(Cristoiglesia) You're very wrong to believe Christians are free from sin & all those that sin are reprobate souls. We're certainly not forgiven of future sins that are not confessed and repented.
(LottaLou) I know Christians sin. I sin. But I don't make a comfortable habit of it. I repent when the Lord convicts me of something. He makes me right. The Holy Spirit is always with me. The blood covers all sins, past present & future.
Salvation is the Gift of God. We are saved by Grace through faith, and not of our works lest we boast... Eternal life is purchased for us on the Cross. What rewards we receive is based on our obedience & deeds done rooted in faith, hope & love... Perishable deeds R fried.
(Cristoiglesia) 1 John 1:6-10 (King James Version)
6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
I am not sure what you meant when you said that “the blood covers our sins.”
I am hopeful that you did not mean that His blood cloaks us in some way, as is taught in the heretical Calvinist teaching, to allow a sinful soul to enter heaven and come into the presence of God. Such is not the teaching of the Bible and Christ’s Church.
Here St. John is teaching against the claims of false teachers who may teach that we can be in a familial relationship with God and still in darkness. Such teachers speak of the carnal self as being worthless and lost to sin in which one indulged themselves in sin or would discipline themselves from sin but that in any case it did not matter because the body would be destroyed and corrupted. The truth is to love God is to no longer be a slave to sin. He begins by speaking of our fellowship and communion with one another in Christ’s one Church. Only this relationship is blessed by the Holy Spirit and becomes a living faith instead of a dead faith lacking the fruits of the Spirit which are our works. It is the Spirit that convicts us of our sin and as a result there is no condemnation for those who remain in Christ as the Spirit appeals to the law on our hearts to seek forgiveness in Him and Through His sacrifice.(Rom 8:1) In contrition and repentance we are restored when we err and fall for the snares of Satan. Christ’s Blood cleanses us of all sin.
In the Old Testament the faithful transferred their sin to an animal which was sacrificed. Their forgiveness was earned by their faith and obedience. But in this practice there really was no actual forgiveness of sin in the sense that the person still remained the same sinful soul whose sin was paid for through faith and obedience but there was not a cleansing or removal of the sin which came with Jesus’ sacrifice which was the true Lamb of God who does remove the sin of the world. He removed the spiritual death that comes with unrepentant sin. He brings us His kingdom and a new familial relationship with Him through a New Covenant. He said “It is finished” on the cross and the Old Covenant of animal sacrifices for sin to a New Covenant abiding in Him and trusting in Him in His kingdom for truly the last cup, the cup of consummation was drank from the Hyssop branch which served the Israelites to protect their child by sprinkling the blood of the lamb, that same branch spread the New covenant to all mankind as a protection of His sacrifice and His blood upon mankind. He drank from the hyssop branch by sucking on the sponge and then said to the entire world that the perfect Lamb of God had conquered the sin of man. At the last supper He said that He would not drink from the cup of consummation until His kingdom come. It is truly the kingdom of the Lamb.
In conclusion, it is not a covering of the blood as in a cloak that is the work of Christ. For a covering of our sin is not effectual in gaining our presence with God as no sin will be in His presence even covered in God’s blood? Such would be a delusion of man and a false assurance as taught by Calvin. Such is not the work of Christ. The blood applied by the atoning sacrifice of Christ is not a cloak to sneak a sinful soul into heaven but instead it cleanses our soul and purifies so that we can be with God in the form of the soul of Adam before the fall of man. God bless!
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
No comments:
Post a Comment