did no sin, neither was guile found in
His mouth_."

If there were one Scripture character who, if such a thing were
possible, would have attained to sinless perfection, that one would
certainly have been the greatest of all the apostles, Paul. He labored
more than they all; he suffered more than they all; he went deeper
into the mysteries of redemption than they all. He was not only
permitted to look into heaven, as the beloved John, but he "_was
caught up into the third heaven, and heard words that it was not
lawful for him to utter_" on this sinful earth. Oh, what purifying
through suffering! What visions and revelations! What experience of
Grace! And yet this burnished vessel never professed sinless
perfection. Indeed, he never ceased to mourn and lament the sinfulness
and imperfection of his own heart, and called himself the chief of
sinners. He does indeed speak of perfection. Hear what he says, Phil.
iii. 12, 13, 14: "_Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for
which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things that are behind, and reaching forward unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus._"

The saints on earth, then, are not sinless ones. The Bible does
indeed speak of those born of God sinning not, not committing sin,
etc. But this can only mean that they do not _wilfully_ sin. They do
not intentionally live in habits of sin. Their sins are sins of
weakness and not sins of malice. They repent of them, mourn over them,
and strive against them. They constantly pray, "_Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us_." But their
heart-purity and sanctification are only relative.

Sanctification is gradual and progressive. We have seen that Paul
thus expressed himself. He was constantly "_following after_,"
"_reaching forth_," "_pressing toward_" the mark. He exhorts
the Corinthians, 2 Cor. vii. 1, to be "_perfecting holiness in the
fear of the Lord_," and again, 2 Cor. iii. 18, to be "_changed
into the same image from glory to glory_." He tells them in chapter
iv. 16 that "_the inward man is renewed day by day_." He exhorts
the saints or believers, again and again, "_to grow_," "_to
increase_," "_to abound yet more and more_."