The Guiltless Life

[WordSword]

I wonder if there are many believers who do not know the guiltlessness of their status in the Lord Jesus. If there is not the knowledge that Christians are never judged, and are completely absent of guilt, there cannot be much spiritual growth in the faith!

There will be “chastisement” when believer’s sin but there is permanent forgiveness, and it is from the love of the Father for our “growth up unto Him (Christ) in all things” (Eph 4:15; Pro 3:12; Heb 12:6); and we begin the lifelong lessons of the Word through its Author and Teacher (2Ti 3:16; 2Pe 1:21; 1Co 2:13).

The difference with sins between the saint and sinner is whether or not the sin is intentional or nonintentional! Christians are not viewed as sinners, as there are no Scriptures that relates a saint as a sinner (1Pe 4:18); the sin-source (old man; sin nature; flesh) is in us, but we are not in it (Rom 8:9). The eternal life of the believer is not that of the Holy Spirit, but of the Lord Jesus (Col 3:4; 1Jo 5:12)—by the power of the Spirit (Jhn 3:5, 6, 8).

There is never a time when believers are not forgiven. God knows, more than anything, that saints want to please Him, as this is the very attribute He “works in you” (Phl 2:13). Christians have permanently been “blessed us with all spiritual blessings” (Eph 1:3) and have been given “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2Pe 1:3).

Believers have all that God can give, thus it’s just a matter of learning what the Father desires to teach us concerning everything, so we can appropriate (“reckon)” and share them (doctrines) with one another. Of course it’s all about love, God’s love; and His is not the same love we have. Man’s love without His love can at best be conditional—“love others as we love ourselves”—which is Law, but love from grace is to love as Christ loves (Jhn 15:12). It’s been well said that, “love does not function according to the quality of its object, but according to its nature!

 

[Zceptre]

Super post! The answer to the first question? Not enough of them. This was one of the transformational things God used to open my eyes to how the Gospel works and changes us from the inside out. When He makes the tree good (Matthew 12:33) then it is suddenly a good tree and bears good fruit. The revelation shown me was not that the tree is good on its own merit, but that being connected to Christ makes the tree good and so it then bears good fruit (John 15:5).

Also, Colossians 1:22 points out how we are blameless and without fault in His sight through the sacrifice of Christ and this is how He made us "good trees." When one feels guilt that carries depressing emotion that drags people back down and creates "children" (byproducts) that make us feel like we cannot do better they fall into deeper sins feeling helpless. When one realizes they have been made a good tree then they know they can do better and are filled with God's love that causes us to bear good fruit (Galatians 5:22).

One who feels guilt is drawn away from God, feeling separated and cannot achieve the good fruit they desire to produce because it can only be produced when one is connected to God and receiving His love.

The deception that a Christian can be guilty leaves the person in a vicious cycle of trying and failing because they constantly feel separated from God, and without knowing one is accepted and clean and guiltless they cannot produce good fruit because they are not receiving God's love. The negative feelings increase every cycle and it spirals a person down more and more into bearing bad fruit unless they get this revelation that they are not guilty at all in Christ, but have been made clean and innocent and a good tree in good standing with God.

There is never a time when believers are not forgiven. God knows, more than anything, that saints want to please Him, as this is the very attribute He “works in you” (Phl 2:13)

Exactly.

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

 

[WordSword]

Super post! The answer to the first question? Not enough of them. This was one of the transformational things God used to open my eyes to how the Gospel works and changes us from the inside out. When He makes the tree good (Matthew 12:33) then it is suddenly a good tree and bears good fruit. The revelation shown me was not that the tree is good on its own merit, but that being connected to Christ makes the tree good and so it then bears good fruit (John 15:5).

Hi Z, and much appreciated and instructional reply and comments! It's always a comfort to realize that the more we try to please God, the more understanding we receive of the Word; and the more the understanding the more we please Him (Phl 2:13).

Amen, once they understand that they are genuine Christians (by reading more of the Pauline growth truths), they get more encouraged, because being right with God will mean more and more to them than anything (pretty much what you said). It's not like one starts off a good tree and maybe becomes a tree in Christ; the lifestyle will eventually reveal if they are being sincere or not (Mat 7:18).

 

[fhansen]

I wonder if there are many believers who do not know the guiltlessness of their status in the Lord Jesus. If there is not the knowledge that Christians are never judged, and are completely absent of guilt, there cannot be much spiritual growth in the faith!

That’s a bit of an odd statement since the growth God wants is in our holiness. And sin is sin, of the devil, anti-love, while righteousness is doing right as John affirms in his letters. Believers are not immune from intentional sin, not until and unless they’re “perfected in love” which won’t fully occur until the next life. Meanwhile it’s a struggle, a battle, even, at times and it’s best to acknowledge that rather than pretending we’re something that we’re not.

 

[WordSword]

That’s a bit of an odd statement since the growth God wants is in our holiness.

Hi, and I mostly agree with you! Being "holy" is probably a little different in understanding and expression from one another, but everyone reborn is holy (Rom 11:16; 1Pe 1:15; 16). Christians are holy unto God when born again, and from then on we continue to learn that this is the only way God will have it, because He is holy.

And sin is sin, of the devil, anti-love, while righteousness is doing right as John affirms in his letters.

God knows we still have the sin source ("old man"; sin nature) because He did not remove this source. What makes the saints different is that we do not intend or plan on sinning "willfully" like when we were lost. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" (Heb 10:25; Num 15:28-30).

Believers are not immune from intentional sin

Why would a believer want to sin? Paul said he did not want to sin: "If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good" (Rom 7:16).

pretending we’re something that we’re not.

A sinner is one who wants to sin and a saint is one who does not want to sin--be we know we will still sin, just not "presumptuously" (Num 15:30).

God knew Adam and Eve would sin when He was forbidding them not to partake, He is omniscience (all knowing). He knew they would partake and then realize what His "holiness" means; they only knew right and wrong but not His holiness, from which they learned (before the sin - Gen 2:25), after the sin, 3:7.

 

[fhansen]

Hi, and I mostly agree with you! Being "holy" is probably a little different in understanding and expression from one another, but everyone reborn is holy (Rom 11:16; 1Pe 1:15; 16). Christians are holy unto God when born again, and from then on we continue to learn that this is the only way God will have it, because He is holy.

Yes, He wants us holy, in word and deed. And yet He doesn't demand perfect holiness in this life but that is certainly the path He wants us on, not taking our forgiveness for granted.

God knows we still have the sin source ("old man"; sin nature) because He did not remove this source. What makes the saints different is that we do not intend or plan on sinning "willfully" like when we were lost. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" (Heb 10:25; Num 15:28-30).

Yes, "concupiscence" is not removed from our reality here. We must still struggle against the temptations to sin-and could fail: our freedom is not removed. And we're being warned againsnt the willful participation in sin because of that very possibility.

Why would a believer want to sin? Paul said he did not want to sin: "If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good" (Rom 7:16).

It's impossible to sin unless we want to sin-so there are conflicting wills/desires involved here and experience bears this out. Every temptation to sin and every justification for sin comes with a voice: "Wouldn't you be smarter, wiser, cooler, stronger, freer, prouder, happier etc, etc...if?" And we can't just say the devil or Eve or God or anyone else made me do it even as there can well be at least mitigating circumstances for individuals. We're here to learn, sometimes the hard way, that God, and not man or any other part of creation, has the only voice worth listening to.

God knew Adam and Eve would sin when He was forbidding them not to partake, He is omniscience (all knowing). He knew they would partake and then realize what His "holiness" means; they only knew right and wrong but not His holiness, from which they learned (before the sin - Gen 2:25), after the sin, 3:7.

Ok. I think the value of the Fall is that due to it we touch and experience the "hot stove" of sin/evil which is the result of man's abuse of the freedom given him, and should then learn to hate and run from that evil back to the true good and the source of all good, which is God Himself. Ultimately God wants us to come to love as He does, to value and embrace the love that He is, to the extent possible, which spawns obedience and precludes sin by its nature.

 

[WordSword]

Yes, He wants us holy, in word and deed. And yet He doesn't demand perfect holiness in this life but that is certainly the path He wants us on, not taking our forgiveness for granted.

In our life we are perfect in Christ's holiness, but in our soul we still sin; and all our sins are forgiven and continually "taken away" by the Lord Jesus Blood. "And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin (1Jo 3:5). The sins are always gone if we confess them.

 

[fhansen]

In our life we are perfect in Christ's holiness, but in our soul we still sin; and all our sins are forgiven and continually "taken away" by the Lord Jesus Blood. "And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin (1Jo 3:5). The sins are always gone if we confess them.

Ok, and Scripture informs us that we must participate in the appropriation of that holiness if we expect to see God. He doesn't just make us into a Christian automaton IOW.

 

[WordSword]

Ok, and Scripture informs us that we must participate in the appropriation of that holiness if we expect to see God. He doesn't just make us into a Christian automaton IOW.

Yes, and very true. It should already be known that one reborn will manifest the Life of Christ in His ways, which is what the Spirit will teach us! Some think it's mimicking Christ's Life and that's ok, but what many have yet to understand is that it's the Lord Jesus Himself living His Life in and through us--by the Holy Spirit in us, which is very different than just mimicking Him.

It's not the Life of the Spirit but the power of the Spirit, using the Life of Christ in us. The Lord Jesus has to live His own Life in us. Nobody can live anyone's life and can only live their own life--but the Life of the Christian is Jesus' Life (Col 3:4). That's why I have that as my signature.