Continual Sin

“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6)

In my recent musings about the presence of sin in the life of a Christian, and specifically in my own life, I have been circling a very uncomfortable question. Before springing it on you out of the blue, let me lead into it in much the same way that it has pursued me: one step at a time.

We all know that a Christian’s life should reflect the holiness of Christ. We should, as stated above, walk as He walked. But we also know that we are not perfect. We will stumble, even fall from time to time. Fortunately for us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

We also know that we must not abuse the gift of forgiveness, as Paul states in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Again, we are clearly supposed to be imitators of Jesus: walk as He walked.

But we do fail. It is inevitable. Worse yet, we will do so repeatedly, even if we are trying our very best to do the right thing. Temptation comes, and far too often, we succumb to its treacherous pull. My own experience with this began to make me doubt myself. Mind you, I do not doubt God, but rather I came to doubt whether my own faith was genuine. Here enters the question which has been stalking me: am I truly a child of God, or am I taking His name in vain?

Escaping Sin

My previous essay focused on inescapable sin: the reality that as long as we live, sin is an enemy that will return to tempt us again and again, hounding us repeatedly until we finally shake off this mortal coil and join with our Savior beyond the veil. But is that the end of the story? Is there nothing which we can do to escape from the bonds of sin in this life?

That, my friend, is an excellent question. I’m so glad you asked!

From the very beginning, God gave us an indescribably wonderful (yet extremely dangerous) gift: free will. It is by our free will that we choose to place our faith in God through Jesus Christ. It is by our free will that we accept God’s gifts of forgiveness and grace. It is by our free will that we either accept all the blessings which God has offered us… or reject them.

It was Adam’s choice to allow the serpent to tempt Eve. It was Eve’s choice to eat of the one fruit which was specifically forbidden by God. It is each condemned individual’s choice to continually reject God’s offered salvation in favor of some temporary pleasure. We all make countless choices each day with our free will. Some choices are small and seem so insignificant that we barely even recognize them as conscious decisions at all: do I start walking with my left foot, or my right? Do I put on my socks before or after putting on my pants? (By the way, obviously before is the only correct answer!)

The Sins You Love to Hate

“Well, I’m not perfect, but at least I don’t do THAT!”

You’ve heard these words many times before. Honestly, I’d be willing to bet that you’ve said these words before, or at least something which expresses a very similar sentiment. We all have! And no wonder! On a daily basis, just going about our normal routines, it’s a near certainty that we will see or hear about some of the awful things going on in the world.

Things that we know are wrong.

Things that offend us.

Things that hurt our feelings.

Things that hurt other people.

But then there are some things that really get to us. Things which we would never, ever do. Things that we would never even imagine doing. Things which are so vile, so disgusting, so inherently evil that we wish God would just reach down and smite the people who are involved!

They deserve all the worst punishments that we can think of, and yet they keep getting away with this insanity.

How infuriating!

How dare they??

How can they not understand that what they are doing is horrific? It’s not only a violation of God’s law, but it flies in the face of nature itself! A little common sense should tell you that this is wrong!

These sins are a lot like villainous characters in movies, in that you love to hate them. These are the ones that you think of as being particularly bad, and you feel absolutely justified in railing against. They are the ones that you really (if you’re being totally honest) don’t think should be forgiven at all.

Those are things that no Christian would ever do, anyway.

Right?

Unknown Sin

So far, we have discussed the usurping sin of taking the Lord’s name in vain and the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Today, we examine unknown sin: instances where we commit sins of which we are completely unaware.

Photo by Ann H on Pexels

You undoubtedly have heard the phrase, “Nobody’s perfect.” I would argue that there was one exception to that rule, but we (meaning humanity) nailed that individual to a cross roughly two millennia ago. Nevertheless, I’m sure that we would all agree that the sentiment is true today. The Bible states the situation quite concisely…

“…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23

Most of the time, we think of sin as happening at a decision-making point; we are faced with a situation where we must choose between two options: one which clearly honors God versus one which we would probably enjoy, but, for whatever reason, would put us clearly outside of God’s will. The problem is… life isn’t always so clear-cut. Sometimes, we may not even realize that we’re doing anything wrong!

Think back to your childhood. Did you ever get into trouble for doing something? Of course, you did! Were you ever asked, “Why did you do that?” Of course, you were! And I guarantee that you remember responding with, “I don’t know,” at least once. As (perhaps jaded) adults, we typically respond to a child who claims ignorance as a defense with disdain. “Oh, you know better than that!” But if I really search my memories, I’m certain that there were, in fact, times where I did things without thinking about whether they were good or bad. I just wanted to do it, and so, I did it.

Romans 14 and Doubtful Things

In Romans chapter 14, the Apostle Paul addresses a conflict between certain believers at the church in Rome. Two issues were brought up, actually. The first one was about food. Specifically, some people thought that it was wrong to eat meat, and that believers should only eat vegetables. The second issue was about which holy days should be observed.

And Paul gave them the same answer for both questions:

Let each be convinced in his own mind. In other words, that issue isn’t really worth the stress it would place on one's relationship with other believers, so Paul suggests that the best resolution in cases like this is to simply live and let live.

If you want to eat only veggies, fine, do that. But if you like a good steak, feel free to chow down! Observe whichever holy days you see fit to observe - or don’t. Just be sure of two things:

1) That you are honoring God in your heart as you are doing (or not doing) these things, and…

2) Don’t try to force your opinion about these things on other people.

Now there were serious reasons why people were asking these questions, and they had to do with the culture both inside and around the new, growing church in Rome. Some of these early Christians were Jews that had come to believe that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah, and the Jews of course followed quite a few traditions prescribed by Old Testament Law. But other new members of the church were Gentiles - basically anyone who wasn’t a Jew - and they naturally had other ideas about certain things. And of course, the culture outside the church was, in a word, worldly.

But Paul’s answer here does more than just settle the questions about these two topics. What we’re actually seeing is the establishment of the Biblical principle of CONSCIENCE. This is the principle which is to be followed whenever we confront what Paul referred to as doubtful disputations or doubtful things: disagreements over topics which aren’t directly addressed in scripture.

Paul essentially says that if God has given you the liberty to do this or that, then by all means, go ahead and do it! (Or abstain from it, if you prefer!) 

DISCLAIMER: It’s very important to mention that this liberty only pertains to things which are not specifically mentioned in scripture (and yes, we’re talking about Old Testament Law here). So if scripture says that action X is a sin, then it IS a sin. The New Testament (or New Covenant), based on Christ’s atoning death, is a new solution to the problem of sin. It does not change the definition of sin. We don’t get to have opinions about it. Sin, as they say, is sin.

But the Bible doesn’t specifically mention every possible action that a person could take. That was true in the book of Genesis with Adam & Eve, it was true in the first century church, and it’s true today. Of course, we now have many, many more options available to us than in times past, which makes it that much more important for US to understand this Biblical principle of conscience.

Here’s how it works: Paul mentions that if a person believes that action X is a sin, then for that person, action X IS ACTUALLY a sin! For that person, action X leads to the same internal consequences as any other sin, because if they were to participate in it, they would feel guilt, remorse, and shame. It violates their conscience in exactly the same way that any of the explicitly named sins would do.

And because of this, you have to be careful not to try to force someone to agree with you on matters like this. That’s where this whole idea of the stumbling block comes in, and it also happens to be one of the areas in which the church has failed… miserably.

Do you know why there are so many different Christian denominations? It’s because we, the members of the Body of Christ, have let disagreements divide us into factions. Whether it’s the question of full-immersion, deep-water baptism vs “sprinkling,” eternal security of the believer vs possible loss of salvation, election/predestination vs free will, or any number of other doctrinal divisions, we the people of the church have allowed the placement of thousands of stumbling blocks which prevent us from worshiping God in complete unity.

Non-believers are seeing all of this, and they are often quick to point out that we can’t even agree amongst ourselves. It’s one of the leading reasons why they think we’re all a bunch of fruitcakes and hypocrites.

Paul tells us that if our actions grieve another believer, then we are no longer walking in love. He later goes on to say: “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” That sounds a whole lot like something Jesus would say. You know, that whole, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” thing.

In MY mind, I am thoroughly convinced that most of the disagreements over church doctrine need to be tossed into a large bin labeled ROMANS 14. Paul makes a number of statements in his various epistles which pinpoint the one and only irrevocable, un-do-withoutable truth of Christianity, which is that Jesus, he who is the Christ or Messiah, is the Son of God, that he died for our sins, and that he was resurrected from the dead. This is the central fact of faith that a Christian must accept. Without this lynchpin, nothing else matters.

Now please don’t think I’m discouraging discussion and debate about difficult topics. When you come to a disagreement about the Bible or how you should live out your faith, talking through the topic is certainly helpful and healthy, so long as the purpose of the discussion is to find some common ground or mutual understanding. After all, virtually every doctrinal dispute has some kind of plausible scriptural reasoning behind it, and we always need to keep in mind the possibility that the other view just might be the right one. In any event, such a debate should NEVER become a point of contention that puts stress on your relationship with another believer, no matter what denomination they come from.

Even (no, especially) if it's one of those "out there" denominations that believes some crazy ideas about the Bible, because none of us actually has a flawless understanding of scripture.

In the great passage about love from 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully…” This echoes the Old Testament idea that God’s thoughts are high above our own, and I’m pretty convinced that what Paul is saying in Romans 14 about doubtful disputations goes hand-in-hand with these other passages of scripture.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are things in the Bible which you think you understand, that you don’t understand at all. And I am FULLY aware that the same goes for me. It’s a little bit terrifying to know that in spite of all my studying and research, there will inevitably be times when I say something that is incorrect - just plain wrong - even though I’m totally convinced that I’m right. And I know that the Bible says that those who teach will be judged more strictly.

None of us understands God completely. None of us interprets everything in the Bible correctly. And most certainly, none of us are perfect at putting what we DO know to use in our everyday lives.

So the one and only thing that you or I should ever doubt about God, the Bible, and everything, is our own understanding. In the end, we just have to take what we know, do the very best we can with it, and leave the rest to Him.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

    and do not lean on your own understanding."

~Proverbs 3:5

Impenetrable: The Breastplate of Righteousness – continued (The Armor, part 3)

Just how strong is God? What are the limits of His power?

Your answer to those questions will play a huge factor in your Faith, your fellowship with God, and your everyday life. We say that God is all-powerful: omnipotent. We say that God is all-knowing: omniscient. We say that God is everywhere: omnipresent.

But do we really believe what we say we believe?

In the previous post, we examined the Breastplate of Righteousness and our role in putting it on in everyday life. But now let’s turn the discussion toward God’s part in the symbolism of the Breastplate and how our belief in God’s power affects us every day.

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Like any figurative or metaphorical symbol, our understanding and personal application of the Breastplate of Righteousness depends largely upon having a proper image of the symbol fixed in our minds. For example, it is illogical to describe God as a consuming fire while using the imagery of a lake or river, or to reference Jesus as the Good Shepherd while describing the contents of the Most Holy Place in Solomon’s temple. The parts don’t fit, and such inaccurate imagery would leave one rather confused as to what the point of the lesson was and what difference it would make in one’s life.

The same is true when describing the Breastplate of Righteousness.

Abs of Steel: The Breastplate of Righteousness (The Armor, part 2)

Before I became a Christian, I didn’t really understand what the word “righteousness” meant. You see, I associated it with the term “self-righteousness,” which of course is a bad thing. In my mind, the two terms carried the same negative connotations, and when I heard Christians talk about righteousness, it didn’t sit well with me. I felt like they were congratulating themselves, patting their own backs for being so "good."

This misconception plagued me until after I had been saved, finally being dispelled when a pastor literally defined “righteousness” during a sermon. I learned two things that day: one was the meaning of righteousness; the other was that sometimes it really is necessary to state the obvious. As it turns out, righteousness isn’t at all hard to understand. It simply means doing the right thing. Good deeds, as opposed to bad ones (patting oneself on the back falling into the latter category).

Of course, knowing a thing and doing the thing do not always go hand-in-hand. We all have a sense of right and wrong, but we don’t always do the right thing. Many times we err without thinking; accidentally. But every now and then, all of us are guilty of choosing to go ahead and do something, knowing full well that it’s the wrong thing to do. We find (or rather, invent or manufacture) some justification to excuse our actions. Actions which we would quickly condemn if committed by anyone but ourselves. Why do we do that?

Fallen human nature.

We are all prone to sin, no matter how good we try to be. When we fail, as we all do from time to time, consequences necessarily follow. Even though the results can be quite painful, we still have an unfortunate tendency to get ourselves into trouble. Sometimes our sin hurts others, but every sin we commit leaves behind a self-inflicted wound. So how in the world do we protect ourselves from… ourselves?

Enter: the Breastplate of Righteousness.

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