While it is true that my salvation is unaffected by my failures, there is a significant reality that I have noticed in my own life. For years after my salvation, I struggled with a porn habit established long before I converted. In the multiple battles between victory and failure, one of the motivators that pushed me to repentance was a perceived dullness in my relationship with Christ. It just wasn’t as sharp as when I was walking in victory. Though it is a memory, it is now a distant one and I daily I thank God for His patience and faithfulness with me.
In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement used two lambs to foreshadow the coming Lamb of God. The scapegoat experienced a vicious death to atone for the guilt of sins and trespasses. The second lamb was a sin offering. Its blood was used to atone for sins committed in ignorance. First John 1:7 is true because of Jesus’ sin offering for us.
Too often, we are told that we are sinners, just "like everybody else." I have always taken exception to that thought - as I have taken exception to the idea that, "No one is righteous, no, not one..."
Within the context of Romans 1-3, it deals with those who claim to be Jews, but do not live that way, and the gentile, who does live that way, but has no relation to that Law. From that perspective: BOTH stand in need of Christ. Those who claim - but purposely do not practice, and those who do not claim, but purposely practice.
The 1 John context is along the same line: Those who claim, but purposely do not practice - claiming to be in the light while purposely doing works of darkness, and claiming those works are light...
A John 3 - it is the practice of the clamant that matters...
While it is true that my salvation is unaffected by my failures, there is a significant reality that I have noticed in my own life. For years after my salvation, I struggled with a porn habit established long before I converted. In the multiple battles between victory and failure, one of the motivators that pushed me to repentance was a perceived dullness in my relationship with Christ. It just wasn’t as sharp as when I was walking in victory. Though it is a memory, it is now a distant one and I daily I thank God for His patience and faithfulness with me.
In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement used two lambs to foreshadow the coming Lamb of God. The scapegoat experienced a vicious death to atone for the guilt of sins and trespasses. The second lamb was a sin offering. Its blood was used to atone for sins committed in ignorance. First John 1:7 is true because of Jesus’ sin offering for us.
Too often, we are told that we are sinners, just "like everybody else." I have always taken exception to that thought - as I have taken exception to the idea that, "No one is righteous, no, not one..."
Within the context of Romans 1-3, it deals with those who claim to be Jews, but do not live that way, and the gentile, who does live that way, but has no relation to that Law. From that perspective: BOTH stand in need of Christ. Those who claim - but purposely do not practice, and those who do not claim, but purposely practice.
The 1 John context is along the same line: Those who claim, but purposely do not practice - claiming to be in the light while purposely doing works of darkness, and claiming those works are light...
A John 3 - it is the practice of the clamant that matters...