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Friday, March 24, 2023

Crime and Punishment

The other day my wife and I went to a nice dinner with friends. At one point my wife informed me that I was eating my salad with the wrong fork ... so I would be taken out and hanged at dawn. Of course, that's nonsense. That's not justice. The punishment doesn't fit the crime. But there are those who argue that sin is just that; a social faux pas, a simple mistake, a vague missing of the mark. God doesn't punish sin like that. In the grand scheme of things, no sin deserves that level of punishment, and a forgiving God will just pat us on the head and say, "Have you learned your lesson?" and let it go at that. Is that so? Paul said, "The wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). Both John (1 John 2:1-2) and Paul (Rom 3:24-25) refer to Christ as "propitiation" through His blood. "Propitiation" means basically the appeasement of an angry God. Jesus said He came to "give His life a ransom for many" (Matt 20:28). Jesus gave His disciples a means of remembering His death on their behalf (Luke 22:17-20). John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). Scripture repeatedly refers to sin with much more intensity than our "simple mistake" view can support. So, who is right?

Look at a couple of biblical accounts of sin. In the garden, Eve listened to the serpent and opted to discard God's "You shall surely die" in favor of some fruit that looked pretty and tasty and would make her wise. And she wasn't mistaken. "The eyes of both of them were opened" (Gen 3:7). When God found out, He congratulated her on thinking this through herself and coming to the wiser conclusion. Oh, no, that's not what He did. He condemned them both to hard labor (Gen 3:16-19) and, finally, death. For that? Paul says that we stand under the righteous wrath of God. For what? Suppressing the truth (Rom 1:18-19). Really? That is worth wrath? That's what the Scriptures say.

Given Jesus's claim that He was dying for the sin of mankind and Scripture's view on the death penalty that sin earns, it would seem that the "simple mistake" view doesn't hold much water. It would seem that sin is an egregious error, an assault on God's glory (Rom 3:23), deserving eternal death. I would urge, then, those who claim that God just forgives sin because it's just not that bad stop calling themselves "Christians." When Christ says He died for sin and ransomed sinners and you argue that He didn't, that would qualify as the opposite of following Christ. And, further, I would urge you to repent from that because denying Christ has a very bad outcome (Matt 10:23).

4 comments:

David said...

It is so hypocritical of us when we will condemn someone to cancelation from society for a single word, but believe that God will simply ignore a lifetime of disobedience.

Marshal Art said...

Oh...but if I just say I was "mistaken", then all is well between my Creator and me. Isn't that how it works? So I am told.

That which I argue is forbidden have up to this point only been those behaviors about which there is no way to be "mistaken". It ain't MY law. It's the Will of He Who created all and Who has absolute sovereignty. Those who seek to rationalize their rebellion as "no big thing worthy of punishment" presume God should not be any more offended by a behavior as are those who engage in them. Yet, they cannot provide any proof or evidence from Scripture which supports this notion. It's a simple thing: if God says, "Thou shalt not..." don't. Period. He will get you through your struggles with your temptation. Carry your cross. Christi carried our cross only once. It's now again ours to carry.

Doug said...

We often think the Holy Spirit came to convict the world of SIN, righteousness, and Judgment (and “world” referring to the “world”ly or unsaved).
However judgment begins in the house of the Lord. When Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”, he wasn’t in front of a brothel, or a bar, or our dirty politician’s office - hehe. He was in a church. It is said that those hearing that sermon were crying out in agony and pain clinging onto the pillars afraid they were gonna fall straight into hell.
That sounds like Holy Spirit convicting sin in the chosen (Church folk) bringing revival to the Individual soul, the church, the city, the Church and our land.
Even so, come Lord!

Doug said...

Good stuff David