What did Jesus mean with "go sin no more"?

Sin is a choice, and Jesus was just reiterating that point.

 

HP: Exactly and simply what He stated. Go and sin no more. Why do we have to try and make this so hard? Ge 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Here God, even in the OT, explained that obedience was not hard or too difficult to accomplish, but rather is fully within our grasp and well within the boundaries of our abilities. Men should exercise their wills in accordance to the light they have with the abilities they possess in light of the streghth God has promised. It is completely reasonable for God to command. ‘Go and sin no more.
De 30:11 ¶ For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

 

Heavenly Pilgrim,

bmerr here. Well said. I might add that in Rom 6:16-23, Paul sets forth the same principle. He makes the point that "...to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, of of obedience unto righteousness".

This woman, xdisciplex, had demonstrated repentance by not leaving when her accusers did. Jesus forgives her, since she has repented, and tells her to continue in the direction she is now going.

She had been living a deliberately sinful life. Now she had faced Christ in the presence of her accusers, and stayed where she was, guilty as charged, when she could have run away as her accusers did. This very fact demonstrates her admission of guilt, and her acceptance of Jesus' judgment. She had repented, and Jesus is admonishing her to not return to her former way of life.

When we see things like, "Go, and sin no more" in the Bible, we need to consider them in light of other passages that deal with sin in the life of those who have turned to righteousness. For example, to read, "Go, and sin no more", and take it to mean, "One more sin, and you're going to hell", is to ignore 1 John 1:6-8. Let's look at that briefly.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

So, if I claim to be a faithful Christian, and yet persist in willful sin, I'm a liar.

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.

So, if I am living as a faithful Christian, I am in fellowship with Christ, yet the blood of Christ cleanseth (continually cleans) me from all sin. It seems to me that even living as a faithful Christian, there is apt to be some sin involved.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

This gets back to the idea of "One more sin will send me to hell". If that were the case, this verse would form a contradiction, and the Bible does not have any of those.

Hope this helps.

In Christ,

bmerr

 

1John 3:5+

 

xdisciplex,

bmerr here. Now don't go running to extremes. That's what keeps most of these debates going on forever with no resolution. You know good and well that none of us is saying that.

In Christ,

bmerr

 

I agree that He meant exactly what He said. "Go and sin no more".

 

Bmerr,
I find your post one of the best I have read. May I respectfully offer the following?

One sinfully partaken bite of an apple was all it took to condemn our first parents. One sin, we are told, is paramount to the violation of the entire law.

I will never forget one Wednesday night during a prayer meeting in an open forum discussion, the Pastor clearly stated that God would not send a man to hell for one sin. Being an open forum, I stood up and presented the following scenario. Suppose a man, professing to be a Christian, went out and committed adultery just once, or robbed just one bank, or killed just one man in revenge. Would God’s atonement cover such actions just on the basis of us believing we are ‘saved?’ You can imagine for yourself the predicament this posed for that pastor, being a reasonable and fair minded man, one not necessarily disposed to the protection of certain dogmas.

I cannot help but feel that it is presumptuous on our part to presume upon the grace of God to atone for sins one has not repented of and forsaken. David said, “Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sin. I feel it in keeping with Scriptural admonition and our sacred obligation as believers, to keep short accounts with God, and find a place of repentance at the earliest sign of sin. I believe it is a dangerous position for any professing believer to harbor sin that one refuses to confess, repent of, and forsake.

HP: I see this verse in the clearest light in relationship to the following verse.

The impetus in not that the believer ‘must say’ he has sin at this 'present' time. That might in fact be denying the power of the cleansing work of the Christ to our hearts and lives as He frees us from all sin, and delivers us holy and pure, spotless, blameless as new born babes or believers walking in all the light and abilities we possess. To harmonize these two passages in the same chapter, it would be in keeping with reason, to me, to read them both as referring to past sins, not present sin being ‘demanded’ of all to confess. The blood of Christ cleanseth us from ALL sin. I believe that verse 8 could be read simply as “ If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The author seems to be challenging the contention that some might have presented that notion that they had NEVER sinned. That simply would not be in keeping with the Word concerning all men of our dispensation. Just the same it is NOT apart from Biblical truth to proclaim to have a pure heart before God, having fulfilled His conditions of repentance and faith and being made pure and holy as the blood is applied to our hearts and testified to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

 

This is a strawman. There are some sins that I don't do anymore because of conviction by the Holy Spirit. Does that mean the possibility of commiting those sins has been removed? Of courst not.

 

HP: I am not any ones final judge. None the less, as I stated, I believe it to be presumptuously dangerous according to Scripture, for any one claiming to be a believer, to commit adultery or any other sin, and having not found a place of repentance and renewed faith, to believe that they will be found in Christ with their sins covered by the blood, apart from the fulfillment of the conditions God has stated must be complied with for the forgiveness of sins, when they stand before God in judgment.

HP: I believe the only definition of sin according to Scripture is the willful transgression of a known commandment of God. So I would say yes to your question.

HP: Temptation is not sin. Read James. Sin is a result of yielding our wills in agreenment to temptation. Sin is not conceived until our wills have formulated an intent to carry out a forbidden known commandment of God. So in relationship to your question, I would say ‘no’ to it, the way you are wording it. I am tempted and I do not have to give in or yield to it, ever. If and when I do, it is not because I ‘cannot’ resist with the power and aide of the Holy Spirit, but that I ‘will not’ or ‘do not willingly’ avail myself to that proffered help.

 

Xdisciplex: And this means that we all sin willfully, doesn't it?

HP: I would say that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If and when any man sins, it is not because they could not have done anything other than what they did, but that they did not do what they could and should have done.

I believe it should be the sincere desire and honest intention to walk before the Lord, in the power of the strength promised to us as believers, in holiness and purity. A man cannot honestly strive to gain or achieve what he feels is an absolute impossibility. I believe it is entirely possible to walk holy before the Lord in the strength He grants to us, and it is our reasonable service to do so. Ro 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

 

Those daily sins that you practice ~~ when did God forgive you for those?

Now you get yourself over to 1 John 1:9 and resolve to let the Holy Spirit work with you. How many times should you go there? Every time! I think you'll find the number of times will decrease as you pray and grow in His knowledge, wisdom, and strength. Amen!:thumbs:

 

See my previous post. Digest it. BTW, HE got to Romans 8, not you.

 

HP: My heart goes out to anyone struggling with sin, yet at the same time Scripture is clear, ‘Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

God has completed His part in providing the possibility of salvation. The message is going forth, and it is up to the hearer to respond in obedience. The first step is always to repent and forsake every known sin and look to Christ in faith and be born again.

I met a man on the job I will call Jim. Jim was one of the heaviest drinkers I have ever seen. It was not uncommon at all for him to drink more than a case of beer every day, and sometimes even more. I have seen on more than one occasion his pickup bed filled to overflowing with his own beer cans. He had been arrested several times for DUI.

I had not seen him in a few months when I ran into him again. He was a very foul mouthed individual, a rough and tough old redneck, the kind one would do well to avoid the best you could anyway. Well this day I watched him for a while to observe his behavior before trying to address him in an way. He acted sober enough and I noticed he was drinking one pop after another. I finally got up the nerve to ask him how he was doing, and what in the world he was drinking. He explained to me that he had quit drinking ‘cold turkey.’ He then told me about a trip once again before the judge. The judge had given him an ultimatum. He was told that either he quit drinking altogether, or prison was his only alternative. I told him I still saw that as near an impossible feat for a man that had been drinking so heavy for so many years. He looked at me and exclaimed. A man can do anything he wants to, as long as wants to do something more than something else. He said he desired his freedom more than his beer, and that was the end of his beer.

I believe old Jim may rise and condemn many a professing believer at the judgment. I am sure there are a lot of men and women that are bound by habits as strong or stronger than alcohol had bound Jim, and feel that they cannot overcome their problem. If an old alcoholic can quit his beer cold turkey without calling on the name of the Lord to help, are we to believe that there is something that we cannot overcome with the proffered help of the Lord? I personally think not. I believe the problem is as simple as Jim explained it to me. We have to come to a place where we love the Lord, and desire to please Him with our whole heart more than anything else. When we come to the end of our own resources, and cry out to the Lord in sincere repentance, He will be found and with His help we can be the over comer He commands us to be….when we seek Him with our whole heart. We have to come to the place where we desire the Lord more than any other thing and every sinful habit.

No one can seek the Lord for you or anyone else. Scripture tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. If you know you are born again, fasting and prayer is always in order. I cannot tell you or anyone else what it is going to take in your life to bring you or them to that place of whole-hearted surrender, but I will tell you that many have found that peace that only comes by such an experience with the Lord. Seek Him with your whole heart while He may be found. If you are waiting on the Lord to ‘do something to you’ in order to kick your old habits, I believe you are waiting in vain. God calls upon you to surrender yourself and them to Him first, and then allow Him to take the desires from you.

I will leave you with just one more illustration. A lady had a temper she claimed was uncontrollable at times. One day, in the middle of a temper tantrum with her children, a knock was heard at the door. As she peered out the window, she discovered to her horror that it was the minister at the door. Immediately she regained her composure.

I believe we will find in our lives that when our sins are exposed, we find it much easier to gain the victory over them. God knows how to bring this to pass in our lives. I believe David could attest to that. The sad thing is that when God exposes our sins, it usually is not without a heavy price. James tells us to confess our fault one to another. Scripture says that if we would judge ourselves, God would not have to judge us.

Find someone that you have confidence in their walk with the Lord and that knows and loves you, and confess your faults to them. Expose your sins in private to a spiritual brother or sister, and seek the Lord together to over come the issues involved. Bring some accountability into your life that ‘has flesh.’ Victory in some areas of my own life did not come until I made some wrongs right, and completed some acts of restitution to my fellow man. I do not know what it will take in your life, but don’t give up until you get total victory over every besetting sin. God desires us to walk in complete victory in this present world.

Pray one for another.

 

You are being a real stinker. :tongue3:

Yes, sinning is willful. No, an adulterer does not go to hell because there is no forgiveness. If he repents, his salvation may be recovered. Only God knows if the repentance is sincere.