Chapter 12 [X.]—He Reconciles Some Passages of Scripture.

The statement, therefore, “He that is born of God sinneth not,”297    1 John iii. 9. is not contrary to the passage in which it is declared by those who are born of God, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”298    1 John i. 8. For however complete may be a man’s present hope, and however real may be his renewal by spiritual regeneration in that part of his nature, he still, for all that, carries about a body which is corrupt, and which presses down his soul; and so long as this is the case, one must distinguish even in the same individual the relation and source of each several action. Now, I suppose it is not easy to find in God’s Scripture so weighty a testimony of holiness given of any man as that which is written of His three servants, Noah, Daniel, and Job, whom the Prophet Ezekiel describes as the only men able to be delivered from God’s impending wrath.299    Ezek. xiv. 14. In these three men he no doubt prefigures three classes of mankind to be delivered: in Noah, as I suppose, are represented righteous leaders of nations, by reason of his government of the ark as a type of the Church; in Daniel, men who are righteous in continence; in Job, those who are righteous in wedlock;—to say nothing of any other view of the passage, which it is unnecessary now to consider. It is, at any rate, clear from this testimony of the prophet, and from other inspired statements, how eminent were these worthies in righteousness. Yet no man must be led by their history to say, for instance, that drunkenness is not sin, although so good a man was overtaken by it; for we read that Noah was once drunk,300    Gen. ix. 21. but God forbid that it should be thought that he was an habitual drunkard.

CAPUT X.

12. Conciliat Scripturas. Non igitur contrarium testimonium est, Qui natus est ex Deo, non peccat, ei testimonio quo jam natis ex Deo dicitur, Si dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos decipimus, et veritas in nobis non est. Quamdiu enim homo quamvis totus spe jam, et jam in re ex parte regeneratione spirituali renovatus, adhuc tamen portat corpus quod corrumpitur et aggravat animam; quid quo pertineat, et quid unde dicatur, etiam in uno homine distinguendum est. Nam, ut ego arbitror, non facile cuiquam Scriptura Dei tam magnum justitiae perhibet testimonium, quam tribus famulis ejus, Noe, Daniel, et Job, quos Ezechiel propheta dicit ab imminente quadam iracundia Dei solos posse liberari (Ezech. XIV, 14): in tribus utique illis viris tria quaedam hominum liberanda genera praefigurans; in Noe, quantum arbitror, justos plebium praepositos propter arcae tanquam Ecclesiae gubernationem ; in 0159 Daniele, justos continentes; in Job, justos conjugatos : et si quis est forte alius intellectus, de quo nunc non est necesse disquirere. Verumtamen quanta isti justitia praeeminuerint, et hoc prophetico, et aliis divinis testimoniis satis apparet. Nec ideo quisquam sobrius dixerit ebrietatem non esse peccatum, quae tamen subrepsit tanto viro: nam Noe, sicut legimus, fuit aliquando ebrius (Gen. IX, 21), quamvis absit ut fuerit ebriosus.