Whosoever committeth sin
This, in connection with what follows, is true of any sin, great
or small, but here designs a course of sinning, a wilful,
obstinate, persisting in sin:
transgresseth also the law;
not of man, unless the law of men is founded on, and agrees with
the law of God, for sometimes to transgress the laws of men is no
sin, and to obey them would be criminal; but the law of God, and
that not the ceremonial law, which was now abolished, and
therefore to neglect it, or go contrary to it, was not sinful;
but the moral law, and every precept of it, which regards love to
God or to our neighbour, and which may be transgressed in
thought, word, and deed; and he that committeth sin transgresses
it in one or all of these ways, of which the law accuses and
convicts, and for it pronounces guilty before God, and curses and
condemns; and this therefore is an argument against sinning,
because it is against the law of God, which is holy, just, and
good, and contains the good and acceptable, and perfect will of
God, which is agreeable to his nature and perfections; so that
sin is ultimately against God himself:
for sin is a transgression of the law;
and whatever is a transgression of the law is sin; the law
requires a conformity of nature and actions to it, and where
there is a want of either, it is a breach of it; it is concerned
with the will and affections, the inclinations and desires of the
mind, as well as the outward actions of life; concupiscence or
lust is a violation of the law, as well as actual sin; and
especially a course of sinning both in heart, lip, and life, is a
continued transgression of it, and exposes to its curse and
condemnation, and to the wrath of God; and is inconsistent with a
true hope of being the sons and heirs of God: but then the
transgression of what is not the law of God, whether the
traditions of the elders among the Jews, or the ordinances of men
among Papists, Pagans, and Turks, or any other, is no sin, nor
should affect the consciences of men.