Green on Article XVI: Of Sin after Baptism

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“ Etiam illi de justificatis perverse sentiunt, qui credunt illos, postquam justi semel facti sunt, in peccatum non posse incidere, aut si forte quicquam eorum faciunt, quae Dei legibus prohibentur, ea Deum pro peccatis non accipere. Quibus opinione contrarii,

sed impietate pares sunt, qui quodcumque peccatum mortale, quod

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post baptismum a nobis susceptum voluntate nostra committitur, illud omne contra Spiritum Sanctum affirmant gestum esse et remitti non posse.”

That the errors condemned in the Article had found their way into this country is also shown by the fact that in Stat. 32 Henry VIII. c. 49, § 1 1, they are excluded from the king’s pardon who hold “ That synners after baptisme cannot be re¬ stored by repentaunce.” See also Hooper’s letter to Bullinger quoted in the notes on Article XV. § 2. After the words there cited he continues : —

“ They add that all hope of pardon is taken away from those who, after having received the Holy Ghost, fall into sin.”

[The XLII. Articles of 1553 contained one on “Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost,” which immediately followed the Article on “ Sin after Baptism.” It was, however, struck out in 1563, most likely from reluctance to define the unpardonable sin : —

GHOST.

Blasphemie against the holie Ghost is, when a man of malice and stubburnesse of minde, doeth raile upon the trueth of Goddes word manifestlie perceiued, and being enemie thereunto persecuteth the same. And because soche be guilty of Goddes curse, thei en¬ tangle themselves with a moste grievous, and hainous crime, wher- upon this kinde of sinne is called and affirmed of the Lord, unpardonable.

Blasphemia in Spiritum Sanc¬ tum, est cum quis Verborum Dei manifeste perceptam veritatem, ex malitia et obfirmatione animi, con- vitiis insectatur, et hostiliter in- sequitur. Atque hujusmodi, quia maledicto sunt obnoxii, gravissimo sese astringunt sceleri. Unde peccati hoc genus Irremissible a Domino appellatur, et affirmatur.]

.§ 3.,— EXPOSITION .

(1). After receiving the Holy Ghost it is possible to Sin —

After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin… . And therefore they are to he condemned, which say they can no more sin as long as they live here. (See S. Jas. iii. 2 ; 1 S. John i 8, the passages quoted in the last Article).

The numerous exhortations to perseverance contained in Holy Scripture imply that those who have received grace

are liable to fall (cf. 1 Cor. ix. 27 ; Heb. iii. 6, vi. 4-6, x. 38 ; Rev. ii. 4, 5)* The very figures, too, under which the gift of the Holy Spirit is spoken of in the New Testament indicate the possibility of falling away after having received the gift. Thus the gift of the Spirit is spoken of as —

(a) A seal (Eph. i. 1 3 ; iv. 30). Now a seal is that which certifies a contract, which is void if both parties do not keep it.

( b ) An earnest (2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5; Eph. i. 13, 14). An earnest is part payment given in pledge of the full price, which may, however, be forfeited.

Our Church in her services continually assumes the possi¬ bility of falling from grace ; e.g ., in the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent, we pray “ that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life ; ” and again in the Burial Service, “ Suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from Thee.”

With the teaching of the Article on this head cf. what is said in the Article on Justification in the King’s Book (Formularies of Faith, p. 367) : —

“ And it is no doubt, but although we be once justified, yet we may fall therefrom by our own freewill and consenting unto sin, and following the desires thereof … and here all phantastical imagination, curious reasoning, and vain trust of predestination is to be laid apart.”

The formularies of the Saxon School and the Canons of the Council of Trent also agree with our Article : —

Augsburg Confession, Part I. Art. XII. :

“ Damnant Anabaptistas qui negant semel justificatos posse amit- tere Spiritum Sanctum. Item, qui contendunt quibusdam tantam perfectionem in hac vita contingere, ut peccare non possint.”

Saxon Confession, Art. XYI. :

“Prorsus enim clare damnamus Catharos et Novatianos, qui finxerunt, nec labi posse electos in delicta contra conscientiam, nec lapsos post emendationem recipiendos esse.”

Council of Trent, Session YI. Canon XXIII. :

“ Si quis hominen semel justificatum dixerit amplius peccare non posse, nec gratiam amittere, atque ideo eum qui labitur et peccat nunquam vere fuisse justificatum ; aut contra posse in tota vita pec- cata omnia, etiam venalia, vitare, nisi ex speciali Dei privilegio, que- madmodum de beata Yirgine Maria tenet Ecclesia : anathema sit.”

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Calvin s teaching, on the other hand, is altogether irreconcilable with the doctrine of our Church. He taught that Divine Grace, where it is really given, is irresistible, and therefore that the elect who have been once justified, and have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, can never fall from grace ; if a member of the Church fall away, his fall must be considered a proof that he is not of the number of the elect, and that he never in reality received saving grace. Cf. Calvin’s Institutes, III. xxiv. 6, 7 : —

“ Jam vero neque hoc dubium est, quum orat Christus pro omnibus electis, quin idem illis precetur quod Petro, ut nunquam deficiat fides eorum. Ex quo elicimus, extra periculum defectionis esse, quia eorum pietati constantiam postulans Eilius Dei, repulsam passus non est. Quid liinc nos discere voluit Christus, nisi ut confidamus perpetuo nos fore salvos, quia films semel facti sumus ? At quotidie accidit ut qui videbantur esse Christi, rursurn defi- ciant ab eo, et corruant … sed aeque etiam certum, nunquam ea cordis fiducia tales Christo adhaesisse, qua nobis electionis certitudinem stabiliri dico.”

That the language of our Article was unacceptable to the Calvinistic party in this country is evident from the attack which they made upon it in the “ Seconde Admonition to the Parlia¬ ment ” (i 572) : —

“ And in deede the booke of the Articles of Christian religion speaketh very dangerously of falling from grace.”

See also the 5th of the Lambeth Articles :

“Vera, viva, et justificans fides, et Spiritus Dei sanctificans, non extinguitur, non excidit, non evanescit in electis, aut finaliter, aut totaliter.”

Westminster Confession, XI. 5 :

“ They can never fall from the state of justification.”

(2.) Sin after Baptism, or Fall from Grace, is not what is

MEANT BY THE UNPARDONABLE SlN AGAINST THE HOLY

Ghost.

Not every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism, is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable.

Note that the Article expressly specifies “ deadly sin willingly committed,” i.e., known and deliberate sin, as opposed to sin done through ignorance or infirmity. All

such sin is, in its nature, deadly (Rom. vi. 23 ; vii. 9), and is committed against God, the Three in One, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but still it is not unpardonable, unless it be that sin which our Lord calls “ blasphemy against the Holy Ghost” (S. Matt. xii. 31, 32; S. Mark iii. 28—30).

Our Article thus plainly declares that the unpardonable sin is not equivalent to post-Baptismal sin, but no explanation is given as to what is signified by “ blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.” Our Lord’s most solemn warning with regard to it was evidently occasioned by the Pharisees’ ascription of His works to the instrumentality of Beelzebub (S. Mark iii. 22, 30). Such conduct as theirs might then be forgiven, but it would seem that Christ warns them that if continued when He was glorified and attested by the Holy Spirit, it would be unpardonable. Thus we conclude that the sin spoken of in S. Matt. xii. 31, 32; S. Mark iii. 28, 29, is not an act, but rather a condition, which is itself the result of continued acts of sin against light and knowledge, and of grieving the Holy Spirit. Cf. Eph. iv. 30 ; 1 S. John v. 1 6, 17; ILeb. vi. 4 —6, x. 26—29. See also the explanation of 11 blasphemy against the Holy Ghost ” given in the sixteenth Article of 1553, the text of which has been quoted above, p. 106.

Two points have been laid down : —

(i.) That it is possible to fall into sin after Baptism.

(ii.) Post-Baptismal sin is not the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost.

It follows, therefore, that : —

(3.) Repentance is not to be denied to such as sin after Baptism.

The grant of repentance (locus penitentiae) 1 is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism. … by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our lives. And there¬ fore they are to be condemned which … deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.

Rom. xi. 23 ; 2 Cor. ii. 6—8; Gal. vi. 1 maybe referred to, but Holy Scripture is full of exhortations to those who have once known the favour and grace of God, and have fallen from it, that they should “repent, and do the first works” (Rev. ii. 5).

1 Tlie expression is taken from Heb. xii. 17.

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The question of penitential discipline, and of the advisability of restoring again to the communion of the Church those who had lapsed in time of persecution, agitated the Church in the time of S. Cyprian. Novatian and his fellows, who refused the place of repentance to those who had fallen away, were strongly opposed by him. Cf. Epistle LIV. : —

“ It did not seem to be right, or agreeable to fatherly love or divine clemency, that the Church should be shut against such as knock for admission ; that the comfort of the hope of salvation should be denied to those who grieve and sue for pardon ; and that so they should leave this world, and go to God, without com¬ munion and peace with the Church, since our great Lawgiver, as He hath assured us that what is bound on earth shall be bound in heaven, so hath likewise promised that what is first loosed in the Church here, shall also be loosed in heaven ”

The Novatians, whose error was revived by some of the sectaries of the Reformation period, are expressly condemned in Article XII. of the Augsburg Confession : —

“ Damnantur et Novatiani, qui nolebant absolvere lapsos post baptismum redeuntes ad poenitentiam.”

See also Saxon Confession, Article XVI., quoted above p. 107; and cf. the Homily of Repentance, p. 568 : —

“ Whereupon we do not without a just cause detest and abhor the damnable opinion of them which do most wickedly go about to persuade the simple and ignorant people, that, if we chance, after we be once come to God, and grafted in His Son Jesus Christ, to fall into some horrible sin, repentance shall be unprofitable to us, there is 110 more hope of reconciliation, or to be received again into the favour and mercy of God.”

We may remark, in conclusion, that the case of S. Peter, as recorded in Holy Scripture, furnishes a good illustration of true doctrine on the points dealt with in our Article. It is manifest from our Lord’s words in S. Matt. xvi. 17 that S. Peter had received grace ; from this he fell when he denied his Lord, yet was restored and became the leader of the Apostolic band.