1 JOH. 3. 9, 10.
THe Apostle at the first verse having declared the glorious priviledge of being the sons of God, he doth vers. 3. mention also their Duty: for external grace and inherent are inseparably joined together. Their Duty is to avoid sin, which is pressed from several Arguments;
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From the native filthiness of it, It is a transgression of the Law.
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From the end of Christs coming, which was To destroy the works of the devil.
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From a collation or comparison between the two Fountains or Fathers of him that doth sinne, or him that doth righteousnesse; the one is of the Devil, the other is born of God; and this difference my Text amplifieth: So that in the words you read, you may observe five Propositions; first, He that is born of God sinneth not; what it is to be born of God is easily known, viz. to have the image and holiness of God stampt upon us by his Spirit quickning of us; we must not imagine any communicating of the Divine Essence to us; in which sense the second Person is born of the Father, and so called, The Sonne of God; but by participation of those supernaturall graces which make us resemble him; The greater doubt is about the predicate, He sinneth not; which hath much exercised the thoughts of men: some understand it of a perfection attained to in this life, not to sin at all. Thus Papists, Pelagians, some Anabaptists and divers of late; but if this were the meaning, the Apostle within a very little space would expresly contradict himself, for Chap. 1. 8, 10. he saith expresly, If we say we have no sinne we deceive our selves, and make God a liar. Not to sin therefore is not wholly to be without sinne. Others limit it to a certain kinde of sinne, in this sense, He sinneth not, viz. unto death, so that he shall be damned; and without question to this purpose the Apostle speaketh Chap. 5. 16, 17, 18. But this seemeth to straiten it too much. Others, as Arminians, he sinneth not, viz. in this respect, and so farre as he is born of God; but what an absurd sense would this be, and who knoweth not that a godly man doth not sinne in that he is godly, or because he is born of God. The most genuine and unforced interpretation therefore is, to understand it not universally, but according to the subject matter, he sinneth not, as one who is of the Devil his father, he sinneth not as Cain, all within him is not corrupted; so that he makes sinne his trade, his custom and delight. The very opposition makes this the meaning, I do not ground this opposition upon the phrase […], as if that did alwaies signifie more then […], for I grant that that phrase sometimes signifieth no more then barely to sin, not de noting custom or delight, as Rom. 7.
But my foundation is upon the context, the opposition Paul makes between a righteous and unrighteous man, in respect of the roots whence they are, and then from the second Proposition, which is the reason why he sinneth not, because the seed abideth in him, by which metaphorically is meant the principle of grace wrought in him by the Spirit of God, and that not only so, for Adam had the seed of grace, yet sinned it away, but because its preserved by the Covenant of grace. This place is brought to prove perseverance in grace, and no strength of wit hath yet been able to overcome it. The third Proposition is higher then the former, for it doth not only deny the act of sin, but the power of it. Neither can he sin, viz. in the sense before explained; and the fourth Proposition is a ground of the third, because he is born of God. Some make this reason the same with the former, but there seemeth to be this difference, the one signifieth that inward permanent principle of grace: The other that divine resemblance of God which is in us by this regeneration. The first Proposition is, That this difference between the righteous and unrighteous about sinne is a sure sign, whereby the godly man is manifested both to himself and others that he is godly.
Observ. That an opposition against and abstinence from sin is a sure sign, by which a man may be perswaded that he is in the state of Grace.
For there can be no better sign to discover principles by, then their proper incommunicable actions; thus we discover fire by burning, a rational life by speaking, now of all actions, this is most connatural to the permanent habit of grace to encline us to loath and abhorre those things that are destructive to the nature of it, which is only sinne: but because we may easily be deceived about this sign, for every one that is afraid of sin, yea bitterly crieth out of it, and leaveth it, is not yet regenerated. Therefore let us diligently consider how it is a sign. And