And every man that hath this hope in him
Or on him, Jesus Christ; for a true hope of that eternal
happiness, which lies in likeness to Christ, and in the vision of
him, is only founded on his person, blood, righteousness, and
sacrifice: and this hope every man has not, only he who is born
again; for this grace is implanted in regeneration, when men are
of abundant mercy begotten unto it, and have it bestowed upon
them as a free grace gift; and which is of great service to them
both in life and in death; and among the rest it has this
influence and effect upon them, that every such person that has
it,
purifieth himself even as he is pure;
not that any man can purify or cleanse himself from sin, this is
only owing to the grace of God and blood of Christ; nor that any
man can be so pure and holy as Christ is, who is free from all
sin, both original and actual; but this must be understood either
of a man that has faith and hope in Christ, dealing by these with
the blood of Christ for purity and cleansing, with whom and which
these graces are conversant for such purposes; or of such a
person's imitating of Christ in the holiness of his life and
conversation, making him his pattern and example, studying to
walk as he walked; to which he is the more excited and stimulated
by the hope he has of being a Son of God, a dear child of his,
and therefore ought to be a follower of him, and walk as Christ
walked, in humility; love, patience, and in other acts of
holiness; and by the hope he has of being like unto him, and with
him in the other world to all eternity: but then this "as" is
only expressive of some degree of likeness and similitude, and
not perfect equality, which is not to be expected in this, or in
the world to come; believers indeed, who have faith and hope in
the justifying righteousness of Christ, may, and should consider
themselves pure and righteous, and free from sin, as Christ is;
being clothed upon with his robe of righteousness, in which they
stand without fault before the throne, without spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing; but this does not seem to be the sense of the
place here, the argument being to engage the saints to purity and
holiness of life and conversation, from the consideration of the
great love of God bestowed upon them in their adoption, and from
their hope of eternal happiness, as the context shows; see (
2
Corinthians 7:1 ) ; other arguments follow.