Chapter 6: The Heart of an Apostle

Page 11

In Christ, We Are Perfect In God’s Eyes!

The truth squad at Thursday’s meeting started to badger the moderator. One would ask a question. But, before it could be answered, another would chime in with the next question. The dialogue became

interesting to me when one young man asked the moderator: “Are you a sinner?” The moderator responded, as I would have at the time, with YES. Of course, the response was just what the rhetorical questioner wanted. The truth squad expounded on 1 John 3:9-10 and without giving the moderator

any chance to respond, they assumed he and everyone else were unsaved.

I sensed what was going on from this team and I asked the moderator: “Are you a willful sinner?” He responded NO. Just like I would have. The

next hour was quite contentious as the team of four young men took on the attitude that “Praise Jesus, we have located a den of seven sinners.” That was the rest of us who actually came to study the Bible. However, if these young men had learned some manners with their rhetorical skills, they

would have found out otherwise. The moderator finally asked: “Why are you here?” The answer was: “We are here to save [your] souls.”

Later I realized how clever these young men were with their tactics.

If someone admits to being a sinner, they must be unsaved. That was the logic of their perfection doctrine. The answer from the moderator was never allowed to be clarified and his and the perspective of everyone else was:

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:10 KJV

Their “perfect” theology rhetorically split hairs. John writes if anyone

says he has not sinned, he is a liar. Their point from 1 John 3:9-10 was that now, after Christ, you should be spiritually and humanly 100% sin free. Now let’s go back to John in 1 John 3:9-10 and Paul in Romans 7:19 and carefully examine whether the Bible supports this 100% perfection doctrine.