Forgiven, Cleansed and Holy

Memes have their place in this world, but among my general rules of thumb is never to use them as source material for any Christian belief, nor should they be assumed to be accurate.  In the case of one meme I read recently, I was not able to verify the accuracy of the quote so I will not repeat it in full.  With an aim to support the extra-biblical concept of purgatory, the quote suggested it was impertinent to imagine an instant after dying any sinner could enjoy being in the presence of God.  An "additional divine operation" was required on the soul before entering into God's presence with joy, and to say otherwise was to "underestimate either your sinful nature or God's holiness or the gap between them."

When I read this quote a rebuttal came to mind:  "Or the author of this quote seriously underestimates the work Jesus did on the cross."  Jesus said those who receive Him by faith are born again, and this means receiving a new nature and to be washed clean from all sin.  Paul wrote in Romans 6:5-6, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."  Whilst we continue to live in bodies of flesh after being born again, our "old man" was crucified with Christ.  Having been cleansed from all sin and filled with the Holy Spirit, we are therefore able to present ourselves as living sacrifices unto God.  The new heart God promised to give His people by the word of the LORD through the prophets is ours by grace through faith in Jesus.

Because God has cleansed us from all unrighteousness and adopted us as His children, it is not presumptuous to say we are positionally holy as God is holy.  There are no degrees of holiness, for all who are born again are sanctified in Christ.  The apostle wrote in 1 Peter 1:13-16 to believers:  "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; ¹⁵ but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."  Holiness is not something we can muster up or do by any effort of the flesh, but God has created us to be holy by virtue of our spiritual birth.  This new identity in Christ is something we constantly fail to measure up to due to the frailty of our flesh.  That is why believers are exhorted again and again to strive to forsake sin and do what pleases God, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling--for it is God who works in us to both to will and do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

Having been born again by faith in Jesus, Christians are assured our sins are forgiven.  1 John 1:9 says to the believer who sins:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Paul was confident at the death of his body he would be in the presence of the LORD (2 Cor. 5:8)--and this wasn't because he was self-righteous or his deeds could make him holy.  He was a man who laid claim to being the chief of sinners!  From his own mouth we can judge him of needing further refinement in the eternal state--that is, if you believe Jesus was unable to cleanse him from all unrighteousness!  There is no need for Christians to go through the "boot camp" of purgatory to enter heaven, for Jesus has already claimed complete victory over sin and death through His resurrection.  By faith in Jesus Christians have been cleansed of all sin, Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us, and we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.  As long as we remain on this earth is the fitting season for our refinement, and may we submit to God in every trial He allows.