SINLESSNESS AND SALVATION ASSURANCE

SINLESSNESS AND SALVATION ASSURANCE "ROOTED" IN ETERNITY. Although it is true that there are people who don't sin anymore and who are already assured of God's gift of salvation, many nevertheless who claim to be recipients of this grace miserably misunderstand the doctrine, especially the nitty-gritty aspects which appertain to the OBJECT of grace and reference to the SINLESSNESS status of God's people.This results in many Bible interpretation violations, among them the misapplication and the scrapping altogether of the Scripture's proper and overall doctrinal context. This is a serious error because of its grave consequential implications for the claimants who teach and hold on to this erroneous interpretation, which is improper and a baseless and hopeless expectation.So, how is this doctrine on "SINLESSNESS" and "SALVATION-ASSURANCE" to be understood? A careful study of certain pillar texts appealed to (supporting the erroneous interpretation) is essential to understand—texts such as Heb. 10:12; Psalm 32:1; Rom. 8:1; Num. 23:21. What do these texts teach?Heb. 10:12 says, "But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God." Sins spoken of in the text refer to all forgiven sins–past, present, and future sins that have not yet been committed.Psalm 32:1-2 says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." This passage is saying that there is a person who is incapable of sinning, the reason being that God does not impute his sin against him anymore because they have all been forgiven. This means clearly that such a person will remain sinless until the day of his resurrection and glorification.Rom. 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The text is explicit. To all those who are IN Christ Jesus, salvation is already assured, which means that regardless of the plight of their life now, they can never fall from the grace of God anymore because they have been once saved and, therefore, are always saved. Num. 23:21, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them." This text is not saying that there is no sin in Israel, for Israel is a stiff-necked people who sinned continually in all their wanderings in the wilderness. It simply says that God has already removed their sins from them and laid them on Christ, who bore them, made reconciliation for them, redeemed them, and saved them from their sins, which God does, owing to their being His chosen people.Considering the preceding–and gleaning the meaning from the quoted texts–we will understand that the OBJECT reference is TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD, the blessed people of God--those referred to in Heb. 12:21 as "the saints unto whom Christ offered one sacrifice forever"; in Psalms 32:1-2 as, "the blessed man whose transgression is forgiven, and unto whom the LORD does not impute iniquity"; in Rom. 8:1 as, "the saints IN Christ Jesus who are never to be under God's condemnation"; in Num. 23:21 as, "the Israel of God that is seen to be without iniquity, and neither perverseness seen in them because the LORD their God is with them."Moreover, they are they who are identified and called in the Scriptures by MANY NAMES: the weary and heavy-laden bidden by Christ to come to Him, those who thirst and hunger after righteousness. They are they who are the blessed of the LORD referred to in Christ's beatitudes: the pure in heart, the poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, they that hunger after righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers, they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: "they and they alone" are the OBJECT of God's grace and love, and the people WHOSE SALVATION IS ASSURED.Most definitely, THEY DO NOT REFER to all people head-for-head--to the lawless or "antinomians," to all those mentioned in Rev. 21:8, nor do they refer to anyone now who is living the life of a lie, a life that is bereft of morality and love for the things of God.One more question needs to be answered: How is it true that the people of God don't sin anymore? The answer is true in PRINCIPLE and "only" in PRINCIPLE. Christ's sacrifice and shedding of His blood on the cross has already accomplished God's works of redemption: remission of sins, reconciliation, justification, and salvation of His people. It is only in that context that the children of God are said to be now sinless and incapable of sinning. But in REALITY, they still sin, and when they do, they repent; then again sin and repent, and on and on; the cycle goes until the day they join their Maker in His kingdom in eternal glory–they will continue to sin. In summary, SINLESSNESS and SALVATION-ASSURANCE are "rooted" in eternity. God's people do not sin anymore, only in "PRINCIPLE." But in our life now, we still sin. 1 John 1:10 explicitly states, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." That is why the Lord's prayer teaches us to pray daily, "… Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Lastly, God's people's salvation is assured because Christ has already earned it for us by God's works of redemption via the substitutionary sacrifice. — Rod Bongat_________________________For a free share of other studies/materials related to this post, available on this page, please click https://www.facebook.com/rodolfo.bongat, or send your message to ckb_ps@yahoo.com.PRCA Sister Church: If you are in the Philippines and looking for a distinctively Reformed church where you can fellowship and join God's people in their reverent, God-glorifying and gospel-centered worship services on Sundays, please click here: https://m.facebook.com/bereanprc/