WHAT WE BELIEVE AND TEACH ABOUT GOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD SIN

"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." 1 John 3:9.

"Even babes in Christ are so far perfect as not to commit sin." John Wesley.

We, the Holiness People, believe that since God in His nature and character is holy, His face is unalterably set against sin. This being so, He cannot condone in the believer what He condemns in the sinner. We are convinced that the atoning merit of the outpoured blood of God's crucified Son is intended to be a cure for man's sin -- for all sin. Him, "God hath set forth to be a propitiation." Rom. 3:25; I John 2:1. Lit: An expiatory sacrifice; a meeting place where the sinful soul and a holy God; a Mercy Seat where the sinner has right of approach. His blood has made a way into the Holiest -- it is the new and living way whereby the vilest sinner is invited to come.

This fact, however, in no sense becomes a license for continued transgression. The blood of Calvary's Cross, while a Divinely provided covering for the soul repenting of its sin is nowhere declared to be a cover while the soul persistently continues in its sinning.

God's Word has plainly declared that the soul that sinneth shall die, and that solemn declaration holds good whether that soul be a worldly sinner or a sinner of a more religious hue. The purpose of the Saviour's coming and the object of His dying were not to make it possible for man to sin without penalty, but rather that in heart sin should be dealt with so that in his life it should be made to cease.

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus," said the angel, "for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21.

"Sin shall not have dominion over you," wrote the apostle, "for ye are not under law, but under grace." Rom. 6:14.

The must sin theory has no place in the New Testament. There is no Scripture anywhere within the covers of the Sacred Book which can be rightly interpreted as sanctioning such teaching. Many stock verses are quoted by the must sin advocates, but when these are carefully and candidly examined in the light of their context and historical setting they are found to teach exactly the opposite of what those who so glibly quote them would have us believe. We have no hesitation in declaring that all these Scripture passages when read in the light of their obvious context, their historical setting, and in comparison with the wider teaching of their authors, very definitely teach either the need, the possibility or the possession of full Salvation.