3. They also do no iniquity. Blessed
indeed would those people be of whom this could be asserted without reserve and
without explanation: we shall have reached the region of pure blessedness when
we altogether cease from sin. Those who follow the Word of God do no iniquity;
the rule is perfect, and if it be constantly followed no fault will arise.
Life, to the outward observer, at any rate, lies much in doing, and he who in
his doings never swerves from equity, both towards God and man, has hit upon
the way of perfection, and we may be sure that his heart is right. No one can
claim to be absolutely without sin, and yet we trust there are many who do not
designedly, willfully, knowingly, and continuously do anything that is wicked,
ungodly, or unjust. Grace keeps the life righteous as to act even when the
Christian has to bemoan the transgressions of the heart. Judged as we should be
judged by our fellows, according to such just rules as people make for people,
the true people of God do no iniquity: they are honest, upright, and chaste, and
touching justice and morality they are blameless. Therefore are they happy.
They walk
in his ways. They attend not only to the great main
highway of the law, but to the smaller paths of the particular precepts. As
they will perpetrate no sin of commission, so do they labor to be free from
every sin of omission. It is not enough to them to be blameless; they wish also
to be actively righteous. The surest way to abstain from evil is to be fully
occupied in doing good. This verse describes believers as they exist among us:
although they have their faults and infirmities, yet they hate evil, and will
not permit themselves to do it; they love the ways of truth, right and true
godliness, and habitually they walk therein. They do not claim to be absolutely
perfect except in their desires, and there they are pure indeed, for they pant
to be kept from all sin, and to be led into all holiness.
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