June 1928
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The Experience of Holiness
lowship with God and fellowship
with sin are incompatible. A man who habitually walks after the flesh proves that he is not. j ...true child o f God. A Christian’s habit will be a holy life. He may occasionally sin through failure to walk in the light. I f he does, he will be chastised (Heb. 12:10) and he may be restored to fellowship and cleansed, through turning to his Advocate and confessing and for saking his sin (1 Jn. 1 :9; 2 :1 -2 ). Head and Heart Sins To M. J. S. “ Are there such things as sins o f the head and sins of the heart ?” There are undoubtedly sins which are sins o f igno rance, that is due to a mind unenlightened as to the Scrip tural course of conduct. The heart life must feed upon what is treasured in the mind. I f the mind is stayed upon Jehovah (Isa. 2 6 :3 ), the heart will be fixed (Psa. 112:7). A “ reprobate mind” (Rom. 1 :28 if results in "an evil heart o f unbelief” (Heb. 3 :12 ). Head unbelief may not be fatal, but heart unbelief is fatal. Intelligence involves a certain amount o f doubt ing, but the wise go through doubts to faith. Heart unbe lief is a condition that rejects all evidence and persuasion, changing to sin. Intellectual difficulties are due to imper fect enlightenment and may be cured by honest desire for truth. Sins o f the heart are, therefore, seen to be o f deeper dye than those o f the head. “ What would Christ’s attitude be toward capital pun ishment, as a citizen and interested in progressive and enlightened rule? Is the taking o f human life justifiable in the light of His sermon on the mount ?” First o f all, remember to whom this sermon was given. It has to do with His people and is a perfect standard of conduct to which believers attain only by the help o f the Holy Spirit. It has nothing to do with the government o f the unregenerate world, nor did Jesus seek to apply its principles to the social order o f His day. He left govern mental matters strictly alone, requiring from all His fol lowers full compliance with the existing laws. Taking life, as the expression o f personal animosity on the part o f a believer, would be entirely incompatible with Chris tianity, but execution o f a criminal according to the pro cesses of law is an entirely different matter. Paul, in Rom. 13, exhorts us to be subject unto the higher powers, declaring all forms o f government to be o f God and ordained o f God to carry out purposes which we do not always perceive. In v. 4 he declares that the ruler "beareth not the sword in vain; fo r he is the minister o f God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” The Greek phrase “ beareth the sword” was used to express the power o f magistrates to take life. The sword was carried at the head o f processions and on all special Capital Punishment To H. R. R.
|E are so situated that the only church within reach is a holiness church, where emphasis is continually placed upon the expe rience of holiness and the doctrine o f eradica tion. ,Please, give U£ spmething on the meaning o f 1 Jn. 1 :9 (last clause) and 1 jn . 3 :8-9.” Surely our correspondent does not irrqdy that the expe rience o f holiness should not he the constant goal o f the Christian. The crying need of the Church is for men and women who will present their bodies a living sacrifice, “ holy and acceptable unto God” (Rom. 12:1 ). “ As He who has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner o f conversation” (1 Pet. 1 :15). “ I write unto you,” says John, “ that ye sin not” (1 Jn. 2 :1 ). The Christian has no business to sin. John firmly says that we must not—yet he immediately recognizes that because o f frailty we often do, and he presents the gracious provision for dealing with sin in the Christian. " I f any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father.” To be kept from acts o f known sin and to be sinless are two very different things. Our Lord was sinless. He did not have a carnal nature. When some of our holiness friends talk o f sinless perfection and the eradication of the sinful nature, they pass beyond the bounds o f Scripture. Every child o f God has a nature within, which is capable any moment o f rebelling against God and of grieving the Holy Spirit. W e are responsible, however, to surrender our lives moment by moment to the control o f Jesus Christ, who by the power o f the Holy Spirit can counteract the power o f the Adamic nature within us and keep us from known sin. Nevertheless, where are the believers who can honestly say: “ W e have at all times been under the abso lute control o f the Holy Spirit” ? John well knew the frailty o f human nature and prefaced all he had to say about holiness with the state ment: " I f we SA Y that we have NO sin, we deceive OURSELVES and the truth is not,in US’ ’ (1 Jn. 1 :8 ). If a perfect Christian exists, he will, therefore, be the last one to SAY so, for the higher he gets in the experience o f holiness, the lower becomes his descent in humility. True piety always feels how immeasurably short it is from the perfection o f Jesus Christ. Let us n o t
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