We often get questions on whether Jesus could have committed sin, some believe he had a sin nature but was just obedient, and all we have to be obedient and trust in Christ and we shall be saved, ( In that order, SANCTIFICATION AND THEN SALVATION AFTER THAT. ) They don't view the ten commandments as our schoolmaster to show us our short comings, and a need for a savior but rather they're instructions to salvation. But how can they be instructions for salvation if they were impossible to keep being we have this cursed sin nature? If you can keep all the commandments why is there a need to be born again? If we are not born with a sin nature why are we baptized in Jesus death? Did Jesus struggle to resist sin as we do? Better yet did struggle with doing the right thing as we do? ""NO"". If we go to hell it will be because we didn't believe in he who was promised to come 430 years before the commandments, because we was transgressors before the commandments, and when the commandments came we died because we became sin. Jesus came to take the PENALTY of sin "which is death" off us and placing it on himself and defeating death when he rose from the dead! so if we was baptized in his death we should walk in newness of life by his resurrection, So sanctification comes after salvation. Man isn't a sinner because he committed a sin, Man commits sin because he is a sinner. ( EXAMPLE) You take a man biting dog and tie him up. he's now unable to bite is he still a man biting dog? The ability of man able to sin makes him imperfect and unholy apart from Jesus Christ. So if you want to be judged by your achievements you're still in bondage, if you trust in Christ you are freed. Thank you.
Romans 2:14,15 clearly show that the Law was never in our possession & we've never been subject to them. And then when the Gentiles became believers, the only instruction given was, not that any of the commandments given to the Jews be followed, but as per Acts 15:19,20: "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood."
Rather, our directive can never be from the Law given to Israel, because "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." ( Romans 8:2). If the Life-giving Spirit freed a Jewish Paul from the bondage of the Law, how much more to us Gentiles, who never received the Law, are only subject to the Spirit's directions in our lives.
Again, thank you for bringing up those very worthy points.
Thank you for your comments Steven, on this important subject. If I may add some thoughts here:
a. "They don't view the ten commandments as our schoolmaster to show us our short comings, and a need for a savior but rather they're instructions to salvation". Indeed, some do look at salvation in this way, but I think generally, Christians who have been taught properly, don't see that obedience to the Commandments are necessary for salvation, rather, that after being saved, they revert back to it, or fuse it with saving faith, believing God requires to almost use it like a checklist to be on track & to please Him. See how much of an issue Sabbath-keeping is with some. But as you indicated, all that does is bring us back into bondage to the Law.
b. "Did Jesus struggle to resist sin as we do?" This may be difficult to answer but I rather believe that at his temptation with Satan ( Matthew 4:1-11) & very likely throughout His earthly ministry, Satan would have continued to come at Him: and this was to force sin upon Him so a sin nature may be born in Him. I say this, as we see that the first Adam was born without a sin nature, but he failed to resist Satan, & he inherited a nature given to sin & death eventually followed. So when we read that "as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" ( Romans 5:12), the fact we too die is proof of the sin nature being transmitted, rather than the import of any specific sins of Adam.
c. "we were transgressors before the commandments, and when the commandments came we died because we became sin." I tend to make a clear demarcation between those given the Law & those who haven't received it. Certainly, we are privileged to have the Bible so we can learn more fully of God's requirements, but if we're not Jews, how are the Laws, then & now, applicable to Gentiles?
Romans 2:14,15 clearly show that the Law was never in our possession & we've never been subject to them. And then when the Gentiles became believers, the only instruction given was, not that any of the commandments given to the Jews be followed, but as per Acts 15:19,20: "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood."
Rather, our directive can never be from the Law given to Israel, because "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." ( Romans 8:2). If the Life-giving Spirit freed a Jewish Paul from the bondage of the Law, how much more to us Gentiles, who never received the Law, are only subject to the Spirit's directions in our lives.
Again, thank you for bringing up those very worthy points.
Thank you for your comments Steven, on this important subject. If I may add some thoughts here:
a. "They don't view the ten commandments as our schoolmaster to show us our short comings, and a need for a savior but rather they're instructions to salvation". Indeed, some do look at salvation in this way, but I think generally, Christians who have been taught properly, don't see that obedience to the Commandments are necessary for salvation, rather, that after being saved, they revert back to it, or fuse it with saving faith, believing God requires to almost use it like a checklist to be on track & to please Him. See how much of an issue Sabbath-keeping is with some. But as you indicated, all that does is bring us back into bondage to the Law.
b. "Did Jesus struggle to resist sin as we do?" This may be difficult to answer but I rather believe that at his temptation with Satan ( Matthew 4:1-11) & very likely throughout His earthly ministry, Satan would have continued to come at Him: and this was to force sin upon Him so a sin nature may be born in Him. I say this, as we see that the first Adam was born without a sin nature, but he failed to resist Satan, & he inherited a nature given to sin & death eventually followed. So when we read that "as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" ( Romans 5:12), the fact we too die is proof of the sin nature being transmitted, rather than the import of any specific sins of Adam.
c. "we were transgressors before the commandments, and when the commandments came we died because we became sin." I tend to make a clear demarcation between those given the Law & those who haven't received it. Certainly, we are privileged to have the Bible so we can learn more fully of God's requirements, but if we're not Jews, how are the Laws, then & now, applicable to Gentiles?
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