Sincerity

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 28, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 29.

The apostle Paul earnestly desired that God’s children should be “sincere and void of offense unto the day of Christ.” Phil. 1:10.

“Sincere” comes from the Latin sine, without, and cera, wax, and means literally “without wax.” The Greek word means to judge by the sun’s rays, that which the sun shining through shows to be pure.

God would have a people with no foreign element in them, no selfishness or sin to corrupt, pervert, or disintegrate character. That is evident from the next clause of our text, “being filled with the fruits of righteousness.” “All unrighteousness is sin.” If one is filled with the fruits of righteousness, there is no room for sin in him; it is not a component part of his building of character. His heart is not divided. The evil is sifted out.

There is a thought in the Latin word, sine cera, “without wax.” Wax is easily molded. It takes the impression of the last thing with which it comes in contact. God would not have a wax people, one molded by environment, shaped by worldly method, opinion, expediency, or policy. His description of Christians is “living stones, builded upon Christ Jesus, and joined to Him in life connection. It is worth while to know whether we are wax to be molded by every change of environment, or to be influenced alone by the growing, expanding Christ-life within.