Jesus took His disciples up on a mountain and began to teach them the principles of being a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven
During the course of His teaching, He made one statement that is to be the center of thought for this revealing of His Word. That statement that He made to them was that they should be perfect, just as God in Heaven is perfect:
Mat “Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
This state of perfection in the believer has been the underlying goal for multitudes of believers over the past hundreds of years and is looked on as a goal to which no person can attain to in this life. But if it was impossible for a person to be perfect, would Jesus have told them that it was expected of them?
In the letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul, as is thought to be it’s author, said to those believers that it was time to refrain from teaching basic doctrinal principles and to move on to perfection.
The Apostle James made reference to a man being perfect when he said:
James 3:2 “For in many things we offend all. If any man offends not in word, the same <is> a perfect man, <and> able also to bridle the whole body.”
The Apostle Peter also believed that perfection was a goal that was attainable after a period of trial or testing. Peter said it this way:
1 Pet “But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle <you>.”
As is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus makes mention again about the perfect man when He said:
Luke 6:40 “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.”
In light of the testimony of these witnesses, there should be no doubt that a state of perfection for the believer is possible in this life, even though many are taught and believe that it is not. Where the problem arises, is that man sees perfection as one thing and God sees it as something else. Too many times man takes the Word of God and reads something else in to it, adding his own interpretation. Man has become so intelligent, so he thinks, because of his theological background and applying his own intelligence to understanding God’s Word, that he believes he knows all the ways of God. But the Word of God disputes that, as the scripture states in the book of Isaiah:
Isa 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said the LORD.” “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Man continues to look at the outside of a person and judges them according to what they see, but all judgment belongs to God who judges righteously, who looks at the inner man and the content of his heart and judges him by the Word of God. If one person looks at another person and makes a judgment that the other person is not perfect, it means nothing, but if by God’s Word a man is judged to be perfect, that is what truth is. Man has an idea of what he thinks a perfect person should be like and judges other men without righteousness, but only God’s judgment is important.
Hebrews 5:9 states that Christ was perfect and because of this, became the author of eternal salvation. Many say that Christ was the only person who ever walked the earth that was perfect, but the scriptures do not support that. Now let us look at what the scriptures actually say about perfection and what constitutes a perfect person.
Examine first these scriptures:
Heb 2:10 “For it became him, for who are all things, and by who are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
Heb “For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,”
The 10th and 11th verses are speaking of Jesus and states that He was made perfect through what He had suffered. Then continuing on to say that, He, Jesus, and those who are sanctified by Him are one. Then if they are one, and He is perfect, those who are one with Him are also perfect. If those who are one with Him are not perfect, then either He is not perfect or they are not one with Him.
Look at the following scriptures:
Heb “By the which will (the second covenant) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Heb “For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.”
The tenth verse says that believers are sanctified through His sacrifice and verse 14 says that those who are sanctified have been perfected or have been made perfect. Now if those who have been sanctified have been made perfect, then what does it mean to be sanctified?
The scriptures present to us that a believer is sanctified by becoming one with Christ, becoming a member of the body of Christ. For the scriptures say that sanctification comes by the acceptance that Jesus was the Son of God, was sacrificed on the cross by the shedding of His blood and having been taken into Heaven, sent the Holy Spirit back to dwell in the hearts of believers. In summary, the Word of God and faith sanctify a believer in that Word, believing that the blood of Christ was shed for the forgiveness of our sin and His Spirit has taken abode in our hearts.
The following scriptures speak of the sanctification process:
John “Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.”
Acts 26:18 “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
Rom “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
Eph “That he might sanctify and cleanse it (The church) with the washing of water by the word,”
Heb “By the which will (the second covenant) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Heb “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.”
Faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, sanctifies the believer and according to Hebrews 10:14, those who have been sanctified are perfected because they have been made one with Him, who is perfect. The following scripture gives a very good picture of the state of a believer who has accepted Christ and has been baptized in His name.
1 Cor “And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Man judges man because he sees another doing things that he believes he should not do, or does not see him doing things that he believes he should do. So the poor misjudged man is called a sinner because he is being judged, not by the Word of God, but by the belief and tradition of man.
In 1st John 3:6 it says that whoever abides in Christ does not sin. Sin is disbelief, so if a person is in the body of Christ, he is a believer. Being a believer, he is not only sanctified, but also justified and because God sees nothing except Christ when He looks at that person, He sees them as being perfect because Christ is perfect.
Paul the Apostle states the position of a believer in a most excellent way in his letter to the Colossians. In Col
If you are in Christ, perfection is not measured by what you do or do not do, it is measured by what Christ did and what He is and if you are one with Him, then you are, as He is.
Satan, in his sly and deceitful way, is still deceiving God’s people. His motive is to keep God’s people in bondage to the traditions being taught by man, instead of the people accepting the freedom that is present for those who are truly in the body of Christ. As long as satan can convince a person that they do not match up to what a perfect Christian should be, they will always doubt their position in Christ.
Paul the Apostle stated something very important in this way:
2 Cor 11:3 “But I fear, unless by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Christ freed us from the bondage of the Law and gave us the truth of His Word to light up our paths and guide us into God’s Kingdom. We must return to His Word and turn aside from the teaching of man and accept the simplicity that is in Christ.
The scripture tells us:
John “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Now a problem exists, when we ourselves do something that is commonly recognized as a sin or we observe someone else doing something that is considered to be a sin, and we question how a person can do those things and be in Christ.
So the question arises; can a Christian sin; or if a person commits a sin; are they still a Christian?
DO CHRISTIANS SIN?
The scripture states in 1st John 3:9, that anyone born of God cannot commit sin. This is a very judgmental statement if it is taken the opposite way than which it is written. For example, if I would state it in reverse, it could be taken to mean: If a person commits a sin, they are not born of God. See how self-condemning it sounds when stated this way. But this is not what this scripture is actually saying. The scripture is saying that any person that is born of God cannot commit sin, because they have been justified by their faith in the Lord.
First let us take a look at the scripture:
1 John 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed (God’s seed) remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
It says that whoever is born of God cannot sin, because God’s seed is in him. The second part of the statement which says “and he cannot sin”, could also have been translated it is not possible for them to sin, because they are born of God.
Someone that is born of God and has the Spirit of God in them can do something that is called a sin by man, but because they are born of God, sin is not imputed unto them. God does not see their action as sin, because their actions are justified and He does not charge them with having committed sin.
Let’s look at verses 5 and 6 of 1st John chapter 3:
1 John 3:5-6 “And you know that he was manifested to take away our sin; and in him is no sin. {6} Whosoever abides in him sins not: whosoever sins has not seen him, neither known him.”
It says here that Christ was manifested to take away our sin and whoever is in Christ does not sin. Christ has shed His blood once for our sin, both past and future. If we have accepted Him as our Savior, His blood justifies us as Paul says in his letter to the Romans.
Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Paul also stated in Acts 13:39, that through Christ we are justified from all things.
Acts “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.”
Many Christians have the tendency to allow their own hearts to condemn them, when they do something that they think the Lord does not approve of, or they do not do something they think should have been done. But Paul says in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ. We should not condemn ourselves, for He doesn’t.
Paul says in Romans 4:25: “Christ was delivered for our offenses and was raised from the grave for our justification.” So we have been justified and are free from blame, declared guiltless, of our actions if we are in Him.
Jesus Himself said that he who hears His Word and believes on Him who sent Him has eternal life and shall not enter into condemnation. The scripture says in 1st John: “Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sin and transgressions.” He stands between the Father and our sin and transgressions and the Father sees nothing but Him.
1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”: {2} “And he is the propitiation for our sin: and not for ours only, but also for the sin of the whole world.”
If we are in Christ, we cannot sin for there is no sin in Him. If we allow our hearts to condemn us, it is the trick of satan trying to separate us from God. But we must remember that He, who is in us, is greater than satan and He that is in us does not condemn us. Therefore we should have confidence in God that we will not come into condemnation.
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