God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

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G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

3. Never despair of the Spirit’s ability and willingness to make Christians holy.

a. The mercy of Christ toward sinners (Matt. 18.21-22; 1 John 2.1) is always to be kept at the front of our minds. The Holy Spirit comes to us as the Spirit of Jesus (John 14.16-18; Phil. 1.19) who is the “friend of sinners.”

b. The Spirit is available to fill us over and over again so that we can constantly start afresh with new power in our battle against sin.

(1) Eph. 5.18 - “Be filled with the Spirit”

(2) This verb “be filled” is in the present, imperative tense (imperative simply means that it is a command). The present tense in Greek is used to show an action that happens continuously or is repeated over and over again.

Lest anyone should flatter himself that he is innocent–and should more deeply perish by exalting himself–he is instructed and taught that he sins daily. For he is told to pray daily for his sins. ~ Cyprian quoted in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . David W. Bercot, ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998. p. 618.

4. The mature Christian will not rely on past victories but will stay constantly on guard against sin.

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a. There is no circumstance under which a Christian can legitimately claim to beyond the possibility of sinning. At the Council of Carthage (A.D. 418), the Church rejected the view that Christians do not sin. Those early Church fathers emphasized that the petitions found in the Lord’s Prayer “Forgive us our trespasses” and “Lead us not into temptation” are requests that all Christians need to pray. They reasoned that if this is a prayer for all disciples, then no Christian can claim that they are so advanced in holiness that they are immune from temptation and sin.