There is no ambiguity in what the Apostle John says in 1 John 1. 8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. “Therefore, any well-meaning but misguided notion of Christian perfectionism may seem that all of John’s exhortations in this letter are based on three fundamental truths: we must not sin (2. 1), we will sin (1. 8, 10) and have forgiveness and atonement for our sins (1. 9; 2. 1-2).
I’m focusing here on the fact that Christians are really sinners. This truth is the logical and biblical result of the doctrine of justification only by grace, only by faith in Christ, whose righteousness is imputed to us, just as our guilt is imputed. Our justification or our just position before God is not because in our regeneration we are now intrinsically righteous or have instilled justice in us. We stand before God because he accredits us and covers us with what the ancient Protestant theologians called?or “foreigner”, which is obviously the Cristo. La of Christ is complete, which means that it meets all the requirements of God’s holy law.
- Furthermore.
- The righteousness of Christ has eternal value.
- Which means that it never expires; It is this complete and objective objective righteousness to which our faith is united to the person and work of Christ.
- Authentic faith unites believers with Christ and thus covers them objectively.
- With perfect obedience and cleansing blood.
- Subjectively.
- We are awakened to at least three realities: (1) the depth of our fall (Romans 7: 13-19); (2) a genuine desire to do what is pleasing to God (Ph 2.
- 13); It is the combination of an awareness of our fallen nature and this God-given desire to do what is pleasing to God that creates the tension that Paul speaks of in Romans 12-25; and (3) the knowledge of the generosity of God’s grace in Christ that saves sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).
Being rooted in these truths and making them concrete should allow us not only to understand the truth of John’s statement in 1 John 1. 8, but to do so in a way that does not make us take pleasure in the fact that as Christians we are still sinners. Rather, a true sense of our flaws in thought, word, and action extends God’s grace that saves sinners, and God’s increased grace unleashes the gratitude that comes through doing what is pleasing to God. Yes, the disciples stumble, but God uses the stumble to show them more and more the grace that is greater than all their sins.