Sin No More
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mbrown1219
Heaven's Stables
We are justified by the blood of Christ's sinless sacrifice, so in that way the Father does not see any of our sin -- He sees us as His redeemed children, joint heirs with Christ to all He has given to His Son.
lightofmylife
Blessed Hope-Prepare To Fly!
We have 2 natures even as Christians. The old sin flesh nature, and the new Holy Spirit nature. When we walk in the Spirit we will not sin, but when we get into the sins of the flesh we will. Check out Galatians 5:14-26. Also, read I John 1: 5-10, and I John 2:1-1-8, and Romans 8:1-39.
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mbrown1219
Heaven's Stables
While we are fully justified by faith, we will not be perfected until Jesus "finishes" our faith in the resurrection or rapture of the Church to be with Him where He is in His dwelling place forever!
1 John 1:8
http://biblehub.com/1_john/1-8.htm
1 John 1:8
http://biblehub.com/1_john/1-8.htm
lightofmylife
Blessed Hope-Prepare To Fly!
mattfivefour
Well-Known Member
No, there is no such thing as sinless perfection. Not in this life. Romans 7:13-24 and Galatians 5:17 tell us that there is a war within ourselves. On the one hand, the "new man" is growing by the power of the Holy Spirit; yet ont he othe, the "old man" still lives and must be put to death by the growth of the "new man". This is why not being conformed to the world but being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) is so important. As long as our entire faith rests upon Jesus Christ and what He did on the Cross, then the Holy Spirit, operating through the Word, our prayers and our worship—refines us and brings us toward perfection. But here again it is important to understand the word "perfection". It is teleios and does not mean sinlessness; rather it means something's "intended purpose". Our intended purpose is to more and more reflect Christ.
It may be a little easier to grasp in this way: At the instant of salvation we were freed from the penalty of sin; during the process of sanctification we are being freed from the power of sin; and at the instant of glorification (that is to say our entrance into Heaven in incorruptible bodies) we shall be freed from the presence of sin. Until we ares free from sin's presence, we will always be under its temptation. Now, when people speak of sin they are usually thinking of the practice of the gross sins: "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." (Galatians 5:19-21) And yes, if we are Christ's we will come to a point where we no longer practice these. But remember that he who thinks he stands should take care lest self-righteousness, pride and self-assurance result in carelessness and a fall. None of us is immune in this flesh. (1 Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 6:1) Further, sinning is not just the acting upon it but the considering it in the mind. (Matthews 5:27-28; 15:18-20) And further still, ALL forms of selfishness or self will or self consideration can be sinful. It is impossible for a person to keep him or her self from sinning in some way. Righteousness cannot come by the keeping of a law. It can only come by faith in Christ and His finished work. Were it not so, then Christ died in vain. (Galatians 2:21) The entirety of the New Testament (and, for that matter, the Old) when properly understood and consequently properly preached teaches us that no man can be sinless by his own efforts. Only Christ ever lived perfectly sinlessly. To the degree that we are in Him, we can be like Him. But we will never be exactly like Him until we are with Him in glory. (1 John 3:2)
Now, with that background, let us look at the story of the woman taken in adultery. When Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11) it was not the first time he had said this to someone. In John 5:14 He told the man whom He healed at the pool of Bethesda, "Behold, you are made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come to you." In this passage He seems to be acknowledging that sin can result in sickness. Not always, but definitely in some instances. You see, God loves us so much that He desires us to leave those practices which separate us from His blessing and will, therefore, bring into our lives whatever circumstances He knows will cause us to turn to Him. The situation with the adulterous woman is related.
With this woman we see that Jesus did not deny the law of Moses. He said, let her be stoned ... BUT let the one among you who is "without sin" cast the first stone. Now, these were by and large godly men. (At least as godly as a human being can be.) They were Pharisees—the strictest sect among the Jews. Their very name means "Separatists". They separated themselves from all other Jews who did not observe every "jot and tittle"—every tiniest last fraction—of Mosaic law. In clothing, washings, prayers, behavior, they stood out as men who had covenanted to obey every last atom of God's requirements. Yet one by one they dropped their stones, for the Holy Spirit convicted each one in his own heart that he was not worthy to cast that first stone. (This in itself is mute evidence that no man can live without sin.) And when they had gone, Jesus spoke the above verse to the woman. Essentially what He was saying to her was this: "I am not here to condemn you (John 3:17; 12:47) but I am calling you to repentance. So, be wise and do not sin any more, for if you do commit open sin you may well suffer its earthly consequences. You were fortunate I was here this time, otherwise you would already be dead in your sins."
So you see there is nothing in this passage (or any other Bible passage) that teaches the possibility of a human being sinless. In fact, the bible teaches quite the opposite. In Isaiah 64:6 says that ALL of our RIGHTEOUSNESSES—that is to say, all of our most holy deeds—are as filthy, unclean rags in God's sight.
Now, all of the above speaks of our condition on this earth. Because we are "in Christ" God sees us as He sees His Son— perfect. In Christ we are justified, forgiven, sanctified and holy, totally acceptable unto God. So, in God's sight we are perfectly sanctified right now. But the reality of our condition on this earth is quite different. We still struggle (as I said at the beginning) with our old, sinful nature. Sanctification is the process of putting that old nature to death and conforming us to the image of Christ. And that is the job of the Holy spirit in us. All that is required from us is continuing faith that it has all been provided for us by Christ, by His sacrifice; and that we seek to be obedient to the Holy Spirit so that He may do His work in us. We can do all of this in the knowledge that one day—the Day He takes us home—our condition will be instantly changed to match our position— holy as He is holy.
Does this help at all?
mbrown1219
Heaven's Stables
Correct Mary!Sanctification is a process, and we haven't arrived until we go home
Progressive sanctification through the efforts of the Holy Spirit is a process. But at the very moment of our faith on Christ our Savior, we have POSITIONAL sanctification in the eyes of God. At least that is my understanding of sanctification: We are positionally sanctified upon believing, progressively sanctified through our walk by the Holy Spirit, then completely sanctified/glorified (perfected in heaven) in the presence of our Lord.
At any rate, anyone who tells you they are able to be sinless in this life is not understanding scripture correctly! All of our own "works" are as filthy rags in the sight of the Lord. Only what we accomplish for Him by Him through the Holy Spirit in submission to the will of the Father counts! Not anything we personally do in our own power.
ETA: I see Adrian got here while I was busy typing out this answer so just skip reading anything in my post as he will get it across to the OP much better than I could ever hope to do!
ETA2: Wow! What did I say? From now on I explain it this way!!!
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lightofmylife
Blessed Hope-Prepare To Fly!
I like this on sanctification with scriptures.
www.gotquestions.org/sanctification.html What did Jesus mean by go and sin no more. www.gotquestions.org/go-and-sin-no-more.html
www.gotquestions.org/sanctification.html What did Jesus mean by go and sin no more. www.gotquestions.org/go-and-sin-no-more.html
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Thank you for that information. The person I spoke of has an affiliation with IHOP. They were watching a sermon by Todd White (I do not know who he is) and agreed that if you are walking in the Holy Spirit and in God's will, you can live a sinless life. It is one of those things where they quote enough scripture that makes it sound good, but it doesn't quite seem right at the same time. I knew I would get a good response from this forum. Thanks
lightofmylife
Blessed Hope-Prepare To Fly!
IHOP is a cult like a lot of them I can think of. They are not Christian just fakers.
