Are You Purifying Yourself?

"every man that hath this in him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure".

"this" = the hope we have in Christ, because Christ is in us. We are pure because of Him.


HP, you could really use a good commentary. You might consider getting one.

 

The text will answer your question,,
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself

 

As it says, by having this hope in him!

 

Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

 

I believe this verse means that all those who live with an awareness of the imminent return of Christ will live like they believe He is coming back today. We will live with the awareness that we could see Him face-to-face today. We will want to be found watching when He comes. We will want to be found faithful when He comes.

 

Hope= confident assurance
assurance of what the 2 verses say about Jesus.
More eloquently put by Pastor Bob.

 

Here we go again raying:

Most of the NT letters are given to us so we can #1 learn how we ought to behave as one who has been given eternal life by grace through faith and #2 that one may examine themselves to see if they have truly been converted and not just playing religion.

Tell us what is the consensus of all of the commentaries you own? Does the consensus say that if one does not purify themselves then they will forfiet salvation? You know this is where your mind is on bringing these threads forward.

God Bless! :thumbs:

 

You are right when you say that this passage does not say that "everyone that has this hope has been purified". This is confirmed in I Peter 1:22 "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit ".

Your statement "although we know in a sense that was true at the moment of salvation" is a little peculiar. I don't quite know what you mean by "in a sense" and this may be what concerns your brother Steaver. I would say that we are not "in a sense" purified at salvation, but rather we ARE purified. I can be no more pure than pure for if I needed to be purified I would not be pure.

Many people want sanctification to be something we perform after we are saved. I think it is clear that we are sanctified at salvation. The following verse is not written to a group of people that had obtained some point of holiness that caused Paul to write to them: "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (I Cor. 6:11 ) In fact it was written to people that he called carnal.

As you look at the verses that follow I John 3:3 it is clear that John is talking to his readers about how to live so your statement "The passage clearly infers subsequent action does it not" is correct. However, our purification unto salvation is not a result of our actions as I am sure you will agree. The rub comes when one says that our salvation is kept by our "subsequent actions". I do not see scripture supporting this position. I am among them "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (I Peter 1:5) Praise God! I was unable to save myself and I am equally unable to keep myself.

However, scripture is full of teaching that says we are to have our actions following salvation be pleasing to God. Paul told the Corinthians who he described as sanctified to live such a life: "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (I Cor. 6:20)

John makes is clear that a person not living a life free from sin has no reason to think himself pure in the eyes of God.

I John 3:6 "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

I know we touched on these verses before and you did not like my take on them, but I think it is clear that these verses are talking about an ongoing life of sin and not a one time act which removes us from our salvation causing us to need to be sanctified all over again.

 

Brother trustitl,

You nailed it! :godisgood: You have studied and I believe have shown yourself approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Next question?

God Bless! :thumbs:

 

Jesus explained this perfectly when He said:
Mt 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mt 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

To be found "watching" simply means what I explained above. It is to "love" His appearing (II Tim. 4:8). To be found "faithful" simply means that, since we have been entrusted with our Master's goods, we are properly dispensing them for His honor and glory.
I Cor 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

[/quote]
If you are still referring to "purifying" here, then the answer is two-fold. Christ performs a purifying work in our lives when we, by faith, accept Him (Titus 2:14). We purify ourselves by our continued obedience to the Word of God (I Peter 1:22).

 

Actually, HP is referring to our works of righteousness being judged and our salvation depending on whether or not these works were good or bad.

However, Paul made it clear that works may perish in the fire but the man himself shall be saved.

1Cr 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

God Bless! :thumbs:

 

I would prefer to look at verses 1-10. This passage can be used to support the idea that one enters heaven through his actions, by never sinning again, however, I would point out Romans 7 in which 7-25 discusses Paul's sin nature.

I believe we are purified by our committment to God. Let me pose a seemingly different question:

When a Jew would perform a sacrifice to atone for his sins, did the blood of the animal really take his sins away, or did something else entirely atone him?

You see, Isaiah 1:2-31 sheds a little light on this. 11-19 shows God angry at a multitude of meaningless sacrifices, likely made to put bandaids on things, but make it so no one ever had to change their ways. Might God feel the same way about committments and re-committments, after which, the next day, a man refuses to even try to change anything in his life, nor atone for his past actions? (To atone, or so I was taught, means to make right, not apologize.)

To not sin is good for sure, but to atone and turn from evil after one has already sinned, is also good. There is a difference, one is how God is good, He has nothing to atone for. The other is how we humans are good.

I would actually use this passage to call out OSAS theology.

 

..........but he himself shall be saved.......

Paul is the one who makes the connection here with a man's salvation. Sorry for your view that he connects this teaching with salvation, but it is what it is.

God bless! :thumbs: