I will not be able to respond as much as I would like. I'm posting this for the edification of the saints. I'll check in when possible and respond as time and opportunity allow.
For a man to proclaim himself sinless is vanity.
If you think you can do anything to add to the work of Jesus on the cross, if you think there is anything that you can do to complete the work of Jesus, then you are not only sinning, but you are committing blasphemy. Hence, you may not even be covered by the blood of Jesus.
Yes, be ye perfect. But don't ever think you are.
Great article and this is the perfect description. The converted person will ask Christ to show them their sins. When he does, the converted person asks Christ to help him eliminate, or overcome, that sin. The goal is to overcome our sins, not continue in them.
The simple answer is yes we can live without sin, but we are bound to fail from time to time and by God's grace we may be forgiven.
Instant sainthood eliminates the need for forgiveness. As our Saviour has said, forgive not only seven times, but seven times seven. Wasn't he referring to one's "brother?" I've accepted Jesus as my Saviour, but I need forgiveness daily. It's a matter of growing in holiness.
If I do not sin by commission, I sin by omission; if I show Christian love toward others, there may be a lack of intensity or delay or some selfishness connected to it. Holiness is a gift, but one needs to strive to be open to receive and grow in it. As I've heard a minister say, when we walk through this world, we get dust on our feet. We may be cleansed in the Blood, but the dust still clings. We need to continue to turn to our Saviour for forgiveness. We are saved once, we're being saved, and we will be saved when we enter heaven.
Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.