Hey dcontroversal, I hope things are well with you. After reading your post, it seems to be a little incomplete. While we were born in sin and deserving of eternal death, something is wrong if we continue to sin and therefore not become good through God. Paul mentions in Romans 6:1-2 that God will not continually cover our sins with His goodness if we continue to sin. I'm not just talking about constant sin, I mean an occasional, every once in a while sin also. At some point sin has to cease in your life completely (1 Peter 4:1) or Jesus will not consider you to have suffered like Him and therefore you will no longer be worthy of a reward like Him (2 Tim. 2:12). For instance, for me to tell people only "Thou shalt not" without convering what they should do. Without knowing what they should do, they can't fully understand the mentality of what they shouldn't do. It just becomes a cold listing to them with no life.
While I understand that man is not inherently good and incapable of producing good on his own, it is incomplete to not cover how man can become good through Jesus.
Ephesians 1 begins with likening us to orphans/bastards. When you were an orphan, you had no lineage or inheritance. Once I adopted you, not only was my home extended to you, but also my good name, an inheritance and my discipline. I taught you my ways so that you could become just like me. If I was a good man and taught you how to take on the nature of a good man, then why wouldn't you become a good man through my way and not of your own doing and understanding?
It is important to tell what we take on when we are true worshippers of Christ and not just what we were without Him.
Hymenaeus and Philetus. Hymeanaeus is mentioned only twice and Philetus once, yet neither is spoken of as trying to make their way back to a sinful life. Why does Paul regard them as blasphemers and delivered them to Satan (1 Tim. 1:20)? What does he list as their sin? Are they drunkards, or adulterers, or murderers or thieves? Were they con artists? Paul simply says that they erred in understanding scripture. But not just erred, they spread their misunderstanding to others who in turn, readily believed them. How many people will readily believe that no one can live without sinning at all after Jesus?
There are two types of unbelievers that infect others:
1) Those that are true ministers of satan (2 Cor. 11:14-15) and condemned of old (Jude 4) such as King Ahab. Evil men.
2) Those that don't mean to be evil, but spread incorrect understanding because of their misunderstanding such as Hymenaeus, Philetus and even the Apostle Paul and Apollos.
Remember, Paul considered himself to be the worst sinner, not because he did something so horrific, but because he affected others with his misunderstanding (1 Cor. 15:9). What separated Paul and Apollos from Hymenaeus and Philetus? They were willing to consider the truth and change.
Titus 2:12
1 John 3:6-9
1 Cor. 15:34
2 Cor. 7:1 - How can I perfect holiness and not become a good man through Jesus?
Let us no longer misunderstand Romans 3:10. Almost everyone speaks it out of context. If Romans 3:10 is still true about you then so is Romans 3:11. How can one be saved if they don't even seek God or understand anything about God? Paul was speaking of how people are before they are saved, not how people are continually. He was trying to get the Romans and us to understand why we needed Jesus, because we were inadequate before. But that was before. You should not still come up short if one is saved.
