In these “Preaching Holiness Today” blog posts, I have been examining “The Thirty Texts of Wesley” as first compiled by William Sangster. This post is my 24th post of the series. In this post, I explore how William Sangster conflates a statement on purity with a description of regeneration.
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. . . . Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:3, 8–10 ESV)
First John Chapter 3 opens with a declaration about the love of our heavenly Father. John deals with present and future salvation—the now and the not yet. Now we are children of God. We have been born again. While the new birth includes the forgiveness of sins, it also marks the beginning of our sanctification. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit who enables us to live Christlike. Yet there is tension in verse 2. We are told that we will be made like him when he appears. While we can reflect Christ presently, we cannot reflect him perfectly until sanctification is finalized. In the meantime, we purify ourselves because of the hope we have that he is coming again. The verb hagnizo means to sanctify or make holy. Its present tense usage here emphasizes ongoing transformation. By the grace of God, we can love God with our whole self and our neighbor as ourselves.
We must maintain biblical balance by avoiding unbalanced teachings, including the popular view that we are forgiven of all past, present, and future sins when we decide for Christ and consequently our security in Christ is unconditional, regardless of how we live—that we cannot live holy until Jesus returns. We must also avoid the teaching that we “get it all” when we are born again. We must avoid the distorted view that we sanctify ourselves through legalism. However, we must attend to the means of grace.
We must avoid the opposite error that we can become deified. Theosis is a tricky word that can mean union, in which humanity literally becomes divine, or communion, in which humanity becomes like God.((Michael Christensen, “Theosis and Sanctification,” Wesleyan Theological Journal (Fall 1996), 72–73.))
The apostle John does not deal with the future—in fact, every major passage about the return of Christ leaves unanswered questions. The emphasis is on holy living not speculative prophecy. And so, John emphasizes deliverance from sin. Deliverance from the guilt of sin is justification. Deliverance from the bondage of sin is regeneration. Deliverance from the nature of sin is entire sanctification. Deliverance from the presence of sin is final sanctification.
Verses 8–10 do not describe entire sanctification. They are clearly describing those who have been born again. Before we can discuss victory over sin, however, we must define sin. The Bible provides in context as least seven definitions of sin. In this context, verse 4 defines sin as lawlessness. It is presumptuous and defiant rebellion. Wesley wrote:
By “sin” I here understand outward sin, according to the plain, common acceptance of the word; an actual, voluntary, “transgression of the law;” of the revealed, written law of God; of any commandment of God acknowledged to be such at the time that it is transgressed.((Wesley, BE Works, 13:168.))
When we are born again we receive a new nature. In verse 9 we are told that God’s seed remains in us. The Greek word sperma describes the dynamic of both the Word of God and the Spirit of God.((Smalley, Word Biblical Commentary, 51:173–174.)) John is not teaching that it is impossible for a Christian to sin. That would mean that God had taken away our ability to make choices. He is teaching, however, that it is possible not to sin—in the sense defined by verse 4. William Burt Pope explained:
He who has in him the indwelling Spirit “doth not sin;” he abhors the remainder of it in his nature, he has renounced the works of Satan, he maintains his fellowship with Christ, and his life is governed by righteousness. He may grieve the Spirit and may fall into sin, as the apostle himself says in 2:1; but living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, this he will not do: “he sinneth not,” and abstinence from the act of sin is his mark and his privilege. When it is added that “he cannot sin,” we are to understand the word “cannot” as referring to the moral impossibility of a regenerate souls violating the principle or, as it were, the instinct of his new life. The child of God can sin; but the act of sinning, so far as he is concerned, suspends his life; and, as we are told in chapter 5:16, life must be given to him again when he sins not unto death.((Pope, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, 309.))
Popular exegesis, however, points out the verb sin in verse 9 is in the present tense. This is often translated “go on sinning” (NIV) or “sins habitually.” Daniel Wallace said this is reading too much into the present tense.((Wallace, Greek Grammar, 524–525.)) “The use of the present tense says nothing about the habitual or nonhabitual character of the sinning but only shows that the author has chosen to depict the sinning as something in progress, rather than as a completed action.”((Kruse, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, 129.)) The English Standard Version, in saying “makes a practice of sinning,” reveals more about the theology of the translators than the actual text.
In response to those in his day who added the word habitually to verse 9, Wesley asked:
Whence is that? I read it not. It is not written in the Good. God plainly saith, he “doeth not commit sin.” And thou addest, “habitually!” Who are thou that mendest the oracles of God? Thou “addest to the words of this Book? Beware, I beseech thee, lest God “add to thee all the plagues that are written therein!”((Wesley, “The Marks of the New Birth,” Sermon #18, 1.5.))
In his next sermon, Sermon #19, “The Great Privilege of those that are Born of God,” Wesley took 1 John 3:9 as his text. He explained that Christians fall into sin “step by step.” First, we fall into negative inward sin by not stirring up the gift of God which is in us and by not pressing on to the mark of the prize of his high calling. Second, we fall into positive inward sin by inclining to wickedness within our heart and giving way to some evil desire. Then we lose our faith and consequently our love of God. And being then weak and like another man we are capable of committing even outward sin.((Wesley, “The Great Privilege,” 2.7.)) Wesley closed this sermon by exhorting us to “fear sin more than death or hell.” The only way to avoid losing ground is to keep gaining ground. Joseph Benson declared that growth in grace is the only security against falling from it.((Benson, Sermons, 7:230–232. Sermon #251.)) Therefore, Wesley advised that we should preach Christian perfection “scarce at all to those who are not pressing forward.”((Wesley, BE Works, 13:160.))
Benjamin Lakin, an old Methodist bishop, explained that this text implies that there are remains of depravity in those who are justified and born again. They are but “little children.” Under temptation the new believer finds the remaining corruption of his heart tempting him to pride, anger, envy, the love of the world, or a desire to please men. He is then tempted to conclude his experience is a delusion. But he then discovers that there is a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. New light breaks upon his mind. He believes in the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin, and he is cleansed with the perfect love of God and man.((Lakin, “The Christian’s Hope,” Sermons on Miscellaneous Subjects, by the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1849), 362–363.))
Sermon Suggestions
With the illumination of the Holy Spirit, how would you rate your Christian walk?
- Do you have victory over the temptation to break the commands of Christ overtly and openly?
- Are you aware of an internal struggle with inner sin?
- Is the blood of Jesus Christ cleaning you from all sin?