Jones on Article XV: Of Christ alone without Sin

” Now the same Christ was born as this day of the Virgin Mary, very man except sin, for sin hath not defiled his flesh ; for he was not begotten of the seed of man after the manner of other men, but by the power of the Holy Ghost. Mary was his very natural mother, and he was born to that end that he might deliver us from our sins and wickedness.” — Ser. St. Stephen’s Day.

” He (Christ) was her natural Son in all other points, but yet this his humanity was preserved from all sin and wicked- ness. In all other things he was very man, and she his very natural mother.” — Ser. St. John the Evangelist,

” Christ made one perfect sacrifice for all the whole world,

neither can any man offer him again neither is there any

propitiation for our sins saving his cross only.” — Examination.

” But now since he is come indeed, and hath overcome the devil, and redeemed our sins, suffered the pains not for his own sake, but for our sakcs ; (for he himself had no sin at all, he

suffered to deliver us from everlasting damnation ; he took our sins and gave us his righteousness,) now since these things are done and fulfilled, therefore, saith Paul, ’ Our salvation is come nearer now than when we believed.” — Ser. 1st Sunday in Advent.

” It is not enough to believe Christ to be a Saviour, you must know what manner of Saviour he be ; how far forth he saveth. And therefore, you must understand that he was not

such a Saviour as Moses Christ is such a Saviour which

saveth us from eternal damnation, from the power of the devil, and all our enemies. The angel of God himself shewed us what manner of Saviour Christ is in the 1st of Matthew, ‘For he shall save his people from their sins.’ So we must believe him to be such a Saviour which released us from all our sins as well original as actual wickedness. But the Papists, as it is most manifest, make him but half a Saviour. They think that they with their good works must help him to save them half. So they blaspheme him, take away his dignity ; for he only hath merited with his painful passion to be a Saviour of the whole world ; that is to deliver all them that believe in him from their sins and wickedness.” — Ser. St. John’s Day.

” St. Paul saith, ’ Christ being become a High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this building ; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood entered once into the holy place, and obtained for us eternal redemp- tion,’ &c. ‘And now in the end of the world he hath appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.’ (Heb. ix.) And again, ’ Christ was once offered to take away the sins of many.’ Moreover he saith, ’ “With one offering hath he made perfect for ever those that are sanctified.’ These Scrip- tures do persuade me to believe that there is no other oblation of Christ (albeit, I am not ignorant there are many sacrifices) but that which was once made upon the cross. The testimonies of the ancient fathers, which confirm the same, are out of

Augustine ad Bonifac Epist. 23 And in his book against

Faustus the Manicb.ee, Bk. xx. chap. 18, thus he writeth : ’ Now the Christians keep a memorial of the sacrifice past with a holy oblation and participation of the body and blood of Christ.’ ” — On the Sacrament.

“But the Scripture condemns all such sacrificing now for sin, save only that sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered once for

the sins of the whole world The Apostle says, ’ By one

offering he has made perfect all them that be sanctified.’ If one offering once made have made all perfect, then cursed be they that will correct or amend Christ’s death as though it were not perfect to save all without their often sacrificing.” — Questions and Answers.

” The Priest according to the order of Melchisedec hath offered the sacrifice of his own flesh, acceptable even for the worthiness of it, and by the virtue which is in it, forcible and more than sufficient to wash away all sin. This he did wil- lingly, ’ He made himself an offering for sin.’ He did it perfectly, ’ with one offering he consecrated for ever them that are sanctified.’ “Where full remission of sin is, there needeth no further sacrifice for sin ; and the Holy Ghost beareth us record that we have full remission of all our sins. ’ Their sins

and iniquities will I remember no more.’ Not that we have

no sin, but acknowledging that we have it, it is as if we had it not, because he is faithful to forgive.it, and just to cleanse us from it. ’ The blood of Jesu cleanseth us from all sin.’ The blood of Jesus once shed, the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. So that there remaineth no other sacrifice to be daily offered, but the sacrifice of ’ righteousness,’ which we must all offer.” — Set. Ps. iv. 5.

” All the sacrifices of the old law were figures and types of this only sacrifice, which was appointed by God to die, and to

suffer the ire and displeasure of God for the sin of man, as

though himself were a sinner and merited this displeasure

We must therefore only trust to the merits of Christ, which satisfieth the extreme jot and uttermost point of the law for us — Decl.

“All these promises, and other that appertained unto the salvation of Adam and his posterity, were made in Christ and for Christ only, and appertained unto our fathers and us, as we appertained unto Christ. ’ He is the door the way and the life.’ John x. xiv The means of our peace and reconcilia- tion with God is only in Christ, as Esay saith, ch. liii. ’ hy whose passion we are made whole.’ Therefore, Christ is called by John the Baptist, ’ The Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world.’ John i. And as the devil found nothing in Christ that he could condemn, John xiv. likewise now he hath nothing in us worthy damnation, because we be comprehended and fully

inclosed in him ; for we be his by faith As we were in

Adam before his fall, and shonld if he had not sinned been of the same innocency ; so were we in his loins when he sinned, and participant of his sin. And as we were in him, and par- takers of the ill, so were we in him when God made him a promise of grace, and partakers of the same grace, not as the children of Adam, but as the children of the promise. As the sins of Adam, without privilege or exception, extended and appertained unto all Adam’s, and every of Adam’s posterity, so did this promise of grace generally appertain as well to every and singular of Adam’s posterity, as to Adam ; as it is more plainly expressed, Gen. xv. xvii. when God promiseth to bless in the seed of Abraham all the people of the world ; and Paul maketh no diversity in Christ of Jew nor gentile.” — Int. to Decl. of Ten Commandments.

” Christ’s conception was prophesied before by the angel to be a supernatural ; but after he had received our nature by the operation of the Holy Ghost in the Virgin’s womb, he became in all points like unto us, except sin.”

” Malachi speaketh thus of Christ, his only sacrifice and

oblation by the which he offered himself and his body upon the cross to his Father, an host for our sins. For what is that clean and pure oblation, but Christ ‘which hath wrought no sin, and in whose mouth was found no deceit.” — Curio’s Defence.

” And though Christ hath paid a sufficient ransom for all the sins of the world, and is a sufficient Redeemer and Saviour of all the world, yet shall they (the unrepentant) have no part thereof, for they belong not unto Christ Annotations.

” Whatsoever God hath commanded in the Ten Command- ments, which we have not fulfilled because we be all sinners, that Cln-ist himself hath fulfilled for us ; and whatsoever pun- ishment we have deserved that Christ hath taken upon

himself and suffered for us Wherefore it was necessary (if

he should satisfy for us) that he should be conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of a virgin, that his nativity might be pure without sin, and not corrupt as ours is, that our corrupt and damnable nativity might be purified and made holy, by the

holy and pure nativity of Christ For if Christ should

redeem us and satisfy for our sins, then must he needs be holy and without sin, for if he had been guilty and a sinner, then could not he have holpen his own self, but he must needs have had another Saviour and Redeemer for him, as well as we have for us.” — Catechism of 1548.

” This Scripture (1 John i.) now maketh clearly against you, and proveth your opinion to be false, for Christ’s blood cleanseth us from ’ all sin,’ none except, so long as we walk in his light and not in darkness. Why ascribe ye then the purga- tion of men’s sins to any kind of penance, seeing Christ’s blood hath and must have, the honor thereof.” — Confutation of Standish.

” Inasmuch as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was the only perfect and all-sufficient propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world, as they confess ; this ” (Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper) ” could not be the same, because it was done before that upon the cross. Or else the full perfect sacrifice was then in the supper finished, and so Christ’s death is in vain and a foolish thing. If Christ’s death be not foolish, but indeed as it is, the full and perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world, then this which they feign he offered in his last supper, is not the same, prate what pleaseth them ; or else it is not of value ; take whether they will.” — Carrying of Christs Cross.

” Moreover, when it was not possible because of the great enormity of our sin that we could of our own power, strength, merits, deservings, and good works, save and win ourselves again into the favour of God, how lovingly, without any deserts of our part, even of his own mere goodness and free mercy, did he promise to save us by his dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Clrrist, and at his time predefined and appointed from everlasting, sent him down into this world ! Which for our sake, imfeignedly by the wonderful operation of the Holy Ghost, took flesh of the blessed pure and undefiled Virgin Mary, and became very man, like unto us in all things, sin alone except. “Which, also, after he had lived here certain

years, even of his own free-will gave himself unto the

very death, yea even the most spiteful and heinous death of the cross. He offered his most blessed body ’ a sweet smelling sacri- fice to God’ the Father for our wickedness. He suffered his most precious blood to be shed upon the altar of the cross to pay the

ransom for our sins “We ourselves, our sin, our iniquity,

our ungodliness, our abomination, our corrupt manners, did slay him, and put him to that most cruel death. We are they that killed him. We sought his death. We did betray him. “We

did falsely accuse him “We buffetted him, we bruised him,

we were the authors of all the tyranny which was wrought

against him. Yet for the love that he bare toward us, did not he disdain to suffer all these intolerable pains, by whose passions and sufferings we are perfectly made whole ; by whose most blessed blood all our sins are washed away ; by whose death everlasting life chanceth abundantly unto us.” — Pathway to Prayer.

” The grace of God our merciful Father keep your mind and soul in Christ Jesus, who alone is our full sufficient Saviour, for in him we be complete, being made through his death and one only oblation made and offered by himself upon the cross, the children of God and fellow-heirs with him of the celestial kingdom, which is the free gift of God, and cometh not of merits, but of the mere grace of God.” — Letters.

” We are made the righteousness of God through Christ by the very same reason whereby Christ was made sin for us. But Christ was not made sin but by imputation only ; ergo neither are we made righteous in the sight of God but by imputation only.” — Justification.

See also Articles II. and XI.