Wesley Corpus

The Apostle here, beyond all contra diction, speaks of himself and other living Christians, of whom he flatly affirms, that, not only at or after death, but ‘in this world, they are “as their Master.’ “Exactly agreeable to this are his words in the first chapter: ‘God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” And again: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, it is evident, the Apostle here speaks of a deliverance wrought in this world: For he saith not, The blood of Christ will cleanse, (at the hour of death, or in the day of judgment,) but it “cleanseth, at the time present, us living Christians ‘from all sin.” And it is equally evident, that if any sin remain, we are not cleansed from “all” sin. If any unrighteousness remain in the soul, it is not cleansed from ‘all’ unrighteousness. Neither let any say that this relates to justification only, or the cleansing us from the guilt of sin: First, because this is confounding together what the Apostle clearly distinguishes, who mentions, first, ‘to forgive us our sins, and then ‘to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ Secondly, because this is asserting justification by works, in the strongest sense possible; it is making all inward, as well as all outward, holiness, necessarily previous to justification.