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The Biblical Conception of Sin
The ultimate removal of sin from the souls of the believing and pardoned is left by Scripture in no uncertainty. It was foretold in the name given to the Saviour at His birth: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He shall save His people from [“out of,” not “in”] their sins.” It was implied in the object contemplated by His incarnation: “He was manifested to take away our sins.” It is declared to have been the purpose of His death upon the cross: “He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.” It is held up before the Christian as his final destiny “to be conformed to the image of His [God’s] Son,” to be presented “faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,” and to be a dweller in the heavenly city “into which there can enter nothing that defileth.” Whether sin will be ultimately extirpated if not from the universe, then from the family of man, is a different ques tion, upon which the pronouncement of Scripture is thought by some to be less explicit. Its complete and permanent re moval from the race is considered by certain interpreters to be taught in Scripture. That texts can be cited which seem to lend support to the theories of Annihilation, Second Pro bation, and Universal Salvation need not be denied; but a close examination of the passages in question will show that the support derived from them is exceedingly precarious. That those who depart this life in impenitence and unbelief will be annihilated either at death or after the resurrection is deemed a legitimate deduction from the use of the word death as the punishment of sin. But as “applied to man death does not necessarily mean extinction of being.” Bishop Butler long ago drew attention to the fact that various organs of the body might be removed without extinguishing the indwelling spirit, and argued that it was at least probable that the immaterial part of man would not be destroyed though the entire material frame were reduced to dust; and only recently Sir Oliver
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