To claim otherwise would make me the equal of God...
That sounds like what the Pharisees said to Jesus.
Jesus responded to them with this.
John 10:33,34
33) The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
34. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Psa. 82:6
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Rom. 8:16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom. 8:21
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom.9:8
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Gal. 3:26
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
1Jn. 3:10
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
I have been saved, God Put His Spirit in me And He is busy transforming me into the image of His Son over time.
The Scripture says.
Rom 8:29,30
29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30) 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.
Show me the part where it says "He is busy transforming me into the image of His Son over time".....He's already done the work For You, In You by the Sacrifice of His son.
Read what it says, you have been (Called, Justified, Glorified), you have been Conformed to the Image of Christ.....below.
Gal. 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
If there were a way to achieve perfection in this weak sinful body of flesh, Jesus died in vain
I have to agree with you on that point.
But God knowing beforehand that man is incapable of accomplishing the task, has once again made provision for us.
Rom. 8:3
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
First of all, Jesus Destroyed Sin in the Flesh for all mankind in the same way He died for all mankind, it is done, it has been accomplished for us already, when we receive Salvation from God by His Grace through Christ we become Born Again of the Spirit through Baptism.
Rom. 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
It is at this point we die to the Flesh (Our Sinful Nature).
Rom 6:4-6
4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Therefore we are dead unto the Flesh, and now walk in Newness of life, in the Spirit.
Gal. 5:25
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal. 5:16
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Jesus accomplished a whole lot more on the Cross for us than just Forgiveness of sins that are past.
Rom. 3:25
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
He Reconciled us to God, He Destroyed SIN if the FLESH, He has given to us the Holy Spirit that we could walk in Him.
So once again I say.
Gal. 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
It's not what I can do, It's not what God is doing, but it certainly IS what Jesus the Christ HAS already Done.
John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.