Lesson #11 (4th Quarter 2011): Freedom in Christ

Paul uses the word fulfill because it goes far beyond just “doing.” This type of obedience is rooted in Jesus (see Matt. 5:17). It is not an abandonment of the law, nor a reduction of the law only to love, but it is the way through which the believer could experience the true intent and meaning of the whole law!

The result of abiding in Jesus is obedience and righteousness that fully fulfills the demands of law and justice. "Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require." {COL 162.4} The idea that this kind of law-keeping is sinful and unacceptable to God is unbiblical.

However, if anyone wants to meet God's standard by keeping the law, he must keep the whole law. There is such a covenant available. It is the Old Covenant.

Paul was clear in Gal 5:6 that circumcision is irrelevant - "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Whether one does it or not has no bearing on salvation.

What he is saying is that if one trusts in circumcision, or any other bodily exercise, as the means of salvation, he is denying the need for Christ's sacrifice. Rather than righteousness being achieved by any form of physical activity, true righteousness can only be found by faith. As he says in Gal 5:5, "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."

I'm uncomfortable with that sort of wording. It's too exaggerative. To my mind, what you are saying about circumcision should be equally applicable to baptism.

In a sense, it's true. In a sense, it would be misleading and improper to say "baptism has no bearing at all upon salvation."

Do you see what I'm trying to say?

M: The result of abiding in Jesus is obedience and righteousness that fully fulfills the demands of law and justice. "Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require." {COL 162.4} The idea that this kind of law-keeping is sinful and unacceptable to God is unbiblical.

A: Do you not believe EGW when she said that praise, penitence, etc. from true believers are unacceptable to God with Christ's imputed righteousness? Perhaps the righteousness that fulfills God's law is found in the holiness of Christ's life imputed to us, not the holiness of our imitation of His life.

The contention is over being justified BY keeping the law and therefore earning grace, as opposed to being justified by grace FOR the purpose of keeping the law. . . Our obedience is important, but it is the cart that follows the horse of grace. If we think that any of our good works will earn the slightest iota of credit toward our salvation, then we deny Christ.

Jesus came to this world to save his people from their sins. He will not save us in our sins, for he is not the minister of sin. {ST, February 15, 1892 par. 7}

He alone can save us, by cleansing us from all sin. He does not save us by the law; but neither will he save us in disobedience to the law. {SW, April 23, 1907 par. 4}

He came not to save us in our sins, but from our sins. There is no true happiness in transgression, but in obedience. {3MR 98.1}

Christ died that he might take away our sins. He did not come that he might save us in our sins. {1888 1670.1}

So God gave them His law. Being foolish, the Israelites thought they could keep this law if they merely exerted themselves enough. So they readily agreed to do everything God said. A few weeks later, they were worshiping the golden calf. Now it was clear that they could not keep their end of the covenant. Now, they had clearly earned for themselves the punishment of death. Now, they saw their need for a Savior from their spiritual bondage. Now, they were ready to receive the New Covenant.

Jesus' blood and righteousness makes the righteous results of abiding in Jesus more fragrant and more pleasing to our heavenly Father. However, Ellen never once says such righteousness is sinful. Jesus would never use His blood or righteousness to make something sinful acceptable and pleasing to God. His blood does not cover sin. Instead, it gives Him the legal right to blot it out with Satan in the lake of fire at the end of time. The righteous results of abiding in Jesus do not require blood atonement.

The religious services, the prayers, the praise, the penitent confession of sin ascend from true believers as incense to the heavenly sanctuary, but passing through the corrupt channels of humanity, they are so defiled that unless purified by blood, they can never be of value with God. They ascend not in spotless purity, and unless the Intercessor, who is at God's right hand, presents and purifies all by His righteousness, it is not acceptable to God. All incense from earthly tabernacles must be moist with the cleansing drops of the blood of Christ. He holds before the Father the censer of His own merits, in which there is no taint of earthly corruption. He gathers into this censer the prayers, the praise, and the confessions of His people, and with these He puts His own spotless righteousness. Then, perfumed with the merits of Christ's propitiation, the incense comes up before God wholly and entirely acceptable. Then gracious answers are returned. {1SM 344.2}

However, if I read you right, you believe the righteous results of abiding in Jesus are sinful and, therefore, unacceptable and displeasing to our heavenly Father. As such, what is the difference between works without faith and faith that works by love and purifies the soul? Seems to me, if what you believe is right, the plan of salvation is failing to save sinners from sinning. Which leaves us with one conclusion, namely, Jesus saves us in our sins.
...
Again, I hear you saying, no, Jesus has no choice but to save us in our sins because we are incapable of "righteousness and true holiness".

All the favors and blessings we enjoy are alone from Him; we are stewards of His grace and of His temporal gifts; the smallest talent and the humblest service may be offered to Jesus as a consecrated gift, and with the fragrance of His own merits He will present it to the Father. If the best we have is presented with a sincere heart, in love to God, from a longing desire to do service to Jesus, the gift is wholly acceptable. {CS 161.1}

Were they any better off with the NC? Did they perform any better?

We are not to be anxious about what Christ and God think of us, but about what God thinks of Christ, our Substitute. Ye are accepted in the Beloved. The Lord shows, to the repenting, believing one, that Christ accepts the surrender of the soul, to be molded and fashioned after His own likeness. {2SM 32.3}

Or, were they just as miserable as before?

Also, under the NC were they required to live in harmony with the terms and conditions (rules and regs) of the OC? Or, were they at liberty to totally disregard them?

And, why did God enter into a faulty covenant with the Jews? Was He obligated to oblige them?

Living in the midst of idolatry and corruption, they had no true conception of the holiness of God, of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their utter inability, in themselves, to render obedience to God's law, and their need of a Saviour. All this they must be taught. {PP 371.3}

It is my understanding that the OC was also a covenant of grace, however, they made it a covenant of works in their reponse, which can also be true in a person's response to the NC.

As the Bible presents two laws, one changeless and eternal, the other provisional and temporary, so there are two covenants. The covenant of grace was first made with man in Eden, when after the Fall there was given a divine promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. To all men this covenant offered pardon and the assisting grace of God for future obedience through faith in Christ. It also promised them eternal life on condition of fidelity to God's law. Thus the patriarchs received the hope of salvation. {PP 370.2}

This same covenant was renewed to Abraham ... {PP 370.3}

Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not be ratified until the death of Christ. It had existed by the promise of God since the first intimation of redemption had been given; it had been accepted by faith; yet when ratified by Christ, it is called a new covenant. The law of God was the basis of this covenant, which was simply an arrangement for bringing men again into harmony with the divine will, placing them where they could obey God's law. {PP 370.4}

Notice that what comes from true believers is worthless and unacceptable to God until Christ's blood is applied.

Having a sense of our companionship we would do the things that are pleasing in the sight of God. {ST, October 14, 1897 par. 8}

You must seek to help yourselves by doing those things that will be pleasing in the sight of God, who is too pure and holy to regard with approval anything like falsehood or deception. {3MR 54.1}

True faith leads away from selfish plans and from the self-pleasing life. Obedience, in order to be acceptable to God, must be the whole-souled obedience that Christ ever offered to the Father. {RH, August 2, 1906 par. 5}

The time has now come when we need to hide in the cleft of the Rock, and view the character of God. Enoch walked with God 300 years. He reflected upon God, he contemplated his character, and his life was well-pleasing in the sight of God. {4MR 411.4}

You should remember that it is not the large work which is the most pleasing to God; but the spirit which we possess in doing the work he gives. If we put our whole heart and soul into the work, and do everything with faithfulness, little though the work may be, it will be wholly acceptable in the sight of God, and will bring its reward. {PH107 2.2}

Our good works cannot atone for one sin. But Jesus knew this, and he came from Heaven to the earth to bring to us this divine help, that through his excellence of character, and through our faith in him, our human efforts would be acceptable with God, and we should finally be rewarded as our works have been. {HR, March 1, 1874 par. 8}

God is no respecter of persons. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. A mere profession is of no value, and knowledge is of worth only as it is used righteously. {TDG 78.3}

The religion that does not reveal itself in good works, in true righteousness and goodness, in saving the souls of poor sinners, is of no value in the estimation of God, and it will not save the souls of those who possess it. {RH, December 12, 1893 par. 2}

Your sins are reckoned to Jesus, his righteousness is imputed to you. For God "hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Thus your prayers are accepted, becoming unto God a sweet-smelling savor in the beloved. Thus you enter into his rights, and become an heir with God and joint heir with Jesus Christ. You will enter into His victories, and the reward of eternal life will be given you. {PH096 78.1}

Your faith without obedience to God's holy law is of no value, but obedience to God and faith in the Great Sacrifice offered,-- that his blood was shed for you, and you will accept the righteousness of Christ,--will make you an overcomer. Put your trust in Jesus Christ, and he will bring you off more than conqueror. {YI, August 18, 1886 par. 7}

If we do God's will, we may accept large blessings as God's free gift, but not because of any merit in us; this is of no value. Do the work of Christ, and you will honor God and come off more than conquerors through Him that has loved us and given His life for us, that we should have life and salvation in Jesus Christ. {FW 27.2}

It is not the length of time we labor but our willingness and fidelity in the work that makes it acceptable to God. In all our service a full surrender of self is demanded. The smallest duty done in sincerity and self-forgetfulness is more pleasing to God than the greatest work when marred with self-seeking. He looks to see how much of the spirit of Christ we cherish, and how much of the likeness of Christ our work reveals. He regards more the love and faithfulness with which we work than the amount we do. Only when selfishness is dead, when strife for supremacy is banished, when gratitude fills the heart, and love makes fragrant the life--it is only then that Christ is abiding in the soul, and we are recognized as laborers together with God. {COL 402}

Neither prayer nor almsgiving has any virtue in itself to recommend the sinner to God; the grace of Christ, through His atoning sacrifice, can alone renew the heart and make our service acceptable to God. . . Such prayer from a sincere heart ascends as incense before the Lord; and offerings to His cause and gifts to the needy and suffering are a sacrifice well pleasing to Him. . . "an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God" . . . Thus while our gifts cannot recommend us to God or earn His favor, they are an evidence that we have received the grace of Christ. They are a test of the sincerity of our profession of love. {HP 306}

We are the living human agencies to represent in character Jesus Christ to the world. Not only did Christ give explicit rules showing how we may become obedient children, but He showed us in His own life and character just how to do those things which are right and acceptable with God, so there is no excuse why we should not do those things which are pleasing in His sight. {LHU 169.4}

We are ever to be thankful that Jesus has proved to us by actual facts that man can keep the commandments of God, giving contradiction to Satan's falsehood that man cannot keep them. The Great Teacher came to our world to stand at the head of humanity, to thus elevate and sanctify humanity by His holy obedience to all of God's requirements showing it is possible to obey all the commandments of God. He has demonstrated that a lifelong obedience is possible. Thus He gives men to the world, as the Father gave the Son, to exemplify in their life the life of Jesus Christ. {LHU 169.5}

Not only did Christ give explicit rules showing how we may become obedient children, but He showed us in His own life and character just how to do those things which are right and acceptable with God, so there is no excuse why we should not do those things which are pleasing in His sight. . . . {OFC 310.3}

The great Teacher came to our world to stand at the head of humanity, to thus elevate and sanctify humanity by His holy obedience to all of God’s requirements, showing it is possible to obey all the commandments of God. He has demonstrated that a lifelong obedience is possible. Thus He gives chosen, representative men to the world, as the Father gave the Son, to exemplify in their life the life of Jesus Christ. {OFC 310.4}

In Him was found the perfect ideal. To reveal this ideal as the only true standard for attainment; to show what every human being might become; what, through the indwelling of humanity by divinity, all who received Him would become—for this, Christ came to the world. He came to show how men are to be trained as befits the sons of God; how on earth they are to practice the principles and to live the life of heaven. {OFC 310.5}

Our condition through sin has become preternatural, and the power that restores us must be supernatural, else it has no value. There is but one power that can break the hold of evil from the hearts of men, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ. Only through the blood of the Crucified One is there cleansing from sin. His grace alone can enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature. {8T 291.3}

M: Again, I hear you saying, no, Jesus has no choice but to save us in our sins because we are incapable of "righteousness and true holiness".

A: There is a vast difference between works without faith and works of faith. While both are unacceptable to God because they are corrupted by our selfishness, works of faith are made acceptable by Christ's merits, which we can only receive by faith. As for being completely saved from sin, that happens when our selfishness is completely eradicated. But until that happens, we can still be true believers. But what I have heard you say is that selfishness is OK as long as you don't act on it. I think you even said that Jesus had selfishness in Him, though He did not act on it. So what it looks like to me is that you say that the believer has no sin by defining sin to make it OK to be selfish in your heart and mind, as long as it is not manifested by the body.

As for being completely saved from sin, that happens when our selfishness is completely eradicated. But until that happens, we can still be true believers.

Paul was convinced that if they could be brought to comprehend the amazing sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, all selfishness would be banished from their lives. {AA 333.1}

The contemplation of this love will cleanse the soul from all selfishness. {CH 222.2}

The servants of God are to be cleansed from all coldness, all selfishness. {CH 534.3}

It is to divest them of all selfishness, and bind them to God and to one another. {CS 16.2}

They realize that they are to live in this world the life that Jesus lived--a life free from all selfishness; and He enables them to bear witness for Him that draws souls to the cross of Calvary. {DG 81.4}

But unless all selfishness is put away, unless self is crucified, we can never be holy as God is holy. {FLB 140.4}

Are we emptying our hearts of all selfishness, and cleansing them, preparatory to receiving the latter rain from heaven? {HS 155.1}

Faith works by love, and purifies the soul from all selfishness. Thus the soul is perfected in love. {HP 110.2}

The Prince of heaven, the Commander of the heavenly hosts, stepped down from His high position, laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, and clothed His divinity with humanity, that He might become the divine Teacher of all classes of men, and live before human beings a life free from all selfishness and sin, setting them an example of what, through His grace, they may become. {OFC 252.3}

There can be no self-seeking in the life of him who follows the Saviour. The true Christian banishes all selfishness from his heart. How can he live for self as he thinks of Christ hanging on the cross, giving His life for the life of the world? {OHC 287.4}

We are called upon to overcome in this life as Christ overcame. Heaven has provided us with abundant opportunities and privileges, so that we may overcome as Christ overcame, and sit down with Him on His throne. But in order to be overcomers, there must be in our lives no petting of fleshly inclinations. All selfishness must be cut out by the roots. {RC 287.6}

Bible conversion will lead to constant and abiding activity, which will be free from all selfishness, all self-exaltation, and all boastful claims of holiness. {SD 334.3}

Our souls must be purified from all selfishness; for God desires to use His people as representatives of the heavenly kingdom. {6T 190.3}

The Holy Spirit will take of the things of God and show them to him, and if he will receive them his character will be cleansed from all selfishness, and refined and purified for heaven. {TMK 106.2}

Now is the time for God's people to allow the Holy Spirit to make clean and thorough work, in order that all selfishness, all wrong, may be uprooted from their hearts. May the Lord help you and the whole church, is my prayer. {AU Gleaner, September 9, 1903 par. 7}

When man is a partaker of the divine nature, the love of Jesus will be an abiding principle in the soul, and self and its peculiarities will not be exhibited. {RH, June 30, 1891 par. 8}

Man must be emptied of self before he can be in the fullest sense a believer in Jesus; and when self is subdued, then the Lord can make of man a new creature. New bottles can contain new wine. Truth will be received into the heart, the character will be transformed into the likeness of Christ; the Son of God will be revealed to the world by his followers, as the Father was revealed to the world by the Son. And all who reveal Christ, are revealing the Father also. {ST, November 16, 1891 par. 3}

The true Christian obtains an experience which brings holiness. He is without a spot of guilt upon the conscience or a taint of corruption upon the soul. The spirituality of the law of God, with its limiting principles, is brought into his life. The light of truth irradiates his understanding. A glow of perfect love for the Redeemer clears away the miasma which has interposed between his soul and God. The will of God has become his will, pure, elevated, refined, and sanctified. His countenance reveals the light of heaven. His body is a fit temple for the Holy Spirit. Holiness adorns his character. God can commune with him, for soul and body are in harmony with God. {HP 200.3}

Had God not obliged their foolish promise, they would not have learned of the lost condition, and would have remained lost forever. If God is going to become a worm like us and allow said worms to kill Him in order to save said worms, it's not a hard stretch to believe that He would allow these worms to make a faulty promise.

"And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." {1BC 1103.9}

This covenant is of just as much force today as it was when the Lord made it with ancient Israel (SW March 1, 1904). {1BC 1103.10}

This is the pledge that God's people are to make in these last days. Their acceptance with God depends on a faithful fulfilment of the terms of their agreement with Him. God includes in His covenant all who will obey Him. To all who will do justice and judgment, keeping their hand from doing any evil, the promise is, "Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off" (RH June 23, 1904). {1BC 1103.11}

God's favor toward Israel had always been conditional on their obedience. At the foot of Sinai they had entered into covenant relationship with Him as His "peculiar treasure . . . above all people." Solemnly they had promised to follow in the path of obedience. "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do," they had said. Exodus 19:5, 8. And when, a few days afterward, God's law was spoken from Sinai, and additional instruction in the form of statutes and judgments was communicated through Moses, the Israelites with one voice had again promised, "All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." At the ratification of the covenant, the people had once more united in declaring, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient," Exodus 24:3, 7. God had chosen Israel as His people, and they had chosen Him as their King. {PK 293.1}

Near the close of the wilderness wandering the conditions of the covenant had been repeated. At Baalpeor, on the very borders of the Promised Land, where many fell a prey to subtle temptation, those who remained faithful renewed their vows of allegiance. Through Moses they were warned against the temptations that would assail them in the future; and they were earnestly exhorted to remain separate from the surrounding nations and to worship God alone. {PK 293.2}

The following passages make it abundantly clear the righteous results of abiding in Jesus and partaking of the divine nature are acceptable and pleasing to God:


You posted one passage which seems to agree with your view. However, I just posted over a dozen which contradict your view. Again, the righteous results of abiding in Jesus and partaking of the divine nature are well-pleasing and wholly acceptable to God. Such fruit totally satisfies law and justice. And, yes, they are made even sweeter ascending with the fragrance of Jesus. But to say such righteousness is sinful and unacceptable is to say something Ellen did not.

Ellen wrote, "All selfishness is expelled, all envy, all evil-speaking, is rooted out, and a radical transformation is wrought in the heart."

Are you willing to throw out my passage as spurious? Are you so sure that your good deeds are not made acceptable to God by Christ's imputed righteousness through His blood? One of your quotes says as much (see above with my emphasis). We don't throw out parts of inspiration just because we can find many more pieces that fit our preconceptions. I do not throw out your quotes; I simply see them as telling us that in Christ, cleansed by Christ, atoned for by Christ, we are completely acceptable to God. Not only by what Jesus has done for us, but also by what Jesus continues to do for us constantly. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Can you explain why the SOP says that the good deeds of true believers are unacceptable to God? Or will you simply discard it? Truth is not determined by volume.

All human ambition, all boasting, is to be laid in the dust. Self, sinful self, is to be abased, not exalted. By holiness in the daily life we are to reveal Christ to those around us. Corrupt human nature is to be subdued, not exalted. Thus only can we become pure and undefiled. We are to be humble, faithful men and women. Never are we to sit upon the judgment seat. God demands that His representatives shall be pure and holy, revealing the beauty of sanctification. The channel is always to remain unobstructed, that the Holy Spirit may have free course; otherwise some will gloss over the work that must be done in the natural heart in order to perfect Christian character; and they will present their own imperfections in such a way as to make of no effect God's truth, which is as steadfast as the eternal throne. And while God calls upon His watchmen to lift the danger signal, at the same time He presents before them the life of the Saviour as an example of what they must be and do in order to be saved. {8T 234.2}

Jesus bears tenderly with them, not rebuking their selfishness in seeking preference above their brethren. He reads their hearts, He knows the depth of their attachment to Him. Their love is not a mere human affection; though defiled by the earthliness of its human channel, it is an outflowing from the fountain of His own redeeming love. He will not rebuke, but deepen and purify. He said, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They recall His mysterious words, pointing to trial and suffering, yet answer confidently, "We are able." They would count it highest honor to prove their loyalty by sharing all that is to befall their Lord. {DA 548.6}

Human nature becomes united with the divine nature, Christ lives in the human soul, and acts through all the powers of body, soul, and spirit. From the converted soul, light shines forth to those who are perishing. Those who have been in sin, and have experienced the love of Christ, know how to sympathize, how to adapt themselves to those who are in sin and sorrow, and can exercise the love of Christ through the channel of human affection. Thus a current of blessedness and joy flows through the human channel that is consecrated to the service of God. What a stream of thanksgiving and joy flows back to God through human channels. What vast numbers might unite in becoming active members of the army of the Lord in place of living a life of selfishness and self-pleasing, that at last proves itself to be not life but the veriest mockery. But when life is enriched with the life of Christ, when its impulses are quickened by the faith that works by love and purifies the soul, then the loftiest purposes are carried out, the noblest work is done, in the name of Christ. Through his own transforming grace, Christ is multiplied in the lives of those who are restored to his image. They co-operate with Christ in offering the divine gift of the whole human family. {RH, November 12, 1895 par. 7}

When the Lord gives light and knowledge, it is not that men may exclude themselves from others, that they may hide the light in selfishness, so the divine rays shall not come to the people through the human channel that God has appointed; but he gives light, that it may be diffused, that men may see the good works of his followers, and be led to glorify God. {ST, October 29, 1896 par. 4}

But man is of value if soul, body, and spirit are prepared to cooperate with divine power. While man can do nothing without God, the Lord would do nothing without the human channel through which to communicate His truth to humanity. The soul who yields his heart to be worked by the Holy Spirit will be a living channel of light in the inculcation of the precepts and truth of the Word of God, winning others to obedience of the commandments of God. {2MR 38}

Working through His Holy Spirit He sanctifies and cleanses the soul temple. Thus, though his whole powers had become deranged, man may be brought back restored to his original relationship to God, and become an agent of good to every other man. In place of the diseased, soul-and-body-destroying principles of evil, he follows heavenly principles. Sanctified by the agency of the Holy Spirit, his influence upon his fellow man becomes aggressive to expel from the earth the evils produced through the satanic perversion of that which God designed should be only good. All these perverted powers the Lord Jesus will turn to His service, and man becomes the human channel to work the will of God to redeem and bring back the people that have broken away from their allegiance to God, and to unite them to their proper Center. {18MR 208.3}

All who consent to be freed from their natural selfishness, and to [be] charged with the Holy Spirit of God, are taking part with God; as the human channel they are pouring forth the currents of a divine influence. Their work has God's blessing within it. They are building upon the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones. {1888 1511.1}

I'll comment on the other parts later.


Do you believe that "all selfishness is expelled" from sinful man? But you believe that Jesus had selfishness in His heart, don't you? Is it possible that we can be less selfish than Jesus?

"The Lord Jesus imparts all the powers, all the grace, all the penitence, all the inclination, all the pardon of sins, in presenting His righteousness for man to grasp by living faith--which is also the gift of God. If you would gather together everything that is good and holy and noble and lovely in man and then present the subject to the angels of God as acting a part in the salvation of the human soul or in merit, the proposition would be rejected as treason. {FW 24.1}

GC, Ellen wrote, "When we place our will in unison with the will of God, the holy obedience that was exemplified in the life of Christ will be seen in our lives. (OHC 107) Why do you refer to "holy obedience" as sinful and unacceptable to God? "We may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour." 1 Tim 2:2-3.

"There are thoughts and feelings suggested and aroused by Satan that annoy even the best of men; but if they are not cherished, if they are repulsed as hateful, the soul is not contaminated with guilt, and no other is defiled by their influence. (RH 3-27-1888) Jesus was similarly tempted from within without incurring guilt or condemnation.

"We are not safe unless we are constantly and successfully warring against our own sinful corruptions. (TDG 83) "The Christian will feel the promptings of sin, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit; but the Spirit striveth against the flesh, keeping up a constant warfare. (SL 92, 93) And so it was with Jesus.

I'm uncomfortable with that sort of wording. It's too exaggerative. To my mind, what you are saying about circumcision should be equally applicable to baptism.

In a sense, it's true. In a sense, it would be misleading and improper to say "baptism has no bearing at all upon salvation."

Do you see what I'm trying to say?

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.