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NASB | 1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, because God's seed [His principle of life, the essence of His righteous character] remains [permanently] in him [who is born again--who is reborn from above--spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose]; and he [who is born again] cannot habitually [live a life characterized by] sin, because he is born of God and longs to please Him. |
Subject: Who makes the rules? |
Bible Note: Dear Baptist, It sounds to me that you do have the answer to your own question. You said that you do not condemn your friend, yet he is gluttonous. Why do you not condemn him? Because you can see that he has a heart to serve God. I think that we all understand that we might not repent of every sin before we die. If not, will God condemn us to hell? NO! Why not? Because our whole walk, we have tried to serve God with our ALL. I know I listed these scriptures before, but it is what Jesus said that the scripture in 1 John 3:10 elaborated on. Matt 7:15-23 They shall be known by their fruits!! Read those scriptures very carefully and you will receive your answer. Now when I say that it is the matter of the heart I mean this: If you look at the Pharisees and Sadducees, it seemed outwardly that they served God. They appeared to follow the law as strict as possible. Matt 23:23-28 28 "Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity". So how do we tell the difference between someone who is only outwardly appearing righteous and the true children of God? You look at the motives of why they are doing the things they are, i.e. the heart. Are they self righteous or are they doing it for God? As Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matt 23:5-7 5 "But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments," Sometimes it might take a while for you to discern who is in it for God and who is in it for themselves. But their motives will be revealed through their actions (fruits). In Matt 24:42-51 It clearly points out that we must be serving God or we will not inherit eternal life, even as Christians. Rom 6:15-16 15 "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under GRACE? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" So just because we are under grace does not mean that we have a one way ticket to heaven. We must now use the Spirit to serve God. But what about those Christians that have so much trouble serving? Again...are they trying with their ALL? Rom 14 entire chapter explains about those who are weak in the faith. Also in Matt 13:8 it talks about the seeds in good ground and it says "But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." Here, Jesus says the ones in good ground will have different levels of bearing fruit. Some will bear fruit 30 times over, some 60 and some 100. We need to accept those that are not bearing as much fruit as the others, but are still bearing fruit. Does any of this make sense or help you in your quest for your answer? I'm sorry if I didn't answer your question. I am really trying!! :o) May God bless you brother, Matt 5:6, 7:7 Sal |