![TCT Christian[1]](/Media/7/gif/2009/1/TCTChristian1.gif)
Why do some in the Church grasp tightly the pre-grace, pre-redemption view of life on earth, even to the point of considering believers as sinful still, maintaining we remain fools, incapable of pleasing our Father? “Sinful” pertains to nature; “capable of sin” to actions. They are not the same thing, and to equate them by labeling a redeemed child of the Father as “still sinful” is to deny the change that takes place when one’s sin is washed clean by Christ’s treasured blood. (Heb. 10:14-18)
It is not true that we as Christians are unable to please our Father. Scripture itself militates against this purportation of an impervious barrier between our works as saved children and the pleasure of God. Have a look at: 1 John 3:20-22; Col. 1:10-12; 2 Co 5:9; Rom 8:1-2, 9-11; Heb 11:6.
We are capable of pleasing Him, if we live by faith, acting according to what the Holy Spirit desires. This is not an immaterial distinction—we must draw an uncrossable line between our state/nature/standing/condition prior to salvation and that after we have been redeemed by Christ’s work. We must understand and differentiate these according to God’s word, not according to our own feelings or based on experiential theology.
“So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” – Romans 8:9-11, emphasis added
Copyright (c) 2009 Jeffrey R. Snell
Scripture quotation from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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