The Anonymous Man’s
Second Argument from 1 John 5:18
We know that everyone who is born from
God does not sin—that is, syllogistically.
The works of those who do not sin are
pure and without any stain of sin.
The children of God do not sin.
Therefore, the works of the children
of God are pure and without the stain of sin.
Beza’s Defense
This syllogism, if this kind of
speaking “not to sin” is distinguished as it entirely must be, is marked by
what they call four ends, constructed against all the rules of logic. But if “not
to sin” is taken as being free from every sin, it is found to be most false
from the same epistle of the same apostle. He thus writes, considering himself
among their lot, saying that they deceive themselves and sin against the truth
who say that they have no sin. Therefore, just as from the use of Scripture by
patronymy (αντονομασιαν) they are called
sinners—not everyone but only those in whom sin reigns—so they are said “not to
sin” who keep themselves from sin for the measure of the Holy Spirit or
regeneration, as the apostle immediately adds in that passage. The apostle is
the best interpreter of this phrase of chapter 3, verse 9 of the same epistle,
when he says, “Whoever is born from God does not do sin.” That is to say, he
does not devote himself to sin, like those who make a practice of sin. Those
people are usually peculiarly called workers of lawlessness (εργαζομενοι την
ανομιαν), and for that reason the Greek poets also
call them doers of evil (κακων
πετηρας). It is true, nevertheless, that those who
have been born from God are pure in a way, as the same prophet says in that
very passage the anonymous man cites. That is to say, having been truly
expiated for by His blood, justified by His freely imputed righteousness, they
show their maturity in true fruits of sanctification through Him.
The Anonymous Man’s
Third Argument from 1 John 3:19
“Little children, let us not love in
word nor in speech, but in action and in truth. And by this we know that we are
from the truth and render our hearts secure before Him.” That is,
syllogistically:
What renders our hearts secure before
God is pure and can endure the judgment of God.
The works of true love render our hearts
secure before God.
Therefore, good works of true love are
pure and can endure the judgment of God.
Beza’s Defense
The evangelist himself refuted this
fallacy from non-cause to cause. Indeed, he does not say what sort of people we
are made by this but what sort we are recognized as being. Just as good fruits
do not make a tree good and sense and movement do not make life, nor do testimonies
of uprightness itself make someone upright. Rather, a good tree is demonstrated
by good fruits, life is demonstrated by sense and movement, and someone who is
upright is demonstrated by testimonies of uprightness. In that way, for that
woman, the sinner, her love demonstrated that her many sins has been forgiven,
made evident in such a clear testimony. But that love was not in itself the
cause of forgiveness of sins for the sinner, but the effect. In this way also
the testimony of good works or the agreement of the Holy Spirit with our
regenerate spirit does not make us children of God, just as faith itself does
not do so except instrumentally. Rather, it testifies that we freely became
children of God and therefore have been absolved from every sin and have been
received unto the right of eternal life, the merit of Christ seized by faith
having been freely imputed to us. And, therefore, does not causally render our
hearts secure before the tribunal of God, as it is explained in 2 Peter 1:10. (Theodore
Beza, “A Defense of Justification through the Righteousness of Christ Alone,
Freely Imputed, Obtained by Living Faith” (1592), in Justification by Faith
Alone: Selected Writings from Theodore Beza (1519-1605), Amandus Polanus
(1561-1610), and Francis Turretin (1623-1687) [trans. Casey Carmichael;
Classic Reformed Theology 6; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Reformation Heritage Press,
2023], 50-52)
