- Mar 22, 2021
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As God does, right?
Actually, the modern Church - in the West, anyway - has grown very reluctant to talk about sin directly. I can't remember the last time I heard from a modern preacher straight-up preaching about sin. So, I wonder about your remark that "many people will harp on sin - Sin, sin, sin."
Sin is an important topic; it occupies much of Scripture, actually. The consequences of sin are very dire and so regular warnings against sin are warranted. Now, this isn't to say sin ought to constantly occupy a primary spot in the believer's thinking. No one ever became more like Christ by staring at their sin. But it is a very foolish person who turns a blind eye to sin entirely.
Well, the apostle Paul generally first reminded his readers of their identity in Christ, their membership in God's family and what it meant, and then he commanded them concerning right living and sin. The Christian's conduct, in Paul's mind, was always inextricably related to their spiritual position in Christ. He didn't write in his letters that such-and-such was right so just do it, or such-and-such is wrong so don't do it, but instead typically made righteousness the outflow of a believer being a "new creature in Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Paul's letter to the Ephesians, for example, follows this dynamic very clearly. In fact, the letter begins with Paul carefully laying out in the first three chapters the basic truths of the Christian's life in Jesus. Only once this accomplished does he begin, in chapter 4, to enjoin specific behaviours of the Ephesian Christians.
This, it seems to me, is the correct way to approach talking about the Christian life - and "sin which does so easily beset." (Hebrews 12:1) Only in the context of the believer's identity in Christ should sin be discussed, not merely as a threat, but as a profound incongruity with who a born-again person is. One can get a good sense of this approach in Paul's words at the beginning of chapter 6 of Romans:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Paul here, in a rather incredulous tone, asks the Roman believers why, given their spiritual union with Christ, they are still living in sin. He doesn't merely wag his finger at their sin, castigating them for it, but indicates that their sin does not at all comport with the reality of who they are as people united with Christ. He doesn't ignore the matter of sin but confronts it directly in connection with the truths of the Christian's spiritual position in Jesus.
If you are a sinner all the time, it's necessary to acknowledge that this is so - and then do about it what Scripture directs. Harping, though, usually is the tactic of the moralist/legalist.
A man who has built in his bathroom a new high-power, walk-in shower with multiple shower heads, but who never uses the shower, may possess the shower but does not properly benefit from it, the shower not being applied to cleaning the man's person, as it was intended to do. Likewise, the forgiveness we possess in Christ benefits us, practically, not at all until, by confession of our sin (1 John 1:9), that forgiveness is applied to our sin, cleansing us from it. Until such time as a sinning believer confesses his sin to God, he cannot enjoy fellowship with Him. (Psalms 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; 1 Peter 3:12) This is the story of the Prodigal Son. The son went off into a far country, and, though never ceasing to be his father's son, was unable to enjoy intimate communion with his father. Not until the son repented of his wickedness and returned home, confessing his wretchedness to his father, was fellowship with his father restored. So, too, with the believer who has, by their sin, halted, not their relationship with their Heavenly Father, but their fellowship with Him.
So, no believer ought to treat their sin lightly, or, worse, ignore it.
Hello Aiki, thank you for adding your insights. Will place on original post.
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