“No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God.... ” (1 John 3:9.)
In commenting on these verses from today’s First Reading, Didymus the Blind writes:
“Heretics, who are deceived in everything by everything, like to object that any birth which is produced by the creator of this world is automatically sinful, whereas any birth which comes from the God of the New Testament is not so. They base this idea on the supposition that sinners and the righteous must have different creators, but this notion is based on a misunderstanding of the teaching of Scripture. The Bible does not say that whoever is born of God is sinless but that such a person will not sin as long as he walks according to the way of righteousness. If he turns aside from that he will sin, and indeed those who do sin have turned away from their Creator. The ability not to sin is guaranteed by the presence of God’s seed in us. This seed is either his power or the spirit of adoption, which cannot sin.” (Commentary on 1 John.)
Collect
O God,
Who crowned with the gift of true faith
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s
burning zeal to find You,
grant by her intercession and example
that we may always seek You with diligent love
and find You in daily service with sincere faith.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Who crowned with the gift of true faith
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s
burning zeal to find You,
grant by her intercession and example
that we may always seek You with diligent love
and find You in daily service with sincere faith.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
