It is hard to understand where you actually stand.
This is because you're under the impression that salvation is an all at once permanent event, effectively disassociated from how one may live out the
rest of their lives-
or...considered to
guarantee that they'll live it out well enough. And that's not the gospel.
If I cheat on my wife and our relationship is severely damaged, but later repentance and forgiveness come into play and the relationship becomes healed and alive again, maybe even stronger, then we've sort of emulated the function of salvation; the relationship has been translated from death to life. But then, say, if I let my eyes roam again a few years later, not valuing that relationship enough to refrain from contemplating and then becoming involved in infidelity again, no matter how hard my wife may've tried to preclude it, then I've done what anyone can also do in their relationship with God. And that
relationship, again,
IS our salvation, just as Adam's
break with God constituted humanity's fall and condemnation.
So, when I speak of the fact that ”
I still sin”, that means that, even though my faith means translation from life to death, that life is only as strong and secure as the relationship that defines and enables it. Sin means that I'm still looking elsewhere besides God for my wholeness, my fulfillment, my purpose-same as Adam did to begin with. I may still stray far from Him and any profession of so-called faith won't mean a thing in itself at that point. Again, intrinsic to fellowship with God is
goodness, in
me, or else the relationship is false. And, again, that goodness won't come from the
Law; it comes from
Him. And if you think that your willingness, your cooperation, your effort, perseverance, vigilance in this is unnecessary, if not impossible, then you've ignored a great deal of revelation. The opposite is true: God
seeks your willingness, to elicit it and to increase it.
The concept of the "elect" is a hypothetical one for each of us until the end when He gives
His just judgement; no one knows with perfect certainty that they, individually, are numbered among that group. What we know is that the elect
will be saved, of course, which is rather redundant since they're saved by definition.
And there are not two “me’s”; there’s only
one with sometimes conflicting desires. The appetites of the body for food, sex, security are good and natural gifts of God. The problem is that, when divorced from God, our normal self-control is gone-because
we're "god” now for all practical purposes, doing what’s right in our own eyes, trying to fulfill ourselves with whatever attractions in creation exist around us while separated from the only possible
true Source of satisfaction and fulfillment of all human desire. These alternative desires, aka disordered or inordinate desires, have often been referred to as "concupiscence", aka the "tinder for sin", beginning in ancient times. There's nothing wrong with the body; it's good as everything in God’s creation is inherently good; we “simply” lack the Spirit with which to control it due to man’s rebellion against/alienation from Him. That’s the person: that proud, lost, confused, pitiful unspiritual soul, that Paul is speaking of in Rom 7. Reconciliation with God has the purpose of healing that soul, reversing his rebellion-it’s an intimate communion, not just some declared legal status.
In 1 John 2, John speaks of this “three-fold concupiscence”, BTW, that tends to draw us away from God:
“the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”. Lust of the flesh for sex, food, pleasure in general,
lust of the eyes for material possessions, wealth, and
pride of life for self-glory, self-exaltation. All of these have good origins. Pleasure is good but when it becomes lust then the pleasure is idolized, and harm to self and others often result. When natural needs for security, things, and money become greed then harm likewise follows and when the abuse of healthy self-love results in pride then all kinds of harm often results; self-righteousness allows us to justify any and all behavior. But all of these things are only slavery, while promising greater fulfillment and self-worth. This is why God must come first, above all else as the first three commandments of the decalogue along with the greatest commandment declare. The nearer we are to God, the greater will be our holiness and our fruit, and the surer is our calling and election. Faith, from man's perspective, is the beginning, the foundation, of that relationship, and therefore of our salvation.
