Hebrews 10:26-29 is still true. You are arguing against that idea, believing if you sin wilfully the blood of Christ will continually cleanse you. The scriptures state the lost never knew the Lord. You are arguing it is possible for the lost to have known the Lord.
The definition of free will relevant to the discussion is the ability of a person to make choices free from prior causes or divine intervention. Based on that definition found in your dictionary, free will doesn't exist. You can be convinced of something and believe it, then your choices will be dictated by your beliefs. The carnal mind cannot serve the law of God; it's not possible.
It is written, "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
I don't hold to sinless perfection, just the image of Christ being sinless and perfect. You either think you are able to "grow into the image of Christ" without completely ceasing from sin, or think nobody has ever grown into the image of Christ. It's seems you only use "grow into the image of Christ" as a cliché.
There is another way to read 1 John 2:1 that doesn't contradict 1 John 4:20 and other verses in the same letter, and doesn't necessitate creating foolish ideas like a "lifestyle of sin."
Then you shouldn't be arguing with me and claiming a believer can sin occasionally.
You are just reading "lifestyle of sin" into the passage, but the idea contradicts the point above you conceded. The grammar can support what I believe, too, and without contradicting other ideas in the same epistle and other books.
So you think all our choices are determined either by God or our own prior choices. This is nothing else than absolute
universal causal determinism which is a doctrine Calvin and Luther got from Augustine of Hippo. Augustine in turn smuggled it in from Manichaeism, the Gnostic cult to which he belonged before he converted to Christianity. In the 350 years before Augustine the Apologist and theologians of Early Christianity were universal in their denial of this doctrine which they considered Pagan, Gnostic and anti-Biblical. I might add that your view has a lot in common with Atheistic determinism which also denies freewill by making all motions of the brain part of a causal chain of material events. This belief, Theistic or Atheistic, degrades man and makes a mockery of moral responsibility.
No, I do not hold to
universal causal determinism or to sinless perfection. Yes, I believe a person progressively grows towards perfection but really all that matters is what the scripture says and it says the following:
2 Corinthians 3:18. When we see Him
as He is the work will be completed instantaneously...but I have not seen Him face to face yet, have you?
Here is a lesson in Greek. Discuss it with your consultants if you wish.
The present tense in English ordinarily denotes action occurring in the present
TIME In addition to TIME, Greek verbs often contain information about HOW an action takes place (called, ASPECT), that is, whether an action simply happens or whether it happens, for instance, in a progressive, ongoing manner. You seem to think I have made up what I said about lifestyle. This is not true as I will show you.
the Present tense, of which John makes use here, doesn't focus on instances of events, but rather gives the sense of general continuity of which perhaps in English is best understood in the term "lifestyle"…Just as the Greek Present tense, the term "lifestyle" is not open to boundary questions. It is not open to ask the question as to what is the boundary condition which distinguishes let's say a behavior or attitude as being or not being the lifestyle of a person or character quality of the person. How much should a person display a certain behavior or attitude until we can say that such is characteristic of his lifestyle? The term "lifestyle" by its very nature does not answer that question, just as the Greek present tense doesn't answer boundary questions. It's not about boundary issues. Nor does the term "lifestyle" deny that a person may (in the "aorist" sense) deviate from such a lifestyle from time to time, just as the Greek Present tense doesn't deny there being instances of deviation.
With this in mind 1John 3:9 reads more literally that "No one who has been born (perfect passive) of God practices (present) sin as his lifestyle because His seed abides in him; and he cannot live a lifestyle of sin, because he has been born of God."
http://www.bcbsr.com/books/1jn3_9.html
You have suggested this is my
personal delusion but a considerable number of scholars in the field besides A. T. Robertson believe that the present tense in First John should be understood to mean
ongoing habitual action
1John 3:9
English Standard Version
No one born of God makes a
practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
Berean Study Bible
Anyone born of God refuses to
practice sin, because God's seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Berean Literal Bible
Anyone having been born of God does not
practice sin, because His seed abides in him, and he is not able to continue sinning, because he has been born of God.
New American Standard Bible
No one who is born of God
practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
New International Version
No one who is born of God will
continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
New Living Translation
Those who have been born into God's family do not make a
practice of sinning, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
Do you think all these teams of translators are part of some vast conspiracy?