Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
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 again, Gal5:16, Likewise, the Apostle Paul teaches that the Christian is dead to sin in Romans 6:1-10. By this he does not mean that sin is completely eradicated from the Christian's life. His precise words show that true believers are no longer slaves to sin (6:6) and should take care that they not allow sin to reign over them (6:9). In the following chapter (Romans 7), Paul recounts his own experience as a struggle between his old sinful nature and his new spiritual nature. Clearly, sin was not eradicated from his life, though he was the greatest of the apostles, but his new nature was assured of victory over the old through the Person of Jesus Christ. If one habitually succumbs to temptation and finds sin dominating his life, he should examine himself carefully, for the Bible declares that he is not saved. The true Christian, however, follows Paul's inspired instructions: "Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be!" (Romans 6:1-2, KJV). Christians cannot use the existence of the old nature as an excuse for sinning, but should, following each transgression, humbly repent and trust God for more strength to overcome future temptations. The Christian can experience the repeated triumph of his new nature over his old. The lifelong struggle against sin does not rightly produce pessimism, for the Christian knows he will be free from sin's power, presence, and temptation when he meets the Lord, either at death (Hebrews 12:23) or at the Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 3:13). Far from discouraging righteous living, the certain knowledge of future perfection motivates one to increased purity. "Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3, KJV). Every true believer can be absolutely certain of sinless perfection, not in this life, but in the presence of the Lord. This glorious realization should prompt eager obedience and faithful devotion to the Lord whose grace works such a transformation. Blessings to you, Makarios |