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Not all sin is the same. There are grievous sins that lead unto spiritual death, and there are minor infractions or hidden faults that do not lead to spiritual death.
The sins are not the same, but the punishment is the same for all sin.
Well, there is a sin not unto death (See: 1 John 5:16-17). So that’s not true.
All sin leads to death except for those of Faith who accept forgiveness.
What that passage is referring to is rejecting God-Jesus-The Holy Spirit.
That is the one sin that you cannot pray for "your brother" and it will be forgiven at your request.
Oh...and the forgiving is from you, by the way.
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
No. How does that work with the context? Why are they praying for this person to have life? The sin not unto death is any grievous sin that a believer is confessing with the hope that they are desiring to overcome that sin. For if the brethren pray, they can ask God and help give life or victory for that believer who is struggling with that sin that they desiring to overcome. The sin unto death would be the opposite of that. It is a believer refusing to confess and forsake their sin. This is in line with the context of the epistle itself and it’s theme.
Compare: 1 John 2:3 with 1 John 2:4.
Compare: 1 John 3:7 with 1 John 3:8.
Compare: 1 John 2:29 with 1 John 3:10.
It’s because the kingdom of heaven is the full name for heaven.Why is heaven and the Kingdom synonymous bc I'm not sure it is, although heaven is a part of it.
It’s because the kingdom of heaven is the full name for heaven.
Mat 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Maranatha
Yes, I agree... It seems to be that any sin can lead to death if not repented of. Many sins are listed from Matthew to Revelation that could lead to death. Some sins, like lying, seem to be minor, but in Revelation 21:8, we see that ALL liars, and all sinners, will be condemned.
Revelation 21:8 (WEB) But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
And if someone thinks Christians are exempt... Think again! Christians are under a more stiff penalty than the non-believer for sins committed, since we have the Spirit to guide us, but we resisted the Spirit.
Hebrews 12:25 (WEB) See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will WE not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven
Unless a Christian is walking in the light (righteous and holiness) his sins remain on him. Only as we walk in the light are we cleansed from all sin. That is the test of an authentic faith in Lord Jesus - a demonstration of our love for Him.
1 John 1:6-7 (WEB) 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Any sin leads to death if not repented of, and God will judge His people more severely than a unbeliever for deliberate sin, and does not repent:
Hebrews 10:24-31 (WEB)
24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. [Deuteronomy 32:35] Again, “The Lord will judge HIS people.” [Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 135:14] 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
A kingdom extends as far as the king's authority. So for example, the kingdom of Britain once included India and the Americas, but these territories weren't Britain proper. God's kingdom includes earth, 'on earth as it is in heaven'
To enter into the kingdom is not the same as 'going to heaven'. We possess the kingdom Rn, 'the kingdom of God is within you', but we aren't yet, 'with the Lord'. Just my opinion.
Ananias and Sapphira are proof that salvation is conditional.
If one were to think like a detective and replay the scene over in their mind like a true detective and truly analyze the reality of how things work in the real world, the motivation behind the believers being in fear only makes sense if they could also potentially fall away due to some similar sin. For if Ananias and Sapphira were fakes and they knew that, then they would not experience fear, but they would either feel a sense of justice done, or they would have some kind of pity upon them. If Ananias and Sapphira were safely in the arms of Jesus, then the church would not experience the emotion of fear, but they would either be sad by missing their friends, or they would be rejoicing that their friends are now with God in paradise.
Yes, we really do not know what happened with Simon the sorcerer according to Scripture. But the point I brought him up is that his punishment was not cookie cutter like many believers like to make sin out to be like. They think… sin is death and that’s it. They think all sin is the same and it’s not.
Yes, I agree... It seems to be that any sin can lead to death if not repented of. Many sins are listed from Matthew to Revelation that could lead to death. Some sins, like lying, seem to be minor, but in Revelation 21:8, we see that ALL liars, and all sinners, will be condemned.
Revelation 21:8 (WEB) But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
And if someone thinks Christians are exempt... Think again! Christians are under a more stiff penalty than the non-believer for sins committed, since we have the Spirit to guide us, but we resisted the Spirit.
Hebrews 12:25 (WEB) See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will WE not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven
Unless a Christian is walking in the light (righteous and holiness) his sins remain on him. Only as we walk in the light are we cleansed from all sin. That is the test of an authentic faith in Lord Jesus - a demonstration of our love for Him.
1 John 1:6-7 (WEB) 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Any sin leads to death if not repented of, and God will judge His people more severely than a unbeliever for deliberate sin, and does not repent:
Hebrews 10:24-31 (WEB)
24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. [Deuteronomy 32:35] Again, “The Lord will judge HIS people.” [Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 135:14] 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
In historical teachings I'm familiar with, spiritual death, sometimes called the "death of the soul" is what Adam & Eve and all their descendants experienced due to their "orignal sin" of disobedeince. They opted for freedom or autonomy from God's authority, denying His godhood-and that's what they got. That separation from God is the essence of the state called orignal sin and is the reason we don't know God when we're born. The reason we must be born again is because we're born dead, so to speak. This is why our rebirth consists in coming to know God-again-as man is meant to know Him in order for truth and justice to reign in us and to truly have life.What do you mean by 'spiritual death' if not Gehenna?
Then we have a different use of the word, 'believer'. To me, 'saved' means —besides released from the bondage of sin— release from the penalty of sin, i.e. the saved one WILL be in heaven, and that by the choice of God from before the foundation of the world. Granted the devil also believes and trembles, the word 'believe' can mean what you take it for. The those chosen by God cannot lose their salvation. Those who THINK themselves believers, saved, chosen by God are not necessarily so. THEY can lose what they thought they had.
You said:Ananias and Sapphira never were saved, not [true] believers, not elect.
You said:Or, if they were of the elect, though they were physically killed on earth, their souls were saved, "yet so as by fire." (1 Corinthians 3:15), but I doubt that was the case.
I agree with you that lying appears to be a minor sin to most people these days but we know that the Lord clearly condemns this sin in Revelation 21:8. So of course we should never lie otherwise we put at risk our own souls unless we confess and forsake such a thing.
We know that 1 John 5:16-17 declares that there is a sin not unto death. So if this is the case, we should expect to see other testimonies of this kind of thing in God's Word.
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19).
This was said by the Lord Jesus at the sermon on the mount. Jesus was not referring to the 613 Torah laws but He was referring to the New Commands He was giving at the sermon on the mount, etc.; Granted, I am not encouraging anyone to break the Lord's commands (even the commands that do not appear to be a major violation of loving God and others), but our Lord's words have to still hold true in Matthew 5:19. Meaning, there are going to be believers who are in the Kingdom and they taught others that they could break the least of Jesus' commandments. How can they be in the kingdom?
Anyways, we know sin is the transgression of the Law (or commandment) (1 John 3:4). The reason why I say that not all sin is the same is because it takes time for believers to study and learn and apply all of God's commands in the New Testament over their lifetime. There are about 400 some commands in the New Testament (According to my own personal in-depth study). To not know and apply all of them means one is condemned. This means they would be condemned before they knew of God's commands. So I believe that is why not all sin condemns. A person would in a short time in their life be unsaved after they accepted God's grace. This is why I see Sanctification as a process (or progressive), and not as a “zero to hero overnight thing.”
Jesus said in John 12:48 that if we do not receive His words, those words will judge us on the last day. So I believe it is only “our not receiving His written words” that can judge us. We cannot be judged for something Jesus did not specifically say, nor can we be condemned for a minor transgression or fault that He did not specifically condemn with warnings of hellfire.
Side Note:
I also believe some Christians can drink socially without getting drunk without it condemning them, but I believe that if they know the truth about the destructive nature of alcohol, they would not be able to in good conscience be able to drink it (Unless it was used for an emergency medical reason to ease pain with bleeding leg that was cut open really bad or something, etc.). So I see alcohol as a sin that condemns depending on the person’s awareness of that drink and or it’s use. We see King David was able to eat the showbread and not be condemned and yet only priests were allowed to eat the showbread. Yet, David and his men were not condemned. When the OT was in effect before the cross, the observing of the Saturday Sabbath was binding command at that time (Which is not the case under the New Covenant). But at that time, one could help a man’s animal out of a ditch on the Sabbath and it would not be a violation of the Sabbath because that kind of work was done in love towards helping one’s neighbor and their animal. In other words, we have to realize that everything hinges on love in the New Testament. If we are acting out of love in desiring to love God and others truly with a pure heart by preaching the gospel, helping the poor, teaching the brethren, etc. than we will not be condemned if we are not setting out to justify any known sin. We will want to know more about God’s Word, and talk to Him and seek how to please Him more. But we will not be perfect at the starting gate. We need God’s grace to get us to the point with God that we are entirely in His will at all times.
The light is Christ not our own holiness. But I agree that any sin, if not repented of, leads to death.
Hi Bible Highlighter. Good day to you. My feeling is that all the commands of Lord Jesus, and all the instruction on the faith of the Gospel in the rest of the NT, can be summed up as follows:
A Gospel Faith by which God saves us includes repentance, and so is demonstrated by a continuous renouncing (dying to, crucifying, putting off, putting to death) the Old Master of sinful passions, and then be committed to following (continuous) Lord Jesus into a sanctified life of righteousness and love. This begins the new life in Christ Jesus and is synonymous with living and walking by the Spirit.
Here is how the Apostle Paul sums up a true Gospel Faith in Lord Jesus, although the NT is full of similar statements.
Galatians 5:24-25 (WEB)
24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
Blessings
Thank you for the warm greetings. I also would agree with what you said here whole heartedly, brother.
A great Christian movie that is all about the Christian life in dying for the faith (dying to ourselves) is Polycarp. I would highly recommend this film if you have not seen it. It is very touching, and gives us a possible idea of what it may have been like for the early church.
Yes, I seen that movie advertised in the past, but never actually viewed it yet. I will definitely have to see it now. Blessings.
@Bible Highlighter , I'm struggling to understand how a person can be in communion with God with even minor sins?
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