Living in the Vine 7 

Already Clean

Read John 15:3; John 17:19; 1 Corinthians 6:11.

Have you ever walked through one of our many magnificent cathedrals, gazed up at the pictures of the saints in the glass windows and thought that they must have been truly amazing people to be so memorialised? Often, they were of course. In Paul’s letters to the churches, he always calls the addressees ‘saints’. At that point, just as we do with the cathedrals, we may make a leap in our reading to think that somehow these church members in Corinth, or Ephesus or elsewhere were more holy or saintly than you or I. Why does he address them as ‘saints’?

The Greek word translated ‘saint’ is hagios, which means ‘made holy’, ‘set apart’, ‘purified’ and ‘acceptable’. Sanctification (hagiasmos) is the process gone through to reach sainthood. We only have to read our way through Paul’s letters to find that these ‘saints’ were involved in all manner of sins and ungodly practices that required substantial correction. So, they were not necessarily any better than us in that way. Yet Paul called them saints. That leads us to consider, what was the process the first century believers went through that meant Paul could call them ‘saints?’ 

The answer is a very simple one: they believed…They believed that Jesus was the Messiah; that He died a once-for-all substitutionary death for all the sins of humanity and, in rising from the grave, He broke the power of sin, death and hell. They believed that following Jesus’ return to heaven, Father God sent the Holy Spirit to live within them. And it is entirely this fact, His inner presence within the life of every believer, that transforms our fundamental identity from being that of ‘sinner’ to ‘saint’. 

Through Jesus, I have been set free from the law of sin and death; His presence in me through the indwelling of the Spirit’s power really does mean that I am washed clean, purified and accepted wholeheartedly by God and it cannot be a half-way house because otherwise how could He remain living in me? Yes, I can still sin, and I do – even Paul struggled with that one  – but the wonderful truth is that even when I do sin and it tarnishes my relationship with Him until it is confessed, it does not affect how He sees me: when Father looks at me from His heavenly perspective, He only sees me covered in the ‘righteousness of Christ’.

Being cleansed is a three-fold whole-of-life process: we are made clean at the moment of salvation – when we receive Jesus, the Word of God, and gain our first understanding of Him. It is at that point the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, and it is entirely Him that makes us clean. Then, through a lifetime’s journey of ongoing discipleship – learning to walk the way of obedience and surrender – we gradually learn how to live (abide) in Him in a way that does not offend His presence and we allow Him to live through us. Finally, when we die in this present life and we are fully united with Christ forever, awaiting resurrection, we will truly be permanently clean.

Additional reading: Romans 7:14 – 8:5; Ephesians 5:25-27; Hebrews 10:22.

Prayer time

• There is often something within each of us that says “…that can’t be true, I can’t be clean; I know the real me!” but it is what the Bible says we are if we are ‘in Christ’. 
• Do an online bible search for verses that speak of being washed clean or purified through Christ. 
• On a sheet of paper or new Word file, write the words BECAUSE I AM IN CHRIST, I AM… at the top of the page. Then underneath write out in full what each of the scriptures says about who you are in your new identity in Christ. Pray it out loud over yourself. 
• Faith comes by hearing, so it is important that you hear yourself declaring this. Even if it does not feel true for you yet, if you continue to speak out this truth, thereby trusting the Holy Spirit to do this work in you, your mind will eventually be renewed and you will be transformed (Romans 12:2). You are already clean; only believe!