Ch. ii. 29, iii. 9.
III. ver. 2. "_Hope fixed in Him_" or "_on_ Him."] The English reader should note the capital letter; not hope in our hearts, but hope unfastened from self. Επι σοι Κυριε ηλπισα, is the LXX. translation of Psalm xxx. 1.
_Is ever purifying himself._] "See how he does not do away with freewill; for he says _purifies himself_. Who purifies us but God? Yet God does not purify you when you are unwilling; therefore in joining your will to God you purify yourself." (St. Augustine _in loc._)
_We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is._] "So then we are about to see a certain sight, excelling all beauties of the earth; the beauty of gold, silver, forest, fields--the beauty of sea and air, sun and moon--the beauty of stars--the beauty of angels. Aye, excelling all these, because all these are beautiful only for _it_. What, therefore, shall we be when we shall see all these? What is promised? _We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is._ The tongue hath spoken as it could; let the rest be thought over by the heart" (St. Augustine _in loc._). Cf. 2 Cor. iii. 18. "As the whole body, face, above all eyes of those who look towards the sun are _sunnied_" (insolantur).--_Bengel._
Ver. 3. The ample stores of English divinity contain two sermons, one excellent, one beautiful, upon this verse. The first is by Paley; it is founded upon the leading thought, which he expresses with his usual manly common sense. "There are a class of Christians to whom the admonition of the text is peculiarly necessary. Finding it an easier thing to do good than to expel sins which cleave to their hearts, their affections, or their imaginations; they set their endeavours more towards _beneficence_ than _purity_. Doing good is not the whole of our duty, nor the most difficult part of it. In particular it is not that part of it which is insisted upon in our text." (Paley, Sermon XLIII.) But the second sermon is perhaps the finest which ever came from the pen of South, and he throws into it the full power of his heart and intellect. The bare analysis is this:--
Is it indeed possible for a man to "purify himself"? There is a twofold work of purification. (1) The infusing of the habit of purity into the soul (regeneration or conversion). In this respect, no man can purify himself. (2) The other work of purification is exercising that habit or grace of purity. "God who made, and since new made us, without ourselves, will not yet save us without ourselves." But again, how can a man purify himself to that degree _even as Christ is pure_? _Even as_ denotes similitude of kind, not equality of degree. We are to purify ourselves from the _power_ of sin, and from the _guilt_ of sin. Purification from the _power_ of sin consists in these things. (1) A continually renewed repentance. Every day, every hour, may afford matter for penitential sorrow. "A fountain of sin may well require a fountain of sorrow." Converting repentance must be followed by daily repentance. (2) Purifying ourselves consists in vigilant prevention of acts of sin for the future. The means of effecting this are these. (_a_) Opposing the very first risings of the heart to sin. "The bees may be at work, and very busy within, though we see none of them fly abroad." (_b_) Severe mortifying duties, such as watchings and fastings. (_c_) Frequent and fervent prayer. "A praying heart naturally turns into a purified heart." We are to purify ourselves, also, from the _guilt_ of sin. (1) Negatively. No duty or work within our power to perform can take away the guilt of sin. Those who think so, understand neither "the fiery strictness of the law, nor the spirituality of the Gospel." (2) That which alone can purify us from the _guilt_ of sin is applying the virtue of the blood of Christ to the soul by renewed acts of faith. "It is that alone that is able to wash away the deep stain, and to change the hue of the spiritual Ethiopian." The last consideration is--how the life of heaven and future glory has such a sovereign influence upon this work? [This portion of the sermon falls far below the high standard of the rest, and entirely loses the spirit of St. John's thought.] South's _Sermons_. (Sermon 72, pp. 594-616.)