vi " Sin unto death" 



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pray for its forgiveness when we see it committed by a 

 fellow Christian (1st Epistle of John v. 16), West- 

 cott, after speaking of sins which were capital under 

 the Law of Moses, proceeds (The Epistles of St. John: 

 the Greek Text, with Notes and Essays, p. 199 et seq.) : 



" It was a natural extension of this meaning [of a 

 " sin unto death "] when the phrase was used for an 

 offence which was reckoned by moral judgment to 

 belong to the same class. 



" If now the same line of thought is extended to 

 the Christian society, it will appear that a sin which 

 by its very nature excludes from fellowship with 

 Christians, would be rightly spoken of as a sin unto 

 death. Such a sin may be seen in hatred of the 

 brethren, or in the selfishness which excludes re- 

 pentance, the condition of forgiveness, or in the 

 faithlessness which denies Christ, the One Advocate. 

 But in each case the character of the sin is determined 

 by the effect which it has on the relation of the doer 

 to God through Christ in the Divine society. We are 

 not to think of specific acts, defined absolutely, but 

 of acts as the revelation of moral life. 



" It must be noticed further that St. John speaks 

 of the sin as ' tending to death ' (TT/OOS 6dvarov\ and 

 not as necessarily involving death. Death is, so to 

 speak, its natural consequence, if it continue, and 

 not its inevitable issue as a matter of fact. Its 

 character is assumed to be unquestionable, and its 

 presence open and notorious. 



"The question then could not but arise, How is 



