[RICHARD K. FOSTER]
I can remember it vividly. Indeed, as an Adventist I went through it for years. You do something you “know” you shouldn’t do or you neglect something you “know” you should do as a good Adventist, and now you’ve sinned. You also “know” that God can’t take a sinner to heaven, so you plead for forgiveness and resolve that you will not sin again! This process repeats day after day, sometimes multiple times a day, for years.
In my own case I consoled myself in my mind that while I wasn’t perfect yet, I still had time. Surely before probation closed God would reveal the magic bullet formula to me, and I would finally achieve sinless victory! Meanwhile, I would wake up in the morning, and I would pray and ask for sinless victory that day. Within a half hour, usually, I would realize that I had already blown it that day! Why didn’t God give me the help I asked for? I knew He didn’t want me to sin, and I knew that the success secret was out there. Why wasn’t I getting it?
This agonizing was my day-in-and-day-out torment as an Adventist. How would I finally overcome all my sin and no longer be at risk of being lost?
I recently heard a presentation from some Adventists I know. I listened in horror to the message, and finally I had to quit listening before the end, because I literally felt physically ill in reaction to what I heard (no exaggeration). The basic core of their message was that if you are born of God, you will not sin at all. 1 John 3:9 was used as a key proof text to support this message:
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God (I John 3:9 NKJV).
At first glance this verse seems pretty straightforward. If you are born of God, you do not sin anymore, right? But notice how the ESV translates this verse:
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9 ESV).
Notice the ESV renders it “makes a practice of sinning” instead of the NKJV “does not sin”. Based on the original Greek text, the ESV rendering would appear to be more consistent with the tenses and the force of what the Apostle is trying to communicate here: if you are born of God, you do not make sin your practice. You do not live like you used to, because you’ve been born of God now, and it’s contrary to who you are. You “cannot keep on sinning” (like you lived before conversion) because “God’s seed abides in you”. In other words, God the Holy Spirit has changed your desires in the new birth, and you no longer have the same desire for sin that you previously had. You now desire Jesus Christ instead.
But what about the idea of not sinning anymore? Are we to eventually never to sin at all?
The fact is that if we interpret this text to support sinless perfectionism, we would essentially cause the book of 1 John to contradict itself. Notice 1 John 1:8:
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8 ESV).
Notice that the phrase “if we say we have no sin” is written in present tense. Notice also the use of the word “we” which John used frequently. Who is the “we” spoken of here?
The use of “we” indicates the community of believers. If we say as believers that that WE have no sin (present tense), we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So how can the Apostle possibly be teaching sinlessness in chapter 3, when in chapter 1 he specifically sets forth that if believers think they have no sin that they are self-deceived?
The simple answer is this: he doesn’t teach sinlessness. Furthermore, to claim that 1 John 3:9 does teach sinless perfection for believers (as in getting to the place of never sinning at all) is, quite frankly, sloppy exegesis that sends the epistle into internal contradiction.
Underlying Error
As I thought about this message I heard—that born-again believers come to the place where they never sin anymore—it struck me hard that there is a severe underlying error in this Adventist teaching that wasn’t obvious at first but which is clearly implied: born again believers will not sin anymore, thus demonstrating that they are born again! The expectation, then, is that the Adventists will try to prove they have been born again by getting their acts together and ceasing all sins they can think of!
At this point a serious problem arises. The Bible gives only two possibilities for the spiritual state of any human. A person is either dead in trespasses and sins, or one is alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-7). He or she has either been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, or one is still in one’s natural state of spiritual death. Thus, the spiritual state of each person will determine his or her behavior.
In other words, one is either a child of wrath or a child of God. If one is dead in sin, that person is a child of wrath, and it doesn’t matter what that person does to try to demonstrate he or she is born again. No amount of human effort can cause a person to be born again, and no amount of will-power exerted to keep the law demonstrates that one is born again.
When we go down the road of thinking that born-again people are defined by bringing forth good fruit and doing good works, and when we devote ourselves to working really hard to be good, we enter the realm of legalism.
When we go down the road of thinking that born-again people are defined by bringing forth good fruit and doing good works, and when we devote ourselves to working really hard to be good, we enter the realm of legalism. In fact, in a subtle and nuanced way, we have entered into a form of works salvation.
The fact is, however, that no amount of work can bring forth the good fruit that flows from a regenerate heart. Furthermore, our best efforts to be good cannot change our hearts, and our commitment to good deeds ends up being nothing more than a contrived attempt to act like someone we are not. To think we can muster proof of being born again in this way is to put the fruit before the root, the cart before the horse.
Yet subtly, many Adventists (as well as those in other works-based systems) have, at least subconsciously, short-circuited God’s order of things and have placed the focus on the fruit, on obedience, on Christian living, rather than placing the focus on trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Yet trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation is the only foundation out of which the good fruit can flow. Good fruit cannot come forth from a heart that hasn’t been transformed by the grace of God.
On the flip side, if the heart has been transformed, the fruit naturally begins to come forth. A born-again person doesn’t have to focus on working really hard to walk with the Lord Jesus; being His disciple naturally flows from the heart that has been touched and made new by His saving grace.
These facts lead us to ask the really important question: if we cannot cause ourselves to be born again through commitment to manufacturing the fruit of a regenerated person, then how are we to be born again? How are our hearts regenerated if not through a commitment to obedience and good works?
The Bible is clear:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13 ESV).
This text tells us what does not produce the new birth: it doesn’t come by blood lines; it doesn’t come by the will of the flesh, and it doesn’t come by the will of man, but it comes of God. The text states that to those who receive Christ, He gives the right to be children of God. We cannot work our way to new birth, nor can we cannot will our way to new birth. The new birth only can come by the sovereign work of God to those who receive Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4 ESV).
This text strongly affirms that it is God who causes us to be born again. It is through His mercy, not through something we do. Specifically, the new birth is through the gospel work of Christ, His resurrection from the dead, that raises us to new spiritual life in Him.
So, if we can’t will our way to new birth, if we cannot make it happen through fleshly efforts, if we can’t “fake it until we make it” through contrived efforts to appear to be good Christians by trying really hard to be “commandment keepers”, then how can we become born again?
The Answer
Knowing that it is God alone who can raise dead sinners to new life in Christ, the only option is to cast yourself entirely on God and His mercy.
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:10-13 ESV).
I remember the day when the force of the last sentence in this passage struck me: “EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” Yes! This is the good news of the gospel! Not a single person who comes to Jesus Christ will be rejected. All who call on Him will be saved!
Instead of trying to “prove” you are saved, instead of trying prove you love God through your “own diligent effort” (to quote a phrase from Ellen), instead call on the name of Christ. Trust in Him solely and wholly, and rest in His finished work for the salvation of sinners.
In my own experience I never found the magic bullet formula for sinless perfection in this life. However, I found something far better: the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God to salvation for all who believe!
Now, the gospel doesn’t make us sinlessly perfect on this side of glorification (see Romans 7). We all have many weaknesses and are always dependent on God’s grace. As long as we live in this world, we still have the flesh, the world, and the devil to tempt us.
…I noticed that something fascinating happened once I ceased from my efforts to become sinless and rested entirely in Christ instead. All of a sudden I began to be convicted of things I had never been convicted were sins before I trusted Christ.
However, I noticed that something fascinating happened once I ceased from my efforts to become sinless and rested entirely in Christ instead. All of a sudden I began to be convicted of things I had never been convicted were sins before I trusted Christ. At this same time, diet, Sabbath observance, and other Adventist rules began to seem not so important. Things like gossip and slander, however, and various heart sins and attitudes suddenly began to be things of which I became deeply convicted were sins. I realized I should avoid those things, but I hadn’t had much conviction about them before.
It was as though the internal state of my heart began to change, while at the same time many of the outward behaviors I had thought were so important as an Adventist suddenly seemed irrelevant. As an Adventist I thought I was sinning if ate the “wrong” food, yet I hadn’t realized that things like slandering people as evil-intentioned undercover Jesuits was any kind of a sin issue. This new awareness of what is sin and what is not sin reminds me of something our Lord Jesus said:
And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:18-23 ESV).
I learned this lesson firsthand in my journey from Adventism to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. My problem wasn’t what I ate; my problem was my heart. Furthermore, my solution wasn’t to work really hard to manifest the right behavior. My solution was to trust in Jesus Christ alone as my Savior. He caused me to be born again to a living hope. The Spirit Himself bore witness with my spirit that I am a child of God (Romans 8:16).
Being born again made all the difference in my life. Receiving the life of Jesus bringing my dead spirit to life revealed “for real” that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17 ESV).
If you have experienced gospel transformation, praise God that He has saved you. And if you haven’t experienced it, cast yourself on Jesus today, trusting in Him. He will save you, and you will also know the power of the gospel in saving you and transforming your heart! †
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Excellent article. We can only be perfect “in Christ”.