I say, It is evident that the scope of the place is to evince that in the children of God, those that are bom of him, there is such a prin- ciple, genius, new nature, as that upon the account thereof they cannot sin ; and therefore, that those who have not such principles in them, whatever their pretences be, are not indeed born of God ; — and in this he manifesteth that those who are indeed born of God cannot possibly so degenerate as to fall into total impenitency, so as to be- come children of the devil, which he emphatically afiirmeth.
He doth, indeed, declare that none can make good their title to be children of God, but those who can justify their claim by a holy and Christian conversation ; but yet, moreover, he maketh good the as- sertion by this farther discovery which he maketh of their new nature to be such as that they cannot sin, or degenerate into a condition of lying under the power of a vain conversation. So that though his intent should not be primarily to manifest that those who are at present the children of God cannot apostatize, but must so continue, yet it is to confirm their nature and genius to be such, with the prin- ciples which from God they have received, that so it shall be with them, so they shall abide; and to this he is not silent, but eminently expressive.
The context being thus clear, the words themselves are a proposi- tion or thesis, and a reason for the confirmation of the truth of that proposition. The proposition is ready at hand in the words, " He that is born of God doth not, cannot commit sin," The reason of the proposition confirming the truth thereof is twofold : — 1. Because he is born of God; 2. Because His seed, whereof he is so born, re- maineth.
The proposition is universal: nSg 6 yijiniijjkwi sx rov Qiou, "Every one that is born of God;" whence these two things ensue: — 1. The
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truth of it hath a necessary cause or causes. Universal propositions must have so, or they are not true. If that which is their ground may be otherwise, it invahdates their certainty. Such, then, must be the cause of this assertion of the apostle. 2. That it compriseth all and every one that is interested in that which is the cause of the certainty of this universal assertion or proposition ; " every one who is born of God," that hath this seed, be he young or old, weak or strong, wise or foolish, exercised in the ways of God or newly entered into them, all is one. "Whosoever is thus interested in the founda- tion is equally interested in the inference.
In the proposition itself may be considered the subject, and what is affirmed of it. The subject is, " Every one that is born of God." That which is affirmed of it is, " Sinneth not, cannot sin."
1. For the first, namely, the subject, they are those which are " born of God ; " and who they are that are so born of God the Scrip- ture is clear in, neither is there any difference of importance as to the intendment of this expression. Those who suppose that believers of some eminency onl}^ are denoted in it, do not consider that all believers whatever are sharers in the grace intended therein. They are all said to be born not of the will of the flesh, but of God, John i. 13; for it is ascribed to all believers on the name of Christ, verse 12. He begetteth them all of his own will, James i, 18; as also, 1 Pet. i. 23. He is said to beget them, as to quicken them, Eph. ii. 1 ; and they to be boi'n of him, as they are quickened or raised from the dead. Two things are intimated in this exjaression : — (1.) A new 'principle, habit, or spii'itual life, which such persons have ; hence they are said to be " born." As they who are born in the world are partakers of a vital principle, that is the foundation of all their actions, so have they here a new life, a new vital principle. By their being bom are they made partakers of it. (2.) The divine original of that principle of life is from God. They have the principle of life immediately from him; and therefore are said to be " born of God." And both these considerations are here used as descriptions of the subject; and in the close of the reason of the proposition, they are insisted on as the cause of that effect of not sinning: " He sinneth not, because he is born of God." Both the nature of the principle itself, which in itself is abiding, and the rise or original that it hath from God, have an influence into that causality that is ascribed to it; but about this there can be no great contest.
2. That which is affirmed of every such person is, that he " doth not commit sin." That this expression is to be attended with its re- strictions and limitations is evident from that contrariet}^ wherein, in its whole latitude, it standeth to sundry other testimonies in the book of God, yea, in this very epistle. " There is no man that doeth good.