April 10, 2013
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The Myth of Sinless Perfection, Part 4: Freedom & Holiness through Faith
I didn’t consider writing any more on the matter of Sinless Perfection. I wrote the original two posts (Linked Here and Here) and felt that would cover the matter. My last post was merely a reaction to further prompting from someone caught in that trap and so I continued the topic. To be honest, I wrote more than I thought I needed to, but the topic seemed to flow from what I knew from scripture, and so I simply allowed it to go as it would.
Today I was studying and I hit upon a verse that made me stop and say “Wow, it all makes sense.” and then to further reflect on the whole Sinless Perfection matter — and then to consider a post I wrote nearly 2 years ago regarding what Holiness is not (linked here: “False Standards of Piety: What Holiness is not“.) To be honest, it’s a post I wish more people would read and comprehend.
Anyway, I was reading in Hebrews 10 regarding the sacrifice of Jesus and how it alone atones for our sins because it was a once, for all time event (as compared to the daily sacrifices of the old covenant). (Sorry, my Catholic friends, but the mass is NOT even remotely necessary for our salvation — Jesus finished the work on the Cross…. your priest doesn’t pull him down from Heaven in order to re-sacrifice him anew.) And suddenly verse 10 came alive in a manner I’d never seen before.
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. (Hebrews 10:10 NLT)God’s will was for us to be made Holy. How? Not by self-effort. Not by self-imposed standards of pseudo-piety. Not by striving to keep or maintain the law. No…. we are made holy by Jesus own sacrifice!!! The work for our holiness was completed on the cross. Under the old system men strive to keep the law and be seen as holy — but David showed us in the Psalms that this wasn’t what God wanted when he said:
You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. (Psalm 40:6; 50:8-10; 51:16; Hosea 6:6; Jeremiah 6:20; even 1 Samuel 15:22 gives us this indication! This topic shows up a lot in the Old Testament.)This is why Jesus says to us
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)When we come to God through faith in Christ — when we trust in God as our means for our salvation — when we fully throw ourselves upon the mercies of God —- we find that we need not strive or struggle or fight or claw or scratch or even work hard in order to please him….. simple faith does just that.
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 NLT)Our Faith pleases God, but more than that…. our faith is the victory over the world!!!
For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:4-5 NLT)Our freedom doesn’t come in striving hard to BE holy. Our freedom comes by trusting God because ONLY GOD IS HOLY…. and by faith we understand this and accept the gift of holiness he’s bestowed upon us through Christ because we understand our utter sinfulness. That’s the whole meaning of Hebrews 10:10 that I mentioned above. Our Faith makes us holy in God’s sight —- not by works we have done…… remember this verse??
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:9 NLT)Our faith makes us holy simply because God imparts the holiness of Christ upon us. That’s the beautiful picture of our being “Yoked” with Christ — we are paired with him, we are side by side with him, we are being helped along by HIS strength, HIS power, HIS endurance, HIS holiness, HIS sinlessness, HIS love — it has NOTHING to do with anything of our own, for we have nothing we can bring to the table to offer. A yoke like what Christ is referring to is built for two animals, side by side, to encourage them to work in tandem in the same direction. Christ calls for us to share his yoke — but more so, to allow him to shoulder the burden of the work and for us to simply rest in him thus.
Someone caught in the trap of Sinless perfection has to believe that OUR efforts, OUR striving’s, OUR work has an impact upon OUR salvation. We have to be sinless because it’s a standard set ….. BY THE LAW. But they forget the verse in Galatians which reminds us —
So it is clear that NO ONE can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Galatians 3:11)You can keep the law as well as you are able — but the law’s purpose wasn’t to be a standard for our obtaining the promises of God. The law’s purpose was to show us how greatly we stood in need of a savior!!!! (Galatians 3:19,21-22)
Thus we come back to the issue of freedom. God gave us freedom from having to strive to keep the law. In our Faith we overcome this perpetual self-effort to “SHOW” ourselves as being holy among men…. when in truth, we are not. We have found rest. We have ceased our frantic and manic struggle to be something we could not ever be — perfect. If perfection were attainable through keeping the law (re: attempting to be holy) — then Christ’s death was pointless. That’s the same conclusion Paul comes to in Galatians 2 just before he gave us the picture of what the Law was here for!!!!
I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. (Galatians 2:21)Brothers, Sisters — we have glorious freedom because of our faith. Our faith obtains holiness for us THROUGH CHRIST — not through self-effort. We trust in the promise that God has given that He will work in and through us for His own glory and purpose. (Ephesians 2:10; Romans 8:28)
Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:3-4)
What glorious freedom our faith establishes — and end to the laws demands upon us so that we might know God’s righteousness as our own. We trust that God will save us, not because we’re special or holy or perfect — but simply because God is merciful and we are unable to keep the law. We become, in effect, the tax collector unable to look up towards heaven but instead beating his breast and praying —
‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ (Luke 18:13 NLT)
Jesus said that this man went home justified (Luke 18:14) — not because of what he’d done, not because of his efforts to be holy, not because he was special, not because he deserved it —- not because of anything other than his simple faith that God was there, and that God …. God alone …. was holy… and he was not.
Freedom, by faith. Not by self-effort.
Amen! Indeed Amen!
Comments (4)
The Bible says the law was added because of transgressions, it was never a means for salvation……in fact, the law was given only to Israel to set them apart as God’s people at the time and the deal was, if they followed it he would be their God……..but:
Zechariah 11:10- And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with ALL THE PEOPLE (as opposed to covenants made with one man and his descendants, meaning the covenant of the law because it was made with “all the people”). And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. And I said to them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
@alterb4ego - I’m not honestly catching the connection between your verse in Zechariah and the law given as a means to pointing people to a necessary redeemer.
@JulieMillerFan - Jesus was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, the law was a broken covenant after that that the Lord said he would no longer honor…….bringing the age of the gentiles in.
@alterb4ego - While I knew of the prophetic importance of the passage, I had not connected the death of the law from the 30 pieces of silver. That’s an interesting thought — that Israel bought themselves out of God’s covenant.
I discovered yet another verse (which will be added in to the post after I’m done with this comment) today that adds some interest and weight to this whole issue. Romans 10:4 says that
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
This beautiful verse sums up everything nicely — Christ put an end to the law so that righteousness comes to those who believe. It’s not that we struggle after righteousness — we believe, and God imparts His righteousness upon us. Here’s Romans 10:3 for clarification of what Righteousness we’re talking about.
Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
God’s Righteousness — not ours.
Amen.