I have friends in what is referred to by some as "the holiness movement."
They assert, given there understanding of those passages they put together in the way they do, that they do not sin.
We talk about these things all the time; in disagreement.
I understand where they are coming from and show them the very verses they are basing that on.
I relate to them that they believe those verses are talking about them in this age, in the absence of verses that contradict that this refers to believers now.
But that does not fit what they believe, as they do not understand what sin is - it is anything that falls short of the glory of God.
Further, they refuse to study out how these things are portrayed in Acts and so on...
You have that early Messianic assembly lacking in nothing; and all are on the same page, and Peter is a reader of the thoughts and intents of other's hearts through the Spirit, and so on.
And then you have a break down and diminishing away such that those same faithful saints end up no longer able to be on the same page, Peter having to second guess the Lord in Acts 10, and so on, and the saints at Jerusalem, poor saints now, and so on....
What my friends do is explain all that with,"Well, that's because this, that, the other..."
Absent from their explanations are passages that tell the story themselves, let alone the frame of reference said story must be approached from.
Its the cult mentality. Where you buy into a belief system so deeply that it begins to function as its own logic as to this, that, the other.
"Well, he hits me, but he doesn't mean, to; he's; he's a good man; he even holds down three jobs..."
Its that kind of built-in rationale, and its sad. In all its forms.
This is very different from searching things out in the Word, not to prove one's view, but simply to learn what one's view is to be.
And towards that; understanding by what principles one is to go about conducting such a search, must first be sought out.
This too, sought out in the Word itself - not in books about it, nor in notions of "the Spirit its leading me... and, I just know..."
Nothing must be left to the chance of our own reasoning about what's what - absolutely nothing.
Note, for example, what the writer of Proverbs instructs as to the Law's role in its revealing of God's will back then - Proverbs 3:
1. My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
2. For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
4. So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
5. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
It relates that to lean unto one's own understanding rather than on the Law, is evil. It relates that to lean on the Law as to one's understanding is to depart from evil; is to acknowledge God.
And that was the Law, given one aspect of God's intent through the Law's - Romans 3:
19. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
In Genesis 11 and Romans 1 and into Romans 2, God is depicted as having turned from the Gentiles for their having gone their own way.
Then, in Genesis 12, He is depicted as starting over, over with a new people.
Then, in the balance of Romans 2 and into Romans 3, He is depicted as having proven through the Law that Israel too was no better off.
All towards glorifying the Only One worthy of Gory...
Through "the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
That's a change in things.
Big Time!
The more astute [those who actually pay attention to what they are reading when reading Scripture] cannot but note that this is announced after Israel's temporary fall at Acts 7:71, per Matt.12:30-32, Rom. 2 and 9-11!
This greatly impacts one's understanding of many things asserted in Scripture after that.