SO that the word is doubly true and doubly emphatic, the Son, the Son of God, being the Son of man. " If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." It is all to be attributed to the promise of God's incarnate Son ; there is no other way in which it can be accomplished.
TI " Ye shall be free indeed" It is a grand word, " indeed." It is very comforting in its simplicity; and it is a word for wonder — "indeed." There are many kinds of liberty, but not "indeed." There is the liberty of forgetfulness ; there is the liberty of licentiousness ; but " indeed " means so much behind it, " Ye shall be free indeed" ^
1] " I was one of a party who visited Chatsworth the other day. We were allowed the privilege of going through the noble house. But our liberties were severely restricted. We were allowed to pass rapidly through what is called " the showrooms," but we were rigidly excluded from the " living-rooms." In many places there were red cords stretched across inviting passages, and our progress was barred. If I had been a son of the house, I could have passed into the living-rooms, the place of sweet and sacred fellowships, the home of genial intercourse, where secrets pass from lip to lip, and unspoken sentiments radiate from heart fcoheart."2
1 J. Vaughan, « J. H. Jowett, British Weekly, Dec. 29, 1910.
The Sinlessness of Chbist.
Literature.
Adderley (J. G.), in Sermons for the People^ New Ser., iii. 126.
Barry (A.), Sermons at Westminster Abbey, 165.
Deshon (G.), Sermons for the Ecclesiastical Year, 160.
Hadden (K. H.), Sermons and Memoir, 68.
Ilenson (H. H.), The Value of the Bible, 146.
Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, New Ser., iv. 233.
Liddon (H. P.), Passiontide Sermons, 1.
Scott (M.), The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, 92.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, ix. (1865) No. 492.
Tholuck (A.), Hours of Christian Devotion, 30.
Thorold (A. W.), Questions of Faith and Duty, 122.
Tomlins (W. H.), in Sermons on the Gospels : Advent to Trinity, 190.
Trench (R. C), Sermons for the Most Part in Ireland, 87
Wood (W. S.), Problems in the New Testament, 31.
Christian World Pulpit, Ixxvii. 305 (Campbell).
Churchman's Pulpit : Fifth Sunday in Lent : vi. 206 (Hodges).
Clergyman's Magazine, 3rd Ser., i. 178 (Reaney).
996
The Sinlessness of Christ.
Which of you convictetb me of sin ? — John viii. 46.
It has sometimes been inferred from the context of these words that the word " sin " really means here intellectual rather than moral failure : " Which of you convicteth me of error ? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me ? " The second question is thus made to repeat its meaning into the translation of the first. But the word translated "sin" means moral failure throughout the New Testament ; and our Lord is arguing from the genus to the species, from the absence of moral evil in Him generally to the absence of a specific form of moral evil, namely, falsehood. He is maintaining that as they cannot detect in Him any kind of sin, they ought not by their disbelief to credit Him practically with falsehood, or, at least, indifference to truth, and His own means of attaining and proclaiming it. It has also been thought that our Lord here only challenges the detective power of His Jewish opponents, and that He does not literally imply His sinlessness. But the challenge would hardly have been offered unless the Speaker had been conscious of something more than guiltlessness of public acts which might be pointed to as in some sense sinful. Sin, like holiness, is not merely a series of facts which may be measured and dated : it is a particular condition of the will, it is a moral atmosphere. It is more than the act and word ; it is the attitude of the soul towards God and man. Sin dishonours God and lives for self rather than for others. Christ alone could say, " I honour my Father," " I seek not my own glory." The perfect life was based on a perfect motive.
Our Lord claims, then, to be sinless in a very different sense from that in which a man might defy an opponent to prove against him a specific form of wrongdoing in a court of law. We are here in the atmosphere not of law but of morality; and
398 THE SINLESSNESS OF CHRIST
morality is a question not of external facts merely, but of internal motives.
The question, " Could the Jews convict Christ of sin ? " is but a part of the greater question, " Was Christ sinless ? " We shall consider —
I. The Proof of Christ's Sinlessness.
II. The Value of Christ's Sinlessness for us.
I.
The Peoof of Chkist's Sinlessness.
1. External evidence. — All that we know about our Lord goes to show that He was sinless. This impression was produced most strongly on those who were brought into the closest contact with Him.
(1) The Apostolic writings clearly emphasize this remarkable feature of Christ's career — that it was without sin. " Who did no sin," is St. Peter's phrase about Christ. " Him who knew no sin," is the kindred expression of St. Paul. " In him is no sin," writes St. John in his First Epistle. " Without sin," is the similar de- scription of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews.