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https://christianforums.net/threads/become-a-vessel-of-honor-part-2.112306/
this is in error. Paul spoke in present tens. not in past tense. Study the passage please.
No
Can Born-Again Believers Still Be Carnal?
Let’s take a look at the church at Corinth. Corinth was one of the most important trade cities in the Roman Empire. It was a city of diversity, with people from various cultures, languages, and religions. Corinth was known throughout the ancient world as a city of wealth and opulence. It was a main trading port that drew all kinds of trade and commerce and was also known for its lack of moral compass. The city itself, being dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of sex, and home to many other gods dotting the landscape.
Paul began preaching the gospel in this city around 50 AD. After some time, Paul establishes a Christian community (church) consisting of Jews and gentiles from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Their commonality was based on faith in the message of the cross through Jesus Christ. (As our churches are today.)
Paul spent 18 months in the city before he departed, but he heard news of divisions, moral issues, and factions that he needed to address. Paul writes letters to the Christian community in Corinth, offering some spiritual guidance and support for this fledgling church. He uses the imagery of the body and its parts being able to fit together for the good of all its members.
He tackles the moral dilemma that was prevalent in the church, which included sexual sin that even the pagans living around them considered unacceptable behavior. Paul clarifies to the church at Corinth that their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, set apart for God. He reminds them to flee from sexual immorality as their bodies have been bought with a price, even the blood of Jesus, and they should glorify God with their bodies. He instigates disciplinary strategies as a means for bringing members to a place of repentance for their sinful ways and restoration back into the body of Christ. He instructs the church at Corinth to take decisive action against those living carnal lifestyles. He encourages them to seek a life that honors God as a testimony of new creations in Christ.
Although the community at Corith was established by Paul, founded on the message of the cross, and it's members had the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, some were still living carnally. Salvation is a free gift, but sanctification is a walk, a work in progress, and a journey with the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that new creations in Christ may grow in their faith and become more like God and less like the world they came from. Sanctification also requires discipline and repentance, particularly as Spirit battles against the carnal nature that desires to gain control, since the carnal nature (flesh/old man) does not want to be crucified (even though Christ had already done this at the cross (Romans 6:5-7)
Once a believer genuinely repented of their sins in the early churches, they were forgiven by God, cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and eventually restored back into the body, which is the church.
Our relationship with him is not autonomous; it is a personal, intimate, one-on-one relationship with the author and perfecter of our faith.
1 John 1:9 says
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 2
My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world Glory!
Angelina
Written 15/02/2025
I wasn't a believer the first hundred times I read it.
Absolutely.
They are all in the historical-present tense. (Or, present-narrative tense)
He admonishes: "DON'T DO IT".
You should practice what you preach, brother. BTW, it is not an admonishment. This is good biblical exegesis. Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
There is no sin in Christ, brother. There is sin in the souls of mankind that needs to be dealt with and will be dealt with through the power of the Holy Spirit working against their soulish, fleshly desires...Glory!
Paul and I are saying the same thing.
You may be driving down the road, and perhaps someone cuts you off, and it nearly causes you to crash. Are you sitting in the driver's seat or the passenger seat thinking, "Thank you, Jesus, that I am still alive?" or are you thinking bad thoughts about that driver?
No, not skin and bones; your unrenewed soul can tempt you to sin, your old man. I'm not saying all believers have unrenewed souls; some walk in the spirit, but no one can do that all the time, brother. The Bible tells us:
How can someone who is still bringing forth the devil's fruit, be born of God ?
So, it's the Word of God but it's no longer true? "For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not". (Ecc. 7:20). Hopeful---can you walk on water? Can you heal the blind? Can you feed 5000 people from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? You quote 1 John 2:6 but you are interpreting the verse as though we can be as sinless as Jesus was. That's not what the verse is saying. The Scriptures also say: "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Do we interpret that to mean we CAN be perfect? Of course not. It is teaching us to be sincere in all we do. Ecclesiastes 7:20 is just as true now as it was for Solomon. Romans 3 says "There is none good, no, not one". The Bible says "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). A deceived heart says: "I no longer sin".
