The intrinsic view of Imputed Righteousness results in forgiveness our sins, past, present and future.
The Holy Spirit never 'fades away' He permanently indwells the believer, since the body of the Believer is now a temple.(1Cor.6)
The believer can lose the filling (relationship) of the Holy Spirit by rejecting him and sinning thus, either quenching or grieving Him.(1Thess 5, Eph.4)
Holiness is not sinless perfection, but completeness and maturity, since no man living can ever be without sin (1Jn.1:10)
What does occur is the creation of a second nature, thus, the believer has two natures (Rom.6-7).
Water baptism has nothing to do salvation, it is a symbol of it (Col.2) and Jn.3 is making an issue of being born again, the first birth natural, occurs with water, the second, supernatural, occurs with the Holy Spirit.
It would be the RCC view of Righteousness that would have the individual's righteousness 'fading' if he did not partake of the Sacraments.
Where does the Bible say that the Spirit PERMANENTLY INDWELLS in someone from the very beginning of their acceptance of the Lord to their death on this earth and that He will NOT EVER leave? Paul writes to those who "have the Spirit permanently indwelling" to be careful with their dissensions, because THEY are destroying the Temple...
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy that one; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are. 1 Cor 3:16-17
Is God the Father going to destroy someone with the Spirit abiding in them?
It seems that the Spirit's indwelling is partly conditional. It appears that GOD has the perogative to destroy those who defile the Temple (the Church, in this context, those who break it apart).
It would be the RCC view of Righteousness that would have the individual's righteousness 'fading' if he did not partake of the Sacraments.
And the Scriptures, as well. We first receive our righteousness at Baptism, as Paul writes in Romans 6. The Eucharist is "our daily bread", necessary for eternal life, according to Jesus Himself. The sacraments are visible instruments that manifest our relationship with Christ.
Regards
If the Holy Spirit, under Reformed theology, never fades away, then why is the now saved believer able to sin?
Could you possibly expand on this “filling” (and possibly on the opposite -emptying?). If one can be filled, can one be emptied? What does quenching the Holy Spirit mean? Can one filled with the Holy Spirit blaspheme the Holy Spirit and thus be condemned to hell? One Calvinist here has claimed not. If I quench a fire, it goes out. Does the Holy Spirit then exit the individual since He is now quenched?
Certainly, we believe that the baptism of importance is of the Holy Spirit. We are instructed to baptize with water and the Spirit. We more or less agree there.
Jesus said, “I solemnly assure you, no one can enter into God’s kingdom without being begotten of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). At the Ascension, our Lord commanded the apostles, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ Teach then, to carry out everything I have commanded you” (Mt. 23:19-20). In another account of the Ascension, Jesus added, “The man who believes in [the good news] and accepts Baptism will be saved; the man who refuses to believe in it will be condemned (John 16:16).
Baptism is the sacrament which infuses the divine life of the Holy Trinity into our soul and opens to us fully the mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. Through the nourishment of grace from the reception of other sacraments, the study of the faith, and our life within the Church, we live our Baptism looking forward to its fulfillment in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The other sacraments nourish us and keep us spiritually healthy. It is possible that spiritual health can be maintained without the other Sacraments, just not likely for most. Fading? Not exactly a word I’d use, but I suppose it communicates some of the essence.