{"id":1204,"date":"2015-03-18T22:37:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T22:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/2015\/03\/18\/sinless\/"},"modified":"2015-03-18T22:37:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T22:37:00","slug":"sinless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/sinless\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinless"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Is it possible to lead a sinless life?<\/span><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s an interesting question\u2014with a seemingly endless number of Biblical contradictions.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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When Jesus heals the paralytic man in John 5, He tells him, \u201cBehold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.\u201d (v14b KJV) <\/span><\/div>\n

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And, when He frees the woman caught in adultery from the Pharisees about to kill her he tells her, \u201c\u2026go and sin no more.\u201d (John 8:11b KJV) <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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There are also numerous times in the Old Testament where God commands His people to be sinless. Leviticus 19:2 is one example: \u201cSpeak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.\u201d (KJV)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Then, there\u2019s this in 1 John 3:9: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (KJV)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Whoa. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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That\u2019s a pretty high standard and frankly, I don\u2019t know if I can pull that off. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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In contrast, we have Paul\u2019s \u201cwretched man\u201d lament in Romans 7: \u201c<\/b><\/span>I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.\u201d (v. 15 NIV)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Paul was obviously admitting that he still sins. \u201cWhat a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?\u201d (v. 24) These are not words written by a man who considers himself sinless. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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That makes me think of a man in Scripture who did consider himself sinless: <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, \u201cGood Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d And Jesus said to him, \u201cWhy do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.<\/span> <\/b><\/span>You know the commandments: \u2018Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.\u2019\u201d <\/span>And he said to him, \u201cTeacher, all these I have kept from my youth.\u201d (Mark 10: 17:20 ESV)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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While it\u2019s interesting to note that Jesus didn\u2019t specifically list the commandments about idolatry or coveting, the rich young ruler actually looked Jesus in the face and lied to Him! And, he did so after<\/i> failing to acknowledge Jesus as the sinless Messiah and<\/i> being warned that only God is sinless. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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The next verse is flabbergasting: \u201cAnd Jesus, looking at him, loved him<\/u><\/i><\/b>, and said to him, \u201cYou lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.\u201d (Mark 10:21 ESV) (Emphasis added.)<\/span><\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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I would have expected Jesus to launch off into this bold-faced liar with a diatribe normally reserved for the Pharisees. I want Jesus to flip over the rich guy\u2019s table, expose the glaring truth behind the white-washed walls, and call this guy a liar in front of the whole crowd. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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But no. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Jesus looks at him with love!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And then, as only Jesus can do, He cuts to the heart of the matter: Go and give up your idolatry of all your possessions and give your heart<\/i> to me.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And there\u2019s the deal.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Once again, it\u2019s about our souls<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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If you carefully read Paul\u2019s wretched man lament starting at the very beginning of Romans 7, he begins by talking about a wife cheating on her husband being guilty of adultery but, after that woman\u2019s husband dies, she is free to marry someone else with no danger of being accused of adultery.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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The point is, it\u2019s our soul\u2019s marriage to sin that ends when we give up everything we have to follow Jesus\u2014because sin has been crucified on the cross. It\u2019s dead!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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The law still lives and it is good and beneficial, but the death we cannot escape because of our inability to keep the law was conquered when Jesus rose from the dead! <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Our soul is dead to sin. Our soul no longer desires the sinful lifestyle. The old man no longer lives, but a new man has been raised up in the dead man\u2019s place. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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So, while we are still trapped in these bodies of flesh that will be subject to sin until the day we die, Paul\u2019s conclusion and the great affirmation to his wretched man lament continues throughout Romans 8: \u201cTherefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you <\/sup><\/span>free from the law of sin and death.\u201d (Vs. 1-2 NIV)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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While Paul urges us to keep from sinning as much as we are able–to \u201cput to death the misdeeds of the body\u201d (v 13b) it is by the Holy Spirit we are to do so. It is the Holy Spirit that makes us free from sin, conquers fear, and seals our adoption as righteous, holy, and free sons and daughters of God.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Today\u2019s Praise<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

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No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,<\/sup><\/span>neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39 NIV)<\/span><\/o:p><\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it possible to lead a sinless life? It\u2019s an interesting question\u2014with a seemingly endless number of Biblical contradictions. When Jesus heals the paralytic man in John 5, He tells…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 13:30:53","action":"delete","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}