Jesus Christ is the Only One who is Sinless

We have become the righteous ones by God’s grace. When it comes to our faith, it is important for us to regard ourselves as righteous. However, if that recognition is too narrow or we only blindly believe so, its negative effect is so immense that, if worse, our faith which we have led our whole lives will be destroyed.

If we are to pick one special person who did the most significant work in human history, it would be the prophet John the Baptist. He did the two important works. First, he was the first to find the only sinless person, the Son of God, and introduced Him to the world. Second, he confirmed that all humans are sinners.

As God sent His one and only Son to the world, the righteousness in God was revealed. That is, the sinless One was revealed to the world. However, when Jesus Christ came to the world, no one could recognize Him to be the Son of God. Rather, since He seemed imperfect in His appearance, He was treated more unfairly than others. Moreover, people easily ignored Him because He was from Nazareth. In those circumstances, John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world.

The Book of Mark starts with the introduction of John the Baptist. Since he, born six months earlier than Jesus, was the son of a priest, he d attention from others from childhood. He was a person prepared to welcome the Lord. Even those in high social class, such as Herod, feared him. He wore clothes made of camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey as his food. When the time came, he started to baptize people. For around six months, people from Judea and Jerusalem came to him and were baptized, which was for repentance, the baptism that made the people confess, ”I am sinner”.

Jesus, God’s one and only Son, already was in Judea at that time, but there was no one who recognized Him. Even if someone was interested Him, it was difficult to recognize Him as the Son of God, and even if Jesus Himself proclaimed, “I am the Christ!” no one would believe His word. In this situation, if John the Baptist, who had the supreme authority among Jewish leaders, indicated a person, it would be clear for the Jewish society as to whom they must pay attention. That is why John continued to baptize people until the sinless One appeared.

John the Baptist strongly rebuked and urged the people to repent. His authority seemed so great that the people even thought he might be the Christ. Since John, baptizing the people, confirmed that all of them were sinners, he did not consider anyone to be special, even if they were persons of high social status. But when he said, “I don’t deserve to be compared with the One who comes after me. He is greater than I. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire’, the people who heard him were all surprised.

One day, Jesus appeared in the line of sinners. John the Baptist, recognizing that He was the sinless One, welcomed Him on behalf of mankind. When he said, “How can I possibly baptize you?” Jesus said, “Let it be so now! By doing this it should be testified that the sinless One has come to the world.” And then Jesus was baptized, and seeing the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus when He came out of the water, John was assured of His identity.

From that day on, John the Baptist started to testify saying, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” He confessed that he also knew Jesus through revelation saying, “The one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit’, and I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (Jn 1:33-34). Therefore, the one who revealed and testified that Jesus is the Son of God is John the Baptist.

We Once were Sinners, and We Must Fight Against Sins.

The only One who does not need to repent came to the world. He is Jesus Christ, has nothing to do with human’s lineage.

God’s word is spirit. The Word became flesh and came to the world. He is referred to as the sinless One, the life-giving spirit, and the spirit of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, “The first man Adam became a living-being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.” There are two kinds of Adam – the first Adam and the last Adam. We were doomed to perish since we were all sinners in the first Adam, but Jesus Christ, the last Adam, paid for our sins and saved us. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (Rm 4:25).

Jesus purchased us with His blood. So we are His. We can never say, “I am sinless!” in front of Jesus. Of course, we have been forgiven of our sins by God’s grace. However, if we truly know His grace, we must not forget that we were sinners. We are righteous in the court of heaven. And so are we to the world. However, to the face of God, we are sinners.

There is more than that. Even though our original sin, which is inherited, has been washed away, our intrinsic sins remain in us. Intrinsic sins refer to the sins that are deeply rooted in our minds. Those sins are always in us. Concerning this, Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Jesus also mentioned the gravity of people committing sins out of their hearts. Sins are not far away from us. Even when we are in the church we commit sins. We have the characteristic of becoming helpless against sins the moment we do not obey Holy Spirit. Thus, we must fight against sins to the end. In particular, if we do not love each other in the church, we become the ones who committed sin. So, we must fight against sins all the days of our lives, relying on the forgiveness and defense of the Lord.

Let Us Bear Fruits of Repentance

The new commandment is the commandment that is given to those who repented. The command, ”Love each other“ means bearing the fruit of repentance. Loving our brothers is the testimony that we repented. Those who do not love are the one who do not repent. This kind of people cannot lead their faith lives well.

For us to be healed from our sickness, we must be practicing repentance. Then we can experience the power of the precious blood. To drive out demons that oppress our body and thoughts and destroy our families and workplaces, we must be carrying out the new commandment as our testimony of repentance. Demons fear the saints’ lives where the Lord’s word is fulfilled.

The Lord would not pay attention to those who do not practice the new commandment, and God never uses the church that does not put repentance in action either. Christians must carry out the new commandment as their testimony of repentance. If your duty is to teach others in the church, you must prove yourself to be the one who received grace. Not fighting with others, not criticizing others, not being arrogant in front of others, and not being selfish, you must bear the fruit of repentance.

If we want to let others know the Picture of God’s Will which we received, we must be proper Christians first. We must be able to impress others through our deeds as proper Christians, based on the words that we have received. If we do not turn out to be humble as the ones who received grace, but look arrogant and proud out of a sense of intelligent superiority, people would not even want to be close to us.

We must love our church, as if being the parents of our church. Even if children are so weak and imperfect, parents never abandon them. All the saints in the church are one family. If you gave glory and thanks to God when the Holy Spirit appointed the overseer, you must not leave the church just because the overseer and his work are somewhat different to your thoughts. Even if the works in the church are not favorable in your eyes, you must be patient and careful, like parents who always worry about their children. If you cannot bear that for your church, how then can you bear the hardship of the faith reformation movement that requires harsh sufferings?

We must be guided by the Holy Spirit, laying down our old self. Do not let your overseer shrink back or restricted, but pray for your overseer to fear not people, but only God. You must have your soul cleansed by recognizing your faults and turning away from them. By loving each other, you must testify that you are those who received grace.

My daily prayer of repentance, how much on earth have I sinned? But I repent. I repent for my flesh being aged and weak. However, I have never remained lying in bed for the reason that I am weak, which is my effort to obey like the faith of the invalid who had been lying near the pool, Bethesda, and cast his mat away and get up (John 5:2~9). I struggle not to keep my flesh from dying, but to use up all my strength until I die. I do not think it a loss that my flesh dies, but to wait for the day I die.

Since the Lord Jesus became the Son of Man to taste death and fulfilled His duty to the point of death, He was loved by the Father. If I struggle for my flesh not to die when it was born to die, that is instead an act that leads to death. Thus, death is the crown, the glory that I can receive on the way of righteousness.

It is hypocrisy for me to feel ashamed of my infirmity and weakness, but it is faith to overcome my infirmity. For me to overcome my weakness lies neither in the physician or medicine or something I eat. It depends solely on my faith, understanding, self-control, and not fearing death.

I have a mountain of work to do, but very insufficient time. People’s words of comfort and concern are tempting me. Since the world is our parish, I have to take care of it. That’s where milk is found, and from milk comes butter. Since I should die after doing work that leads to life rather than death, I live for Christ, and die with the hope for Christ.

If food gave life, the Bible would have said so, but the Bible says, “The spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). As I am weak and sick, I am easily tempted and have many sins. So far, I have tried to overcome my weakness without repenting about it. But now, I want to thoroughly repent my of my infirmity and receive the forgiveness of the Lord and grace and from His precious blood. I want to repent about it and be forgiven. Is there a more foolish sin than this?

When Jesus said to a paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven”, did not the man stand up immediately? But I have repented in vain. I did not repent to the point of getting up from my mat, but just hoped for the Lord’s care. Now, I will thoroughly repent my infirmity and be forgiven by the Lord. Although I have boasted the length of the time I have known the Lord and not repented my weakness, I will repent from now on.

Repent, O my soul! Even though my body will perish, I will repent of my infirmity and be forgiven! This is the fundamental prayer of repentance I must pray for.

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Outline translated by Sarah Lee
Letter translated by Sung-In Hong
Interpretations by Sarah Lee

Chief Editor: Helen Nam
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee