The functional basis of the Old and New Testaments is quite different. Under the Old Testament, godly behavior came first and the person would be looked upon as “good”.
The New Testament is the opposite, in that we’re washed and made pure at the beginning.
1 Peter 1:22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
1 Peter 1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; (ESV)
Since we HAVE been born again we are now enabled to behave Godly. Here are some thoughts about “past tense = enablement”.
What HAS happened to us, is what NOW powers us forward.
Our hearts WERE made clean and pure and that enables us to love one another FROM a pure heart.
It is all a result of being born again and made clean and pure.
Since I’ve made Jesus Lord, I have always had a scratchy feeling in my spirit if I said anything wrong about someone.
Why is that? Because I’ve been washed and cleansed by Jesus blood and I have been purified. It doesn’t go well with my soul if I walk out of love.
We are all cleansed and made clean, what has happened “past tense” now “enables” us to love earnestly from pure hearts.
Every blessing to each of you,
Tony