“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless…”
and blameless
“Blameless” means without blemish, not open to censure (as in a lamb without blemish–see 2 Peter 2:13). God will not censure us or hold us in adverse criticism when we keep short accounts with Him. He finds no fault with us when we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with His power.
One day Jesus will present us blameless, without blemish and not open to censure to the Father.
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25).
Principle:
God expects us to be at our best when Jesus comes.
Application:
God finds no fault with us when we confess sin. Christians are blameless, not sinless. Many of us have been washed in the blood of Christ, but we have not been ironed, so to speak. We still have some spiritual wrinkles. Some of us have more spiritual wrinkles than others. As we become more like Christ, some of the wrinkles begin to go.
Do you have a personal vendetta against someone? This is a wrinkle. This is something about which God will blame you. You are not at your best spiritually.
God takes those wrinkles out of our lives in many ways. At times He blesses us. Other times He disciplines us. He takes out his divine iron, but even then, some of us will not hold steady while He tries to iron out the wrinkles of our lives. God progressively works on our lives to become more like the Lord Jesus every day (2 Corinthians 3:18).
“…that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…” (Philippians 2:15).
One day we will be sinless. In the meantime, we should sin less. We sin less when we confess our sin and use the Word of God to overcome sin in our lives.
Thank you very much for this insightful exposition. There is a lot of confusion going on about grace. I heard a preacher say that as christians, we do not need to confess any sin bcos our sins have been forgiven. He says 1 John 1:9 was not written to Christians but Jews. I have always believed that if we sin, we will be convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent and confess our sins. Please could you comment on this?
Yinka, if you go to my study on 1 John 1:9 you can see my comments there as well as people who challenge my position: http://versebyversecommentary.com/1-john/1-john-19/ Also, read the Introduction to First John at the top of every page on First John. The entire book of First John was written to Christians to show them how fellowship with God on a daily basis and to warn them that incipient gnosticism will lead them into heresy.
1st John 1:9 was written to those who said they had no sin. But in the first verses of first John 1:9 we who believe in God have already confessed our sin so they’re not talking to us. Jesus is inviting the unbelievers who say they are sinless and don’t need a savior to come to Him. He is not talking to the born-again believer. Sorry. We are washed we are Sanctified. Jesus took away our sin on the cross and said in Hebrews He remembers it no more. We are free and Jesus is in us and we are in Him and we are in the Father.. we are safe and sound as the Holy Spirit becomes our guide and our counselor not our convictor. Confession and keeping short accounts with God is not going to get you any more forgiving than you already are. You must believe that. You must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth not in just how you feel.
Nan, go to my studies on 1 John 1:9. There are 5 studies on that verse: https://versebyversecommentary.com/1-john/1-john-19/
What can cause wrinkled in a christian’s garment other than unforgiveness?
Bosede, just about any sin.