May we not call the most subtle sin of all, the sin of pride, a sin of
the spirit? The victorious Christian still has the desire to accomplish
things. Indeed this desire is intensified a thousandfold. To the
natural man this desire centers wholly in self, whether he knows it or
not. But one in whom the old self-life is dead cries with Paul, “God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal.
6:14). With the psalmist he sings: “My soul shall make her boast in
Jehovah: The meek shall hear thereof, and be glad. O, magnify Jehovah
with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:2, 3). “In God
have we made our boast all the day long, and we will give thanks unto
thy name forever” (Psalm 44:8). This sort of boasting leads not to self
pride but to meekness. “Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not
the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understandeth, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah, who
exercise lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth”
(Jeremiah 9:23).
All desires of life, then, for the Christian who abides in victory,
center in Christ. “And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him” (Col. 3:17).
And conquest of temptation is not a negative matter. Love is the
fulfilling of the law, and only the heart filled with that love which
is Christ can know freedom from lust, covetousness, and pride. Back of
these three outward sins, there is the inward nature which has departed
from God. Perhaps no one in our day has pointed out more clearly the
three great sins of omission than has Miss Louisa Vaughan, of China.
She calls these the “Christian sins”: Failure to love the Lord our God
with all our heart and strength and mind; failure to love one another
as Christ loved us; failure to believe on Christ so that the works that
he did and greater works than these should be wrought through us. These
Christian sins, Miss Vaughan insists, must be confessed and cleansed
in the blood of Jesus before the fulness of the Spirit can be enjoyed.
To have these commandments fulfilled in us is the Victorious Life. And
only when this root-condition of unlove and unbelief (which are really
one, for “love believeth all things”) is dealt with shall we know
freedom from lust and covetousness and pride.