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Protestants who distort the gospel
I am not condemning all Protestants but the idea that being born again means you are forgiven of all sin if you are sorry but you never struggle enough to try to overcome it or to overcome it is a lie
If you truly believe you are a sinner you would then try hard to or ensure you live a holy life because you knew Christ expects a life lived in holiness and you accept His power and aid to help you while you struggle. Or rather most say they are sorry but they are not myself included otherwise I would say as Paul for me to live is Christ and to die is gain because true sorrow may be enough as psalm 51 says God accepts the sacrifice of a contrite heart but that would turn into repentant deeds if one lived longer perhaps
Sometimes we wish to give into sin because we feel our striving is not from God and we will never be happy because we think our suffering is self inflicted but it is actually from God. I believe the overcoming of sin comes from knowledge of the truth. If we are sinning it is Christ invitation to know Him better and get correct theology as he said if you abide in My words you are My disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Just because sin is not easy to overcome does not mean we do not have the truth but truth is known better daily as we struggle to obey the commandments because Jesus said the narrow way is difficult and few find the gate that is the truth because few struggled enough to know the truth deeply who is Jesus who sets free. We will never be without sin but we should be able to uproot some sins from being a lifestyle. It doesn't matter how late we know Christ. I don't know if all sins have to be uprooted as a lifestyle because of time but we must make progress daily
Everyone can struggle against sin but only with Christ can sin be uprooted from our heart
If you truly believe you are a sinner you would then try hard to or ensure you live a holy life because you knew Christ expects a life lived in holiness and you accept His power and aid to help you while you struggle. Or rather most say they are sorry but they are not myself included otherwise I would say as Paul for me to live is Christ and to die is gain because true sorrow may be enough as psalm 51 says God accepts the sacrifice of a contrite heart but that would turn into repentant deeds if one lived longer perhaps
Sometimes we wish to give into sin because we feel our striving is not from God and we will never be happy because we think our suffering is self inflicted but it is actually from God. I believe the overcoming of sin comes from knowledge of the truth. If we are sinning it is Christ invitation to know Him better and get correct theology as he said if you abide in My words you are My disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Just because sin is not easy to overcome does not mean we do not have the truth but truth is known better daily as we struggle to obey the commandments because Jesus said the narrow way is difficult and few find the gate that is the truth because few struggled enough to know the truth deeply who is Jesus who sets free. We will never be without sin but we should be able to uproot some sins from being a lifestyle. It doesn't matter how late we know Christ. I don't know if all sins have to be uprooted as a lifestyle because of time but we must make progress daily
Everyone can struggle against sin but only with Christ can sin be uprooted from our heart
Comments
and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
So is struggling to obey the commandments to know truth a work which leads to boasting which is condemned ?
No I do not think so. I think St Paul is saying either even if we later do the commandments we still need forgiveness of sins or he is saying no one is good and able to fulfill God commandments even later but God makes us fulfill His commandnents by giving us the Holy Spirit as grace but we still sin but can repent by having been given a gift to do His will. We have been given God's nature or we are partaker in His nature. That is why we have been saved by grace because the Holy Spirit makes us able to do His will
Why do we have to or why does it help to struggle to obey the commandments to know truth? because God hides Himself who is truth from those who don't love it. And how can you say you love the truth if you don't want to do His commandments. But God also loves us and delivers us because we love the truth by struggling to obey the commandments. By truth I do not mean factual knowledge of who Jesus is but knowledge that sets free
Romans 6:1-14
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
It is true when we accepted Jesus we died to sin we had a new nature. But we must not allow ourselves to sin by being under grace by continually being born again by the word of God so the power of our faith in God to help us overcomes the sin. Otherwise our faith is dead. It was alive once but we do not realise it is dead. Like a lamp with no oil. So David said restore to me the joy of your salvation AND uphold me with your generous Spirit. I think the and means it goes hand in hand. The joy of salvation is grace. For the law came through moses but grace and truth through Jesus Christ. By faith from reading the word of God we take all that God wants to give us and without asking we receive nothing
Im so happy by the mutual concern the different chrisitans have for eachother, it seems to me that more than any time before there is dialogue and honest listening and understanding, please pray that we ( all and specific different christians) will be unified in the true teaching and true will of our Lord, not by our understanding but by His