Only if the lifetime lasts but a moment.

As in the case of the thief on the cross. He was born again fully justified and fully sanctified. So is every one else who experiences genuine conversion in God's appointed way. The problem is most people do not. "The new birth is a rare experience in this age of the world. This is the reason why there are so many perplexities in the churches. Many, so many, who assume the name of Christ are unsanctified and unholy. They have been baptized, but they were buried alive. Self did not die, and therefore they did not rise to newness of life in Christ." {6BC 1075.7} We must not base our beliefs about rebirth, justification, and sanctification on those who do not experience genuine rebirth.

Newborn believers begin perfectly justified and perfectly sanctified. But sanctification isn't static or stagnant. It involves "perfecting holiness" (2 Cor 7:1) "more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov 4:18). "This sanctification is a progressive work, and an advance from one stage of perfection to another." {ML 250.4} Jesus demonstrated this truth as He grew from childhood to manhood. The idea that sanctification also involves gradually outgrowing sinful habits is unbiblical. Sanctification has nothing to do with becoming less and less sinful and everything to do with growing in grace and maturing in the fruits of the Spirit.

Faith and works are so interrelated it is pointless to address them separately or independently. There is no such thing as faith without works for the simple reason faith without works is not faith - it is something entirely unrelated to faith. We can no more be justified without good works than we can be justified without faith. Since faith and works are inseparable it stands to reason justification and sanctification are inseparable and must necessarily, therefore, happen simultaneously.

"But while God can be just, and yet justify the sinner through the merits of Christ, no man can cover his soul with the garments of Christ's righteousness while practicing known sins or neglecting known duties. God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul." {FW 100.1}

Newborn believers are totally dead to sin, self, and Satan, and totally new in Christ. The old man and new man do not cohabitate or rein simultaneously. Jesus cannot occupy a divided heart. We are either all of His and free of sin or we are none of His and full of sin. While we are abiding in Jesus we do not and cannot sin. It's as simple and wonderful as that. Thank you, Jesus. This isn't to say we are incapable of sinning. We are always free to cease abiding in Jesus and resume sinning in the resurrected mind of the old man. Exercising the gift of repentance, however, gives God the legal right to pardon us and to restore us to the mind of the new man which, praise the Lord, enables us to resume where we left off abiding in Jesus and maturing in the fruits of the Spirit.

I'm less certain about your last sentence, but the part before that I would entirely agree with.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Why? "God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul."

1. Which sinful habits are retained and practiced when an "entire surrender of the heart" takes place?

2. Which sinful habits are retained and practiced while "continual obedience" is taking place?

While I remember and before we're 'out of time' - after Sabbath School today! - the book of James does get a mention in this quarter's lessons! Maybe it was asygo who noted an absence of James when studying Galatians with Romans, etc, etc: well, the English quarterly is guilty, indeed, on this point, but the German quarterly - which I use instead, fills this gap.

Not having a further reading page, it has an extra 'slot' for a full daily comment: this week it quotes a commentary comparing Galatians and James.

Both teach the perfect freedom of the Gospel, just from different angles; both remind of the need for conversion in becoming Christlike; both call for Christian character in the life of faith - principally living for others as God in Christ lived on earth for us.

Both lift justification by faith, experienced in the rebirth of the Spirit, as the gift of Christ to every believer. JBF is being made righteous as we receive the Holy Spirit in submitting to Christ's Lordship, freed from natural and personal condemnation, freed from the impossibility of keeping God's law in our sinfulness: Jesus renews us with his Spirit of holiness, imputing righteousness to our hearts, equipping us to fulfill all righteousness in our lives as he imparts to us all his human character traits of righteous so we can make them our own.

Only this way are we, can we be, happiest as we confess Jesus as our Saviour and Saviour of all men. Sorry: not meant as a sermonette.

"There is no saving faith that does not produce good fruit." {OHC 52.5}

"The works show whether the faith is genuine." {RH, June 23, 1910 par. 1}

"Only the faith that works by love and purifies the soul is acceptable to him." {YI, May 9, 1901 par. 4}

"The faith that works by love and purifies the soul is the only true faith. The faith that does not produce fruit, that does not reveal the Christlikeness, is a false faith." {ST, February 1, 1899 par. 8}

"The faith that does not produce good works does not justify the soul." {NL 28.3}

"The so-called faith that does not work by love and purify the soul will not justify any man." {RC 79.5}

"Our faith should be prolific of good works; for faith without works is dead." {FLB 115.7}

"That faith if cherished in our hearts will necessarily draw after it the good works which justify and endorse the faith of the believer." {BTS, June 1, 1915 par. 2}

"Their works show the character of their faith." {PH098 20.2}

"While good works will not buy your salvation, yet good works are essential for salvation; for they are an evidence of genuine faith which works by love and purifies the soul." {PH152 31.1}

"In order for man to be justified by faith, faith must reach a point where it will control the affections and impulses of the heart; and it is by obedience that faith itself is made perfect." {FW 100.2}

"Not one thread of selfishness must be drawn into the fabric of our lives. When our faith works by love, the love that Christ revealed in His life, it will be of a firm texture. But not until self dies can Christ live in us; not until self dies can we possess the faith that works by love and purifies the soul." {ST, October 11, 1899 par. 2}

"Genuine faith in Christ works by love and purifies the soul. Faith and works go hand in hand, for faith without works is dead. God requires of every soul today what he required of our first parents in Eden,--perfect obedience to his law. There must be found in the life unswerving allegiance to God, righteousness without a flaw in the character. We must be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and stand without blemish before God. The requirement that God has made in grace is the requirement that God made in Paradise. {ST, May 12, 1890 par. 4}

"That faith, and that alone, which cleanses the soul-temple, is the genuine faith. Everything that defileth must be put away, all filthiness of the flesh and spirit must be removed from us, if we would enter in through the gates into the city. Jesus says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." {ST, February 17, 1890 par. 6}

Arnold and Rosangela seem to say, no, self does not die when Jesus lives in newborn believers. They seem to think self dies sometime afterward. In the meantime, the righteous results of abiding are selfish and sin-stained, the character is flawed.

I won't speak for Rosangela, but I'm pretty sure we're on the same page here. Self is to be crucified with Christ, and we are to reckon ourselves dead sin and alive to God. Reckoning it dead includes not listening to its selfish clamors, while maintaining an attitude of repentance because we fall short of God's selflessness.

That is in contrast to what you're saying. You say that self is dead, but all the while it is still very much alive, even in Christ's own heart. But as long as it remains hidden behind a facade of good behavior, it is considered holy and righteous.

In contrast....

Note the inspired descriptions: faulty, imperfections, sinfulness, moral deformity. And that's for those who are close to Jesus, who have a deep-seated love for Him.

Don't you count moral deformity as sin?

You are confusing correlation with simultaneity.

The wages of sin is death. Sin and death are inseparable. But sin comes with pleasures for a season; death is not immediate. I'm sure you can find a few examples of sinners who did not die immediately. Inseparable, but not simultaneous.

The same is true for justification and sanctification. One happens in a moment, the other takes a lifetime.