True Christians

[timewerx]

Ignores the rest of my point that goes along with it. Straw Man and automatically invalid and void.

The Nicene Creed doesn't disagree with me regarding sin. I'll prove to you please have patience to read all these. It's not just important to you but to others as well. I don't intend to condemn anyone. As long as alive, there is always a chance to repent.

From the Nicene Creed posted in CF rules/FAQ:

And He shall come again with glory (Matthew 24:27)
to judge the living and the dead; (Acts 10:42; 2Timothy 4:1)

Jesus is the judge. And here is what Jesus prophesied about future judgement:

Matthew 7:22-23
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The Greek word used for "evildoers" is ἀνομίαν. ἀνομίαν means lawlessness, lawless conduct. Source:

Matthew 7:23 Greek Texts and Analysis
Greek Word Study Tool

The same word ἀνομίαν is repeated in 1 John 3:4:

"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness."

source:

1 John 3:4 Greek Texts and Analysis

For better context we include after verses so we have 1 John 3:4-6:

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

We see here that if one says they believe Jesus, even speak of Him highly, even do miracles in His name but does not obey His commands and continue to sin (one of the commands of Jesus is to stop sinning completely) they might belong to those those people mentioned in Matthew 7:22-23

Further reading, 1 John 2:4-6
4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

In case you would quote this from the Nicene Creed:

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins**.

It does not count future sins after one thought to have known Christ (see 1 John 3:4-6 again). In that case, one has to repent again and finally know Jesus for real.

Treat the Nicene Creed more of a guide than having all the Truth in it. If the latter is the case, there's no need to keep or read a thousand-page book.

 

[Scott4Him]

1 John 3:4-6
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Anyone here is a big fan of St John? Or is everyone here a big fan of Apostle Paul because what he teaches is easy salvation by faith alone?

If you keep on sinning and found it impossible to stop sinning it's because you still love the world, its wisdom and its ways and the world also loves you and you hate God! (See James 4:4 and John 15:19)

.’

Back to the OP.

These are worthy passages to explore. (They all are.) Keep in mind what John also wrote earlier on the letter:

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8 ESV)

It is true that many think they are Christians and are not. It is true that real followers of Christ will desire righteousness. We need to read all of I John to understand I John 3.

When I sin I confess my sin to God. He forgives me. Furthermore, He does not allow me to continue in it. But for any of us to claim we have no sin it have stopped sinning completely makes us out to be liars.

I love John's words. And Paul's. and all of Scripture. To paraphrase Paul:

What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow John," or "I follow James," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:12, 13)

I follow Christ.

 

[PaladinValer]

This presupposes the worn-out rhetorical tropes of "Christianity is a relationship, not a religion" and "anyone who disagrees with me disagrees not with me but God/Jesus/Bible and believes in doctrines of men/demons."

Oh, and don't forget that the Nicene Creed was a product of that evil uber-Pagan Constantine who perverted the Christian religion (despite the fact that the very same beliefs during and after his reign can all be found in earlier records and writings).

I've said it before and I will say it again: when the world treats history like it treats science and math, a lot of conspiracy theories will finally die the deaths they need to die.

 

[EGordo]

Paul's position on faith is further explained by James:
James 2:17
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Our faith is counted as righteousness like Abraham's faith was.
Why does everyone like to discredit Paul?
Paul was given the ability to perform miracles for no reason?
I think Paul is clear about the wages of sin.
Are we also forgetting the Holy Spirit and His work in us?
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

I think once we know that we can't be righteous on our own than it should give us the motivation to seek His face daily. Of course there will be days that you fall, but we don't have to knowingly continue in sin. Jesus died so He could intercede on your behalf. So you could confess your sins to God.

I think the problem with Christians is that we get comfortable with our routine every week. We think praising God one day out of the week is enough. When Jesus prayed, He said "Give us this day our daily bread."
Bread meaning teachings = daily teachings.

Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

So we should ask ourselves, are we letting days, or weeks go by without hearing the word of God?

Also being rich in itself is not bad. The reason it can be bad is that it can incline you to forget God. God gave riches to Solomon but it wasn't until Solomon turned from God that it was bad.

I was looking for Proverbs 30:8 and found that the rest of the proverbs were appropriate.

Proverbs 30
8Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
10Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
11There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
12There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
13There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

We as Christians are all members of the Body of Christ. If you see your brother down(continuing in sin,etc), lift him up.
One more thing my friend told me. If you see a problem or problems in people, are you praying for change or are you just complaining? He hit me in the gut with that one.

 

[timewerx]

These are worthy passages to explore. (They all are.) Keep in mind what John also wrote earlier on the letter:

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8 ESV)

I think you may have taken the verse in the wrong context. Because by that verse alone, it would seem St John is contradicting himself but it's not if you also quoted the few verses that followed it.

1 John 1:8-10
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.


In the correct context. The sins St John is speaking of is past sins. Sins you have made before you knew Christ. Indeed no one can say they never sinned even before they knew Christ.

I could present it this way, there's no conflict see:

Everyone sinned before we knew Christ:

1 John 1:10
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

But everyone who knows Christ stops sinning:

1 John 3:6
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

See, no contradiction. 1 John 1:8-10 does not change the meaning of 1 John 3:6. It's simply past - the old sinful you VS present - the new you who stops sinning and follows Jesus.

 

[DarylFawcett]

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