You seem to be saying the sinless experience you described above is not possible now. Did I understand you correctly? Do you think only the 144,000 are capable of reaching this kind of sinlessness? If so, what makes it possible for them then but not for us now? What is lacking that prevents us from being like Jesus now?

You asked, "So when I ask you if you are sinless, I'm asking if you never commit a sin." According to 1 John 3:6-9 I do not and cannot commit a sin while I'm abiding in Jesus? Are you also asking if I ever neglect to abide in Jesus and that if I do it is proof I cannot be like Jesus until the day He returns, that only the 144,000 can?

Maybe a special endowement of the Spirit (the latter rain)?

You said, "'Salvation' is a broader term than 'justification.'" If that is correct, then your edit of Christ's words would have Him saying more than He actually said.

While your suggestion may be true, it is not what Jesus said.

But to say that "justified" and "saved" are synonymous enough in this instance to allow a simple replacement is a case of FOTAP.

T:So my point in asking if "justification is salvation" is using "salvation" in precisely the same way you were; that is, I'm taking your definition for "salvation" in your statement that "sanctification is salvation" and asking if "justification is salvation."

A:In my usage, no. One can be fully justified, but not fully experience salvation. A justified person can still be unwittingly doing Satan's will.

T:Can you be more specific please? What do you mean "unwittingly doing Satan's will"? I'm assuming that, by your usage, a sanctified person could not be so classified. That is, a justified person can unwittingly do Satan's will, but not a sanctified person. Would keeping the Sabbath fall in this category? So not person who keeps Sunday could be sanctified?

I'm not arguing anything here; I'm just trying to get a handle on what you mean.

So did the thief receive the promise of eternal life without being sanctified?

Pardon and justification are one and the same thing [What I quoted earlier]. Through faith, the believer passes from the position of a rebel, a child of sin and Satan, to the position of a loyal subject of Christ Jesus, not because of an inherent goodness, but because Christ receives him as His child by adoption. The sinner receives the forgiveness of his sins, because these sins are borne by his Substitute and Surety. The Lord speaks to His heavenly Father, saying: "This is My child. I reprieve him from the condemnation of death, giving him My life insurance policy--eternal life--because I have taken his place and have suffered for his sins. He is even My beloved son." Thus man, pardoned, and clothed with the beautiful garments of Christ's righteousness, stands faultless before God. . . {RC 74.3}

Justification is the opposite of condemnation. God's boundless mercy is exercised toward those who are wholly undeserving. He forgives transgressions and sins for the sake of Jesus, who has become the propitiation for our sins. Through faith in Christ, the guilty transgressor is brought into favor with God and into the strong hope of life eternal. {RC 74.5}

What simply needs to be admitted is that this fact is absolutely true—conversion or initial regeneration does not bestow instantaneous sanctification or character sinlessness on the newly minted believer. In fact, such sanctification will only be instantaneously bestowed sometime in the future (and let’s not fuss about whether it is at the close of probation or at glorification at this juncture).

The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth. For it is the work of every one to whom the message of warning has come, to lift up Jesus, to present Him to the world as revealed in types, as shadowed in symbols, as manifested in the revelations of the prophets, as unveiled in the lessons given to His disciples and in the wonderful miracles wrought for the sons of men. Search the Scriptures; for they are they that testify of Him. If you would stand through the time of trouble, you must know Christ, and appropriate the gift of His righteousness, which He imputes to the repentant sinner. Through Christ, restoration as well as reconciliation is provided for man. 1SM 363-364.

I'm not saying it isn't possible. I do believe it's possible. But I'm saying I don't know anyone who is sinless, beginning with myself. I really don't know what is lacking for us to abide 100% of the time in Jesus. Maybe a special endowement of the Spirit (the latter rain)? Anyway, I consider that reaching this experience is reaching "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" which Ephesians 4:13 speaks about.

Why? Look at the case with Zacchaeus. There Christ used the word salvation. Why should it necessarily be the case that the publican was not saved or that Zacchaeus was not justified?

I'm very interested in what you mean by the underlined portion.

It is FOTAP because you are assuming that justification=salvation in this instance without proving it. And if you are correct, then that is Evangelical, rather than Adventist teaching. Welcome to the club.

I'll have to come back to this to add details. But the short answer is that I don't subscribe to MM's "morally perfect when you are born again" theory. After being born again, there is still conversion to do.