True saving faith is proven by your repentance

Al Touthentop said:

The only way you will gradually change into a more Christ like person is to repent and decide to become like - act like Christ.

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Sometimes the pain we suffer causes change within us. When the pain gets bad enough, people will change.

CharismaticLady said:

Knowing that there are many causes of obesity other than gluttony, I cannot judge. If someone breaks their back and they are alone and the house gets dirty, are you going to say they are slothful? Are you just immediately going to jump to laziness? God sees the motives and reasons, and praise God, He doesn't jump to conclusions.

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You never encounter Christians who eat excessively? Is that a habitual sin to you?

BCsenior said:

Continuing repentance is necessary for having an acceptable heart attitude before the Lord.

At the moment you were born-again …
you were only forgiven of the sins you had committed up to that point in time!
“For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness,
and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his OLD sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call
and election sure, for IF you do these things you will never stumble;
for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:9-11, NKJV)
“OLD sins” is also in the KJV, RSV, NLT, AMP
“having forgotten his purification from his FORMER sins.” (2 Peter 1:9, NASB)
“forgetting that they have been cleansed from their PAST sins.” (2 Peter 1:9, NIV)

“… justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His his blood through faith,
to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had
passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 3:24-25, NKJV)

Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church concerning his words of rebuke
in 1 Corinthians that he had sent to them concerning some particular sin(s).
They really needed to be sorrowful and repent.
“… the pain (from his rebuke) caused you to repent and change your ways.
It was the kind of sorrow God wants His people to have, so you were not
harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience
leads us away from sin and results in salvation. … worldly sorrow, which lacks
repentance, results in spiritual (eternal) death.” (2 Corinthians 7:8-10, NLT)

“Yes, I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence.
And I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins.
You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality,
and eagerness for lustful pleasure.” (2 Corinthians 12:21, NLT)
Immediately following this (in 2 Corinthians 13:1-10), Paul warns and threatens:
if the habitual sinners do not repent, he must exercise his authority to punish them!
How different in churches today ... where most pastors do not confront habitual sinners!

Peter is warning believers about God’s destruction of all ungodly and unholy people:
“Then he used the water to destroy the ancient (ungodly) world … the day of judgment,
when ungodly people will be destroyed. … He is being patient for your sake. He does not
want anyone to be destroyed (perish spiritually), but (He) wants everyone to repent.
… what holy and godly lives you should live … make every effort to be found living
peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. … I am warning you ahead of time
… Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors …” (2 Peter 3:6-17, NLT)

John gives the condition for the Lord to forgive believers’ present sins:
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all wickedness (unrighteousness).” (1 John 1:9, NLT)
“This is an extremely important verse … all men need to be repeatedly purified from all
unrighteousness – from all their sins … We must confess our sins and turn from them
… We must also confess them with our actions … (John) is talking here about repentance
… we must hate our sins and turn from them. This is true repentance.”
(The Applied New Testament Commentary; Dr. Thomas Hale, medical missionary, charismatic)

2 verses later, John reminds believers to ask Jesus to plead our case before the Father:
“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before
the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.” (1 John 2:1, NLT)

Believers are responsible for repenting of their sins after they are born-again!
They have been given the Holy Spirit, a totally new nature, and God’s word.
So, they have been enabled to be victorious overcomers over sin, the world,
and the devil. They have no excuse for failing to do this.

“Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord.
Perhaps He will forgive your evil thoughts (i.e. sins).” (Acts 8:22, NLT)

“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have
received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice
that will cover these sins” (Hebrews 10:26, NLT)

Jesus warns 5 of the 7 churches to repent in Revelation 2 - Revelation 3.

“Repent (metanoeo) and believe (pisteou) may be understood as opposite sides of the same coin.
Repent means to turn from one’s allegiance to sin and unbelief, whereas believe means
to place one’s trust in Christ. Thus when one is mentioned the other is implied.
… John never used the words repent, repentance, or faith to describe the way people are saved.
Instead, he used believe since this term included all of these ideas.”
(The Holman Christian Standard Bible)

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Have you repented?

This is partly true. Can someone be saved and yet not repent? No, for Christ says “unless you repent you shall likewise perish”, (Luke 13:3). But are you saved because of your repentance? No, because that would mean that we merit the initial grace of justification by our own righteousness in a way. It’s the same with faith. Time and time again we are told by the Apostle Paul that we are justified by faith, and yet faith is not the formal cause of our salvation but the instrumental cause. A quote I would like to show is from the Westminster Confession of Faith which says this, “Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.” Notice how it says that by this faith which justifies, the condemned sinner “receiveth and resteth upon Christ.” All that is sufficient for our salvation is found in our Redeemer Who’s merits alone suffice for our redemption. To make it simpler we can ask: what saves me? The formal cause is the merits of Christ. The instrumental cause is faith and repentance. We aren’t saved because of our faith and repentance in the strict sense, but because of Christ’s passion being communicated to us by faith, which undoubtedly includes repentance lest that faith be a dead faith and avail for nothing.

Guojing said:

You never encounter Christians who eat excessively? Is that a habitual sin to you?

Click to expand...

Not that I remember. Why have you?

CharismaticLady said:

Not that I remember. Why have you?

Click to expand...

I have, even in the USA as well. I wouldn't use 1 John for them though. All sin is willful sin, but the blood of Christ cleansed us from all of them.

Guojing said:

I have, even in the USA as well. I wouldn't use 1 John for them though. All sin is willful sin, but the blood of Christ cleansed us from all of them.

Click to expand...

Who taught you that all sin is willful sin? That just isn't true, but many people keep saying that. What denomination are you?

BCsenior said:

Continuing repentance is necessary for having an acceptable heart attitude before the Lord.

At the moment you were born-again …
you were only forgiven of the sins you had committed up to that point in time!
“For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness,
and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his OLD sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call
and election sure, for IF you do these things you will never stumble;
for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:9-11, NKJV)
“OLD sins” is also in the KJV, RSV, NLT, AMP
“having forgotten his purification from his FORMER sins.” (2 Peter 1:9, NASB)
“forgetting that they have been cleansed from their PAST sins.” (2 Peter 1:9, NIV)

“… justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His his blood through faith,
to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had
passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 3:24-25, NKJV)

Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church concerning his words of rebuke
in 1 Corinthians that he had sent to them concerning some particular sin(s).
They really needed to be sorrowful and repent.
“… the pain (from his rebuke) caused you to repent and change your ways.
It was the kind of sorrow God wants His people to have, so you were not
harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience
leads us away from sin and results in salvation. … worldly sorrow, which lacks
repentance, results in spiritual (eternal) death.” (2 Corinthians 7:8-10, NLT)

“Yes, I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence.
And I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins.
You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality,
and eagerness for lustful pleasure.” (2 Corinthians 12:21, NLT)
Immediately following this (in 2 Corinthians 13:1-10), Paul warns and threatens:
if the habitual sinners do not repent, he must exercise his authority to punish them!
How different in churches today ... where most pastors do not confront habitual sinners!

Peter is warning believers about God’s destruction of all ungodly and unholy people:
“Then he used the water to destroy the ancient (ungodly) world … the day of judgment,
when ungodly people will be destroyed. … He is being patient for your sake. He does not
want anyone to be destroyed (perish spiritually), but (He) wants everyone to repent.
… what holy and godly lives you should live … make every effort to be found living
peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. … I am warning you ahead of time
… Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors …” (2 Peter 3:6-17, NLT)

John gives the condition for the Lord to forgive believers’ present sins:
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all wickedness (unrighteousness).” (1 John 1:9, NLT)
“This is an extremely important verse … all men need to be repeatedly purified from all
unrighteousness – from all their sins … We must confess our sins and turn from them
… We must also confess them with our actions … (John) is talking here about repentance
… we must hate our sins and turn from them. This is true repentance.”
(The Applied New Testament Commentary; Dr. Thomas Hale, medical missionary, charismatic)

2 verses later, John reminds believers to ask Jesus to plead our case before the Father:
“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before
the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.” (1 John 2:1, NLT)

Believers are responsible for repenting of their sins after they are born-again!
They have been given the Holy Spirit, a totally new nature, and God’s word.
So, they have been enabled to be victorious overcomers over sin, the world,
and the devil. They have no excuse for failing to do this.

“Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord.
Perhaps He will forgive your evil thoughts (i.e. sins).” (Acts 8:22, NLT)

“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have
received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice
that will cover these sins” (Hebrews 10:26, NLT)

Jesus warns 5 of the 7 churches to repent in Revelation 2 - Revelation 3.

“Repent (metanoeo) and believe (pisteou) may be understood as opposite sides of the same coin.
Repent means to turn from one’s allegiance to sin and unbelief, whereas believe means
to place one’s trust in Christ. Thus when one is mentioned the other is implied.
… John never used the words repent, repentance, or faith to describe the way people are saved.
Instead, he used believe since this term included all of these ideas.”
(The Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Click to expand...

I'm reluctant to weigh in on this discussion, but I'm obliged to. Tell me, how many of your sins were future when the Lord Jesus died for them? Obviously all of them. So how come there is suddenly no forgiveness once you are born again? You are yet another Christian who misunderstand the difference between being born again and the continuing salvation of the soul. You limit the efficacy of the blood of Christ. My Bible must be different from yours. It says that if I confess my sin, God is faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me (1 John 1:9). I don't see any reference to repenting there.

Those who are walking in the light have continual cleansing. (1 John 1:7) I don't see anything about repenting there either.

Those who are born again have everlasting life. Tell me, how can everlasting life perish? Do you believe that God dumps us when we sin and only comes back when we repent? I don't. My God says that He never leaves me nor forsakes me. (Hebrews 13:5)

Brethren, if we are truly born again, we are included in Christ by God. Heaven is not our destination, it is where we live right now. The old, sinful nature we inherited from Adam died with Christ on the cross of Calvary. What do you do with a dead body? You bury it. So we are baptised by immersion to signify that we are indeed dead. And buried. We are raised together with Christ to new life, life that can only be given to those who have died.

The greatest problem with Christians is their lack of spiritual knowledge. Sin is a done and dusted issue. No real Christian loves sin. Those who are born again hate sin. Getting free can take time as God deals with entrenched attitudes and habits that trouble the believer. We have an enemy of our souls also, who tempts and torments the ignorant.

God has given us the Life of Christ to enable us to live in victory. (Romans 5:10). The day we realise that is the day we quit worrying, quit expecting anything of ourselves and rejoice in the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Those who insist on trying to live the Christian life from their own strength will fail.

God does not "help" us to be good Christians. That would be like strapping a pair of wings on a penguin and expecting it to fly. God instead replaces the old life with the new life. Too many Christians will not accept God's judgement on the old life. Like Abraham, many want God to bless the self effort that they are secretly proud of. Newsflash. God rejected Ishmael and He rejects every effort of self. It's fit only for the consuming fire of God's judgement. (1 Corinthians 3:15)

The day is coming when all the works of self will be exposed and destroyed. Only what is initiated and empowered by Christ will stand. You choose which way you will live. Me, I know Christ to be my Life in in experience not just a few Bible verses. We are heading for times when you will need to know Christ in this way. Now is a good time to quit trying and start trusting.

CharismaticLady said:

Who taught you that all sin is willful sin? That just isn't true, but many people keep saying that. What denomination are you?

Click to expand...

Give an example of a non willful sin?

If Christ sacrificed Himself for our sins 2,000 years ago, I would put forward that He sacrificed Himself for our future sins, also.

Al Touthentop said:

Everyone who sins knows that they sin, when they sin, if they are aware of God's law. Not the old testament law, I mean the law of Christ. And it is a law and we are called to obey it. You better be the judge for yourself lest you be judged on the last day as having sinned and not sought forgiveness.

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So you are saying that you have never once forgotten something which you did or said and denied having ever done or said it? That is lying, a SIN. When someone cuts you off in traffic making you slam on your breaks or sits through a green light on their mobile long enough to cause you to get a red light AGAIN do you say in your heart and/or even out loud that's OK you can do it again at the next light??? Or are you QUICK to anger and say or think things God's Word tells us not to??? That is all sin. We are commanded to turn the other cheek by Jesus Himself and elsewhere given an imperative command from James to be SLOW to anger and elsewhere to NOT utter or think obscenities or hateful things. To even call one a fool one has committed murder in their heart.

Additionally, we are told by Paul to correct/counsel a fellow Christian with love and gentleness and humility who has failed and sinned. Have you done such or have you been disobedient to that? "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." Js 5:19-20 and "“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." Mat 18:15 and "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephes 4:32 Forgiving one another of WHAT??? These verses all pasted from: What Does the Bible Say About Correcting A Brother?

I think that the Theology that if one is a Christian they won't sin is attractive to one who holds grudges or denies their sin or is stuck in/progressing through idealism and not progressed into realizing the realities of life, not that anyone here is doing such.

Monksailor said:

So you are saying that you have never once forgotten something which you did or said and denied having ever done or said it? That is lying, a SIN. We are told by Paul to correct/counsel a fellow Christian with love and gentleness and humility who has failed and sinned. Have you done such or have you been disobedient to that? "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." Js 5:19-20 and "“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." Mat 18:15 and "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephes 4:32 Forgiving one another of WHAT??? These veses all pasted from: What Does the Bible Say About Correcting A Brother?

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Thanks for pointing this out. I was starting to think my imperfect nature and sins committed over the years may have excluded me, since, as proposed, true BACs never sin.

James:

16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Al Touthentop said:

Fellowship = relationship.

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These two are related, of course. But they are not synonymous. The difference is pictured very well in the parable of the Prodigal Son. At no point in the story was the Prodigal not his father's son. The son always had this relationship to his father no matter how he carried on. But, the Prodigal's choices had cut off all fellowship with his father. They did not talk, or eat, or work, or play together; there was no intimate communion between them. It was in this sense, I think, the son was "dead" to his father. So, no, fellowship does not equal relationship.

Al Touthentop said:

Sin is what causes death. Not physical death, death to our relationship with God. It still causes death in Christians. That's what John was teaching.

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Uh huh.

AllDayFaith said:

Sometimes the pain we suffer causes change within us. When the pain gets bad enough, people will change.

Click to expand...

There is a worldly type of change
offered to everyone
and a Godly Repentance type of change
only His children understand.
M-Bob

Chris V++ said:

Thanks for pointing this out. I was starting to think my imperfect nature and sins committed over the years may have excluded me, since, as proposed, true BACs never sin.

James:

16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Click to expand...

I believe that God's Word shows that we never ARRIVE at perfection in the flesh but that our life, as others have said, is an unending process of sanctification. Sanctification is IMPOSSIBLE without REPENTANCE and without what Bill Bright called breathing Spiritually (https://crustore.org/downloads/SFL.pdf), continually working through, "9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" WHICH was given to CHRISTIANS. (Bible Gateway passage: 1 John 1:9 - New International Version) And after having done that claim God's strength and wisdom to TURN FROM that temptation the next time it presents itself. To claim, "13 No temptationa]">[a] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be temptedb]">[b] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,c]">[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it" (Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 10:13 - New International Version) AND "7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (Bible Gateway passage: James 4:7 - New International Version)

Finally, if we were perfected and wholly sanctified at salvation then there would be no need whatsoever to arm ourselves against satan and his darkness but Ephesians 6:10-17 clearly indicates that we need to put on a whole set of armor just to be able to stand against evil darkness. "The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Bible Gateway passage: Ephesians 6:10-17 - New International Version)

BCsenior said:

Continuing repentance is necessary for having an acceptable heart attitude before the Lord.

At the moment you were born-again …
you were only forgiven of the sins you had committed up to that point in time!
“For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness,
and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his OLD sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call
and election sure, for IF you do these things you will never stumble;
for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:9-11, NKJV)
“OLD sins” is also in the KJV, RSV, NLT, AMP
“having forgotten his purification from his FORMER sins.” (2 Peter 1:9, NASB)
“forgetting that they have been cleansed from their PAST sins.” (2 Peter 1:9, NIV)

“… justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His his blood through faith,
to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had
passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 3:24-25, NKJV)

Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church concerning his words of rebuke
in 1 Corinthians that he had sent to them concerning some particular sin(s).
They really needed to be sorrowful and repent.
“… the pain (from his rebuke) caused you to repent and change your ways.
It was the kind of sorrow God wants His people to have, so you were not
harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience
leads us away from sin and results in salvation. … worldly sorrow, which lacks
repentance, results in spiritual (eternal) death.” (2 Corinthians 7:8-10, NLT)

“Yes, I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence.
And I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins.
You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality,
and eagerness for lustful pleasure.” (2 Corinthians 12:21, NLT)
Immediately following this (in 2 Corinthians 13:1-10), Paul warns and threatens:
if the habitual sinners do not repent, he must exercise his authority to punish them!
How different in churches today ... where most pastors do not confront habitual sinners!

Peter is warning believers about God’s destruction of all ungodly and unholy people:
“Then he used the water to destroy the ancient (ungodly) world … the day of judgment,
when ungodly people will be destroyed. … He is being patient for your sake. He does not
want anyone to be destroyed (perish spiritually), but (He) wants everyone to repent.
… what holy and godly lives you should live … make every effort to be found living
peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. … I am warning you ahead of time
… Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors …” (2 Peter 3:6-17, NLT)

John gives the condition for the Lord to forgive believers’ present sins:
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all wickedness (unrighteousness).” (1 John 1:9, NLT)
“This is an extremely important verse … all men need to be repeatedly purified from all
unrighteousness – from all their sins … We must confess our sins and turn from them
… We must also confess them with our actions … (John) is talking here about repentance
… we must hate our sins and turn from them. This is true repentance.”
(The Applied New Testament Commentary; Dr. Thomas Hale, medical missionary, charismatic)

2 verses later, John reminds believers to ask Jesus to plead our case before the Father:
“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before
the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.” (1 John 2:1, NLT)

Believers are responsible for repenting of their sins after they are born-again!
They have been given the Holy Spirit, a totally new nature, and God’s word.
So, they have been enabled to be victorious overcomers over sin, the world,
and the devil. They have no excuse for failing to do this.

“Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord.
Perhaps He will forgive your evil thoughts (i.e. sins).” (Acts 8:22, NLT)

“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have
received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice
that will cover these sins” (Hebrews 10:26, NLT)

Jesus warns 5 of the 7 churches to repent in Revelation 2 - Revelation 3.

“Repent (metanoeo) and believe (pisteou) may be understood as opposite sides of the same coin.
Repent means to turn from one’s allegiance to sin and unbelief, whereas believe means
to place one’s trust in Christ. Thus when one is mentioned the other is implied.
… John never used the words repent, repentance, or faith to describe the way people are saved.
Instead, he used believe since this term included all of these ideas.”
(The Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Click to expand...

The Holy Spirit moves us into repentance. He keeps us on the narrow road that leads to the narrow gate. Repentance is turning away from sin. Have you seen this in your life? Sins that were there year after year then suddenly, something triggers true repentance through the power of the Holy Spirit. That sin is no longer a burden it disappeared, it is now repulsive to our spirit. This is not something we can do on our own. This is the Holy Spirit sanctifying us while we walk in His Spirit. If we say repentance is not necessary then we are missing out on the most important part of our WALK.
No one is sinless.
Blessings

Guojing said:

Give an example of a non willful sin?

Click to expand...

Who taught you that?

renniks said:

How far do you take this line of reasoning? If one were to repent of every sin, but miss one, would he be lost for eternity? I believe we are to rely on Christ to save us, not our limited memories.

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That is not a good excuse. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of it's sin, and of righteousness (John 16:8-9). It is up to the individual to respond to the conviction of their sin by the Spirit. If they refuse, then that is on them. Many in the church today appear to justify some level of grievous sin that the Bible condemns while they think they are saved by God's grace. Does that honestly sound like the narrow way to you?

Guojing said:

I have, even in the USA as well. I wouldn't use 1 John for them though. All sin is willful sin, but the blood of Christ cleansed us from all of them.

Click to expand...

Try re-reading 1 John 1:7. For according to 1 John 1:7, it essentially says the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all sin if we "walk in the light."

"Walking in the light" is implied strongly as: "loving your brother" according to 1 John 2:9-11. 1 John 3:10 says whoever does not love his brother is not of God. 1 John 3:15 says whoever hates his brother is like a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Now, it's your turn to either:

(a) Change these verses, or
(b) Ignore them, or
(c) Simply agree with them in what they plainly say.

Choose wisely.

SkyWriting said:

Not according to your post:
" to cleanse us from all wickedness (unrighteousness)"
Past, present, and future.

The claim is that white snow is temporary,
which is not the case.

Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Psalm 51:7
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Lamentations 4:7
Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire.

Revelation 1:14
The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,

Daniel 7:9
“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.

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.

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I suppose sin may compared to a stain on a white cloth. Many people invested in laundry detergent, bleach and stain removers to get whiter whites and brighter colors to gain a spotless appearance. The person underneath remained the same.

Sin affects more than outward appearance. Sin can cause a person to harm, steal, defraud or destroy. These sins can not be washed out. A person may need to do a positive attitude adjustment.

What good is money to one having a heart attack? Most first heart attacks are fatal. People who were living unhealthy lifestyles repented and turned to healthy lifestyles. This reduced illnesses. Healthy nutrition and exercise reduced the rate of progression of coronary artery disease. In some cases heart disease was reversed.