So, just as a man with a dislocated leg cannot walk in a straight line but limps along, so it is impossible for those who are reborn, in whom resides this principle of moral dislocation, to offer all their works with the most intense love of God, with the greatest sincerity of purpose in every aspect of their actions, and with the zeal God’s law requires in every aspect of their behavior.

5. Men would be perfect in this life and conformed to the law in every respect if they could offer good works polluted by no taint of sin— something the apostle denies about himself [Phil. 3:9].

Samuel Rutherford The Works of Samuel Rutherford: Arminianism: A Systematic and Theological Response, ed. Chad Van Dixhoorn, trans. David C. Noe (Reformation Heritage Books, 2026), 1:568.

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Post authored by:

• Inwoo Lee

  

  Inwoo Lee (BA, UCSD) earned his MA (Historical Theology) in 2020 from Westminster Seminary California and is author of “Righteous Before God: William Perkins’ Doctrine of Justification in Elizabethan England” (MA Thesis, Westminster Seminary California, 2020). He lives in the Great Seoul area, in South Korea with his wife Holly.

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