If we say that we have not sinned
Have never sinned, in time past as well as now; deny original
sin, and that men are born in sin, but affirm they come into the
world pure and holy; and assert that concupiscence is not sin;
and so not regarding internal lusts and desires as sinful, only
what is external, fancy they have so lived as to have been
without sin: but if any of us give out such an assertion,
we make him a liar:
that is, God, who in his word declares that the wicked are
estranged from the womb, and go astray as soon as they be born,
speaking lies; that his own people are transgressors from the
womb; that all have sinned and come short of his glory; and that
there is none that does good, no, not one, but all are under sin,
under the power and guilt of it, and become filthy by it, and so
obnoxious to the wrath of God:
and his word is not in us;
either Christ the Word of God, or rather the word of God which
declares these things; no regard is had unto it; it "is not with
us", as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it; it is not
used and attended to as the rule and standard of truth, but is
east away and despised; at least it has no place in the hearts of
such, nor does it work effectually; for, was this the case, they
would have other notions of themselves than that of sinless
creatures. The apostle has regard either to the Gnostics, a set
of heretics of this age, who fancied themselves pure, spiritual,
and perfect, even in the midst of all their impurities, and
notwithstanding their vicious lives; or to judaizing Christians,
and it may be to the Jews themselves, who entertained such sort
of notions as these of being perfect and without sin F8.