Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to
them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the
creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without
excuse.
Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not
honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in
their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
It has always been fallen man’s tendency to reduce sin to
acts that they can either commit or not commit.
It makes us believe that we can stop sinning by our own power and so the
struggle not to sin isn’t all that difficult. Probably this is why so many over-emphasize
the 10 Commandments when it comes to the pursuit of sanctification. Reducing the bulk of being “good” to a list
of ten certainly makes it easier to convince oneself that he is winning the
battle against sin.
Now to be sure, the 10 Commandments in their proper context
can be useful for a Christian but I think there are better passages in the
Bible that lays out to us the true nature of sin and so gives us a better idea
of how to identify it in our lives and so guard against it and also point us in
the right direction as to what true godliness is.
I think a proof that there is merit to all this is in the
fact that there are Christians that think they have quit sinning or can go long
stretches without sinning. As you talk
to them you begin to see that what they have done is to lower the bar of what a
sin actually is to the point that anyone with a little human effort can stop
doing certain overt acts. So if sins are
acts I commit with my body but not necessarily thoughts I think or things I
should have done but didn’t then it is much easier to convince myself that I
have been pretty good from one day to the next.
There are many Scriptures that refute the idea that sin can
be reduced in this way and the above passage in Romans 1 is a good
example. If we assume that the wrath of
God is directed at man’s sinfulness as it clearly says then the things listed
must be considered sinful; namely, suppressing the truth, and especially in vs.
21, not honoring God as we should and not being as thankful as we should.
These things speak to a mindset, a way of life and not just
overt acts that we commit now and then.
In other words, sin isn’t just acts we commit but acts and thoughts and
motives that we omit from our life; sins of omission as well as
commission. Now I guess it is possible
that I am such an awful sinner that the whole concept of being sinless for even
a short time is just beyond my ability to comprehend. But I am willing to bet that every descendent
of Adam is just as unable to stop sinning and fully honor the Lord as they
should.
So sin is not honoring God in every moment of everyday as he
deserves. To have stopped from sinning
we must always do everything for the absolute right reason and pride never
enter into the picture. It is to be so
motivated by our love for God that we always do the right thing, in the right
way, for the right reason. Being
thankful is pretty much the same thing.
We always know that all that we have comes from God and is therefore to
be used for him. So we never take credit
for what we have or have done and are therefore properly humbled. Giving God his due and being thankful means
that I give proper honor to his Word and always obey it, always know that it is
right and never argue with it because that would not be honoring God as the
only true Wisdom.
While in our hearts we might agree with all this, we all
know that it is impossible to live it out moment by moment, day after day, year
and after year. For instance, it is not
enough to not murder someone but we are to work out love for them by our words
and actions. So while I have never
broken the commandment to not murder; I continually am unable to work out
perfect, godly love towards anyone.
I think this is important because it keeps me focused on my
heart and not just on what I do with my body or my speech. And it reminds me how sinful I still am and
how much I need the Holy Spirit working in me to do God’s will and not my
own. It also makes me realize how much I
need the ministry of the Word of God in my life and why we all need to be under
the ministry of the Word of God in the local church. Because we are so prone to sin we need the
constant reminders and instruction of the Word of God; otherwise what does the
Spirit have to work with?
To dismiss the need of constant Bible study just shows how
easy it is to be full of ourselves and not give the Lord the honor he is
due. At the end of the day sin is thinking
I know better than God or living as if I believe that even if in my heart I
know it is not true.
