But, I am guessing from what you said, that you do not believe sinners are cleansed from sin, but only the consequences of sin. I mean, you do not believe the blood of Jesus Christ is able to make men new creatures, who have ceased from sin, (I Pet. 4:1) but keep on sinning and are only relieved from the consequences of sin, (i.e. eternal damnation). Please comment.
Hank
Of course I believe Jesus Christ makes men into new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15). New creatures who, while on this earth, have two natures.
In God's eyes believers are cleansed from sin and pronounced righteous.
The believer in Christ receives a new nature which cannot and does not sin. But he still has an old nature which can and does sin. Notice that John says "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" in 1st John 3:9, yet this is the same man who wrote just two chapters earlier "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
Paul wrestles with the two nature issue in Romans chapter 7.
Real victory over the dominion of sin in anyone's life is by Jesus Christ. (I'm not talking about achieving perfection -- we rely on Christ's righteousness, not our own. I'm talking about victory over the dominance of sin -- Romans 6:14.)
So making "turning from sin" -- which is, by the way, just another way of saying KEEPING THE LAW -- a condition or prerequisite of salvation is (1.) not only putting the cart before the horse, (2.) it is a complete impossibility to achieve perfectly in this body while still subject to the influences and weaknesses of the flesh. The Bible calls it "madness" to try attaining that, and I'll show you where it says that in a moment. I'll give two examples to illustrate these two points.
The first one we'll talk about drunks, because the woman who wrote the article brought it up. A drunk has a lot better chance, more strength to give up drinking AFTER he's received Jesus Christ as Saviour, as he's begun to take hold of assurance that his sins, all of them, whatever they may be, ARE forgiven; that, in confidence in the finished work of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, God is for him and he is accepted and loved; that he is NOT under the pressures of perfectionism and constant demands of performance with attendent unrelenting criticism and disapproval, for the law has been taken away (Colossians 2: 13-14) through Christ; and that God, who IS love, due to the all-sufficent atonement of Jesus Christ, is not "out to get him" if he messes up, for acceptance isn't by being "perfect", but simply by FAITH.
I'd say a drunk has a lot less chance when, as a prerequisite or condition of salvation, he must give up drinking -- and that's even before has any strength and power from Christ and the truth of God's love in him to do so. There are many drunks who have tried repeatedly to quit on their own, and have failed. To tell them that turning from it is a prerequisite or condition of salvation is like simply telling them outright, "You can't be saved." And that, of course, is a lie.
The second example is the Bible account of Balaam.
While we are yet in these corrupt bodies with our fallen natures, we are still subject to sin. So as believers we rely entirely on the imputed righteousness of Christ. If we pursue perfection, we very well find ourselves on Balaam's road (Numbers 22), driving and beating and whipping ourselves into straiter and straiter stricture, until the very beast on which we ride (ourselves) finally breaks down in resistance to our "madness" in seeking impossible angelic perfection. Of course the intent of any who travel that road is to reach a place of personal perfection where they don't need to rely on Jesus Christ's imputed righteousness any longer, thinking they have attained their own righteousness, their own perfection. It's at this point one would think to tell Jesus to "jump in the lake," for His righteousness isn't needed any longer. And it's pretty clear what "lake" that old saying refers to. And that is, in a picture, what Balaam intended to do -- he was on his way to cursing Israel, the nation through whom the Saviour would be given.
And this -- this drive to personal perfection, self righteousness -- is what is referred to in 2 Peter 2:16 as "madness" -- "the madness of the prophet". The sought-after wages or "reward" of Balaam were praise and glory and honor for self (Numbers 22:17).
I will close this by saying that the believer who receives Jesus Christ as his Saviour does repent of his SIN and turn from it IN THE VERY ACT of inviting Jesus Christ into his heart to save him. I'm talking about the very FIRST sin, Adamic sin, the bottom line, original sin -- that of disbelieving God's WORD, denying life to himself and separating himself from God. These were the original sins in the garden of Eden.
When any man, woman, boy or girl invites Jesus Christ into his or her heart to save them, they first of all have believed God (reversing the decision to disbelieve God and accept the serpent's lie -- Genesis 3), they have restored LIFE to themselves (which they, in Adam, robbed from themselves in sinning and going under the knowledge of good and evil), and have restored fellowship with God which was lost when they sinned and hid themselves from God among the trees (they have returned God's beloved creature to God, so to speak).
Not only that they have admitted that they themselves are the sinner and in need of salvation (or else they wouldn't have asked for it), which means they have repented of pretending that they didnt do it (that only the "bad them" did it and they are commanding "good works" to make up -- "cover" themselves -- for it). And they are repenting of commanding endless works from themselves and of working for life, for salvation -- the old "religion" -- and are instead simply asking for it, receiving it. They are putting away -- abandoning -- the old belief that salvation is by and can be gained by works, simply by, instead, asking for it.
If you can receive it, they are repenting of SIN in this sense -- In the sense of WHAT SIN DID IN THE GARDEN, the VERY FIRST SIN, the sin from which all sin descended:
Rom 7:11 "For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
Jesus Christ takes away the commandment, and the sin that took occasion by the commandment is directly dealt with. The power of sin is spoiled -- in the taking away of the commandment, and the washing away of sins.
There is cataclysmic import in the simple, little, easy prayer that anyone can pray. It is the difference between reversing the Adamic choice, or remaining unrepentant. That simple little prayer that goes:
Lord Jesus, be merciful to me a sinner. I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, that you died for my sins, and that you rose again the third day. I ask you to save me. I invite you into my heart. I receive you as my Saviour and Lord. In the name of Jesus I ask, Amen!
And that is all there is to it! God takes it from there. Anyone who prays that prayer and means it is born again and in the family of God! And they didn't have to repent of a single sin in advance to do it. For anyone who prays that prayer and means it is repenting of "SIN" when they do it!