is a natural and necessary result of the relation assumed in the passage—children of God. As children of God, in our Father's house, life is regulated by the perpetual consciousness of our Father’s presence and scrutiny. No assurance or confidence is possible which does not grow out of a right relation to Him.
John, then, does not mean to say that a child of God is sinless by virtue of his relation as a child; and that his self-accusation is quieted by being pronounced groundless.
He does not mean to say that the heart may not accuse him justly. God’s judgment may confirm that of the heart.
He does mean to say that the heart is not the supreme and final arbiter.
The ordinary interpretation presents a radical defect in this;—that it assumes the infallibility of the heart, and brings in God to confirm and emphasize its decision. If your heart condemn you, then God, who is greater than your heart, con- demns you more severely, because He sees your sin in the light of His omniscience. Further, it makes our confidence toward God depend primarily on the testimony of our hearts. If our heart condemn us not, then we may go before God with confi- dence and ask what we will, because God, being greater than our heart, confirms its testimony. The voice of the heart, in short, on this construction, is the voice of God. As I read it, John’s teaching is the direct opposite of this. It is only God who knoweth all things. No assurance, no accusation is to be received as final until it has passed before Him. We must look outside of self for the highest tests of self. It is not before ourselves that we are either to assure or to condemn ourselves. Self-condemnation will not be allayed by self-communion. We need, not to be self-assured, but to be assured by Hum.
It is almost needless to say, but it should be kept in mind, that these words are addressed to Christians; and this opens another and interesting question,—that of sin in Christians. The heart sometimes condemns unjustly, or unduly. The con- science is sometimes diseased and morbidly exacting, and the heart is distressed with accusations which are as fanciful as they are painful. But the heart’s condemnation is, as has been already said, often just. This, however, as well as the