There seems to be a contradiction between Eccl. 7:20 and 1 John 3:9. Will you please explain or show the harmony? The first scripture reads in the Revised Version: "Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not;" and the latter—1 John 3:9: "Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because His seed abideth in him: and he can not sin, because he is begotten of God." The whole difference lies in the purpose. Sin is the transgression of the law. If one transgress God's law, whether he knows it or not, he sins. The perfection of that law is the very fulness of God. It demands wisdom and knowledge and power and love. If man has a heart which purposes to do God's will, God accepts that as the fulness of service, for "the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." God accepts the perfect heart for all the other perfections which are required. He knows that man does not have fulness of knowledge, or fulness of wisdom; but if he has perfect love, the will is accepted for the deed, and the man who is born of Christ Jesus has such love. He can say, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3. The sense of the second passage, therefore, is not that man may not make mistakes, may not blunder, may not fail to follow up, in its very fulness, God's law; but he has no purpose to sin; he does not practise sin; it is not an object in his life; while the text in Ecclesiastes means that however perfect the man may be, however righteous he may be, he will make mistakes, he will fail in his knowledge or his wisdom in meeting the fullest requirements of God's law. Yet God does not count it against him, because he has a perfect heart. Sometimes it is said that we can not do what we will not do; as expressed by Shakespeare, "Look you, what I can not, that I will not do." So when the invitation went out to come to the supper, one man said, "I have married a wife, and therefore I can not come." Therefore, he did not have it in his will to come. So those who do not practise sin are those who do not have the will to do it; they have the will to do God's will, and God counts the will for the fulness.