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NASB | Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 10:14 For by the one offering He has perfected forever and completely cleansed those who are being sanctified [bringing each believer to spiritual completion and maturity]. |
Bible Question:
Why do we hang on to that sinful nature so dearly? Everyone always quotes the later part of Romans chapter 7 because they find that it soothes their guilt! Move on to chapter 8! "You however are not controlled by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you..." People have turned what Paul was saying about the sinful nature before you die to it, into a license to sin. The reason your conscience is not clear is that you still sin. Read 2 Timothy 2:19 if you think that remaining in your defeated state is okay. People love to quote 1 John 1:8-2:2 to prove their point that everyone sins, has sinned, and will always sin. Again, keep going! Read 1 John chapter 3. "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." Even in the former passage the Holy Spirit tells us that the point is that you will not sin! It says "But IF anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense", not WHEN everybody sins! Do I claim to be perfect? No, not yet. The difference between me and the other commentors is that I believe that Christ will produce it in me before I die. One question I always ask people to which they cannot respond is if perfection is not humanly possible, then how did Jesus do it. We deny the power of the Holy Spirit which we have received through Christ when we refuse to believe that he will produce in us the kind of righteousness that the Father requires. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 is fulfilled before our eyes. To those who are waiting for death to come before they are perfected, I refer you to 1 John 3 where the Holy Spirit calls you a deceiver trying to lead us astray. If I do what is right, I am righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. You who do what is sinful are of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason Jesus appeared was to destroy the devil's. work. Again, no one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed (which is the Holy Spirit) remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God. |
Bible Answer: Greetings Gal5:16, Every Christian, after struggling with the sorrow and the bruised conscience from sin, yearns for the day when the root of sin will be eradicated from his life. And one day it will be- when that believer steps from this life into the presence of the Lord. Until that day, however, the Christian life contains both the old and new natures, and sometimes the clash between these two is traumatic. The Bible speaks of certain men as "perfect," and by this it means they are mature or complete. God called Noah "perfect" in Genesis 6:9 [KJV], but Noah later sinned through shameful drunkenness (Genesis 9:21). Job likewise was called "perfect," but he later repented of sin in dust and ashes (Job 1:1; 42:6). When describing David's life as "perfect," an exception had to be made for David's sin with Bathsheba and Uriah (1 Kings 15:3-5), and that wanton transgression caused David untold grief (Psalm 51). Spiritual maturity, then, is not the same as sinless perfection. Christ taught, "You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). Some argue that this and other similar commands would be meaningless if sinless perfection were impossible. Yet God's expectation of holiness pertains to all men, and those without Christ have no ability to do anything that is distinctively holy in God's sight. Just because man by sin has forfeited his ability, God has not been forced to forfeit his expectations. It is interesting that the teaching of sinless perfection in this life is usually accompanied by a weak view of sin. Sin is seen as something outside of man that is manifest only by conscious wrongdoing. The Bible, however, shows that sin is not external to man, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). Also, "sin is the transgression of the law," whether that violation is conscious or not. 1 John 3:8-9 states, as do similar passages, "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." [KJV] At first glance, this seems to teach sinless perfection for all true believers. Strict attention to the Greek text, however, reveals that John is speaking of repeated or habitual sin. Consequently, this passage could be rendered, "No one who is born of God practices sin ..." The new nature implanted in the true Christian at the time of his conversion guarantees that sin will no longer dominate his life. This interpretation is in accord with other passages in 1 John which warn the Christian that he will occasionally sin. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us" (1 John 1:8-10). Also, "My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). Christians are commanded not to sin, but when obedience falters, there is a remedy. Blessings to you, Makarios |