September 20

"In him is no sin." 1 John 3:5.

No sin original. David said, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. The same may be said by every individual of the human race. Our Saviour was truly a man; but to secure him, in the participation of our nature, from pollution, behold a new thing in the earth. He is made only of a woman: a virgin conceives and bears a son, and that holy thing which is born of her is called the Son of God. His people are holy by renovation; he was so by nature. Even when sanctified, they feel within them a conflict; the flesh and the Spirit oppose each other, and they cannot do the things that they would. But he had no warfare of this kind. He could not say, I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. All his senses and appetites and passions moved in obedience to reason, and in unison with the will of God.

Hence there was in him no sin actual. In proof of this the testimony of his friends may be deemed partial, though they had the best opportunities of knowing him; and they all gloried in the avowal that he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. But hear the multitude, "He hath done all things well." Hear the dying thief, "This man hath done nothing amiss." Hear Pilate, who judicially examined him, "I find no fault in this man: I am pure from the blood of that just man." Hear Judas, the domestic spy, after three years of intimacy with him, "I have betrayed innocent blood." No one ever had more keen or malicious observers, especially in the Pharisees, whom he had exasperated to fury by laying open their pious wickedness to the people. But he challenged every adversary: "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" If there be any thing in us susceptible of evil influence, Satan will be sure to find it, for he has a bait to suit every disposition; but the prince of this world came, and had nothing in him. He struck the sparks, but there was no tinder. Events, whether prosperous or painful, are severe trials. If there be mud at the bottom, the waves will cast up mire and dirt. "But he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He was made under the law; and this law is so spiritual that the holiest of men, when they have compared themselves with it, have always prayed, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord; for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified." But even this law had nothing to complain of in him; it found, in principle and in practice, all the obedience it required. And how was he viewed by Him who is greater than the heart, and knoweth all things? He always did the things that pleased the Father.

The fact, therefore, is undeniable. But whence this exception?

How came this one man alone to have no sin in him, while as to the myriads of the human race besides, they are all gone out of the way; there is none righteous, no, not one? It can only be accounted for upon the admission that he was the Lord from heaven: the Holy One of God; the Word made flesh; the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; who received not the Spirit by measure; in whom dwelt all the fulness of the godhead bodily.

This is not an unimportant decision. The innocency of his character affects the credibility of his mission and his doctrine. A being in whom was no sin could not have been a deceiver, but he constantly declared that he came forth from God; that he came to seek and to save that which was lost; that he would cast out none that came to him.

It serves to evince the nature of his suffering and death. He had no sin of his own, and therefore if he died not for the sins of others, he died without any reference to sin at all. And where then is the God of judgment? That be far from him, to slay the righteous with the wicked. No one ever suffered under his government absolutely innocent, but either as personally or relatively guilty—bearing his own desert or the desert of others. But in him was no sin; yet he was esteemed stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. And so he was: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed."

Without this, he could not have been qualified for his work. He had immediately to approach infinite purity. His sacrifice would not have been accepted, unless he had offered himself without spot to God. Such a high-priest became us, who was harmless, holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners; and who needed not to suffer for his own sins, dying only for those of others.

What a character is here. Others are lovely, but he is altogether lovely. See what humanity can become, and will become in all his followers. For they are predestinated to be conformed to him. The spirits of just men will be made perfect; and though they will be reembodied, their bodies will have no seed of corruption in them, for they also will be not generated, but produced. They could not have full communion with him, without complete likeness to him. But this we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."