There are at least seven theories that have been suggested to answer this question, and to get rid of the “root of sin” which it is supposed John is dealing with when he says, “If we say that we have not sin, we deceive ourselves.” All are agreed that without holiness no man shall see God, and that this means actual holiness; and therefore all who hold these different theories are agreed that this root of sin referred to by John must be gotten out, or eradicated. The first theory is _gradual eradication after death_, or gradual purification, for which a place called purgatory is provided (by the theology, not by the Lord). This theory of course is a matter of works from start to finish, and perhaps no reader of these pages would entertain it. The second is _gradual eradication during life, with the completion of the process at death_. In this theory the process during life makes no real progress toward the consummation at death since all equally need the work at death, whatever the degree of eradication during life. The third is _increasing counteraction during life, with eradication at death_. That is, the evil is not eradicated gradually during life but is counteracted increasingly by the power of God, while remaining till its removal at death. The fourth is _eradication at death_. That is, the evil is unaffected during life, and awaits death for its removal. The fifth is _eradication at the coming of Christ_. But if we die we enter into the presence of His holiness and need purity before this event. Few maintain this theory, except those who go the length of identifying the root of sin with the physical body or with the blood, thus making sin inhere in matter. This assumption is also needed to give support to the second, third and fourth theories, for the only change that, takes place at death is the separation of the spirit from the body. The sixth is _eradication before death_, requiring a second work of grace, subsequent to regeneration. The seventh is _eradication at the moment of regeneration_, which perhaps few in our day hold, though it has been earnestly contended for in other days. All of these eradication theories, with the exception of the last, make necessary a second work of grace subsequent to regeneration. They mean that God has to do something else to free a man from sin after he is cleansed, by faith, in the blood of Christ, and made a new creature by the operation of the Holy Spirit. For manifestly, if a Christian must say, “I have sin,” he must get rid of that sin, and it must be done at one of three times: before death, at death, or after death. Is there a line of Scripture that gives support to any one of these six theories of a second work of grace, or of the theory of eradication at the first work of grace? All of these theories rest upon the assumption that there is a “root of sin” _in_ a man, in a mechanical, material sense, and that from this root sin springs.