But _all sin involves guilt_. God cannot do other than condemn sin, whether in the Christian or in the unbeliever. Moreover, neither in First John, nor in Romans six, nor anywhere in the New Testament is there distinction made between “conscious” and “unconscious” sinning, or “known” and “unknown” sins. These distinctions between sins are made by men with the implication that we may be kept free from one kind of sinning but not from the other. Does not this make void the word of God by our traditions? For God says, through John, “My little children, these things write I unto you, _that ye may not sin_.” We shall avoid all such difficulties if we rid ourselves of the notion that the sinfulness or the righteousness of a man’s act is to be judged by some outside standard. God’s measure is an inside standard. Sin can never be discovered in the act, but in the motive of the heart of the man who performs the act. Two men go into a restaurant and hang up their overcoats. Two other men in the restaurant take these overcoats with them when they go out. One man has stolen an overcoat. The other man has taken it by mistake, thinking he had brought his own overcoat with him, and is much distressed when he finds he has another man’s coat. But meanwhile both men have lost their coats. Nothing can be determined as to whether sin is involved until you get to the heart of the men who took the coats. One man sinned. The other man surely came short of that perfect outward standard of action, and he should not have been so thoughtless as to take the coat. The experience will doubtless make him more careful in the future in avoiding such a mistake. But he did not sin. And if our theory makes it necessary for us to say that he sinned, then we have blotted out all moral distinctions, and there is an end of urging men to come out of darkness into light. Since sin is in the motive of the heart, it becomes clear why a man who is out of Christ is sinning all the time, in thought, word and deed. He may do many moral things and live on a high plane judged by man’s standard, but he is incapable of God’s righteousness. Only the love of God shed abroad in the heart through the Holy Spirit can make righteousness possible. A natural, unsaved man cannot please God in anything that he does. That is why he must be born again before he is capable of goodness. When he is saved he may love God with his whole heart, and then he can and does please God. And let us remember that no man can please God with sinning, whatever adjective is prefixed. Another fruitful source of confusion in studying the Scripture teachings regarding sin is the taking of Bible statements concerning man in his natural state and applying them to the new creature in Christ Jesus. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). “There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one” (Rom. 3:12). “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).