Sinless Perfection?
by Ralph Wardlaw
"Who can say, 'I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?'" - Proverbs 20:9
This question may be viewed in various lights. We may apply it in regard to original sin, that is, the hereditary taint of our apostate nature. That there is such a taint, such an innate tendency to defection from God and to what is evil, might on philosophical principles be demonstrated from the facts of the case, for there is an absolute impossibility of accounting reasonably for the universality of sin in the whole species and in every individual of every generation on any other hypothesis. And that such is the representation of Scripture might be shown from the pervading tenor of the whole Bible and from many explicit passages. This universal inherent sinfulness of nature was, I cannot doubt, in Solomon's mind when he wrote the words before us.
The question may also be viewed in light of the universally Scriptural assumption that all that is truly and spiritually good in the heart of man is the product of divine operation, of the renewing influence of God's Spirit: "Who can say," that is, say with truth, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" If the position of the apostle be a true one, namely, that "the carnal mind is enmity against God," then there can hardly be a greater absurdity than the idea of a man spontaneously originating self-change, self-conversion; of enmity changing itself into love and choosing to love the object of its hatred!
The words more than imply and strongly affirm that the purification of the heart is in no man perfect here. There is a purity of heart ascribed to God's people and characteristic of them; God's children are "renewed in the spirit of their mind." But still, "Who shall say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" There have been some who have presumed to say it. But what is the truth? It is easy to say it, but it will not be easy to prove it when it is in direct contradiction to the explicit affirmations of Scripture.
We may be perfectly sure that the idea of sinless perfection is a delusion. If it were in even one case realized, then the statement, "there is not a just man upon earth who does good and sins not," would cease to be true And to the question in the text, "Who can say, I am pure from my sin?" might in that case be answered, "I am." Therefore, to claim sinless perfection must be either a melancholy proof of the power of self-deception or a shocking manifestation of the extravagance of hypocritical pretension.
It is a characteristic of God's children that as they advance heavenward they see more and more reason for self-abasement--not because they sin more (for they become holier), but because their view of the purity of God becomes fuller and stronger. The glass in which they view themselves becomes clearer and more faithful, so that little sins become more loathsome to minds growing in holiness.
