Hi everyone!
Please take the time to read this. You will find it very helpful.
Just as I discussed in my last email, that certain messages and teachings are being mixed and given to both believers and non-believers, so we also have the problem of misunderstandings of certain words in the Bible.
Take, for example, the confusion people experience when they don't understand the biblical uses and definitions of the words "holy" or "sanctified".
If we hear in our minds "I need to sin less" or "strive to sin less" when we hear these words, we do not understand the word in its biblical use. The words "holy" and "sanctify" stem from the same Greek/Hebrew word and simply means "to be set apart or consecrated"; apartness, sacredness; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): - appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, declare as holy, treat as holy; to be selected, to be pure, be holy, be sacred, be regarded as holy.
It signifies an act or state in which people or things are set aside for use in the worship of God, i.e., they are consecrated or made sacred for that purpose. They must be withheld from ordinary (secular) use and treated with special care as something which belongs to God. This word is used with various objects: the altar in the temple, the priest, the mountain, the Sabbath, buildings, fasts, wars and battles. It was anything which was reserved exclusively for God, and its opposite is secular or profane. The above definitions and clarification overwhelmingly describe holiness/sanctification as a condition. (The above two paragraphs are taken from the AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary.)
My point on this is as follows: when we hear the words holiness or sanctification and tack on our own interpretation of "to sin less", we are adding a definition that the Bible does not support.
The ultimate result of this is that Christians refuse to recognize the full meaning of having been proclaimed holy and sanctified by God.
Again, since even things could be proclaimed holy, that alone destroys our definition of "to sin less". Would we say that Jesus needed to "sin less"? Of course not. But in John 17:19, He says that He has "sanctified" Himself. Clearly, the word does not mean to sin less.
Furthermore, and most significantly, the condition of holiness or sanctification is something we can't even do (or manage or maintain) ourselves. Once again, God gets all the glory and credit for this (2 Thess 2:13).
We are not sinners and should never refer to ourselves as such, especially since Paul did not either. We are Saints, even though we occasionally sin. And guess what, even when we sin, we remain holy, sanctified, and clean (ceremonially and morally) for one reason and one reason only: our holiness, sanctification, and cleanliness is not something for us to procure and keep: it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the state in which we abide and for which He remains faithful.
And I must declare the following most emphatically: any idea that supports the notion that we become holy or sanctified by our behavior is idolatry, for it refuses to recognize the completed work of the cross:
"Jesus' last cry from the cross, Tetelestai! ("It is finished!") is a good example of the perfect tense used in this sense, namely, "It [the atonement] has been accomplished, completely, once and for all time."
I am against sin and sinning, but we must recognize the biblical use of words such as I have addressed here and how they apply to us and affect our lives.
I hope these two emails have introduced you in a greater way to the peace that exists between God and you. Knowing that, you should now be able to stop striving and rest in your permanent condition in Christ. May you enter His rest by faith.
Please take the time to read this. You will find it very helpful.
Just as I discussed in my last email, that certain messages and teachings are being mixed and given to both believers and non-believers, so we also have the problem of misunderstandings of certain words in the Bible.
Take, for example, the confusion people experience when they don't understand the biblical uses and definitions of the words "holy" or "sanctified".
If we hear in our minds "I need to sin less" or "strive to sin less" when we hear these words, we do not understand the word in its biblical use. The words "holy" and "sanctify" stem from the same Greek/Hebrew word and simply means "to be set apart or consecrated"; apartness, sacredness; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): - appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, declare as holy, treat as holy; to be selected, to be pure, be holy, be sacred, be regarded as holy.
It signifies an act or state in which people or things are set aside for use in the worship of God, i.e., they are consecrated or made sacred for that purpose. They must be withheld from ordinary (secular) use and treated with special care as something which belongs to God. This word is used with various objects: the altar in the temple, the priest, the mountain, the Sabbath, buildings, fasts, wars and battles. It was anything which was reserved exclusively for God, and its opposite is secular or profane. The above definitions and clarification overwhelmingly describe holiness/sanctification as a condition. (The above two paragraphs are taken from the AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary.)
My point on this is as follows: when we hear the words holiness or sanctification and tack on our own interpretation of "to sin less", we are adding a definition that the Bible does not support.
The ultimate result of this is that Christians refuse to recognize the full meaning of having been proclaimed holy and sanctified by God.
Again, since even things could be proclaimed holy, that alone destroys our definition of "to sin less". Would we say that Jesus needed to "sin less"? Of course not. But in John 17:19, He says that He has "sanctified" Himself. Clearly, the word does not mean to sin less.
Furthermore, and most significantly, the condition of holiness or sanctification is something we can't even do (or manage or maintain) ourselves. Once again, God gets all the glory and credit for this (2 Thess 2:13).
We are not sinners and should never refer to ourselves as such, especially since Paul did not either. We are Saints, even though we occasionally sin. And guess what, even when we sin, we remain holy, sanctified, and clean (ceremonially and morally) for one reason and one reason only: our holiness, sanctification, and cleanliness is not something for us to procure and keep: it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the state in which we abide and for which He remains faithful.
And I must declare the following most emphatically: any idea that supports the notion that we become holy or sanctified by our behavior is idolatry, for it refuses to recognize the completed work of the cross:
"Jesus' last cry from the cross, Tetelestai! ("It is finished!") is a good example of the perfect tense used in this sense, namely, "It [the atonement] has been accomplished, completely, once and for all time."
I am against sin and sinning, but we must recognize the biblical use of words such as I have addressed here and how they apply to us and affect our lives.
I hope these two emails have introduced you in a greater way to the peace that exists between God and you. Knowing that, you should now be able to stop striving and rest in your permanent condition in Christ. May you enter His rest by faith.
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
Jeremy
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