4. The very least which can be implied in these words, is, that the persons spoken of therein, namely, all real Christians or believers in Christ, are made free from outward sin. And the same freedom which St. _Paul_ here expresses in such variety of phrases, St. _Peter_ expresses in that one (_1 Pet._ iv. 1, 2.) _He that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin,――that he no longer should live――to the desires of men, but to the will of God._ For this _ceasing from sin_, if it be interpreted in the lowest sense, as regarding only the outward behaviour, must denote the ceasing from the outward act, from any outward transgression of the law.
5. But most express are the well known words of St. _John_, in the third chapter of his first epistle, verse the eighth, &c. _He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God._ And those in the fifth, verse 18. _We know that whosoever ♦is born of God sinneth not. But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not._
6. Indeed it is said, this means only, he sinneth not _wilfully_; or he doth not commit sin _habitually_; or, _not as other men do_; or, _not as he did before_. But by whom is this said? By St. _John_? No. There is no such word in the text: nor in the whole chapter; nor in all this epistle; nor in any part of his writings whatsoever. Why then, the best way to answer a bold assertion is, simply to deny it. And if any man can prove it from the word of God, let him bring forth his strong reasons.
7. And a sort of reason there is, which has been frequently brought to support these strange assertions, drawn from the examples recorded in the word of God, “What say they, did not _Abraham_ himself commit sin, prevaricating and denying his wife? Did not _Moses_ commit sin, when he provoked God, _at the waters of strife_? Nay, to produce one for all, did not even _David, the man after God’s own heart_, commit sin, in the matter of _Uriah_ the _Hittite_, even murder and adultery?” It is most sure he did. All this is true. But what is it you would infer from hence? It may be granted, _first_, that _David_, in the general course of his life, was one of the holiest men among the _Jews_. And, _secondly_, that the holiest men among the _Jews did sometimes commit sin_. But if you would hence infer, that _all Christians do, and must commit sin, as long as they live_: this consequence we utterly deny. It will never follow from those premisses.
8. Those who argue thus, seem never to have considered that declaration of our Lord (_Matth._ xi. 11.) _Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he._ I fear indeed there are some who have imagined _the kingdom of heaven_ here, to mean the kingdom of glory: As if the Son of God had just discovered to us, that the least glorified saint in heaven is greater than any man upon earth! To mention this is sufficiently to refute it. There can therefore no doubt be made but _the kingdom of heaven_ here, (as in the following verse, where it is said to be _taken by force_) or, _the kingdom of God, as_ St. _Luke_ expresses it, is that kingdom of God on earth, whereunto all true believers in Christ, all real Christians belong. In these words then our Lord declares two things. _First_, That before his coming in the flesh, among all the children of men, there had not been one greater than _John the Baptist_: whence it evidently follows, that neither _Abraham_, _David_, nor any _Jew_ was greater than _John_. Our Lord, _secondly_, declares, that he which is least in the kingdom of God (in that kingdom which he came to set up on earth, and which _the violent_ now began _to take by force_) is greater than he. Not _a greater prophet_ (as some have interpreted the word) for this is palpably false in fact. But greater in the grace of God, and the knowledge of our Lord _Jesus Christ_. Therefore we cannot measure the privileges of real Christians, by those formerly given to the _Jews. Their ministration_ (or dispensation) we allow _was glorious_; but ours _exceeds in glory_. So that whosoever would bring down the _Christian_ dispensation to the _Jewish_ standard, whosoever gleans up the examples of weakness, recorded in the law and the prophets, and thence infers, that they who have _put on Christ_, are indued with no greater strength, doth _greatly err, neither knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God_.