Salvation, not by works but through the power of God’s re-creation

How does God of the bible (Christianity) define a righteous (good) person?

Anyone who never sinned by breaking any of the 10 commandments i s right eous.

Ever since Adam sinned, everyone is born according to the fallen image of Adam. Everyone is b o rn a s inner.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all people, because all sinned

Because everyone is born a sinner, no one is righteous in God ’s eye.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right a nd nev er sins.

Romans 3:10 As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one

1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

In other gentile religions, a person becomes sinner when they committed evil deeds or when their evil deeds out w eigh g ood ones.

And they can turn into a saint when they did more good deeds than wick ones or when another person with authority officially declare so m eone a s a saint.

Gentile’s saint-hood is ever changing based on outward actions and recognition and op i nion f rom others.

In Christianity, everyone is born a sinner (Born according to the fallen image of Adam). Sinners sin because it is t h eir na ture to sin.

How can we confirm that everyo n e is b orn a sinner?

Death confirms that a person is a sinner. Death is a process which starts with aging and weakness and eventually dies. Everyone who has an exp i ry dat e is a sinner.

Ezekiel 18:20 The so u l who sins shall die.

Why true salvation cann o t be p urchase or earn?

Salvation requires sinlessness. Nobody can remove past sins w i th goo d works or deeds.

Sin is paid with death. Only after dea t h is o ur sins debt paid.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life thro u gh Chr ist Jesus our Lord.

Even after the sin (debt) have been paid with death, a sinner who has clear his sin (debt) with death is still a sinner. A sinner will still sin and God cannot allow an unclean being in his presence. God and hea v en can not accept a sinner.

Revelation 21:27 Nothing unclean and no one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever go into it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book o f life will enter the city.

It is natural for a sinner (nature) to sin (action and thought). Sinners are rejected by God not just because of what they did but rather their sinful nature (desire to choose evil). The root of the p roblem is the sinful nature.

Nobody can change their nature from sinner to a saint through o utward action and good deeds.

Recognition and opinions of others (from sinners whom cannot even save themselves) cannot change the nature of sinner into a saint.

The transformation from a sinner into a saint can only be done through re-creation. And only God who has the power of creation to give sinners a second birth (re-creation) which i s to be born again into a saint.

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again h e canno t see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, h e canno t enter the kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passe d away; behold, the new has come.

A sinner will continue to be unjust even after death. The y will continue to sin even in hell.

A saint who is born-again (re-created by God) will be righteous and c o ntinue to be holy forever in heaven.

Revelation 22:11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he w h o is h oly, let him be holy still.

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No salvation requires faith in Jesus.

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What do you mean, @Who-me?

I missed the comma.

No, |Salvation requires faith in Jesus. Alaric posted that salvation requires one must be sinless.

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Which of us is perfect and how is it even possible to be perfect?

We’re perfect in God’s sight through Jesus who is perfect. The perfect Son took on all our sin so that we might be rendered perfect. That’s salvation in a nutshell.

Yes, @Bestill, you’re right that we are perfect “in God’s sight,” because he has justified us as our Judge, that is, declared us “not-guilty” and right with him.

However, we are actually far from perfect in our daily lives. That is the reason Jesus gave us the command to strive for more and more perfect righteousness like God. It’s the “already/not yet” of the gospel, that we already legally perfect in principle before our Judge but not yet perfect in practice.

The Apostle Paul dealt with the subject of our future perfection and our present imperfection in Philippians 3:

Php 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Php 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Php 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Php 3:11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Php 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul compares our lives to running a race toward the goal of our future resurrection perfection and admits that he isn’t perfect but struggles toward perfection. If Paul admits that he isn’t perfect, even though he says that God has justified believers, I certainly will never claim to be. We all must seek God’s progress away from our sinful natures toward God’s new nature that must control us more and more. (See Colossians 3.)

Perfect in Love..telio..means mature