Have we any Scriptural warrant for expecting that a believer may be really rid of sin this side of the resurrection, beyond having the gracious liberty to pray and fight it down? Is it correct teaching, that sin is eradicated through Christians believing for and claiming sanctification? and can you give a Scripture instance of it? Will you tell us how far people are justified in claiming perfection as an experience by faith? The Lord being everywhere, in all, and through all, can He dwell in the heart where sin, not reigning, is?
This is a live, practical question, just such as I like to receive. While always perfectly willing to respond to the question, "What does this text mean?" as far as possible, it is far more gratifying to be called on to answer the question, "What must I do to be saved?"
There are many people whose interest in the Bible never really rises above the level of mere curiosity, and whose "religious experience" consist mainly of the ability to "hold their own" in an argument concerning the meaning of certain texts. While they stand in their relation to the Bible it makes very little difference what they believe; but those who have questions to ask concerning their personal relation to God and righteousness will always meet with a hearty welcome in the "Corner."
The best thing to do in answering this series of questions is to have before us a few plain statements of Scripture. They will serve to hold us steady in our course. First, the words of Christ, recorded in: "Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
The Saviour never commands impossibilities, and so we have the statement also: "By one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14)
Then comes this inspired prayer, containing the blessed assurance of the possibility of the thing prayed for, and the revelation of the means by which it is done: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ." (Hebrews 13:20-21) "You are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:16-18) "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1) "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." (Hebrews 11:14)
Perfection a Necessary State
These texts make it plain that holiness, perfect purity of body and spirit, is not only possible, but absolutely necessary; and the state is to be ours in this present evil world, before the resurrection; for we are told that without it no man shall see the Lord. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)
With these words of Scripture before us, it should make no difference to us whether any person has ever had the experience or not. We are not judges, and cannot tell who has and who has not. But in any case, our experience is to be built upon God's word, and not upon our own previous experience, or any other person's experience, or lack of it. The Christian life is a continual revelation of new things, continual growth, continual pressing forward to something beyond. "Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." (Hebrews 6:1)
The words of Joshua to Israel when about to cross the Jordan are to be taken as the words of the Lord to us every day: "You have not passed this way heretofore." (Joshua 3:4)
One Perfect Man
But we do know of at least one Man who was perfect in holiness before the resurrection, and that is: "The Man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5) and with the record of His life before us, and the presence of His Spirit with us, we do not need another instance. He was made "perfect through sufferings," (Hebrews 2:10) and having suffered, He has entered into His glory. He was the Word made flesh, human flesh. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Hebrews 2:14-15)
He is the first fruits, "the firstborn among many brethren;" (Romans 8:29) and, "If the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy." (Romans 11:16)
He became partaker of our flesh and blood, and is entered into heaven. That is our assurance that we all shall go there; for a partaker of our flesh is there already. There will be in the kingdom of God but "one new man;" (Ephesians 2:15) that Man now lives; therefore His perfection is by the new birth the right of every soul. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are to bring us, "in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13) "[Christ was] declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:4)
The power of His resurrection was the Spirit of holiness that dwelt in Him. It was by the Spirit that kept Him from sin, that He was raised from the dead; and it will be the same with us. "You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you." (Romans 8:9-11) "Forasmuch then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." (1 Peter 4:1)
Christ had exactly the same struggles that we have with sin; for His body was the same as ours, and He had our sins to contend with. Now we must not take the Scriptures for discouragement, for that is to abuse them. So we must not despondently say: "But He had no sin," implying that there is after all a difference between Him and us. It is true that: "[He] did no sin," (1 Peter 2:22) and, "knew no sin." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
It is true also that we have sinned; but it is still further true that: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." (2 Corinthians 5:19) "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6)
Therefore, "as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
The Lord counts us as sinless as He counts Christ, and the sins that we bear are the sins of the world.
Do not misunderstand this, for it is a vital truth. What I mean is this: Since God does not impute our trespasses to us, it is evident that He counts us sinless. In this knowledge we may rejoice, and assure our hearts before Him. Then we may know that the sins that we must struggle against in the flesh are not our personal sins, as indeed they are not so long as we reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin. They will not have dominion over us, no matter how sorely they press us; and we shall know that the burden of them is upon us solely in order that we may be able to lift the burden off from some poor soul that is fainting beneath it. It is that we may show him how Christ bears his sins even in his flesh, and that he may be wholly free from them even while bearing them in his body.
The nature of the flesh of a Christian is not a bit different from that of a sinner. The flesh of every man is corruptible, and will be till the Lord comes to change us to immortal glory. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Philippians 3:20-21) The difference between the sinner and the Christian is this, that the sinner is ruled by the flesh, "fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind," (Ephesians 2:3) while the Christian allows the Spirit of Christ in him to rule the flesh, and to subdue its passions; for he has "power over all flesh." (John 17:2)
The body itself is an example of this life that cleanses. By the breaking down of tissue, poisons are continually forming in it, that if retained, would kill us; but the life stream flowing from us bears them away, and keeps us constantly alive and active. It is action that breaks down tissue; yet that very action, if it is rightly related to the fountain of life, tends to the removal of the waste matter.
God, not Man, the Justifier
How far, then, may man claim perfection? Not to any degree whatever. "It is God that justifies." (Romans 8:33) "Not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends." (2 Corinthians 10:18)
There have been righteous persons, perfect, holy men, approved of God; but they did not boast of their own goodness. Zacharias and Elizabeth "were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." (Luke 1:6)
Enoch was translated by faith; "for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Hebrews 11:5)
No higher testimony than this can be received by a man from God. It is the testimony that God gave Jesus at His baptism. But even Jesus made no claim to perfection in himself, but said, "I can of my own self do nothing." (John 5:30) "The Father that dwells in me, He does the works." (John 14:10)
God himself said: "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?" (Job 1:8)
What a testimony that is, and we know that it was true; yet Job said: "If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse." (Job 9:20)
He was a perfect man according to God's own testimony; yet if he claimed perfection, that very claim would prove him perverse. This is in harmony with the words of the Apostle John: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all of righteousness." (1 John 1:8-9)
It is while we have fellowship with God, while we, ourselves at one with Him, lost in Him, so that we say, "Not I, but Christ lives in me," (Galatians 2:20) that: "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)
There is sin there, but the ever rising tide of the life of Christ continually sweeps away, and keeps the soul clean. We agreed with God, for that is what confession is, and then we are one with Him, and He declares us sinless.
You see, do you not, that to say that we are sinless is to deny Christ as the Saviour from sin? It is while we confess our sins, that we are cleansed. Constant cleansing from sin means constant confession of sin. Are we cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ that is now applied? That very joyful declaration is a confession that we are sinful. Sin is in our members, but it has no dominion over us. "Thanks be to God which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57)
There is possible for everyone of us in Christ a height and depth and breadth of holiness, such as we have never yet experienced; yet, having experienced it, we shall still see such infinite possibilities before us that, like Job, we shall say, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes;" (Job 42:6) and with Paul, the chief of the apostles: "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: Howbeit for this cause have I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all His longsuffering, for an ensample of them which should hereafter believe in Him unto eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:15-16,RV)--Present Truth, May 22, 1902.