Brother Bob said:
Well, we can judge a person's fruit, but our judgement is not perfect. There are those who seem to be Christians and are not, according to scripture.
Gal 2:4And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
I actually think that this verse illumines Gal 5:19-21. It seems that Paul wanted to tell the Galatians how they could identify these false brethren. Same principle as Mt 7, where Jesus instructs his disciples on how to discern for false prophets by their 'fruits'.
Same case in 1 John, when John says 'These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.' And he goes on to give a series of tests that would identify the false brethren, or as he calls them in 1 John 2:18 "antichrists".
1 John 3:7 - Little children let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, even as he(Christ) is righteous.
1 John 3:8 - Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:9 - 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.
Cannot denotes ability. He is unable to practice sinning because he has been born of God. After being born again we cannot live a lifestyle of sin. We cannot do it for we have been given a new heart(Eze 36). When in sin we will be like David and cry, "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer."
That word practice is important. No one is denying that Christians can fall into grievous sin. As Q pointed out, the Bible makes it clear that we CAN walk in the flesh. It makes it clear that we can partake of the sinful activities of the world. We can backslide. It is constant warfare. But in a Christians life there will be a growing defeat of sin because "he that began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."(phil 1:6)
This is no way judgmental, this is in no way saying, "look at me how holy I am." This is just recognizing that the grace that justifies us also sanctifies us. It is recognizing that God not only has the power to forgive our sins, but he has the power to revolutionize our lives. He has made us new creatures, and as new creatures we do new things.
1 John 3:10 By this is it
evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil : whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
About the accusations that this is legalism and the implication that we are hard hearted individuals, this is not true. We just need to look out onto Christianity today and realize there is something very wrong. When a Christian Contemporary singer goes on Oprah and talks about her adulterous relationship, when Gallup polls show us that there is no significant difference in the morals of 'born again' Christians and those who are not even religious, when Christians practice immorality throughout the weak and then sing praises to God at Christian rock concerts, there is something wrong. And it's not lack of discipleship. It is lack of conversion.
Thank you.
