Do We Have To Become Sinless In Order To Be Saved?

Does the Bible say we have to turn sinless to know and love God, Jesus, and people to get salvation?

No, we don’t have to be sinless. In fact, the Bible says that sinlessness will not happen until we are glorified, resurrected, our salvation is complete, and we are together with Jesus and the rest of the people of God in heaven. That is the completion of our salvation; then we will be sinless. So, the Bible does promise a sinless state for every believer, but it’s not on this side of eternity where we have to struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil. I want to be clear that God has not given the believer some system where he must sin. You’re a believer in Jesus Christ, and you don’t have to sin. But the Bible acknowledges the inherent weakness in our flesh and the fierceness of the attacks that we may face from the world and the devil. It’s inevitable that believers will at least occasionally sin before we are resurrected and glorified.

Sinlessness is not the ground of our righteousness. The ground of our righteousness is that we have put our faith in Jesus Christ. We trust in Him, we rely on Him, and we cling to Him in the sense of who He is and what He did to rescue us, especially what He did at the cross and in His resurrection. That’s the gospel. That’s what God has given us to put our faith in. We do not put faith in our own sinlessness, or our own ability to earn it. Rather, we put our faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

I am so happy that the Bible promises a sinless future for us. The Bible tells us that we are already freed from the penalty of sin. That’s what God did by the work of Jesus concerning the past of the believer. The Bible says that right now, we are also set free from the power of sin in the present moment. Believers can grow in that truth and learn the implications of it day by day. We should generally become more and more victorious in our Christian life, struggling against sin with the power that God gives us over it.

So, freedom from the penalty of sin is in the past. Freedom from the power of sin is something God is working in us right now. Finally, we will be free from the very presence of sin in the future. Those are the three phases of God’s work regarding sin in the life of the believer.