a hypocrite aiming for holiness

[malcolm]

1 Peter 1:15-16 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

When you get right down to it, I'm a hypocrite.

I believe what Scripture says, and I believe that the commands of Jesus are to be taken seriously, and I believe that God can give us the grace to obey by faith. I've started several threads on this board dealing with specific issues of obedience - where the commands of God are very clear, but people prefer to ignore them rather than admit that they should be obeyed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And, in everything that I talk about, I fail. I don't obey the Scriptures perfectly. And this isn't a "law versus grace" thing. The New Testament isn't the Law, and I don't even obey that perfectly. My sinful nature - who I am - is still very much alive and battles against the Spirit and the new creation, and wins out far, far too often.

But does the fact that I fail invalidate the truth? Does my sin eliminate the need for holiness? Does the fact that I do not obey perfectly mean that God's commands do not have to be obeyed?

Of course not.

And here's the key question: Can I use Jesus Christ as an excuse for my failure? Can I use His sacrifice as a way of ignoring God's commands and pretending that they don't apply to me? Can I use His precious blood as an excuse to pick and choose which scriptures I want to believe?

As Paul says:

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

The problem is, this is exactly what most so-called "Christians" do. They refuse to admit they are hypocrites, because they don't believe or teach enough of the truth in the first place. They water down the gospel so much that there is nothing for them to be hypocritical about. Holiness is not something that they are truly aiming for and failing at, it is something that they use Jesus Christ to exempt them from altogether. Oh, they're full of talk about holiness - but they deny the commands of God and bear no fruit of obedience by faith.

Hebrews 10:29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Is this all just a way of saying that we have to strive for holiness and earn our salvation by works? Not at all. Just the opposite. It is only when we stop our own works, stop our excuses, and surrender our own opinions about God's commands that He can change our hearts by the power of the Spirit and work holiness in us. Obedience comes from faith, and faith is the gift of God.

But if we deny those commands, then we have no faith. If we disobey those commands then we have no love for God. And if we selfishly use Jesus Christ as a carpet to sweep those commands under, then we trample on God's grace and deserve a greater punishment than demons.

A true Christian is a hypocrite aiming for holiness - surrendering themselves to God, denying themselves their own works, and taking up their cross daily to follow Jesus. And this is the power of God, that transforms us from one to the other, little by little, every day - if we will but have faith.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

[Jedidiah]

Does anyone have any real problems with this concern? If so what are they?

[nomad]

nope. hypocrisy can be an attempt to control others, but just as often it is just morality in motion.

[nyaminche]

A true Christian is a hypocrite aiming for holiness - surrendering themselves to God, denying themselves their own works, and taking up their cross daily to follow Jesus. And this is the power of God, that transforms us from one to the other, little by little, every day - if we will but have faith.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

I'm forced to take issue with your definition with a true Christian. A true Christian is a holy saint, one of God's beloved children, who has received the Spirit of Christ and has right standing with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. And a true Christian also sometimes sins. Happy are those whose sins the Lord does not hold against them!

To disprove that a Christian sins, you either need a counter-example, or you need to argue that there is no Christian. (i.e that every single person who claims to be a Christian is in fact just a hypocrite who is not a Christian at all)

My point is this. It's not hypocrisy to say, "I'm a saint of God, but sometimes I sin because I'm not perfect."
It is hypocrisy to say "I'm a Christian and I don't sin because now I'm perfect."
It is hypocrisy to sin, and deny it, or not admit it, or sweep it under the carpet.
It is hypocrisy (flat out lying) to say "I'm a Christian", when you don't posess the Spirit of Christ.

The big issue you point out, I think, are those Christians who, truly believing and possessing the Spirit of Christ, fail to yield to God's Spirit and instead still follow their own natures. This is a struggle that every Christian faces daily, and although we often fail, this isn't hypocrisy, it's the aforementioned sin. As you say, we must daily surrender to God and deny our own works and natures. The more we do this, the more God will transform us further into the image of Christ, and bring out his fruits in our lives.

Now how we deal with our committed sin (do we deny it or confess it?) is where hypocrisy comes into play. We will all sin, but we don't have to be hypocrites about it.

Either way, hypocrisy has nothing to do with the nature of a "true Christian". If God no longer sees us as sinners but as beloved children and saints, who are we to say that we are all hypocrites? In doing this we sell Jesus short and deny what he has done for us on the cross.

[malcolm]

To disprove that a Christian sins, you either need a counter-example, or you need to argue that there is no Christian.

I wasn't attempting to disprove that a Christian sins.

(i.e that every single person who claims to be a Christian is in fact just a hypocrite who is not a Christian at all)

Nor was I saying that being a hypocrite, in the context of my post, necessarily excludes someone from being a Christian.

It is hypocrisy to sin, and deny it, or not admit it, or sweep it under the carpet.
It is hypocrisy (flat out lying) to say "I'm a Christian", when you don't posess the Spirit of Christ.

This was more the point of my post.

The big issue you point out, I think, are those Christians who, truly believing and possessing the Spirit of Christ, fail to yield to God's Spirit and instead still follow their own natures.

Precisely.

This is a struggle that every Christian faces daily, and although we often fail, this isn't hypocrisy, it's the aforementioned sin. As you say, we must daily surrender to God and deny our own works and natures. The more we do this, the more God will transform us further into the image of Christ, and bring out his fruits in our lives.

Amen. I think the only thing you're really disagreeing with is my use of the word "hypocrite." I was using it to make a spiritual point - which you appear to have understood and agree with - rather than to have it taken as a literal definition of a Christian.

Now how we deal with our committed sin (do we deny it or confess it?) is where hypocrisy comes into play. We will all sin, but we don't have to be hypocrites about it.

Again, I totally agree. Thanks for your reply.