THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
257
from doing us a public injury. F u rth e r more he brings Dr. R. A. Torrey into his article and makes a statem en t about him which is absolutely untrue. Surely our b ro ther would not willingly m is represent a man whom' God has used beyond a- doubt in a far g reater measure for the edifying of the saints th a n he has used the w riter himself. F o r in stance, he says: “W ith Torrey, you af firm th a t the baptism of the Holy Ghost is n o t fo r cleansing, but merely for service.” We did not so affirm, nor has Dr. Torrey. Anyone fam iliar with Dr. Torrey’s books and articles on the subject knows th a t he lays the greatest emphasis not only upon the “washing of regeneration” bu t th e “renovating of the Holy Ghost.” The very title of the Holy Spirit implies to th e simplest believer th a t it is His work to purify th e h eart into which He comes. Our own tra c t states th a t we are being changed* into Christ’s image by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3 :1 8 ). Another glaring case of misrepresen- tation chosen from the several in the article is in the words, “ The only ar. gument you have advanced against the experience (sinless perfection) is th a t verse in John, ‘If we say th a t we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the tru th is not in us.’ ” As a m atter of fact, the whole trac t is devoted to a r guments to set the believer scripturally rig h t on this question. In explanation of the verse ju st quoted the w riter says th a t in verses 8 and 10 (I John 1) John is speaking to “agnostics” (We suppose he means the Gnostics, a sect th a t ex isted in ancient tim es) while in verses 7 and 9, he is referring to th e Christian, By th is method of text selection one can make the Scriptures conform to almost any theory. W hat our friend is trying to do is to make verses 8 and 10 conform to Jo h n ’s statem ents a little fa rth er on: “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, n either known him ,” and again, “Who
soever is born of God doth not commit sin .” Since th is is a m atter th a t frequently comes to us, we take the space to trea t it briefly. John, afte r presenting God as “L ight” (1 :5 ), goes on to show th a t the first evidence of L ight is a new discovery of the reality of sin. He then meets the argum ents not only of the Gnostics of his. times, who, like the Christian Scientists and others today, denied sin (v. 10, “ If we say th a t WE HAVE NOT SINNED we make him a lia r” ), but of the perfectionist, on the other hand, who th ink s himself beyond sin (v. 8, “If we say th a t WE HAVE NO SIN we deceive ourselves” ). Not only does the L ight reveal sin, but it also reveals th e remedy in the blood of Christ (v. 7 ), which “cleanseth us from all sin ,” and the gracious pro visions for dealing w ith sin when through frailty it crops out in the life of a saved person. ' “If we sin we have an adyocate w ith the F a th e r” (2 :1 ) and “ If we confess ou r, sins he is faithful and ju st to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 :7 ). While John exhorts us “ th at we sin no t” (2 :1 ) he recognizes th a t in our present state we can so lim it the operations of the Spirit in us as to grieve the Spirit in unguarded moments. In such a casé, we can be immediately restored to th e consciousness of God’s presence through resorting to our g reat Advocate in rep en tan t confession of our sins. So long as we need an Advocate— so long as we need the searching of the Holy Spirit— so long as we need the abiding efficacy of the blood—we are not immune from sin. We are in a position of constant dependence, and the moment we th ink ourselves on a plane completely out of danger, the w arning of the apostle needs to be sounded: “Let him th a t th ink eth he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Made with FlippingBook Online document