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Bible Study Why Is God Silent When I've Prayed?

Tenchi

Member
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

Many times I've heard Christians wonder aloud about the silence of God in response to their prayers. They've prayed earnestly and often, weeping, even, in desperate need, but God has not responded, He has not comforted them, or supplied for them, or protected them. Why? Why is God silent?

Well, the answer to this question cannot be known, perhaps, entirely, but there are some things God says in His word will interfere mightily with our prayers. Following is a prayer checklist by which to discern possible hindrances and outright barriers to your prayers:

1.) Not a child of God.

Generally, there's only one prayer that God will hear from a person who is not one of His children and that is a prayer of repentance, confession, submission and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord (Acts 3:19; 1 John 1:9; James 4:6-10; Romans 10:9-10). To the unrepentant and rebellious wicked God turns a deaf ear.

John 3:36
36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."


This is the condition of every person not yet born-again, by the Spirit given a "second, spiritual birth" (John 3:3-7). In fact, God's description of those who have not submitted to Him, in faith trusting in Christ as their Savior and Lord is very...unflattering and reveals why God is so powerfully opposed to the unrepentant and unregenerate person (Titus 3:3; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:21, etc.) So long as a person remains unreconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Colossians 1:19-22) and outside of His kingdom and family, they will not have His ear. More than this, God is opposed to them (1 Peter 5:4-6; James 4:6) and His wrath "abides" on them, only eternal separation from Him and torment the "reward" they can expect from their Holy Maker. (Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6-8)

2.) Sin is in the way.

If there is one surefire way to empty prayer of its usefulness, sin is it. God will not attend to the prayers of His children so long as they are persisting willfully in sin.

Psalm 66:18
18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;

Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

1 Peter 3:10-12
10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”


We are so sin-prone, so comfortable with sin often, and so self-deceived about it that we don't see sin in our own lives. And so, like the Psalmist, our prayer should always be preceded by a time of divine inspection:

Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!


It is the prayer of a righteous man (or woman), the prayer of one whose life, by repentance and confession, is clear of known sin, that is "effectual," or has "great power" with God (James 5:16).

Continued below.
 
3.) In ignorance, praying amiss.

Often, I hear Christians praying in very unbiblical ways. For example, they'll pray to God who is everywhere present, "God, be with so-and-so"; or they'll pray to God from whom they've already received full forgiveness in Christ, "God please forgive me,"; or they'll pray to God from whom they've received the Holy Spirit and in whom they have all the power, peace, patience God can give them, "God give patience," or "Give me peace," or "Give me strength." In response to these requests - and many others like them - God falls silent because Christians are asking amiss.

James 4:2-3
2 ...You do not have, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss...


God would answer more of our prayers if only they were more often and more fully in accord with His Truth revealed to us in His word. Too often, though, because of their spiritual and biblical ignorance, His children are "asking amiss" for things He's already given to them, is already doing, has already done, or simply will never do.

For example, a born-again man pleads with God for more love and peace. The man's life is largely devoid of these things and it makes sense to him, therefore, that God, the Source of these things, must give them to him. And so, he prays, again and again, that God would invest him with divine love and peace. But nothing happens. After months of such pleas, the man's prayers remain unanswered. Why? Because the man's prayers, though perhaps heartfelt and sincere, are being made in ignorance of God's truth.

All born-again children are so by virtue of being made a "temple" of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), who imparts to them in himself the life of Christ (Romans 8:9-14). By the Holy Spirit, the born-again person receives spiritual regeneration, cleansing, and are made a "new creature in Christ" (Titus 3:5-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17) This new, spiritual life includes love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, etc. - the "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22-23). If, then, a Christian person is not filled with what the Spirit is, with his "fruit," is the answer to simply ask God for love, joy, peace and so on? No. The Spirit will give of himself freely and fully to all those who walk consistently and persistently in him in love, submission and faith (Galatians 5:16, 25; Romans 8:14; Romans 12:1; Matthew 22:36-38; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 11:6). So, then, if the Christian man is not experiencing the life and fruit of the Spirit, what ought his prayer to be? Obviously, if he is not daily being perfected by the Spirit, in increasing measure manifesting the Spirit's love, peace, joy and so on his life, the problem is one of love, or submission, or faith, or all three, and his prayers ought to be about the barriers to these things in himself, not just pleading over and over for what he already possesses in the indwelling Holy Spirit.

God, I'm sure, is not pleased when those who have long been His children pray in ways that are ignorant of His Truth. Like the King who has pardoned and liberated a prisoner held in the dungeons but who is then asked by the freed prisoner to be set free, to be pardoned and liberated, what is God to do with the one who has already been given what they are asking for? If they are unwilling to look into His word and understand and pray according to it, their prayers must remain unanswered.

4.) Praying selfishly.

This last point on the checklist overlaps a good deal with the point before it. The believer ignorant of God's word is inevitably in violation of it, and so usually asking for the fulfillment of their own will and way rather than God's. But God answers the prayers of those who are keen to do His will (which is to say, keen to know it, as well).

1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.


What's...tricky here is that the self-centered prayers of believers, prayers made according to their will, don't always seem selfish on the surface, they don't seem particularly ungodly or unbiblical. Shouldn't we pray for our loved one's physical healing? Well, not exclusively, that's for sure! What is God's priority in such a situation? If our loved one doesn't know Christ as their Savior, they need eternal, spiritual healing far more than ultimately temporary, physical healing; and it may be that God has laid them upon a bed of sickness in order to save their soul. What, then, ought to be our prayer priority?

Shouldn't we pray that God would make our spouse act in a more peaceful, respectful way toward us? Possibly. God doesn't desire matrimonial strife. But what if the disrespect and turmoil coming to us from our spouse is merely the harvest of seeds we've sown in our conduct toward them? Why should God "fix" our spouse when, at bottom, we're the problem? God's answer to such prayers about our spouse will, you can be sure, begin with changing us!

Shouldn't we pray that God would bless our career choice? Not necessarily - particularly if we've embarked on a career course that hasn't taken God's priorities for our life into account at all. On what grounds is God obliged to bless a unilateral, self-interested choice of career? None.

And so on. The prayers made according to our will are sure to be met with silence from God when our will is not conformed to His. His will is the important thing, not ours. His way is the very best way, not ours. And so, when we pray in divergence from His will and way, being a good and loving, God will not answer our prayers.

The matter of prayer is, of course, much broader and deeper than the few things observed above. But avoiding the things that have been pointed out is crucial to an effective, vibrant prayer life. Are your prayers plagued by sin, ignorance and selfishness? Are your prayers issuing from a heart not yet given to Christ? God will answer but only when your prayers conform to the criteria He has set out in His word for all of His children.
 
I've had the Lord seldom reply with a "Yes" and several times reply with a "No" and more times remain silent. I've also had a kind of "You figure this one out yourself. This is your doing and you're will not Mine"
 
I’ve had more than my fair share of answered prayers. I don’t pretend to know the mind of God.

Many great Christian people have difficult lives tragedies unanswered prayers periods of deep and unrelenting despair…

Others have sudden conversions live a couple of years in peace and pass away.

All I can come up with for my answered prayers is that I started so destroyed by the usual factors…sin Satan self and the world 🌍

That I kind of think 🤔 now that the very idea 💡 that I could make it to 25 must have somehow come from God Himself because…

Yeah….ridiculous situation until He brought deliverance.

Other than that I think 🤔 perhaps too many churches ⛪️ of all denominations are teaching Jesus plus xyz…

With the sad result of declawing the good news.
 
I’ve had more than my fair share of answered prayers. I don’t pretend to know the mind of God.

Many great Christian people have difficult lives tragedies unanswered prayers periods of deep and unrelenting despair…

Others have sudden conversions live a couple of years in peace and pass away.

All I can come up with for my answered prayers is that I started so destroyed by the usual factors…sin Satan self and the world 🌍

That I kind of think 🤔 now that the very idea 💡 that I could make it to 25 must have somehow come from God Himself because…

Yeah….ridiculous situation until He brought deliverance.

Other than that I think 🤔 perhaps too many churches ⛪️ of all denominations are teaching Jesus plus xyz…

With the sad result of declawing the good news.
A great answer.

God is not a ' sugardaddy ' existing for our benefit.


We exist to worship and praise God amidst all our difficulties and suffering.
 
I've had the Lord seldom reply with a "Yes" and several times reply with a "No" and more times remain silent. I've also had a kind of "You figure this one out yourself. This is your doing and you're will not Mine"

Part of why I wrote the OP was to address why God might be silent in response to a person's prayer. Sometimes, He is saying, "No," or at least, "Not right now," for reasons that have nothing to do with sin in our lives, or our ignorant and selfish praying, or our not being truly one of His. But it is quite possible that God's silence is a result of one or all of these things. How can one know, then, why God is silent? My OP was offered to help answer this question.

I've had many answered prayers. Many. But often not in the way I anticipated. Sometimes, God's answers have taken me quite by surprise. And some answers have been...extremely painful. But whatever His answer, He has taught me that His bottom line for my life is always that I am more and more like Christ (Romans 8:28-29). Whether He supplies for my need or not, whether He says, "Yes," or "No," whether He helps or hinders, He is working all things in my life to the ultimate and eternal good of my being like Christ.
 
I’ve had more than my fair share of answered prayers. I don’t pretend to know the mind of God.

No one can know His mind entirely, but we can certainly know something of His mind insofar as He has shared it with us in His word, the Bible. Always, in every answer God gives to our prayer, we can be sure of one thing: He is working everything in our lives to the end that we would be more like Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:28-29
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.


What is the "good" that Paul mentions in verse 28 toward which God is directing all things in our lives? Paul says what it is in verse 29: "to be conformed to the image of His Son." This much, then, we can know of God's mind as He responds to our prayers. Whether He heals one's cancerous body or not; whether He protects one from danger, or not; whether He provides for one's material needs, or not; whether He blesses a loved one for whom we've prayed, or not, God is always working all of His answers to our prayers to this same Christ-centered end.

Of course, many times when prayers are made to God, His Christ-centered priority is not the priority of the one praying to Him...

All I can come up with for my answered prayers is that I started so destroyed by the usual factors…sin Satan self and the world 🌍

That I kind of think 🤔 now that the very idea 💡 that I could make it to 25 must have somehow come from God Himself because…

Yeah….ridiculous situation until He brought deliverance.

God knows by what means He can best move us toward Himself. Our path toward Him (or away), though, is always unique to us and our particular set of circumstances.

Other than that I think 🤔 perhaps too many churches ⛪️ of all denominations are teaching Jesus plus xyz…

With the sad result of declawing the good news.

Indeed.
 
Answered prayers are a cause for celebration 🎉!

But I don’t think 🤔 one should constantly seek miracles and visions to the exclusion of prayer and growth and ministering to others…

Oh and reasonably sound doctrine. I remember talking to lifelong church ⛪️ people and…

I started to get the sense that they were feeling competitive about answered prayers and divine intervention and…?

Sin seems to be an issue many churches ⛪️ I’ve dealt with handle…strategically. Especially in larger churches there seems to be a formula that uses guilt and so called tough teachings…

To boost attendance and revenue.
 
Answered prayers are a cause for celebration 🎉!

Mostly. Some answered prayers, though, can...hurt.


But I don’t think 🤔 one should constantly seek miracles and visions to the exclusion of prayer and growth and ministering to others…

Miracles and visions aren't prescribed in the New Testament to Christians as important things for which to pray. Holiness, faith, grace, love, wisdom - these are all far more important things.

Oh and reasonably sound doctrine. I remember talking to lifelong church ⛪️ people and…

I started to get the sense that they were feeling competitive about answered prayers and divine intervention and…?

Yes, Christians can grow vain about the silliest things.


Sin seems to be an issue many churches ⛪️ I’ve dealt with handle…strategically. Especially in larger churches there seems to be a formula that uses guilt and so called tough teachings…

To boost attendance and revenue.

Well, the Bible does have a great deal to say about sin. The matter of sin, though, can be used as a stick to beat the flock of God. But neglecting the topic of sin is just as bad in its own way for God's "sheep."
 
I've had many answered prayers. Many. But often not in the way I anticipated. Sometimes, God's answers have taken me quite by surprise.
Yes , I have had many answered too , what a wonderful God we serve ! I once prayed for a situation that needed prayer and forgot that I had even prayed about it , after all I left it with the Lord :) . After about 2 weeks I found out the situation I had prayed for had worked it's self out and I thought , " That is good everything worked out there !" and immediately I internally heard this said to me " Isn't that what you prayed for ?! " , and I thought oh yeah :oops2 I did pray for that .
 
But I don’t think 🤔 one should constantly seek miracles and visions to the exclusion of prayer and growth and ministering to others…
Very true .
Miracles and visions aren't prescribed in the New Testament to Christians as important things for which to pray.
I agree . I saw on youtube one person praying for angels to come and intercede for him :shock ! I thought well that would be up to God wouldn't it :study !
Holiness, faith, grace, love, wisdom - these are all far more important things.
Amen .
 
There are probably at least a few hundred prayers being said around the globe at any given moment. I always wonder how they are all kept separate in order to make the decisions for any actions to be taken with regard to each one of them. And of course they just keep coming non-stop 24/7.
 
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

Many times I've heard Christians wonder aloud about the silence of God in response to their prayers. They've prayed earnestly and often, weeping, even, in desperate need, but God has not responded, He has not comforted them, or supplied for them, or protected them. Why? Why is God silent?

Well, the answer to this question cannot be known, perhaps, entirely, but there are some things God says in His word will interfere mightily with our prayers. Following is a prayer checklist by which to discern possible hindrances and outright barriers to your prayers:

1.) Not a child of God.

Generally, there's only one prayer that God will hear from a person who is not one of His children and that is a prayer of repentance, confession, submission and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord (Acts 3:19; 1 John 1:9; James 4:6-10; Romans 10:9-10). To the unrepentant and rebellious wicked God turns a deaf ear.

John 3:36
36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."


This is the condition of every person not yet born-again, by the Spirit given a "second, spiritual birth" (John 3:3-7). In fact, God's description of those who have not submitted to Him, in faith trusting in Christ as their Savior and Lord is very...unflattering and reveals why God is so powerfully opposed to the unrepentant and unregenerate person (Titus 3:3; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:21, etc.) So long as a person remains unreconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Colossians 1:19-22) and outside of His kingdom and family, they will not have His ear. More than this, God is opposed to them (1 Peter 5:4-6; James 4:6) and His wrath "abides" on them, only eternal separation from Him and torment the "reward" they can expect from their Holy Maker. (Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6-8)

2.) Sin is in the way.

If there is one surefire way to empty prayer of its usefulness, sin is it. God will not attend to the prayers of His children so long as they are persisting willfully in sin.

Psalm 66:18
18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;

Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

1 Peter 3:10-12
10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”


We are so sin-prone, so comfortable with sin often, and so self-deceived about it that we don't see sin in our own lives. And so, like the Psalmist, our prayer should always be preceded by a time of divine inspection:

Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!


It is the prayer of a righteous man (or woman), the prayer of one whose life, by repentance and confession, is clear of known sin, that is "effectual," or has "great power" with God (James 5:16).

Continued below.
Don't you find it amazing that so many people refuse to believe they can live without sin ?
 
Don't you find it amazing that so many people refuse to believe they can live without sin ?

And very, very sad. On one hand, they hear commonly in the Church the false idea that sin is okay in the life of the believer and, on the other, the equally false idea that they should not - indeed cannot - ever sin.
 
There are probably at least a few hundred prayers being said around the globe at any given moment. I always wonder how they are all kept separate in order to make the decisions for any actions to be taken with regard to each one of them. And of course they just keep coming non-stop 24/7.

Not a problem for God who is all-knowing and all-powerful.
 
There are probably at least a few hundred prayers being said around the globe at any given moment.
I think your numbers are low , I think thousands at any given moment . In fact rstrats we have a forum for prayers :pray if you have a request let us know and we could help pray for your request .
I always wonder how they are all kept separate in order to make the decisions for any actions to be taken with regard to each one of them.
Maybe some take a higher priority than others :chin , you know the emergency cry for help . Here is what happened to my family many years ago .

My family and I were stopped abruptly on a rain slick highway behind a car turning left and as I looked in my rear view mirror I saw a pick-up truck that was pulling a cattle trailer and it was jackknifing unable to stop in time to avoid running into us . The only words I got out were "Lord Jesus !" . A second or two later the pick-up managed to get straight and come around us on the shoulder of the road . Hair raising it was :eek .
And of course they just keep coming non-stop 24/7.
With the world we live in and a Mighty God we serve I can see that happening :) .
 
And very, very sad. On one hand, they hear commonly in the Church the false idea that sin is okay in the life of the believer and, on the other, the equally false idea that they should not - indeed cannot - ever sin.
Why would perfect obedience to God be a false idea ?
God gave us the ways and means to crucify the flesh, (and walk in the Spirit), to be reborn of His seed, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and a ton of scriptures, so we can live perfectly.
If everyone is still walking in sin, the OP's question is moot.
"God heareth not sinners." (John 9:31)
 
Why would perfect obedience to God be a false idea ?

Because it doesn't comport with God's word (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 11-15; 5, 6, 11; Hebrews 5:11-14; Galatians 3:1-3; 1 John 1:8-10; Romans 14:1, Revelations 2, 3, etc.) and because no one but God has any idea what perfect obedience actually is.

Why do you think Paul, Peter, James and John wrote the prohibitions against sinful conduct that they did in their various letters? Because all of the Christian brethren were living perfectly sinless lives? Were that the case, none of the moral commands issuing from the writers of the NT would have been necessary! The enormous stream of commands given by the NT writers to do some things and not do others, then, was in response to the conduct and thinking of those to whom they were writing and so reveals the often very sinful and ignorant way in which Early Church believers were behaving.

God gave us the ways and means to crucify the flesh, (and walk in the Spirit), to be reborn of His seed, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and a ton of scriptures, so we can live perfectly.

But, you see, the born-again person has already been made perfect in Christ, which is the only reason God accepts them as His own. In their spiritual position in Christ, the born-again believer is already redeemed, justified and sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:2, 30), and thus able to enter into God's eternal kingdom and family. As Paul wrote, the saved person is "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6) and there is no more to be done to make God's acceptance more complete or permanent. Christ has done it all, perfectly satisfying all of God's holy demands for justice and punishment of sin. To think, then, that, by dint of one's own efforts to live in a holy way, one secures one's salvation - in essence, completes one's salvation - is to think that one shares in the role of Savior, which is a deeply blasphemous idea. Christ only is Savior and he shares the glory for what he has done at Calvary with no one.

1 Corinthians 1:29-31
29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”


In any case, you have no idea, really, what perfect obedience is. You can only have a proper understanding of perfection if you are perfect, which you aren't. Perfection exists only in God and none of us have any idea of the fullness of what it is for God to be perfect. "Now we see in a mirror darkly, knowing only in part" Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 13:12); only on the other side of eternity will we have the sort of clarity we presently lack about many things, including what perfection actually is. In other words, you have no idea what you're aiming at if you're aiming to be perfectly obedient to God and can have no idea, then, whether or not you've reached perfection. For all you know, being unavoidably ignorant of what perfection truly is, you're nowhere close to it. What a horrible surprise you're going to have when you stand before God one day and realize just how far from perfection you've been. But you'll also be very, very thankful that God's acceptance of you doesn't have anything to do with you, with how close your obedience came to His own divine perfection.

If everyone is still walking in sin, the OP's question is moot.
"God heareth not sinners." (John 9:31)

If this were true, then no one could be saved. But God does hear at least one prayer of the sinner: The prayer of repentance from, and confession of sin, and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord (1 John 1:9; Romans 10:9-10; James 4:6-10).

Anyway, there is no child of God who is not guilty of sin, no matter how long they've walked with God. Being sin-steeped creatures, believers don't recognize much of what God considers sin in their lives to be sin. But, over time, God illuminates the dark, sinful corners of a born-again person's life, bringing them ever more fully into the light of holiness. This is a life-long process, the believer growing holier and holier as they approach eternity; but never do they ever become perfectly sin-free. Paul the apostle acknowledged this very plainly:

Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


Though an apostle of the Early Church to the Gentiles and the second greatest contributor to the New Testament, Paul was not perfect (vs. 12) but continued to "press on" toward the "upward call" of God in Christ. If he did not claim perfection, what are you doing making such a claim for yourself - especially when your claim in no small part rests upon Paul's teaching!
 
Because it doesn't comport with God's word (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 11-15; 5, 6, 11; Hebrews 5:11-14; Galatians 3:1-3; 1 John 1:8-10; Romans 14:1, Revelations 2, 3, etc.) and because no one but God has any idea what perfect obedience actually is.
It comports to these words of God...“Be ye therefore perfect, even as you Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:48)
“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17:22-23)

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:6-7)

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom 8:1)

"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:34)

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor 5:21)

"Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you." (2 Cor 13:11)

"Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." (Phil 3:15)

"Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." (Titus 1:15-16)

"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;" (1 Peter 4:1)

"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:3-4)

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:" (2 Peter 1:10)

"Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." (2 Peter 3:14)

“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)

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.” (1 John 3:4-9)

“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” (1 John 5:18)
Why do you think Paul, Peter, James and John wrote the prohibitions against sinful conduct that they did in their various letters? Because all of the Christian brethren were living perfectly sinless lives? Were that the case, none of the moral commands issuing from the writers of the NT would have been necessary! The enormous stream of commands given by the NT writers to do some things and not do others, then, was in response to the conduct and thinking of those to whom they were writing and so reveals the often very sinful and ignorant way in which Early Church believers were behaving.
He wrote the letters to both support the true converts and separate the posers from among the true.
Sinners are neither in Christ or "believing".
But, you see, the born-again person has already been made perfect in Christ, which is the only reason God accepts them as His own. In their spiritual position in Christ, the born-again believer is already redeemed, justified and sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:2, 30), and thus able to enter into God's eternal kingdom and family. As Paul wrote, the saved person is "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6) and there is no more to be done to make God's acceptance more complete or permanent. Christ has done it all, perfectly satisfying all of God's holy demands for justice and punishment of sin. To think, then, that, by dint of one's own efforts to live in a holy way, one secures one's salvation - in essence, completes one's salvation - is to think that one shares in the role of Savior, which is a deeply blasphemous idea. Christ only is Savior and he shares the glory for what he has done at Calvary with no one.
He has indeed been (re)made perfect.
And he can remain that way, thanks be to God !
In any case, you have no idea, really, what perfect obedience is.
But I do know what perfect obedience to God is.
Why don't you ?
You can only have a proper understanding of perfection if you are perfect, which you aren't.
By removing the ways, you can remove the possibility.
But as you have already admitted above that we are (re)made perfectly, your back-track smells to high heaven.
Perfection exists only in God and none of us have any idea of the fullness of what it is for God to be perfect. "Now we see in a mirror darkly, knowing only in part" Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 13:12); only on the other side of eternity will we have the sort of clarity we presently lack about many things, including what perfection actually is. In other words, you have no idea what you're aiming at if you're aiming to be perfectly obedient to God and can have no idea, then, whether or not you've reached perfection. For all you know, being unavoidably ignorant of what perfection truly is, you're nowhere close to it. What a horrible surprise you're going to have when you stand before God one day and realize just how far from perfection you've been. But you'll also be very, very thankful that God's acceptance of you doesn't have anything to do with you, with how close your obedience came to His own divine perfection.
I was water baptized into God after my true repentance from sin.
You are in essence admitting you have yet to repent of sin and get washed of your past sins by the blood of Christ at water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of past sins.
The horribly imperfect will receive no mercy from God on the day of judgement.
Just a fair judgement.
If this were true, then no one could be saved. But God does hear at least one prayer of the sinner: The prayer of repentance from, and confession of sin, and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord (1 John 1:9; Romans 10:9-10; James 4:6-10).
Plenty are willing to serve Christ without reservation or any man's accommodations for ongoing sin.
Your POV is defeatist.
Anyway, there is no child of God who is not guilty of sin, no matter how long they've walked with God.
Tell that to Jesus.
Being sin-steeped creatures, believers don't recognize much of what God considers sin in their lives to be sin. But, over time, God illuminates the dark, sinful corners of a born-again person's life, bringing them ever more fully into the light of holiness. This is a life-long process, the believer growing holier and holier as they approach eternity; but never do they ever become perfectly sin-free. Paul the apostle acknowledged this very plainly:
You ignore the effects of rebirth.
The sin-steeped creatures have bene crucified and buried with Christ.
The new creature was raised with Christ to walk in newness of life.
Someone for got to tell you the new creature, born of God's seed, is as holy as Jesus' first Son is.
Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


Though an apostle of the Early Church to the Gentiles and the second greatest contributor to the New Testament, Paul was not perfect (vs. 12) but continued to "press on" toward the "upward call" of God in Christ. If he did not claim perfection, what are you doing making such a claim for yourself - especially when your claim in no small part rests upon Paul's teaching!
I am glad he wrote of the perfection he had yet to attain in both verses eleven, (the resurrection of the dead), and verse twenty-one. (the glorified body).
If a sinner turns from sin, he sins no more.
If he sins again, his repentance from sin was a lie to God.
That is no the way to forge any kind of relationship with God.
Only separation.
 
It comports to these words of God...“Be ye therefore perfect, even as you Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:48)

Why did Jesus say this? At the time he spoke these words, hadn't the last 1500 years or so of the Israelites trying to be obedient to God's law shown that they were utterly incapable of doing so? Yes, it had. In fact, it was because this was so, because perfection was totally beyond the Chosen People - and all other people, too - that Jesus had come to die, once for all, in atoning sacrifice for their sins. But he hadn't yet done so when he spoke the words you've quoted above from his Sermon on the Mount. Why, then, would he issue such a command when he knew that the long history of his Jewish audience had shown it was impossible to fulfill? Until he did for all lost sinners what he had come to do on the cross and through his sacrifice make a way for them to be fully, perfectly justified in himself, his command was just "rubbing salt in the wound." But this was exactly his purpose; he wanted to reinforce to his listeners just how in need of a "new and living way" they were and to make them hungry for something better: Redemption and perfection in Himself. Christ's words in Matthew 5:48 were not, then, ever issued as something the Jews were to achieve by their obedience but by being clothed in him who was the new and living Way (John 14:6; Hebrews 10:19-22) and in all his holy perfection.

Galatians 3:26-27
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.


1 Corinthians 1:30-31
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”


“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17:22-23)

"Made perfect in one," that is, in Christ, not in or through obedience to God's law. How have you missed this? Our perfection is in a Person, not our performance.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:6-7)

And where does Paul speak of sinless perfection in this verse? Nowhere. All he indicated was that a born-again person is freed from the power of sin, from its mastery; he never indicated that such freedom must produce sinless perfection. Why was Paul writing these things to born-again people if they were, by virtue of being so, incapable of committing sin? He even accused them of sin, though he described them as united with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection and thus made free of sin's power!

Romans 6:1-4
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.


Again, why write such things to those who, united to Christ, would (as you believe) therefore have been utterly unable to sin any more? Well, clearly, Paul did not believe this at all. Though united with Christ and freed from sin's power, the believers at Rome were still able to sin and were doing so - hence his words in the quotation above. Once more, how have you missed this? It's so obvious! The very verses you're using to defend your error actually make the case against your view.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom 8:1)

No sinless perfection mentioned in this verse, either... Though, Paul had just described his own battle with sin as a born-again believer:

Romans 7:15-24
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?


It was on the heels of Paul's admission to this struggle that he wrote what he did in Romans 8:1. There was a way to live beyond the struggle he endured: "walk after the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16, 25); but though Paul knew there was a way to freedom from the mastery of the flesh in Christ, he did not himself enjoy perfect, permanent freedom from sin. His own experience was that, though a servant of God, his flesh could still drive him to do what he didn't want to do. And so, Paul wrote in another letter:

Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


Nothing could state more clearly that Paul had not arrived at sinless perfection, but was in process toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus - just as all born-again believers are.

Continued below.
 
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