All I can say is that one who does not love his brother is a murderer and does not have eternal life abiding in him.
1 John 3:15
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
I'm not a Greek scholar, but I'm fairly sure that 'hate' is referring to a 'continual hate'. I've been in many churches. I've seen hatred among the people there towards others. I'm sure you have also. I'm not talking about overt hatred, but hatred in how they act towards others.
If one has continual hatred towards others, he is a murderer, no two ways about it.
Lets look at a few of the verses earlier in 1 John 3.
"5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him."
So once we are manifested unto Jesus, He is the one that takes our sins away. Meaning it is Christ in us that makes us not be slaves to sin, where the proof that someone is in Christ is that they "abideth in him" and will "sinneth" no more. To further illustrate the point, verse 8 says that whoever sins is of the devil. Now let me ask you; once you were saved, have you stopped sinning completely? Of course I already know your answer. If you are saying that we must not hate a brother to be saved, then verses 5, 6, and 8 clearly says we must not sin at all to be saved. Thankfully not so.
I get your point about a person who has continual hatred. This can be said about any persons sin they continually live in. Going back to the verse about "faith without works is dead", the point is that a truly faithful person in Christ will show "works", by works meaning that a repenting(change of heart) will happen and the person will move away from being a slave of hating their brother or any other sin and will change that with the love of God in us, which is our new slave.
You, me, or anyone will never be able to repent of our sins, any sins, on our own. Our human nature is simply a slave only to sin without Christ.
This is said about Jesus -
Matthew 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Salvation is all about sins and Jesus saves us from our sins. Now, if sins can be eradicated in one fell swoop, then yes, salvation come immediately, conclusively, and in finality. However, I know of no one who doesn't have sins proceeding from their hearts. They can confess, believe, repent, read the Bible, and do all the good they can muster, but sin is still present.
As long as sin is still present in the heart and reigning over a person, we see that salvation from sins is continual, life-long procedure. Many have no desire to rid their hearts of sin; the are content being a slave to sin.
As I said earlier, we battle sins one at a time. We would be overwhelmed and defeated if we battle all of them at once. Therefore, it takes a lifetime for the Lord to show us our sins in His Light, and with His help, battle the sin He reveals to us.
Forgive me if I seem a little biased or straightforward, but don't you see the contradiction in this thought? First you say salvation is all about sin and how Jesus saves us from our sins. Then you go on saying that we have to continually work on our sin to the end of our lives to keep our salvation, or something like that. Either its "Jesus saves us from our sins" or "Jesus gave us a chance to work on our sins to save us". Can you really have both?
No where in the Bible does it say that we have to keep eradicating our sins slowly over time to finally obtain, or to keep, our salvation(not sure which one you believe). Once we receive salvation, sin cannot take that away from us(look at Romans 8:35-39). Whether we can actually lose our salvation or not, I simply cannot answer because I don't know. What I do know is that if it is possible, the only way to lose salvation is that we willingly repent(change our hearts) against Jesus. But even then, with the Holy Spirit in you, I find that difficult.
As long as sin is still present in the heart and reigning over a person, we see that salvation from sins is continual, life-long procedure. Many have no desire to rid their hearts of sin; the are content being a slave to sin.
here is my version:
As long as sin is still present in the heart and reigning over a person, we see that
repenting from sins is continual, life-long procedure. Many have no desire to rid of their hearts of sin,
yet the Holy Spirit will convict us continually.
Oh, it's very easy to do nothing. Doing nothing will produce nothing. If you have weeds in your yard, and only believe your yard is in perfect condition, you have nothing. It takes you getting out there and 'battling' those weeds, removing them. If you don't remove them, soon they will take over your yard.
To receive salvation, you not only come to the understanding you are a sinful person, but 'clean the inside of the cup' also. James says this -
James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
First we draw near to God, and He will draw near to us. Once His Light enlightens us, we can see our sins and faults. Then we are to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. Many don't come to the Light, for it exposes their sins.
I can definitely understand your thought process of James 4:8. One thing I would like to note is that its important who James is writing to and whats he is trying to emphasize. James is talking to Christians Jews who are scattered throughout many nations (James 1:1). The point James is trying to make is similar to the Sermon on the Mount. James is trying to show their wickedness these Christian Jews walk in, and how they should be behaving if they truly follow Christ.
And to counter your argument, look at Galations 2:16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
A man is not justified by following the law. A man is not justified by not stealing, by not adultering, murdering. The only thing that justifies a person is by faith of Jesus Christ. Simply put, the law shows us our sin(Romans 7). Christ gives us a life to not be controlled by sin. By not being controlled by sin, I mean by trying to follow every law as best as we can, since committing one sin is just as bad as committing all sin (James 2:10). Therefore, we are committed as slaves to Christ so that we desire Him instead of the law. And when we desire Him, we desire to be good. We desire to love our brethren.
So here is my last thought. Our new desire for Christ is what brings us to repentance(a change of heart). Our repentance does not come from us wanting to be good, since we are inherently evil people always desiring to do evil.
I appreciate you taking time to discuss these things with me in a civil and Christ-like manner.
Your appreciation is appreciated. haha! Many tend to take what I say the wrong way, like I am trying to one up them. May God richly bless you with a heart of peace and joy in Christ, my brother.
