William Huntington

XIX. - The Heaven-Born Soul in his Highest Character

(considered as having put on the new man), deriving the whole of his pedigree from the sinless seed of God

"Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God," John, iii. 9.

INFANT innocency, or freedom from the in-being of sin, or from every commission of it, cannot be intended in this text; "for, if we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar," for he hath declared that we have all sinned.

Nor can the lying notion of sinless perfection be supported by it; "for, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." The apostle John is point blank against both these; nor can it mean that a soul born of God never commits sin, for, at the apprehension of Christ, "all the disciples forsook him and fled," John as well as the rest; and that was contrary to what they had all avowed. And God says, Thou shalt pay thy vows. Peter declared, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee; likewise also said all the disciples," Matt. xxvi. 35. This was sin, and a great sin too; moreover, the apostles were ignorant of the word of God, as well as others. "For as yet they knew not the scriptures, that he must rise again from the dead," John, xx. 9. And we know that ignorance is sin. A sacrifice was appointed under the law for the sin of ignorance. Nor can we suppose that the apostle John never offended in his converted state; for James, the great pastor of the gospel church at Jerusalem, as personating all the apostles and disciples of Christ, affirms that "in many things we offend all, and that he that offendeth not in tongue is a perfect man," &c. And, as it is here granted and confessed by one of the greatest of men that all offend, so also saith the wisdom of God that "there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not." I must confess that this text used often to stumble me; nor have I ever met with a preacher, or sermon by a preacher, nor private christian, nor commentator, that ever did, or could, remove this stumbling block out of my way; nor did the conduct of John himself remove it; for, when "he saw the Son of God in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, with his garment down to the foot, his golden girdle, with his hoary head and flaming eyes; his feet as burnished brass, and his voice as many waters; he at once drops at his feet as one dead, and rises no more till a divine arm is laid upon him, and his fears rebuked and removed by the Lord himself," Rev. i. 13, 14, 15, 16. All these things, this servile fear, this panic, this dropping dead, and fainting away, were so many indications of the fall of man, of human depravity, of the in-being of sin, and a sense of guilt from that in-being, and of dreadful fear, shame, and apprehensions of the divine anger, on the account of it; all which the Saviour rebuked, and encouraged him against; "Fear not, I am he that liveth, and was dead, and am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death." There was no cause to rebuke his fears, if they were not servile, nor to tell him he had the keys of hell and of death, if he had no sense of his "own comeliness turning into corruption," as Daniel's did at the same sight. And, when Christ said to him Fear not, it was to disperse his apprehensions of divine anger, to the which he yielded through fear; and, when he said, I am he that liveth, it was to inform him that he had an advocate, and an everliving intercessor with the Father; and, when he told him he had the keys of hell and of death, it was to deliver him from the fears and apprehensions of both. All which prove that John, though the beloved disciple, was not perfect in the flesh, or without sin; though he might be kept very near to God, very lively in his frames, and have uncommon light, knowledge, wisdom, and prudence; yet all this was from Christ's fullness. His natural temper and humility might exceed others; and that he was a most affectionate lover and faithful follower of Christ, that Christ (as man) loved him with a most tender affection; and that he lived longer than all the rest of the apostles, and came to a natural end, which the others did not, and had the honour of finishing the canon of scripture; all this may be true of him, yet all gifts are from the God of nature and of grace. And yet, as a son of Adam, he was a sinner; and, as Christ came to save sinners, yea, and the chiefest of sinners, it shews that the Lord's great condescension to John was to one that was a sinner; as all are both by birth and practice, for all have sinned, all are enemies to God (and this John owns, "not that we loved God"); all have come short of the glory of God: all have revolted from him (the judgment came upon all to condemnation), and all are children of wrath, the one as well as the other; and, instead of the Jews exceeding the heathen nations in righteousness, by their conduct, profaneness went from them into all lands, and the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles through them, for the Gentiles had no God, but idols. And Israel, who only had the true God, often fell to idolatry, which "was changing their glory into shame, and leaving the fountain of living waters for a cistern that could hold no water."

If a man that is born of God never offends in thought, word, or deed, the old man must not only be crucified, dead, and buried, with Christ, but entirely extinct with respect to us. "But with the flesh Paul served the law of sin," Rom. vii. 25. John himself cautions believers against sin, which shews the possibility of a heaven-born soul sinning; "These things write I unto you, that you sin not;" and yet guards the believer against despair, should this be the unhappy case; "And, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins."

Furthermore, he tells the standing believer how to act with a fallen one; "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask of God, and he shall give him life for him that sins not unto death; there is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it."

Nor do I believe that this great and holy apostle, however he might (like Paul) exercise himself day and night to have always a conscience void of offence; yet he did not always escape the bar of equity without some censure, reproof, accusation, or reproach; and this may be gathered from his own pen, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh. "For, if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God," 1 John, iii. 20, 21. Hence it appears evident that John was not unacquainted with the censures of his own heart, and of appeals to God in such cases, and acknowledges the happy enjoyment of a good conscience; if our heart condemn us not, &c.

And he is thankful also for an advocate, and he knew the use and value of Christ in that office; "We have an advocate, with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins." From all which we may conclude that sinless perfection, or perfection in the flesh, is neither advanced in this text, nor intended by it.

Some have been ready to conclude, from this portion of scripture, that believers, because "they would do good," and if possible, would gladly be free from all sins, yea, from the very in-being of sin, that their slips and falls are no sins, and because the man "is blessed to whom the Lord will not impute sin." But the confessions and groanings of all the saints contradict this notion; besides, they are called sins, though not imputed; that is, they are not imputed to the believer so as to be brought forth against him at the day of judgment, because Christ the surety has borne them, and made satisfaction, and answered for them; nevertheless they are brought forth in the court of conscience, and procure many frowns, chastisements, desertions, reproofs, loss of comfort, deadness of soul, shame, and confusion of face, and for which they are often "detained before the Lord" in the court of equity, till the blood of sprinkling procures their enlargement and re-introduction to God's presence.

Others have thought that this seed in my text is faith, because it is said that whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world; and "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." And some have concluded it must be the word of God, because that is called "incorruptible seed." Some have thought that it is Christ formed in us, as he is called "a seed, the seed of David," &c. And others call it the implantation of grace, which the Spirit plants in the soul, which is called a bed of spices, and under whose influence these various graces, "or spices, are made to flow out into exercise," and emit their odours, so as to make the believer a sweet savour of Christ; which, for ought I know, is true.

When this great apostle treats of the saint's spiritual birth, he says that "he is born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." God of his own will begets him by the word applied, and the Spirit, operating with it, quickens him; and, when begotten from a state of death and insensibility, and quickened to a feeling sense of his danger, wrath seizes him, and awakens all his fears about him, and against him, and the sense of wrath chains his heart down to meditate terror; his mind is chafed, vexed, grieved, agitated, and tormented, for fear hath torment. Wrath and guilt, meeting together, bring on the labour; love, meeting with our misery, and operating against it, produces the birth, and brings forth the soul. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment; he that feareth is not made perfect in love, and he that loveth is born of God and knoweth God."

We know that God hath used many similitudes in condescension to human weakness. We read of the seed of man, which is man; and of the seed of beasts, which are beasts; and we read of Christ being called a seed, who is God and man in one person; and we read of "Christ's seed," which are partly flesh and partly Spirit; "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh," &c. Now, as all seed has the likeness of those from whom it springs, and the same nature, this seed in my text, whatever it is, must have some resemblance to God; yea, and the nature of him too. But then what is God John answers, "God is love;" and he that "loveth is born of God, and knoweth God;" and he that is thus begotten of God loves him that begets, and him that is begotten of him. Hence it appears that this seed is the distinguishing and everlasting love of God the Father shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us; for John always ascribes it to God the Father. We read of the love of the Father, and of the love of Christ, and of the love of the Spirit; of the fullness of Christ, and of all grace, which is produced by the Spirit, and distinctly called the fruit of the Spirit; and we read of the grace of Christ, and of him formed in the heart, &c. &c. But this seed is the everlasting love of God the Father, distinct from the love of Christ, and from the love of the Spirit; who promises "to circumcise our hearts to love him, and with loving-kindness to draw us." And, as God of his own will begets us, his seed is in those begotten of him; and Christ says, "The Father himself loveth you;" and it was love in God to send his Son; and this love is distinguished by John himself from the love of Christ and from the love of the Holy Spirit, which he calls the anointing.

It was brought with power and comfort to my soul that this is the seed; and no wonder, for John owns that this seed is of the Father, for "love is of God," 1 John, iv. 7; "and God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him," 1 John, iv. 16. This is the seed, this is the divine nature, this is the root of the matter; it is the more excellent way, and it is that charity that never faileth, and is the elder sister of the three, and the soul of all the rest; for "faith, patience, humility, meekness, temperance, and every other virtue, are ascribed to her," 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5, 6, 7. "Charity thinketh no evil," and is therefore "a seed that cannot sin. He that is born of God sinneth not." Paul delighted in the law of God after the inner-man; this is love. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," saith the Saviour; "and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John doth not describe fully the old man, he only mentions the saint considered as a new creature that sinneth not, "and the seed that remains in him that cannot sin."

Furthermore, it is an habitual course of sinning that John strikes at, as appears from his own words, "The devil sinneth from the beginning," 1 John, iii. 6. He that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous; but whosoever "doth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." He that sinneth is of the devil, he that is born of God sinneth not (a course of sinning is what is meant). He then brings forth Cain and Abel as the patterns of these two sorts of persons, which he calls "children of God, and children of the devil." "Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil," and nothing but evil, "and his brother's works were righteous; and he that doth righteousness is of God." A servant of sin, of whom Cain is the pattern, cannot perform works of righteousness; he is ignorant of the attribute of righteousness in God, and of the righteousness which the law requires; there is no faith in him, nor righteousness on him, and therefore "such a servant of sin is free from righteousness," Rom, vi. 20. Nor can such ever serve the living God till their conscience is purged from dead works by the blood of Christ; nevertheless, such a servant of sin may have many external shews of righteousness, and all the forms of godliness, as Cain brings his offering, and as the pharisees appeared outwardly righteous before men, yet they cannot please God. The service of a pharisee is the rankest hypocrisy. Wicked men may perform many acts, speak, pray, sacrifice, and do external works of righteousness, in outward shew, and yet in heart, in soul, and in the sight of God, be nothing but the willing slaves of sin and Satan; and, on the other hand, a real saint may slip, fall, backslide, and be so carried away by the force of temptation and inbred corruption, like Samson, David, Peter, the incestuous person, &c. till they look like the servants of sin, and yet at the same time are in faith, in grace, in will, mind, heart, and affection, real lovers of God; and such as serve him in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter; serve him in the work of faith, in the labour of love, and in the patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ; which are the true and genuine principles of evangelical service, and without which it is impossible to please God. A real saint may put on the old man, as David did when he swore by God that he would cut off from the house of Nabal all that pisseth against the wall; and as Peter did when he denied the Lord, and swore to it. And, on the other hand, the vilest sinner may have the appearance of putting on the new man, as Esau when he wept, Ahab when he humbled himself, "and the way-side hearer" when he rejoiced in the word of truth: but, after all, you may call the former of these a real sheep in a goat's skin, and the latter a real wolf in sheep's clothing; the former a fallen saint, and the latter a varnished hypocrite; and hence the wise man's saying is true. "There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous; I said that this also is vanity," Eccl. viii. 14. Here are two men described, the one is called just, a believer in Christ, and a just man that lives by his faith; the other is a wicked man dead in sin, and dead to God. The vanity of the former is, that it happeneth to him (to do) according to the works of the wicked; this is vanity; and I may add, it is the vexation of his soul too: and the vanity of the other is, that it happeneth to him (to do) according to the works of the righteous; but, as he is a wicked man, his hypocritical works are called vanity. David, in his conduct with Bathsheba, and in making Uriah drunk, exhibited the former; and Ahithophel, in giving David "sweet counsel, and walking with him to the house of God in company," did exhibit the latter. But David was a just man in Christ Jesus, notwithstanding his falls; and the other was a wicked man, notwithstanding all his high attainments. Saints are sometimes in appearance what they are not in heart, and so are sinners. The master and father of the saints has appeared ere now in disguise; for, though he was spotless, and perfectly holy, both in his divine and human nature, "yet God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh," Rom. viii. 3. So "the holy seed" have at times appeared disguised, by putting on the old man, which is corrupt. And so the master and father of sinners is "transformed into an angel of light," which is his disguise; and his ministers and servants have been transformed into the likeness of the ministers of righteousness, which is the quintessence of infernal hypocrisy. But what of all this? "Christ is the Holy One," and ever was; "and the devil is the wicked one," and ever will be. Believers are the holy seed, notwithstanding all their imperfections and fleshly infirmities, and ever shall be "the seed which God hath blessed;" and all hypocrites are the children of Satan, who learn of him this their disguise, and ever shall be, notwithstanding all their pretensions and attainments. The prodigal did not lose his adoption through all his awful backsliding; nor did the elder son get the kid by all his long service. It is true, "a wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame; and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren," Prov. xvii. 2. This is often seen. Absalom was a wise servant, who stole away the hearts of Israel from his father, and for a time ruled over him, who at that time "was a son that had caused shame." And a wise servant is often seen in a pulpit; and may reprove, rebuke, and sometimes, with the rest of the church, exclude or excommunicate, "a son that causeth shame," and himself be no more than a bond-servant. And, though it is said that such a wise servant "shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren," yet it is only a gift, not grace; such a part as Judas had, "who took part of this ministry with us." The gifts that the Prince of Peace gives to his sons are theirs for ever; but, if he "give a gift to one of his servants (not evangelical servants, but bond-servants), then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince," Ezekiel, xlvi. 17. This year of liberty seems to be the time when the Lord will come to reckon with his servants, "and to take away the talent from the slothful one, who had dug in the earth, and hid his lord's money."

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