Comments like this in Scripture should not be read in isolation and especially not according to Western Greek philosophical notions of perfection and “without fault.” Romans 3:19-23, in my view, is very important context for Revelation 14:5. It contains probably the clearest explanation of justification by faith in the whole Bible. It has been called the Most Holy Place of the gospel.
The Romans 3 passage is the climax of the first three chapters of the book. Summary these chapters, Romans 3:20 makes it clear that nothing a human being can do earns justification before God. Whatever perfection means, it has to come from a power that is outside of us. All have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God (3:23). Our inadequacy for salvation is not just a reality of the past, it is a problem in the present and in the future of this life. The present tense of “fall short” (Greek: husterountai) means that all our best efforts, now and continually, still fall short of God’s absolute standards. God’s justification is continuously and freely given to the very ones who “have sinned” and “continually fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23-24).
In light of Romans 3, “without fault” does not mean absolute perfection, it rather expresses absolute loyalty, the kind where one would rather die than choose to sin. It is not about totaling up our good and bad deeds on a scale. It is about the general trend of our lives. The 144,000 fully and completely trust Jesus to keep their robes clean (7:14) and they are uncompromising in their loyalty to the one who redeemed them (14:4-5).
without fault, no lies, a pure faith. No compromise with paganism, shalom.
Sounds about right.
No, it does not. You completely left out sanctification. We are justified by faith thru Christ, if we confess our sins and repent, which means to turn away from sin. We must DIE and be born again with the water and spirit. We just surrender our will to God and ask for his will in our lives. Only the power of grace can allow us to repent and turn. Jesus did not use His will while on this earth as a flesh and blood man. He ONLY did the will of His Father. We must ask God to give us the power to repent as we should. Only the Holy Spirit can give us the ability to confess and be sorrowful for our sins, and only the Holy Spirit can give us the power to be transformed back into the image of Adam, who was made in the image of God. Fear of God is found in Proverbs 8. We must have the divine character attributes of God imparted to us. The fear of God is to LOVE what God loves and HATE what God hates. He hates sin, and we will not be saved if we are not daily undergoing sanctification. Anything less, will not make us a fit subject for the Kingdom of God. God has to remove all sin and who sin from his universe. It has to be eradicated, or he will have to destroy everything he ever created. We are to love God supreme and love all other beings as ourselves. We must become other centered. We can’t do anything on our own. God has to fill us with his spirit and power so we can be changed. We cannot enter Heaven as a sinner. We would be a jeopardy to the harmony in God’s universe. Remember, sin is rebellion against God’s laws – his laws of love, liberty and equality. Sin is selfishness. It is lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and PRIDE of life. We have no life without Christ Jesus.