But this does not mean that there are two standards for Christians
to choose between. On the contrary, the Word makes plain that when a
Christian walks after the flesh, when he is “carnal,” he is acting as
though he were not a child of God at all. “And I brethren, could not
speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in
Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able
to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able; for ye are yet carnal: for
whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and
do ye not walk after the manner of men?” These Christians, Paul says,
were walking as natural men, who have not been born again, instead of
living as spiritual children of God.
There is no platform below the Spirit-filled life which affords a safe
resting ground for a Christian. One who calls himself by the name of
Christ, but does not have the fulness of the Spirit, and yet says that
he has no desire for this deeper experience, is confessing that there
is no evidence he has ever been born again. For while a Christian may
live below the standard Christ desires he cannot be comfortable in
doing it; the Spirit of God within him is longing for the driving out
of everything contrary to the life of Christ.
The heart of the Spirit-filled life is freedom from sin. A normal
Christian is a man who does not sin. “We who died to sin, how shall
we any longer live therein?” (Rom. 6:2). “These things write I unto
you that ye may not sin” (1 John 2:1). “Whosoever is begotten of God
doeth no sin” (1 John 3:9). “We know that whosoever is begotten of God
sinneth not” (1 John 5:18).
Some teachers who have noted these plain statements of the Word have
concluded that a Christian does not commit sin, and that so soon as
a Christian does he ceases to be a Christian. If he is sinning it is
a proof that he is not a Christian, and will not be reinstated as a
child of God till he ceases his sinning. These teachers, however, see
the difficulty that in the heart of many Christians are wrong feelings
that should not be there, and which they do not want there but over
which they apparently have no control. To get over this and other
difficulties they explain that a Christian does not _commit_ “outward”
sins, though he has these sinful impulses in his heart. Even this
standard, it is to be feared, would cut down the number of Christians
to a small minimum.