The Truth Most Christians Dont Know

Hi winie,

For a moment I had to understand where you were coming from and took a look at the verse you quoted:

Rom. 5:1 - "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Bless. 

Let's suppose a Christian is having sex with his best friend's wife right now.  Does God still see him as sinless?

@ Winie

 

Without wanting to throw off your wonderful reminder of God's free grace, I just thought I'd ask a few questions:

1. How does one define sin? Better yet how does the bible define sin?

2. At what point does God see us as sinless?

3. Will this sinless state fluctuate, or is it permanent? In other words is there a point in one's conversion experience where we are so attuned with God that we begin to live like His Son Jesus?

This is my understanding. Christians are expected to grow in grace towards the fullnes of the stature of Christ. (see Eph. 4)

In the light of this, sin has to be understood as it relates to our growth, and how we react to God's revealed will. In fact sin is when we reject His revealed will. As God reveals knowledge of His will, through whatever means, as christians we must act on such revelation, and walk in that revelation by His enabling strength. If we don't we sin, and sin deliberately too. If we are not aware of His will and instructions, then we sin in a different way. We sin unknowingly.

Of course our love for God is the motivating factor. When we experience His love we are "constrained" to love Him. We will be prepared to die before dishonouring Him just as the patriarchs of old, and just like the apostles were prepared to lay down their lives.

Bless.




 

How can a "sinless" Christian commit a sin?  If you are "sinless", then obviously there is no sin to confess.

@Seun,

Good question. However, let's understand what the Bible actually says about the position of Christians; and I'll delineate this into 3:

1. The Justification of the Believer.
When someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, God justifies that person based on the value of the precious sacrifice of His Son [Rom. 3:24 - "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"]. What this means is, God sees that person standing before Him in the value of the redemption in Christ, rather than on their own merits.

There is a difference between man's justification and divine justification. Human justification is of no value before God - "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?. . . And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." [Luke 10:29 & 16:15]. Not even the patriarch Abraham could be justified before God if it were a matter of human evaluation: "For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God." [Rom 4:2].

The justification based on the value of Jesus' redeeming grace sets the believer as having no fault upon him or her, and properly fitted to be presented in God's presence. "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" - [see 1 Cor. 6:11].  

2. The Experience of Divine Justification.
In practical daily experiences and challenges, we are called to a life of faith in the same Jesus in whom we are justified, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We face the same temptations as everyone else; we have the same weaknesses as others; we are daily challenged by situations calling for informed decisions. . . and like many others, Christians actually have failures like them. However, the fact of the divine justification upon us points out two things:

    (a) it does not suppose that we can justify any sin just because of God's grace:
         "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners,
          is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid" (Gal. 2:17);

     (b) it does mean that with honest hearts we can receive grace to walk right:
          "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
           from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Although we face challenges of life like everyone else, the believer's deepest desire is to live in pursuit of righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit.

3. The Destination of the Justified.
God's justification offers the believer a solid guarantee for the future when Jesus returns. "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" (Rom. 8:30). People may feel like failures in their experiences; but the basis of our justification is the work of God's Son, and not man's. So, the guarantee is to all who believe:

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" - (Rom 8:31-34).

A justified believer's desire is not to excuse sin; but 1 John 1:9 offers a basis of assurance that the believer who seeks forgiveness will receive it from God, provided the seeker is honest enough to turn from sin.

Haba shahan, must you always be this long winded!  Can't you just break it down sometimes?? chei!

All this copy and pasting. 

Nne trini, 

How bodi? Lol. . . I didn't "cut and paste", my dear. That's what's in my heart, and I place no copyright restrictions on it for whoever wants to reference shahan. Just put "© shahan, Jan 2007; Nairaland, Nigeria" and readers of your literature will understand. 

_{In anycase, I just wanted to play o jare - so much noise and partying in da house last night and man pikin no fit relax!}

Seun is only interested in the sexual aspects :-)

so thats why the priest fagged those little boys,i see. and Bush kills iraqis.

uhmm, devils deception of the christians.

Without Jesus Christ, life is meaningless.

@ Seun


Sounds a bit paradoxical, doesn't it? Well, in truth and in fact God looks at the trend of our lives rather than a slip here and there, because of our human nature.

So while we are maturing spiritually there are moments when we will come short, or miss the mark so to speak. So the very text that you remarked on implies that reality, but only as we recognize our weaknesses. No matter how good we think we are every time we kneel before the God of creation, we must confess our sins and faults, even while we think we might not have committed any. Sometimes we offend others without recognizing it.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just  to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us  from ALL unrighteousness.

guy dont u think this is abit harsh. the lady just said wat she understood from the bible which may or maynot be right but i dont think that makes her a fool.


@ winnie.

if u ask me i dont think believing in Christ makes u sinless cos that wud contadict Christ's saying "whatever u sow that shall u reap"
i can assure u that some armed robbers believe that Christ is the Son of God and they go to church on sunday and they even pay their tithe. are u then saying God sees these people as Sinless.

girlfriend i dont think so.

"whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap"
forgiveness comes in the reaping cos thats when the cycle closes and the sin is then forgotten and u bcom as white as snow like the bible quotes.

_{for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God!! how then are we sinless?}

is that really enough to make one sinless? cos in that case a lot of people will fail to take responsibilities for their actions afterall, they have been cleansed by the blood of the lamb!!

_{i'm not starting an argument by the way, just hoping people dont indulge in all sorts of evil and thinking that their sins have been wiped away since 2000yrs ago!}

*coughs*
unbelievers are not said to be sinners,a man who doesnt know or believe in christ cannot be seen as SINNERS in quote.the people who'll give account of sin are those who know Christ and believe in his word and still sin.these people are  intentional sinners. We humans take GOD for a Moron or Dummy,we know sumthng is wrong and we do it,just because Jesus died 4our sins. Well sorry 2say scriptures do not refer 2sinners. Its beta not 2knw him at all than 2know him and keep repeating sin. His words can only be understood and interpreted by those who know him well.
Hallelujah

There's no need to be upset or to frown. That's what the Bible teaches; unless you have something contrary in the same Bible.