3. The rest of the NT is in general agreement with St. Paul. St. James, though he speaks of sin as the intermediate stage between lust and death (Ja P^), yet by the very figure used to describe their relationship, clearly recognizes that all three are essentially the same in kind. Lust is not animal impulse but undeveloped sin. The sinner is one who has committed sins (5^^), which may be covered by repentance (v.^") and forgiven in answer to prayer (v.^'^). Sins, therefore, are personal trans- gressions against God, which, if unremitted, involve judgment (v.^^), a personal condemnation and sen- tence on the part of the Judge (4^2 5"). Lust is not even a pathological condition of the will. It has the nature of sin, being not a result of ignorance, but essentially a personal determination of will. This is more clearly brought out by the assertion that lust, not God, is the tempter (P^-"), which suggests the presence of an evil will, the source of that friendship of the world which is enmity against God (4*), taking occasion of the natural passions and desires of men to influence spiritually the human personality. The wisdom which conieth down from above is set over against a wisdom whi(^h is devilish (3'«- 's- ").
St. Peter, while he speaks of fleshly lusts that war against the soul (1 P 2"), is even more emphatic than St. James in his recognition of the personality of evil. Sin is part of a man's acti\aty, a vain manner of life from which we are redeemed by the
blood of Him who bore our sins, i.e. our actual transgressions, that He might bring us to God (118.19 224 3i8)_ YoT the redeemed Christian it still exists in the person of God's enemy, who is now the adversary of God's people also, seeking once more to draw them away from their allegiance (5^). St. John, with his profounder insight, gives to the doctrine of sin what is perhaps the Avidest and most comprehensive sweep in the NT. ' Sin is lawlessness' (1 Jn S'*). This sentence, with its co- extensive subject and predicate, is all but a definition. It recognizes no distinction in kind between 'sin' and 'sins,' which are practically interchangeable in the Johannine writings. If the Lamb of God ' taketh away the sin of the world ' (Jn P", Vulg. pecrata mundi), the Son is mani- fested 'to take away sins' (1 Jn 3^). If the blood cleanseth from all sin (!'), Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins (2^). The cleansing is sacrificial {'iXacrfibs), implying personal dealings with God. It is therefore forgiveness of sins which those for whom it is prevalent receive (P 2^-). St John does not speak of sin as a state. Doing sin is opposed to doing righteousness (3^- ''■ ^). 'In him is no sin' (3^) is equivalent to 'Which of you convicteth me of sin?' (Jn 8'"', cf. 1 P 2'^^),—Si clear record rather than a perfect state. That Avhich abides in htm who believes in the name of Jesus (1 Jn 3^^) is the love of the P'atlier, a personal relation having been established which is opposed to the love of the world (2'^- ^^). Here, however, is no condemnation of the natural impulses or of matter. That Jesus Christ is come in the flesh to save the world is St. John's cardinal doctrine (4^ 2 Jn ^). But, as with St. James and St. Peter, it is lust, and the corruption that is in the world through lust, which constitute the bondage from which men need deliverance (1 Jn 2^® 5^- 5). "What then is lust ? That is the point at which St John's whole view opens out before us. The Fourth Gospel has recorded the prayer of Christ for His disciples, not that they should be taken from the world, but that they might be kept from the Evil One (Jn 17^') ; and also His condemnation of the Jews because, continuing in the bondage of sin, it was their will to do the lusts not of their body, but of their father the devil (Jn S**). And tlie Apocalypse unfolds the mystery of iniquity in language fully accordant with the view of sin im- plied in the Gospel. The old serpent the devil (Rev 129 202) deceives the whole world (12^ 202- 1"), having power {Btuvatiis, 13^) and even authority (i^ovaia, 13* ; cf. Lk 4^) over the nations, manifest- ing his rule in the mystic Babylon (16^* 17^"^), and the kingdom of the beast (13 passim), until He who is the Alpha and Omega, having by His angel sealed the servants of God (7^- ^), brings in the final salvation, the Kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ (121"). g^_ John's last word is written in the First Epistle. Behind human history is the devil, 'who sinneth from the beginning' (1 Jn 3*). The explanation of human sin, therefore, is the relation of the world to this spirit. 'The whole world lieth in the evil one ' (5^^). To be begotten of God (3"), who is light (P), truth (S^"), and love (4**), is a reversal of those relations described as being 'of the devil' (3^), who is a murderer and liar (Jn S'^'*), and the power of darkness (1 Jn 2" ; cf. Lk 225^, Ac 26^8). Philosophically, there can be little doubt that St. John is content with a dualism, which he is not concerned to resolve, start- ing as he does from the facts of experience (1 Jn P 4" ; cf. Jn 19^5)_ Though evil is antithetic to good, it is not in a Platonic sense as non-being {rb ixt) 6v). Tlie problem is approached from the positive and concrete standpoint of personality. Though God is indeed the beginning and the end (Rev P2P 221=*), yet a similar phrase is used in speaking of the