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NASB | 1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us. [His word does not live in our hearts.] |
Subject: Is sinless perfection possible on earth? |
Bible Note: EdB, Yes, I agree with your assessment of 1 John 2:8. It says that the darkness is "passing way" as in that it is not completely gone but in the process of passing. Another verse is James 3:2 Jas 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now I think without doubt that James here is speaking to believers. Also another passage I think you should give great attention to is in Philippians 3. For space considerations I will not copy the whole chapter here, but I urge you to go back and read it in context. Php 3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Php 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; Paul here emphasises that he has not already become perfect yet he presses on to that. Then he says that we ought to have the same exact attitude. I am not perfect yet I press on to perfection. And ofcourse then he says that as many as are "perfect" ought to have this attitude. I think here Paul has intentionally put is in a bind. Now we who might be tempted to thinking we are "perfect" must confess and believe that we are not as a condition of it! Either Paul has lost his mind and is contradicting himself or he has seen fit to say "perfect" the second time in a bit of a tongue in cheek fashion. He says if you are "pefect", then admit you are not perfect. In my opinion James and Paul in Philippians make a much stronger case than Romans 7, as I said in my previous post, I think Romans 7 has the intentions of showing the failure of the law to create righteousness in us rather than any attempt to describe a lost or saved person in particular. I might could think of more passages but this will suffice I think. In Christ, Beja |