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Based on the biblical doctrines, is it possible to achieve a completely holy life without any sin during our lifetime after salvation?

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I really don't want this to sound inappropriate, but a very early death would presumably accomplish this. You may want to restrict it to normal length life, etc. – Marc Gravell♦ Aug 21 '12 at 10:39
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Absolutely not! The vast majority of Christianity will emphatically deny this, but you'll find a few pseudo-Christian traditions that claim otherwise. You'll also find some variation in doctrines on the depth of sanctification in this life. I suggested this as a topic for our community blog, but I don't think it makes a very good question here. You might want to check out our guidelines for what makes a good question and edit this with some background on who you want to hear from. – Caleb♦ Aug 21 '12 at 10:40
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@MarcGravell: A) Many Christian doctrines would disagree with you based on the nature of human beings and B) even if you didn't agree on that issue, what you describe would be a untimely but holy death not an acheived completely holy life. – Caleb♦ Aug 21 '12 at 10:42
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Me and Martin Luther believe we sin every second because we have never loved God with our whole heart. This is why the daily prayer includes 'forgive us our sins'. We are supposed to believe it anew each day. – Mike Aug 22 '12 at 5:36
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@BijoyThangaraj, you should then edit your question and make it clear you are not talking about never sinning in your entire life. As written, it can be taken that way. – thursdaysgeek Aug 22 '12 at 18:54
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Absolutely not. The notion that was has become sinless can only be thought from a heart blinded by wicked pride.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (NIV Jeremiah 17:9)

The bible makes the model prayer to be a daily confession of our daily sins. The moment any man thinks they have gone a day without sinning is the moment this prayer becomes insincere hypocrisy of the self-righteous.

Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’ (NIV Matthew 6:11-13)

Even the most holy men that have ever lived never thought for a moment were were free from sin but bitterly complained about the sinfulness.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. (NIV Romans 7:21-23)

Of course John Calvin, Luther and all the reformers understood these verses by Paul was a description of his 'Christian' experience.

Sufficient to say there is no biblical warrant to suppose we can for a moment be without sin. If I ever met a person who loved God with all their heart, which is the greatest command, I would ask them to sign my bible and I would sell everything I have and follow that person.

Of course we know that would not happen as only Jesus was perfect.

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The Bible state that human are born sinful.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51.5)

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (Romans 3.10-12)

But John Wesley wrote a book named A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (short explanation of the book). The book is still debated to this day. I do not know any other christian or evangelical demonination that would argue in favor of perfection this side of heaven.

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I agree that we are all born with sin in us. But, after we have received salvation by claiming the precious sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, at any point later, can we achieve a sinless life till death? Thanks for the reply @DavidLaberge. I would like to wait and see other answers to this question. – Bijoy Thangaraj Aug 21 '12 at 10:35
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@BijoyThangaraj - once you start out guilty, while God does absolve us of guilt via faith in Jesus Christ, it does not mean the guilt was never there: it means it has been paid for, and "forgotten" by God (or, more accurately, will not be remembered against us in judgement) – warren Aug 21 '12 at 14:39
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@BijoyThangaraj Some sects of Wesleyanism (amongst others) say that after receiving Christ, one can and should live perfectly. They are known as the "Holiness" bodies en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiness_movement. – San Jacinto Aug 21 '12 at 22:51
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@SanJacinto - I thought those people only thought you could be free from conscious sins, but as most of the sins we commit worthy of death are subconscious in some ways it is a meaningless belief because some suppress their sins into the subconscious just fine. Or do you know something about these sects that make them more extreme then I thought? – Mike Aug 22 '12 at 5:34
@Mike I'm a little bit new to it myself, so I'm not the best one to ask beyond a conversational level. However, many believe in what they term "entire sanctification," which you'll see under "What does the Church of the Nazarene believe about living a holy life?" at nazarene.org/ministries/administration/visitorcenter/questions/… – San Jacinto Aug 22 '12 at 9:29
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The Catholic might say, "yes" and point to the doctrines surrounding the Virgin Mary. But, this does not really answer the question as you asked, whether it is possible to achieve this life (Mary was exempt from original sin).

While the testimony of the Saints is unanimous in the fact that you can live in near-sinlessness state (where you are free from mortal sin) (Fire Within by Dubay goes into some detail about John of the Cross's and Teresa of Avila's thoughts on this), the fact that there is a requirement that the faithful go to confession during Lent suggests that the Church does not believe that it is possible to go a year without sin.

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I do not agree: Mary was not exempt from the ancestral sin. Why would she be? She did have a little extra help though, because God surrounded her by angels and kept her from having all the forces of Satan come down on her. If the devil knew that she was going to be the mother of God, he would have attacked her mercilessly. – Byzantine Aug 23 '12 at 15:25
That would be a marked difference in our theologies. The RCC holds that Mary is free from original sin. – Ignatius Theophorus Aug 23 '12 at 15:42
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There is disagreement on this. Many denominations believe that we always sin, some going so far as to say that even our best is still sin to God, even after salvation. Others, such as the Nazarenes, teach a doctrine called Entire Santification, which claims that by wholly submitting to the Holy Spirit, it is possible to reach a point at which we no longer sin. In spite of that teaching, I've never met someone who claims that they are no longer sinning.

Even Paul wrote of doing what he knew he shouldn't do, and not doing what he should. None of the Biblical characters are ever depicted as reaching a point of no longer sinning.

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No, and here's why.

When I was young, I went to a Catholic grammar school. The teachers made it perfectly clear: Follow the Ten Commandments if you want to go to Heaven.

Now you may have noticed - The Decalogue, for the most part, is a list of things that you must not do if you want to go to Heaven. So as a child I wondered: If that's the case, and Heaven is what all Catholics strive for, why don't parents prevent their children from participating in society in order to absolutely ensure that they will honor this list of "don'ts" and virtually guarantee their passage to Heaven?

Of course, as I got older, I realized how absolutely absurd this idea was, but I actually think that my childhood "literalist" interpretation of the Ten Commandments might help to illustrate my point.

To live the life of a Christian is to live the life of Jesus. If you "Love thy neighbor as thyself", to your fullest capacity, every day of your life, then you've done just that. At the risk of sounding irreverent, you may think of the Ten Commandments as guidelines to help you decide how you can "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself."

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that you ignore the Sabbath, and disrespect your parents. I'm just acknowledging that living life at any time in any society will present problems and conflicts. Our imperfect human vessels may "sin" and violate the Ten Commandments from time to time. But at the end of the day, if you endeavor to "Love thy neighbor as thyself", you really can't go wrong.

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