Thank you for your response!
I expected everything you wrote, I am also glad that you visited I John for it appears there that he was speaking to the Children of Abraham. They were not all accepting of this Jesus, they were accepting of their traditions. After all, they believed they were clean that it was the Gentiles that were not.
John had to speak to them in such a way to help them cross over in their understandings for further along in such passages he tells them ..."Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. nO one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteious, as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. By this it may be seen who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: Whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother." 3 vs 4
And further down..."Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. " [I wonder what they were spreading..hmm?]..."Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.".."By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit." Everyone is our our brother
...I am reminded about the passage where Jesus sent out his disciples ahead of him [on his journey to Jerusalem] and told them that if they reached a town that did not accept them that they were to shake the dust off their feet and keep their peace. I remember John coming to the town of Samaria, who did not accept our Lord, and John was upset. He said, [because he knew...that it was possible]...he said "should we command fire and brimstone to come down and cunsume them!?" And yes, Jesus rebuked him by saying "If you knew what manner of spirit you were you would not say such things!"
"...If we say we have not sinned [because they believed that the law of Moses was their confidence] we make him a liar, and his word is not in us"
.."but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin."
We have been forgiven for Christ's sake. If we continue to say we have sin, then we are not taking hold of the complete redemtion. Why? Could it possibly be that those false prophets contaminated the truth to hold us at bay from knowing who we really are in Christ ~ The children of God?
"We know that anyone born of God does not sin...does not sin...does not sin...but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him...does not touch him...does not touch him...We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.....and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ." 4 vs 18.. Also John 17 speaks of this when Jesus was praying to the Father.
I ask you, what is more ...to say Christ has set you completely free from sin...or saying, you still have sin in you but Christ continues to forgive the sin in you? The question is 'what is true freedom'...Paul says that in this freedom should we continue to act as though we have no truth...absolutely not!
If you have never experienced this reality of freedom from sin...how is it possible to imagine what your reaction would be, how you would veiw yourself and others...how your love would decline or grow for the glory of God, through Christ? Have faith brother.
I understand you say that your need for Christ would possibly deplete...but I say not! There is so much more the Father has for us, let us not continue to say sin abides in us, but rather love abides in us...and yes, become accountable for your thoughts and actions. To do so, is not to be puffed up and proud by a very humbling experience that we are returned to him while we yet 'live' to understand just what it is that has happened. This is the first act of submission in love, to acknowledge and accept the greatness of our Saviour and what he promised he would do, he has done.
Let us not believe a lie that we have been taught through the ages...rather Let the power of the living God filter through your being and open your eyes to this very new life and see how all things will pass away. For only faith remains in the end.
I was not taught this through the church, or through man. The Holy Spirit spoke to me directly and I was clearly hearing him. It was like letting go of a rope hanging into nothingness. I let go of all that I had been taught and gave all I had to believing as he had commanded me to do, and that was many years ago. Not one day has passed where I have second guessed this measure of clarity.
We who are God's children are no longer having to deal with sin...there is so much more he has to move us into...Those that continue to confess that sin is apart of their lives have a form of godliness but deny the power of it. "Lord, lord...did we not feed the hungery, cast out demons...in your name...??" "Depart from me for I knew you not" Now there is something to discuss, pride can lead us in a way that is not clean but appears to be so.
Forgive the length of this, I have the morning off ) I look forward to any responses, Our Lord's peace continue to work out your salvation....that the light burns brightly...for no other 'religion' in this world can confess such a thing....~ Kelly