"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
Today's quote is widely misunderstood to bolster the false contention that a lost soul must live without sin to maintain eternal salvation. The quote does indeed assure us that those who truly live in sin will not inherit eternal life. But, what is living in sin? Is it the failure to obey the ridiculously oppressive rules mankind has imposed upon himself? The answer to that question is an unequivocal NO! The rules that mankind imposes upon himself do not determine what is or is not sin. To truly sin, one must break one of the two commandments Jesus Himself imposed on His followers; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40 in part.) Unless the things we do cause hurt to someone else, they are NOT sin. As we will see in the third chapter of 1 John, it is IMPOSSIBLE for a born again child of God to commit sin.
We must remember that when Jesus completed His sacrifice and ascended to the Father, all the sins of those who believe in Him were forever forgiven. The commandments that we must obey are not the burdensome laws of the Old Testament nor the silly rules that are placed on us by another sinner claiming to be "holier than thou", but rather, they are those two commandments Jesus Himself commanded us to obey as written in the previous quote from Matthew.
If we do indeed love God with all our being and we truly love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we will have obeyed all that is necessary to fulfill the requirements John put forth in today's quote; "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.".~
No comments:
Post a Comment