"He who practices righteousness is righteous" (1 John 3:7)

Hammster said:

The difference is the “must”.

Click to expand...

You seem to think that practicing righteousness is some kind of automatic process: you believe in the Lord Jesus and - bam - everything you do is righteous!

That's not how it works in reality though. Practicing righteousness is a very active decision of your will. The decision to obey God and subordinate your own will. As long as you don't do that you cannot be a disciple. Yes, it is a must.

Hammster said:

As sheep, we wander, but have a Good Shepherd. As children, we disobey, but have a loving Father.

Click to expand...

You are both saying the same thing here. Putting the will of God ahead of the will of man is hard for us mammals who run on animal instinct, but at least we must make the allegiance to try.

BCsenior said:

Perhaps it could be summed up in the 2
greatest commandments according to Jesus.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Put the will of God ahead of the will of man, which is love all as self.

BCsenior said:

All verses below are from the NKJV.

“… everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
(1 John 2:29)

“… whoever does NOT practice righteousness is NOT of God …”
(1 John 3:10)

“He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil
are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness
is NOT of God, NOR is he who does NOT love his brother.”
(1 John 3:10)

“… whoever fears Him and works righteousness
is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:35)

“… (slaves) of obedience leading to righteousness”
(Romans 6:16)

“… slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

God does NOT practice righteousness for BACs.
BACs must do the practicing of righteousness for themselves.

From the verses above, do we agree?
God only invites into heaven …
those who have a standing of righteousness before Him,
those whom He considers righteous.

Click to expand...

Despite the universal appeal of John 3:16, its important for Christians to be aware that John was an apostle of the circumcision, to the circumcision, as stated in Galatians 2:7-9.

We are to take our salvation doctrine from Paul, as agreed by John too in Galatians 2.

BCsenior said:

All verses below are from the NKJV.

“… everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
(1 John 2:29)

“… whoever does NOT practice righteousness is NOT of God …”
(1 John 3:10)

“He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil
are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness
is NOT of God, NOR is he who does NOT love his brother.”
(1 John 3:10)

“… whoever fears Him and works righteousness
is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:35)

“… (slaves) of obedience leading to righteousness”
(Romans 6:16)

“… slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

God does NOT practice righteousness for BACs.
BACs must do the practicing of righteousness for themselves.

From the verses above, do we agree?
God only invites into heaven …
those who have a standing of righteousness before Him,
those whom He considers righteous.

Click to expand...

A chip off of the old block is someone who has the same nature or character as their father, and this is the sense that Jesus is the Son of God in that he is the exact expression of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), and this is the sense that we are children of God through partaking in the divine nature, which is why those who do not practice righteousness are not children of God.

Righteous behavior is not automatic. Here Paul talking to believers instructs them to do something to bring it about: Reckon yourself dead to sin, but alive to God. Do not let sin reign in you. Present your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

BCsenior said:

All verses below are from the NKJV.

“… everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
(1 John 2:29)

“… whoever does NOT practice righteousness is NOT of God …”
(1 John 3:10)

“He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil
are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness
is NOT of God, NOR is he who does NOT love his brother.”
(1 John 3:10)

“… whoever fears Him and works righteousness
is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:35)

“… (slaves) of obedience leading to righteousness”
(Romans 6:16)

“… slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

God does NOT practice righteousness for BACs.
BACs must do the practicing of righteousness for themselves.

From the verses above, do we agree?
God only invites into heaven …
those who have a standing of righteousness before Him,
those whom He considers righteous.

Click to expand...

And that disproves a well known TV preachers teaching about the carnal Christian who can lead the most sinful life, indistinguishable from the lifestyle of the unsaved, and still be saved.

John Mullally said:

Righteous behavior is not automatic. Here Paul talking to believers instructs them to do something to bring it about: Reckon yourself dead to sin, but alive to God. Do not let sin reign in you. Present your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Romans 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.​

Click to expand...

Yes.
Paul makes clear that after we have been saved, there is a continuing conflict between our wanting to walk in the flesh, (that wants us to live in sin)- and our desire to walk after the Holy Spirit that now dwells in us - and Paul warns that choosing to live in sins (works of the flesh), will keep us out of heaven:


Gal 5:16 ThisI say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.


Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.


Gal 5:18 But IF ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.


Gal 5:19 Now the WORKS OF THE FLESH are manifest, which are these;Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,


Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,


Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell YOU again, as I have also told youin time past, that they which DO such things shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God.


Paul warns us over and over, that if we believers choose to walk after the flesh, we will die spiritually - but if we choose to walk after the spirit, we will have everlasting life:


Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.


Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded isDEATH, but to be spiritually minded isLIFE and peace.


Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind isENMITY against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.


Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.


Verse 8:7 above, having a carnal mind is ENMITY against God, meaning you actually become Gods ENEMY.


Will God let His enemies into heaven?


Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is ENMITY with God? whosoever therefore will be a FRIEND OF THE WORLD is the ENEMY of God.


The verse above says sexual sins and being worldly, makes you Gods ENEMY.


Will God welcome His enemies into heaven?


We are expected and required as believers, to live the most sinless life we can, and to repent when we know we’ve sinned.


Scripture clearly shows that continuing to remain in Christ is conditional on us 1) continuing to walk in the light, as He is in the light, and 2) continuing to walk after the spirit, instead of after the flesh.


In the two verses below, I put in parentheses the conditional part of these scriptures that are always left out by hyper-grace, OSAS teachers.


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.


The blood of Jesus cleansing the believer is conditional on their choosing to continue to walk in the light, as He is in the light.


Next:

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, (who walk NOT AFTER THE FLESH, , but after the Spirit).


Having no condemnation, and remaining in Christ, is conditional upon continuing to walk after the Spirit, and not after the flesh.


And Paul warns us against being deceived about living in sin as a believer, when he wrote:


Gal 6:7 Be Not DECEIVED ; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man SOWETH,that shall he also REAP.


Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; BUT he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting


You reap everlasting life only if you sow to the spirit (walk after the Spirit, Romans 8:1) , but reap spiritual death if you sow to your flesh.


When we do occasionally sin, we must confess it, for God to forgive it. 1 John 1:9.

chad kincham said:

And that disproves a well known TV preachers teaching about the carnal Christian who can lead the most sinful life, indistinguishable from the lifestyle of the unsaved, and still be saved.

Click to expand...

Can you get a refund?

chad kincham said:

Paul warns us over and over, that if we believers choose to walk after the flesh, we will die spiritually - but if we choose to walk after the spirit, we will have everlasting life:

Click to expand...

Jesus' best version of that was the Parable of the Sower. Just thought He should get a shout out.

chad kincham said:

Paul makes clear that after we have been saved, there is a continuing conflict between our wanting to walk in the flesh, (that wants us to live in sin)- and our desire to walk after the Holy Spirit that now dwells in us

Click to expand...

Yes, surely that's our lived experience? Or does anyone feel that they have automatically been righteous, with no effort or decision making required, ever since being saved?

[for me anyway] the more fullness of the matter is in v8 & v9; that is, v8 whosoever puts their trust into the hands and power of sin is of the devil; and v9 he that is born of God does not put his trust into the hands of sin...then cometh v10 plainly telling us who does not put their trust into the hands and power of God, but instead to sin.

Hammster said:

Let me use a biblical illustration. In Matthew 25, when Jesus talks about separating the sheep and the goats, notice that He doesn’t separate them by what they do, but by who they are. It’s not the good works that made the sheep sheep. They did good works because they were sheep.

Those who are His practice righteousness.

Click to expand...

In other words, children of God do not practice righteousness in order to become righteous but because they are righteous.

BCsenior said:

Many BACs in the churches today are NOT practicing righteousness.
Instead, they are practicing habitual (unrepentant) sin.
These are NOT on their way to heaven.
They need to sincerely repent of their evil deeds (sins)
... and return to the Lord who saved them.

Click to expand...

1 John 3:9 - No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

BCsenior said:

All verses below are from the NKJV.

“… everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
(1 John 2:29)

“… whoever does NOT practice righteousness is NOT of God …”
(1 John 3:10)

“He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil
are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness
is NOT of God, NOR is he who does NOT love his brother.”
(1 John 3:10)

“… whoever fears Him and works righteousness
is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:35)

“… (slaves) of obedience leading to righteousness”
(Romans 6:16)

“… slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

God does NOT practice righteousness for BACs.
BACs must do the practicing of righteousness for themselves.

Click to expand...

2 Corinthians 5:21
Christ was made sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Righteousness isn't works, it's relationship.