SERMON XXI. A sinless Perfection and Security of Salvation no Prerogative of a regenerate State. 1 JOHN iii. 9, 10. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, beause he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. FOR the right understanding of these words, it will be proper to note something of the occasion and design of them, so far as may be probably learned from Church history. The Apostle had said but two verses before, "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doth ❝righteousness is righteous, even as he [that is, Christ] "is righteous." It seems, there were some, at that time of day, who presumed to think themselves righteous, and born of God, without the practice of holiness; and they had endeavoured to seduce others into that strange and absurd, or rather wicked, persuasion. Therefore said the Apostle to his own converts or followers, " Little chil"dren, let no man deceive you;" that is to say, by fair speeches, plausible insinuations, or false colourings. Those deceivers, probably, were some disciples of Simon Magus; for that impostor had taught, that men are saved by grace only, without any regard to good works. As if Iren. lib. i. c. 20. Theodorit. Hæret. Fab. lib. i. c. 1. Grabe, Annot. ad Bull. Harm. Apost. p. 13, 33. Exam. cen. p. 5. Gospel righteousness were no necessary condition for the enjoying Gospel privileges; or as if men might be born of God, and become heirs of salvation, independent of Christian holiness, though Scripture is express, that " without “holiness no man shall see the Lord b." In opposition to such dangerous principles, the good Apostle asserts, and strongly inculcates, the necessity of a pure heart and life, to denominate any person good, and to entitle him to the privileges of Christian sonship. "Whosoever is born "of God doth not commit sin:" and a little after, "Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God." He fixes the point both ways, to enforce it the more strongly if a person is of God, he will of course abstain from the practice of sin: or, if he does not, besides, practise righteousness, performing his bounden duty, he is not of God, but is a child of the devil. Words so full and so express, as to bear no dispute, nor to admit of evasion. In discoursing farther, I shall endeavour to state and clear the particulars here following: is. I. To show, negatively, what the text does not mean. III. To point out the practical use and improvement of the whole. I. I shall endeavour to show, negatively, what the text does not mean, in order to prevent scruples, and to obviate misconstructions. 1. The text most undoubtedly concerns grown persons, and does not directly concern infants. Infants are not capable of doing righteousness, though capable of being born of God in Baptism: they preserve that regenerate state, once entered into, till they become guilty of actual and grievous sin. Of this there can be no dispute: they are justified at the same time that they are regenerated, and are therefore righteous in God's sight; and b Heb. xii. 14, accordingly they are interpretatively included in St. John's rule, though not specially considered by him. The gainsayers, whom he opposed, pretended that even grown persons, not practising righteousness, but living under the dominion of sin, were in a state of salvation notwithstanding. That was the doctrine which the Apostle here laboured to correct: infants were no way concerned in it, and so there was no need to make an exception for their case. 2. I must further observe, that the text does not mean to exclude any persons from salvation who are really penitent, or whose hearts are really changed, or renewed, and only want time to bring forth the fruit of good works; such, for instance, as the penitent thief upon the cross. Indeed, good works are justly interpreted to mean either inward or outward works. There are the inward works of sincere faith, humble contrition, detestation of sin, trust in the Divine mercy, firm reliance on the merits of Christ, together with cordial resolutions of a thorough amendment: works of this kind transacted within, if such a person should be suddenly taken off, will be interpreted as works of righteousness by God, who knows the heart. Therefore this also is a case which falls within the equity, or even the letter of the Apostle's rule, 'O woy tùy dixaioσúvny, he that doeth righteousness, or he that makes righteousness, be it outwardly or inwardly, he is righteous. The false teachers, whom the Apostle here opposed, required neither outward nor inward righteousness, but promised salvation to their deluded hearers without regard to either, independent of both alike. Therefore St. John's rule may reasonably be understood with a tacit exception to the case of inward righteousness, which had nothing to do with the main question then in hand: for the question was not about dying penitents, but about persons living in impenitency, and under the dominion of sin. 3. I must add, thirdly, that the text does not mean to exclude all that are in any degree sinners from a state of, salvation; for in some sense all men are sinners; and the same Apostle, in the same Epistle, says, "If we say that "we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is "not in use;" and "if we say that we have not sinned," we make Christ "a liar, and his word is not in us d." St. John does not say that God's children have no sin, but that they do not commit sin. The phrases are somewhat alike, but they are not the same; neither do they bear the same signification, but widely different. To have no sin means to be altogether sinless, from first to last; which no mere man ever was or will be: but not to commit sin, or not to make sin, not to be a sin-maker, in this place means only, the forbearing to sin with an high hand, or abstaining from the grievous and presumptuous kind of sins. The children of God, as such, are not altogether sinless; but if they have formerly sinned in any grievous manner, they are truly penitent, and they do so no more; and the sins which they remain yet subject to are sins of infirmity, such as all are in some degree liable to, and such as are not imputed under a covenant of grace. This distinction of sins into sins of presumption and sins of infirmity, (otherwise called sins of daily incursion,) is an old distinction in the Church, and is abundantly warranted by many Scripture texts, which I need not here mention. It is sufficient to have observed, that the Apostle is here to be explained by that distinction; for it is certain and manifest, that he did not mean to teach that the children of God, as such, are, or can be, altogether without sin, like as our blessed Lord himself was. "There is no" mere man that sinneth note." "There is not a" perfectly 'just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth "not f." "For in many things we offend all s." Which is chiefly to be understood of our many omissions and failures of duty, through unavoidable ignorance or infirmity, either forgetting and overlooking some articles of c 1 John i. 8. 1 Kings viii. 46. 2 Chron. vi. 36. f Eccles. vii. 20. d 1 John i. 10. James iii. 2. duty, or not performing them with all that care and exactness which might have been used by us. But I proceed. II. Having observed to you, negatively, what the doctrine of the text does not mean, I am next to show, positively, what it does mean. The true and full meaning is, that the children of God, considered as such, do, by the assistance of God's grace present with them, lead a good life, discharging every duty incumbent upon them, with a conscientious care to the utmost of their ability, and abstaining from presumptuous and damning transgressions. Such were Zacharias and Elisabeth, of whom it is recorded by St. Luke, that "they were both righteous before God, "walking in all the commandments and ordinances of "the Lord blameless h." That is to say, they lived in so holy and so exemplary a manner, as to be both acceptable to God and approved of men, in St. Paul's phrase, on another occasioni; or having "always a conscience void " of offence toward God, and toward menk." These are such as our Lord speaks of, under the name of "just per"sons, needing no repentance';" and righteous persons, whom he came not to call to repentance m, that is, to an entire change, but to improvement and increase in godliness: not but that repentance belongs to all men, in the same sense as all men are sinners: but as repentance, in a stricter sense, means an entire change of heart and life towards God; if a man's heart was before set right, he will not want to be so changed in the main, but to be carried on in the same good way he was in to higher perfection. Now to return to the words of the text: the Apostle here supposes that the children of God are righteous, just, and blameless in such a sense as I have mentioned, walking in the ways of God, conscientiously keeping God's holy will and commandments, and not h Luke i. 6. iRom. xiv. 18. k Acts xxiv. 16. |