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CHAPTER XIX.
OF CHRIST ALONE WITHOUT SIN.
"Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except, from which He was clearly void, both in His flesh, and in His spirit. He came to be the Lamb without spot, who, by the sacrifice of Himself once made, should take away the sins of the world, and sin, as Saint John saith, was not in Him. But all we the rest, although baptized, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."—Article XV.
§ 1. A poem in the Warda commences with some remarks on the scribe who addressed Christ, saying: "Good Master," and continues: "The Good Son, He who is good even as His Father is good, replied and said unto him whose thoughts were evil, 'Why callest thou Me good? Thou hast called Me good in order that I may call thee a good Scribe, whereas there is none good among men; thy address, therefore, has not affected Me.' … There is none good among men, saith the mouth of the Truth, for there is none perfect and good like unto God among all those who are created. And if God is good, is not His Son also good?" From the Warda "on the Man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho," adapted to the third Sunday of the Apostles.
§ 2. "I have sinned against Thee, and not I only, but all Thy creatures also have sinned against Thee. And Thou alone art He who hast reconciled Thyself to us." From the Warda "on repentance."
§ 3. "He who is more righteous than all men became sin, [2 Cor. v. 21,] and He who is more blessed than all became a curse, and the Alive for evermore became dead, and who can comprehend this grace? … When our Lord was called 'Sin,' He became the destroyer of sin: and when the title of 'Curse' was affixed to Him, He became the destroyer of all curses.
