WHO ARE THE PERFECT ONES?
By W. N. G.
THE church with its scriptural organization (Ephesians 4) and its gifts (1 Corinthians 12) was designed for the "perfecting of the saints." It is God's purpose, then, that the saints shall be perfect, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;" that they shall come into the unity of the faith, and be like the Master. The members enter as disciples, or learners, in the school of Christ, to be sanctified by the Spirit through the truth, and probationary time is allotted for their perfecting. Now who shall say when they have properly graduated? Who is the judge as to whether they are sinless? Shall a Christian be his own judge, and proclaim that he doesn't sin any more? Or shall he continue to humbly examine himself whether he be in the faith, and rejoice with the psalmist that, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile"? The sinlessness, or perfection, of the Christian does not consist in his good works, but through his faith in Christ sin is not imputed to him. Therefore the more he trusts in God, and in the counsel of his Word, the more he will feel his own unworthiness and his utter dependence upon the righteousness of Christ. The one who proclaims that he has not sinned for so many months or years, simply proclaims his own righteousness, and that is a condition from which the true disciple desires to be delivered.