Freedom from Sin: Overcoming the Wet Paint Principle (the complete version)

Jason0047 said:

But your interpretation on Romans 3:20 and Galatians 2:16 contradicts...

The Bible's teaching that serious sin is separation from GOD,

[God said to Adam,]
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17).

[Eve said to the serpent,]
"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (Genesis 3:3).

And the serpent said unto the woman,
"Ye shall not surely die." (Genesis 3:4).

"...she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked..." (Genesis 3:6-7).

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12).

"For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23).

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2).

“...whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
(Matthew 5:22).

28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:28-30).

“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15).

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

Important Note: If you were to look at 1 Thessalonians 4:3 you would learn that the will of God (i.e. the Father) is to be holy or it is our sanctification; And Hebrews 12:14 says, without holiness no man shall see the Lord.

“22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:22-23 ESV).

“26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
(Matthew 7:26-27).

“15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20).

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." (Hebrews 10:26).

"he that commits sin is of the devil." (1 John 3:8).

"everyone who does evil hates the light." (John 3:20).

"Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." (Acts of the Apostles 8:22).

6 "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
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." (1 John 1:6-7).

"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:4).

"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15).

"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now." (1 John 2:9).

"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." (1 John 3:10).

41 "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matthew 13:41-43 ESV).

"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." (Titus 1:16).

3 "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
4 He is proud, knowing nothing,..." (1 Timothy 6:3-4).

"...God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."
(James 4:6).

21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." (Romans 11:21-22).

16 "There is a sin unto death..."
17 "...and there is a sin not unto death." (1 John 5:16-17).

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8).

19 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21).

5 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affe
ction, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them." (Colossians 3:5-7).

5 “...God;
6 ...will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law” (Romans 2:5-12).

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Jason0047 said:

Romans 2:12 says,
"For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law”

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Jason0047 said:

You know of course I am praying you to see what I am trying to show you with Scripture. In any event, I will seek to reply to the rest of your post piece by piece as time goes on.

Anyways, may God bless you.

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Jason0047 said:

When you read Romans 4:8, you also have to read Romans 4:12 and Romans 4:13. Romans 4:12 says that Abraham is the father of the circumcised whereby they also walk in same steps of faith of their father Abraham before he was circumcised. The key word here is "walk" in Romans 4:12. So this is not some kind of easy believism going on here. How do we know?

Romans 4:13 says, "It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith."

What does this "righteousness that comes by faith" look like according to Gods Word?

Well, in Genesis 22, God says to Abraham,

"And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." (Genesis 22:12).

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genesis 22:16-18).

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Jason0047 said:

1 John 3:4 is not support of your idea that you can break God's laws on some level and still be saved. 1 John 3:8 says he that commits sin is of the devil. 1 John 3:10 says he that does not righteousness is not of God. 1 John 3:15 says he that hates his brother is like a murderer and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. How many times does it take for one to think or act in a hateful way towards one's brother in order to "hate your brother"? Logic dictates it only takes one bad thought or one bad action to hate your brother.



The Old Law is no more.

2 Corinthians 3:7
"But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:"

2 Corinthians 3:11-14
11. "For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
13. And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14. But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ."

Ephesians 2:14-16
14 "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:"

Colossians 2:14
"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"

Romans 7:6
"But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."

Hebrews 7:18
"For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof."



Paul is talking about the Old Law and not "all law" in general here.

Romans 3:1 he says what advantage is there in circumcision?
Galatians 5:2 Paul says if you seek to be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Circumcision is a part of the Old Law and not the New Law (or New Testament commands given to us by Jesus and His followers).

The New Testament was not even complete when Paul was still writing to the various churches. So not all of God's commands in the New Testament were in focus of what Paul was saying. The curse of adding or taking away from God's Word in Revelation was long after Paul and it does deal with salvation. For if one takes away from God's Word, the Lord will take their part out of the book of life (See Revelation 22:18-19). This should be sufficient to show you that sin can separate a believer from God in the New Testament.



As for Romans 4:15:

Well, if you were to start reading in verse 14, Paul is trying to refute the same false Pharisee religion Jesus condemned that made salvation all about law but it distorted or ignored the weightier matters of the law like faith, justice, mercy, and love (See Matthew 23:23, and Luke 11:42). For in Romans 4:14 it says, "they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:" Who are the "they which are of the law"? Would that be the Old Testament saints or the Pharisees? Surely it would be the Pharisees because Abraham and Moses were justified by faith and not the Law (For Abraham: See Hebrews 11:8-19; For Moses: See Hebrews 11:23-29). Knowing this, helps us to then understand verse 15 (Romans 4:15) when we read it. Romans 4:15 says,
"Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression." Seeing the Pharisees obeyed the written law, we know that this is in reference to the 613 Old Testament Laws of Moses (as a whole or package deal). So Paul is saying there is no "Old Law" unless of course you want to assert the crazy non-sense that Jesus and His followers did not give us any commands or laws under the New Testament or something. So this is not saying we are forgiven of future sins. For if we willfully sin after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin (See Hebrews 10:26).

As for Romans 5:13:

Okay. Here is the context.

12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5:12-14).

First, Scripture says, "for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Romans 14:23). The opposite of faith is unbelief. So Romans 14:23 is saying whatsoever is of unbelief is sin. Scripture says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. So sin is merely unbelief or a lack of faith in God.

Second, when Paul says "sin is not imputed where there is no Law," he was referencing the Law of Moses and not the law that was written upon men's hearts as a part of their conscience.

Lets read a few verses in Romans 2.

12 "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; )
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." (Romans 2:12-16).

Okay. We see verse 14 say that the Gentiles which have not the law DO BY NATURE the things contained in the law. Verse 15 says the law is written in their hearts with their conscience also bearing witness. This is how God will be able to judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the gospel (even including the time before the written Law). In other words, Paul was essentially saying,

"sin is not imputed where there is no law [i.e. Written Law]."

Paul was saying that the sins of the written Law could not be applied to those who lived before it was given. Instead, there was a law written on men's hearts. Hence, why they knew they could sin.

For example: In Genesis 39:9, we see Joseph say to Potiphar’s wife when she desired to sleep with him,

“...how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

How did Joseph know about sin before the written Law?

Also, in Revelation we see the dead are judged according to their works.

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Revelation 20:12).

How could those before the Law be judged for their evil works if evil works were not imputed to them?

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