
I started researching this area of "Sinners Saved by Grace." This is absolutely the truth. I WAS a sinner saved by Grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." So we know that Faith does not save us, but rather Grace. We know that Faith is the conduit in which we are saved. It is as if you were standing on top of a 10 story building that is on Fire. There are firemen below with a Net ready to catch you. The step off of the building is Faith, but the Net is what saves you, which is Grace. The question that arises is are we still Sinners?
I started researching this and what I found was quite astonishing. I looked up 42 passages in the New Testament about sinners. Every passage was a preface prior to Grace Justifying that person. I am not trying to be deep here, but we have dumbed ourselved down long enough to what the scripture has to say. The term sinner was used before Grace transformed them. That means that the term "Sinner" is past tense, and should be substituted with the term "Righteous" after the transformation of Justification. The term Justification is a legal term that simply means: "No Guilt Found." We have been found not guilty of our sins, as Jesus took them on himself 2000 years ago. It is as if God is saying, "If you accept My Son as you on the cross, then I will accept my Son as dying for you on the cross." We have to surrender and sacrifice our flesh and independence in order to accept the Free Gift of Grace.
You might say that this is semantics and has no bearing whatsoever on your walk with God. I would utterly disagree with you, and feel that it is tantamount in your theology and way that you look at God. To say that you are still a sinner, is incorrect, unless you are. This is not to say that we do not still sin, but we are no longer sinners. II Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" WOW... That means that we do not posses or claim that stinking rotten flesh any longer, but rather we have been transformed into Children of the Most High God. Romans 8: 17 says, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
Romans 11:25 states that we are grafted into the Vine. This means that we are part of the Royal lineage and birthright. He wants to clothe you with Garments of White, but He will not put that over a stinky heart. If you view yourself as a "Sinner" then I am quite certain that you are hindering the Holy Spirit from completing a perfecting work in your life. He wants to make you Holy, but can't if you won't let Him through negative views of yourself.