Article XVI.
What is the subject of the sixteenth Article?
"Sin after Baptism."
What led to the drawing up of this Article?
There were some persons who, first, said "that they can sin no more as long as they live here," and, secondly, denied "the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent."
What was the ground of the first opinion?
The belief that "after we have received the Holy Ghost," we cannot "depart from grace given."
How do we know that this cannot be true?
1 Cor. ix. 27; Heb. xii. 15. St. Paul thought it possible for a person "to fall from the grace of God," and even for himself so to sin as to be "a castaway." See also Heb. iii. 12, 13.
What evil consequences followed from this error?
When these persons fell into sin, they would not confess that it was sin, and thus fell from one degree of sin to another.
What was the ground of their second opinion?
They thought that "every deadly sin committed after baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable;" and consequently that after we have departed from grace given by deadly sin, we cannot "arise again and amend our lives."
What is a deadly sin?
