The Heresy of Sinless Perfection

One of the greatest heresies that really float around is the sinless perfection.  The heresy can be understood in two ways each explained:

The first version of the heresy is that it is taught that people should attain sinless perfection to enter Heaven.

This is utterly ridiculous.  These are from that awfully problematic, abrasive, self-righteous crowd who demand the impossible, who put the cart before the horse- in short the WORKS SALVATIONIST!  That is, these people believe that one must strive to be perfect and stop sinning in order to enter Heaven.  Many of them believe that when a Christian stumbles into sin, they immediately lose their salvation.  Many of them claim the utterly ridiculous that they've stopped sinning and say stuff like, "I've never sinned for X amount of years."  Again, it's really questionable as many who say they've never done anything wrong are living their lives like devils, they live like as if they have a license to sin because God's grace is ABSENT in their lives.

As said, it's true indeed that Jesus said, "Go and sin no more."  Is it to maintain salvation?  No, it's the very grace that Jesus gives to the forgiven that they will no longer live in sin.  Does 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 teach works salvation?  No.  It shows man's need for salvation.  1 Corinthians 6:11 is often misplaced to show that salvation brings a change life.  The homosexual who gets saved is bound to stop being a homosexual not to get saved but only by God's grace.  The same applies for all the sinners listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10- God changes the life of the sinner!

Again, the Bible is clear that salvation is by relying on Christ alone and any good work Christians do they can't even take credit for it (Romans 4:5, Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 3:9).  James 2:10-11 is clear that if anybody tries to keep the whole Law and yet offend in just ONE POINT, the person is guilty of one?  No, guilty of ALL!

The second version is what any immature Christian can embrace that by God's grace they can totally live sinlessly.

This is another error and can cause a Christian to turn into a legalistic believer.  The person may not be in the sense, reliant on good works to be saved or to stay saved but he/she is quick to judge who is saved and who is not.  Some pastors can be so fed up with the world that they can immediately misjudge people.  They can end up saying, "There is no such thing as a carnal Christian."  That is, they emphasize the fact that anybody who may have backslid may have never been eternally secure in Christ.  Any Christian pastor who has made that kind of mistake needs to reevaluate themselves too.

As said, true indeed that God's grace gives a changed life, no question about that (Titus 2:11-15) however there are still some truths left in the Bible to check out.  When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He always addressed the issue of asking for forgiveness of sins.  1 John 1:8 is clear that sin is still present in the believer.  What about 1 John 3:9?  The new man CANNOT sin but the presence of the old man causes the believer to sin.  Romans 7:15-19 has the Apostle Paul demonstrating how there is the struggle- the side that is born of God (spiritual birth) vs. the natural man therefore showing Christians cannot live sinless but they only sin less.