posted on Oct, 9 2023 @ 04:17 PM
[TLDR at the bottom.]
This is the nature of the loop, though it isn't necessarily limited to these three beliefs and doesn't necessarily have to follow this particular
order:
(1) I can't stop sinning, even with the Holy Spirit; therefore (2) I can't lose salvation, otherwise I would have already; therefore
(3) my justification is based on my faith alone regardless of what I do.
Let's take a breif look at what the Bible has to say about all three of these common misconceptions. [Please read these verses in their broader
context before accusing me of "cherry-picking". It's just not practical to post entire chapters of scripture.]
(1) I can't stop sinning, even with the Holy Spirit;
[Eze 36:27 NASB95] 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My
ordinances.
[Gal 5:16 NASB95] 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
[1Pe 4:1-3 NASB95] 1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered
in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For the
time already past is sufficient [for you] to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts,
drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
[1Jo 2:1 NASB95] 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
[Rom 6:1-3 NASB95] 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to
sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
(2) I can't lose salvation, otherwise I would have already;
[Jhn 15:2, 6, 10 NASB95] 2 "Every branch IN ME that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every [branch] that bears fruit, He prunes it
so that it may bear more fruit. ... 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast
them into the fire and they are burned. ... 10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's
commandments and abide in His love.
[1Jo 3:9-10 NASB95] 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who
does not love his brother.
[1Jo 3:15 NASB95] 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in
him.
[Rom 6:16 NASB95] 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you
obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
[Rom 8:5-6 NASB95] 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the
Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
[Rom 8:13 NASB95] 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of
the body, you will live.
(3) my justification is based on my faith alone regardless of what I do.
[Jas 2:24, 26 NASB95] 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. ... 26 For just as the body without [the]
spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
[1Jo 3:17-18 NASB95] 17 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of
God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
[Eph 2:8-10 NASB95] 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; 9 not as a result of
works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we
would walk in them.
[Mat 25:45-46 NASB95] 45 "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these,
you did not do it to Me.' 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
[Rom 2:5-11 NASB95] 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: 7 to those who by perseverance in
doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 [There will be] tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also
of the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no
partiality with God.
[Luk 8:21 NASB95] 21 But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."
TLDR: If you're in Christ, you're not under the Law, but in the Spirit. Therefore our burden is light but our path is constricted. IT IS NOT TOO
DIFFICULT TO WALK BY THE SPIRIT. If you don't walk by the Spirit, you will not be saved on the Day of the Lord. Faith alone is dead faith, like a
body without a spirit.