"I wish I never sinned" said the Israelite at the head of the queue.
The others waiting to make their sacrifices nodded.
The priest narrowed his gaze. "Why do you wish you never sinned?"
The Israelite was amazed that the priest would ask. The answer was so obvious it hardly needed saying.
"So I don't have to keep returning to this altar."
In Christ, it's as though we have never sinned.
What an awesome God we have!
I don't know if i said and had the same reaction the last time you posted this. I think i prob did.
Ouch. I see a lot of me in that. Bit like chester in beginning of 'you can change'. First question has to be, WHY do you want to change?
theoldadam - just a thought: is it ever possible to escape from the fact that we are blood-bought people? There is nothing to disagree with about your statement as far is it goes but surely "in Christ" holds together 'two' glorious truths - that of Christ's active 'and' passive obedience on our behalf - and we shouldn't emphasise one to the detriment of the other?
This is something I have came to realise the importance of after I was gently rebuked by Roger Carswell for making basically an identical statement. In Christ it 'is' as though we have never sinned... but only insofar as we are covered by his blood.
Shouldn't the answer be because of the pain I have caused my Beloved Christ?
Oh to see my sin the way He saw it, and to be so repulsed by it as to die to it as well. . .
Craig
Hey Tim, "insofar as we are covered by his blood"? How far is that?
I sin all the time. But Paul (and 1 John) would have me ask "Which I are you referring to??"
Hi Simple Guy,
That's a much more Christ-focussed thought than I usually have.
I usually think "Darn it, I'm not as good as I thought I was, I'm not as good as I want to be able to project to the world, and now I have to swallow my pride and (all of a sudden!) start relying on the blood of Jesus for my righteousness. Yeach. Therefore I resolve never to sin in this way again!" Then, when we make known our "resolve" to our religious friends, they applaud us for this hatred of sin. Yet it's utterly self-focussed and Christ-denying!!!
Maybe I wasn't very clear. "insofar" here is simply referring to the fact that Christ's blood covers us "completely". In other words, I can never escape from the fact that my righteousness before God consists in or depends on my 'blood-bought-cleansing'.
There is no question of sins past, present or future being sins which need new atonement - all are covered by the same one sacrifice and taken away through the same one union-by-faith to Christ which constitutes us a new person in Christ. Resting in this is the very thing which leads me to understand the importance of my identity as a 'blood-bought saint' - a contradiction in terms if there ever was one but one that is nonetheless true 'in Christ'.
For anyone with personal knowledge of God, based on Christ's Spirit-active, perfect and transfigurative death on the cross, continued awareness of being a sinner is a great honour of growing in His grace and knowledge.