12. “I am not satisfied yet. He that has sin in him, is a slave to sin. Therefore you suppose a man to be justified, while he is a slave to sin. Now if you allow, men may be justified, while they have pride, anger or unbelief in them; nay if you aver, These are (at least, for a time) in all that are justified: what wonder that we have so many proud, angry, unbelieving believers?”
I do not suppose any man who is justified, is a slave to sin. Yet I do suppose, sin remains (at least for a time) in all that are justified. “But if sin remains in a believer, he is a sinful man: if pride, for instance, then he is proud: if self-will, then he is self-willed; if unbelief, then he is an unbeliever; consequently, no believer at all. How then does he differ from unbelievers, from unregenerate men?”
This is still mere playing upon words. It means no more than, if there is sin, pride, self-will in him, then――――there is sin, pride, self-will. And this nobody can deny. In _that sense_ then he is proud or self-willed. But he is not proud or self-willed in the same sense, that unbelievers are, that is, _governed_ by pride or self-will. Herein he differs from unregenerate men. They _obey_ sin; he does not. Flesh is in them both. But they _walk after the flesh_: He _walks after the Spirit_.
“But how can _unbelief_ be in a believer?” That word has two meanings. It means either _no faith_, or _little faith_; either the _absence_ of faith, or the _weakness_ of it. In the former sense, unbelief is not in a believer: in the latter, it is in all babes. Their faith is commonly mixt with doubt or fear, that is (in the latter sense) with unbelief. _Why are ye fearful_, says our Lord, _O ye of little faith_. Again, _O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?_ You see here was _unbelief_ in _believers_: little faith and much unbelief.
13. “But this doctrine, that sin remains in a believer, that a man may be in the favour of God, while he has sin in his heart, certainly tends to encourage men in sin.” Understand the proposition right, and no such consequence follows. A man may be in God’s favour tho’ he _feel_ sin; but not if he _yields_ to it. _Having sin_ does not forfeit the favour of God; _giving way to sin_, does. Though the flesh in you _lust against the spirit_, you may still be a child of God. But if you _walk after the flesh_, you are a child of the devil. Now, this doctrine does not incourage to _obey_ sin, but to _resist_ it with all our might.
V. 1. The sum of all is this. There are in every person, even after he is justified, two contrary principles, nature and grace, termed by St. _Paul_, the _flesh_ and the _Spirit_. Hence altho’ even babes in Christ are _sanctified_, yet it is only _in part_. In a degree, according to the measure of their faith, they are _spiritual_: yet in a degree, they are _carnal_. Accordingly, believers are continually exhorted to watch against the flesh, as well as the world and the devil. And to this agrees the constant experience of the children of God. While they feel this witness in themselves, they feel a will not wholly resigned to the will of God. They know they are in him, and yet find an heart ready to depart from him, a proneness to evil in many instances, and a backwardness to that which is good. The contrary doctrine is wholly _new_; never heard of in the church of Christ, from the time of his coming into the world, ’till the time of count _Zinzendorf_. And it is attended with the most fatal consequences. It cuts off all watching against our evil nature, against the _Delilah_, which we are told is gone, tho’ she is still lying in our bosom. It tears away the shield of weak believers, deprives them of their faith, and so leaves them exposed to all the assaults of the world, the flesh and the devil.
2. Let us therefore hold fast the sound doctrine, _once delivered to the saints_, and delivered down by them with the written word, to all succeeding generations: that altho’ we are renewed, cleansed, purified, sanctified, the moment we truly believe in Christ, yet we are not, then renewed, cleansed, purified altogether: but the _flesh_, the evil nature still _remains_ (though subdued) and wars _against_ the Spirit. So much the more, let us use all diligence, in _fighting the good fight of faith_. So much the more earnestly let us _watch and pray_, against the enemy within. The more carefully let us _take to_ ourselves, and _put on the whole armour of God_: that although _we wrestle_, both _with flesh and blood, and with principalities and powers and wicked spirits in high places, we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand_.