1stCenturyLady
Well-Known Member
First about sin:
By quenching the Holy Spirit. That is the quickest way and why it is a commandment of Paul.
We need to also be yoked with other believers, and that is more than for marriage, but business, and friendships. Also false teachings which reminds me of Peter's warning.
I take to heart all the warnings in our New Covenant. But I also know how to make sure I am on firm foundation.
This first one is in the chapter where Jesus takes away the sins unto death out of our nature that can lead to eternal life, which are sins against the laws of God. 1 John 3. Here is the assurance for that type:
1 John 3:21-24
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Warning:
2 Peter 2:
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
The lesser sins NOT unto death: Fruit of the Spirit. This has both a warning and an assurance:
2 Peter 1:5-11
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
(Assurance:)
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
John 15:1-4 (Fruit of the Spirit)
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
Notice that Jesus works on our fruit after we are first cleansed of all unrighteousness. Verse 3 is about the sins unto death. We are first cleansed from those, then the fruit. Both types of sin require our keeping ourselves abiding in Jesus.
To KEEP YOURSELF against both types of sin is ABIDING IN JESUS. An easy way to do that is reading books of the Bible in one context. Do not read a verse here and another verse over there. Context matters and church fathers have made false doctrines from especially chapters 4 and 5 and 7 of Romans. It is chapter 8 that is the conclusion of this study, not highlights from the Old Covenant in this 8-chapter teaching.
