All men are born in darkness - even God's Elect. But they are not condemned. They were never condemned.
Let me see if I understand the flow of thought here...
You're saying that God's elect are not condemned and were never condemned.
" He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." ( John 3:18 )
I agree.
" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." ( John 3:36 )
Again, I agree.
God ever saw His Elect as saved, holy, righteous, sin-less.
God EVER ( not "never" ) saw His elect as saved, holy, righteous and sinless.
Hmmm...
If you mean in the context of being "in Christ" from the foundation of the world, then yes, God only
ever saw His elect as being
saved ( Romans 8:29-30, Romans 9:22-24, Ephesians 1:3-14 ).
As only ever being holy?
Need that one laid out step by step, but I think I see it ( Colossians 3:12, Hebrews 10:1-14 ). From my perspective, this speaks of the believer's sanctification ( Romans 8:29-30, 1 Corinthians 6:11 ), which happened at the cross ( Ephesians 5:26-27, Colossians 1:21-22 ), not when they first believed.
How about more Scripture on this one?
As only ever being righteous?
Sure, as long as that righteousness is the imputed righteousness of Christ ( Romans 4:1-8, Romans 4:20-25, Revelation 19:8 ) and not having anything to do with any of our works ( Titus 3:4-7 ).
As sin-less?
No.
His elect were
never sin-less, but that their sins were
washed away:
" For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." ( Hebrews 8:12 )
" For this [is] my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" ( Romans 11:25 )
" 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 his Son cleanseth us from all sin." ( 1 John 1:7 )
" And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." ( Revelation 7:14 )
" Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;" ( Acts 3:19 )
" As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us." ( Psalms 103:12 )
It's one thing to be "vindicated" ( declared to have never sinned )...quite another to be declared righteous by the blood of His Son, and thereby restored and reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
One is
sin-less, one is
sin-free.
Believers are culpable for their sins, just as unbelievers...they were
never sinless in God's eyes:
" Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11 in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 [and] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." ( Colossians 2:8-15 )
The believer's sins were blotted out...they were there and they offended God, and then He cast them away from Him because of the perfect sacrifice and atoning blood of His Son.
We were dirty, but the blood of His son cleansed us.
It is
all we stand on under His mercy and grace.
Hopefully I'm just misunderstanding you on what you mean by "sin-less", sir.
Their condemnation is not being one of God's Elect, not being named in the book of life of the lamb slain....
Agreed.
The non-elect are
not condemned for God not choosing them to salvation ( 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 ).
The non-elect are condemned for their sins...The same thing that is washed away by the blood of His Son on the cross for His elect, is the same thing that was
not washed away for the non-elect.
The essence of that condemnation manifests itself in
not being one of God's elect, and at the Judgment,
not being named in the Book of Life.
Outwardly, it manifests itself in their ( inward ) unbelief of the Gospel and in their falling away from a faith they never had.
In addition, to me there's much more to the Gospel ( the good news of salvation ) than simply 1 Corinthians 15:1-7, which I call, the "core" of the Gospel. There are vital details which are developed in the rest of Scripture that are not stated in such a small "snippet" of what He has to tell us as His children.
However, for now I will agree that,
essentially, the Gospel is what is found in that passage, and it is what God called me to Himself with in 1978.
May God bless you in your walk with Him.
