Understanding Your Religion
7 Major Doctrines that Define Christianity
God's New Vision of Mankind
The Sub-Doctrine of Perfection
Strategia di insegnamento
The focus of this lesson is on why and how God now sees us as His redeemed children. Of special note in this lesson is God’s view of perfection.
Risultati di apprendimento degli studenti
- Know: Understand how God sees us as His redeemed children.
- Feel: Value the new vision God has for us.
- Do: Live faithfully as God wills.
Corpo della lezione
Domande di discussione
Di seguito sono riportate le domande suggerite da utilizzare durante la parte di discussione guidata della lezione. Vengono inoltre suggerite le risposte alle domande per aiutare gli studenti a comprendere i vari concetti. Queste sono fornite per aiutare la discussione e non sono considerate come risposte "giuste o sbagliate".
Justification states that we can stand before God acceptable according to His standard. We become acceptable when God places (imputes) acceptability on us.
We are justified by faith, expressed through our repentance and baptism. We do not earn it or accomplish it through any action on our part other than accepting it as a faithful response to God's grace (Ephesians 2:8-10).
It is the quality of the condition of those who are in Christ. This differs from the secular (dictionary) definition which states something that is entirely without flaw or defect, something that satisfies all the requirements.
It is an expression communicating healthiness, completeness, wholeheartedness; but not sinless perfection (I Kings 8:61). It expresses the idea of not wavering from one's faith rather than living a sinless life (Colossians 1:27-28).
The only way to reach perfection (wholeness and spiritual ripeness) is through Christ.
Romans 3:20-24 and I John 1:1-10 both teach that we sin. To one it might seem as a futile effort to live life as God wills since we are incapable of sinless perfect.
God understands this so made a way to Himself through Jesus.
John goes on to explain that as we live faithfully to include making the effort to obey our Lord and repenting when we realize our failures, God sees us as faithful and continues to forgive. This is not based on our efforts, but is the gift of grace given to those in Christ.
Nothing we might use to attain perfection has any value in making us perfect.
One could say that they might even contribute to our imperfection since we're relying on something other than God to achieve perfection. We use what God gives us for His glory and to accomplish His will for us, but not to attain perfection. We are made perfect through our response of faith to the sacrifice of Christ.
Perfection can be seen from the perspective of a timeline or continuum. We are made perfect (whole and without sin in our lives) through our obedient response to the gospel. We then continue to seek to serve God according to His will (faithfulness).
We grow in our knowledge of God's will and its application in our lives. This is a spiritual maturation process that enables us to grow closer to God and consequently know Him more perfectly which is the essential experience of eternal life (John 17:3).
Being made perfect through our response to the gospel is only a beginning. We must continue to do our best to live faithfully as servants of God because this process leads us to experiencing here on earth the promise of eternal life when we resurrect at Jesus' return.