselves.
1Jn 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
1Jn 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
1Jn 5:18 We know that
whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
This is because we are slaves to whom we obey thus how we yield out bodies is evidence of whom we actually serve.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Christian's don't serve sin, they serve righteousness because they obey from the heart (obedience unto righteousness).
The passage in John you are referring to would be this one...
1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Yet that passage CANNOT be quoted out of context. It is not an isolated proof text proving ongoing sinfulness in a Christian. That verse is in the context of repentance in regards to the method by which we approach God.
1Jn 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1Jn 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jn 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.
1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
In order to approach God one must be walking in the light and in order to do that we have to confess (and forsake) our sins.
Exactly as this proverb teaches...
Pro 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
God has not changed. Proverbs 28:13 still applies under the New Covenant.
Jas 1:21 Wherefore
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
The other verse you are referring to is this...
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
The context of that passage is of the Romans Wretch who is a man who is "carnal and sold under sin" (Rom 7:14) who is being convicted of his wretchedness and he is realising that he cannot defeat sin in the flesh (hence in him is no good thing). The method to defeat sin is via abiding in the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that sets the wretch free from being carnal and sold under sin, from doing what he does not want to do.
We enter into the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ through repentance and faith which Paul explains in Romans 6...
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
It is the dynamic of the old man being crucified and the body of sin (repentance and obedience from the heart) destroyed that sets an individual free from sin, that combined with purging by the blood of Christ.
Stumbling is not the same as transgression. Transgression is rooted in iniquity (hence a worker of iniquity), stumbling is when we sin ignorantly because we have either been complacent, prioritised wrong, made a wrong decision or various other reasons. Those are sins not unto death and we have an advocate with the Father for that (1Joh 2:1). Willful sin is an entirely different matter.for if we do that no sacrifice remains because the sacrifice of Christ is not to be used to purge the conscience only for us to go out and defile it again. Jesus death on the cross is not a get out of jail free card, it is not a license to sin with impunity.
You are clearly trying to defend being able to sin and not surely die for you appeal to Rom 7:14-25 and 1Joh 1:8 by taking them out of context.
Those passages are not teaching an ongoing state of sinfulness.