For if we sin wilfully
] Which is not to be understood of a single act of sin, but
rather of a course of sinning; nor of sins of infirmity through
temptation, or even of grosser acts of sin, but of voluntary
ones; and not of all voluntary ones, or in which the will is
engaged and concerned, but of such which are done on set purpose,
resolutely and obstinately; and not of immoral practices, but of
corrupt principles, and acting according to them; it intends a
total apostasy from the truth, against light and evidence, joined
with obstinacy.
After that we have received the knowledge of the
truth;
either of Jesus Christ, or of the Scriptures, or of the Gospel,
or of some particular doctrine, especially the principal one,
salvation by Christ; of which there may be a notional knowledge,
when there is no experimental knowledge; and which is received
not into the heart, but into the head: and whereas the apostle
speaks in the first person plural, we, this is used not so much
with regard to himself, but others; that so what he delivered
might come with greater weight upon them, and be more readily
received by them; when they observed he entertained no hard
thoughts or jealousies of them, which would greatly distress the
minds of those that were truly gracious. Moreover, the apostles
use this way of speaking, when they do not design themselves at
all, but others, under the same visible profession of religion,
and who belonged to the same community of believers; see (
1 Peter 4:3 )
( Titus 3:3 ) (
Ephesians
2:3 ) compared with ( Acts 22:3 ) ( 26:5 ) ( Philippians
3:6 ) . Besides, these words are only hypothetical, and do
not prove that true believers could, or should, or do sin in this
manner: to which may be added, that true believers are manifestly
distinguished from these persons, ( Hebrews
10:38 Hebrews
10:39 ) ,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins;
meaning, not typical sacrifice; for though the daily sacrifice
ought to have ceased at the death of Christ, yet it did not in
fact until the destruction of Jerusalem; but the sacrifice of
Christ, which will never be repeated; Christ will die no more;
his blood will not be shed again, nor his sacrifice reiterated;
nor will any other sacrifice be offered; there will be no other
Saviour; there is no salvation in any other, nor any other name
whereby we must be saved. These words have been wrongly made use
of to prove that persons sinning after baptism are not to be
restored to communion again upon repentance; and being understood
of immoral actions wilfully committed, have given great distress
to consciences burdened with the guilt of sin, committed after a
profession of religion; but the true sense of the whole is this,
that after men have embraced and professed the truths of the
Gospel, and particularly this great truth of it, that Jesus
Christ is the only Saviour of men by his blood and sacrifice; and
yet after this, against all evidence, all the light and
convictions of their own consciences, they wilfully deny this
truth, and obstinately persist in the denial of it; seeing there
is no more, no other sacrifice for sin, no other Saviour, nor any
salvation in any other way, the case of these men must be
desperate; there is no help for them, nor hope of them; for by
this their sin they shut up against themselves, in principle and
practice, the way of salvation, as follows.