Contemporary Events

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The Definition of Sin

I recently listened to the guys from CrossPolitic converse with Greg Johnson, the pastor of the PCA church hosting the Revoice conference. I appreciated how hard they worked to convey a different perspective to their guest. As I listened, however, it became apparent that the fundamental difference dividing their thinking from that of their guest was the definition of sin. I think the CrossPolitics guys recognized this as well, but I would like to suggest that our definition needs to take one more step.

Yes, sin is missing the mark. Yes, sin is lawlessness, but I think more important today is the realization that sin is anything less than the glory of God. That mark of complete impossibility is what we must repent of. The law is a detailed explication of what the glory of God looks like in action; a description of the character of God in all its glory.

Pastor Johnson is struggling with the idea of asking folks to repent of something non-volitional (and there is much more that should be said on that topic), but if sin is understood biblically, we must all be repenting of falling short of the glory of God, not just of willful sins, but of the state of being a corrupted image.

Only then can we fully embrace the need to turn our hearts (and our feet, our lips, our eyes, etc.) away from anything but the glory of God, that consuming light where some sweet day we will once again be able to discern nothing detailed about the other except their being robed in the glory of God (and therefore be unashamed). O to no longer regard each other according to the flesh!

I love the Anglican confession that contains these three descriptors, reminding us that we “have sinned…through ignorance, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault.”1 Too often these days, we recognize only “deliberate” sins as sin, and while it is easy to agree that we were “conceived and born in iniquity and corruption” (to quote Calvin’s liturgy2), I suspect it puts the proper point on it to recognize and acknowledge that sin is falling short of the glory of God. Which of us Pharisees has the hubris to think we’ve met that standard?

Though I would set myself up for constant disappointment, I would like to hope that I never again hear that tired question/challenge: “Are you saying that _______ is a sin?” Yes, yes, I am; we are literally wallowing in sinfulness, and the Lord loves a broken spirit and a contrite heart; a heart that spends so much time gazing upon Christ that it realizes ever more fully how far short it falls, and therefore glories in the chesed (חֶסֶד )in which we move without condemnation, a heart that clings to the Father who knows our frame and remembers that we are but inglorious dust.

Footnotes

  1. Common Worship: Holy Communion | Confession
  2. Jonathan Gibson. Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present (Kindle Locations 5792-5802). New Growth Press. Kindle Edition.
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In the King’s Army

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.  1 Corinthians 15:56-58

Imagine a lengthy campaign to displace enemy forces and occupy the Asian theatre. Imagine, if you will, the plans made by the Joint Chiefs. Now imagine a solitary lieutenant of a single platoon stranded on a specific island with dwindling supplies who somehow comes into possession of a page from the Joint Chiefs of Staff Operation Order. Imagine his disillusionment as he reads the assigned objective: invade and occupy the continent of Asia. He can’t even get off the beach and they are telling him to conquer an entire land mass of nations. The grand plan seems wholly unrealistic. Discouraged by his present situation, he may even lose the will to get to the top of the next sand dune.[1]

As servant-soldiers in our King’s army this may be the situation we often find ourselves in. Facing seemingly repeated and unending defeat in our personal lives, we quail at the thought of the grand mission assigned to us. This perspective, however, reveals the consequences of the individualistic focus bequeathed to us by the baptistic perspective which has come to dominate the conservative landscape of North American Christians.

Men who are at war with themselves, and resentful of life and its requirements, are not able to command the future: they cannot even command themselves. –R.J. Rushdoony

When entering the Armed Forces, individual recruits go through a process of being broken down and then rebuilt, no longer as a mass of individuals, but now as a cohesive unit with each person thinking of themselves as a cog in the wheel of their collective mission. Having focused in on individual responsibility to decide for themselves and be baptized as a sign of their decision, we have largely lost this concept of being part of the Body of Christ, who is our Commander-in-Chief. As a result, we are taking no territory for our King. Too rarely is even the land of our own lives fruitful for the Kingdom; almost never are we conquering Canaan.

Implicit problems, however, with the Anabaptist view of the covenant have consistently taken Baptistic thought into Pelagianism.  Anabaptist theology individualizes the covenant. Consequently the covenant becomes subject oriented. Once that happens, the problems involved with subjectivism, mentioned earlier, cannot be prevented.” (emphasis mine) [2]

And therein the problem! Believer’s Baptism emphasizes the decision of the individual to the detriment of a focus on the Covenant Body, while deprecating the sovereign, solely capable, saving action of God. This has inexorably led to the completely out-of-control individualism of contemporary American Christianity. Why could the early Separatists and the Puritans pull off what they did in the colonies? Because they practiced infant baptism, and even if they were Baptists, they still held the residual perspective of the whole, rather than the over-arching autonomy of the individual, which has now utterly undermined the stability of America.

Look at the total inability of the Messianic movement to interoperate, and it becomes quickly apparent that a rescue of the covenantal perspective of circumcision/infant baptism is a desperately needed antidote to the presuppositional baptistic perspective of the majority of North American Christians, and almost all people of a Messianic persuasion. Tie this to objective rather than subjective salvation (and sanctification) and I am growing in my suspicion that “Reformed Baptist” (or Believer’s Baptism Messianic) might be the greatest oxymoron of the American era.

[1] I’m indebted to Jim Wilson in Principles of War: A Handbook on Strategic Evangelism (p. 14) for this illustration.

[2] Ray R. Sutton, “The Baptist Failure” in James B. Jordan, ed. The Failure of American Baptist Culture: Christianity & Civilization, No. 1. Paducah, KY: Geneva Divinity School, 1982, p. 157.

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My Prayer & My Confession

O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, who spoke in your name to our representatives, our governors, and our fathers, and to all the people of this land.

To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the people of these states, to the inhabitants of our land, and to all Americans, those who recognize you, and those who think they do, because we have committed treachery against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our representatives, to our justices – who have savaged justice—and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

To you, O LORD, belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against you and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which you set before us by your servants the prophets, teachers and pastors. All America has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in your Word have been and will be poured out upon us, because we have sinned against you. Your words will be confirmed, for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what we have done against you in this land. O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, sent your Son to die for our transgressions, and have made a name for yourself throughout the whole world and all time, we have sinned; we have executed wickedness before you this day.

O LORD, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from our country, because of our sins, and the multiplied iniquities of our people. We have become a byword among all who are watching; we are known for our wickedness and our profligacy. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to our pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon this land, which is desolate and in rebellion, slaying the innocent and blaspheming your character, twisting your image and practicing hate in the name of love. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our devastation, and the people who yet call your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention and act! Delay not, for your own sake, because your people are called by your name, and they are languishing: some in tears, some in ignorance, and some in rebellion. Heal us, O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Send upon us your Holy Spirit with an anointing to proclaim your word, to live faithfully according to your laws, and in accordance with the covenant you have made with us. Raise up your daughters and your sons, that they each will speak forth your truth without fail, and cast visions of holiness throughout this land. Let all the people of this nation know for certain that God has made Jesus both King and Savior, and move multitudes to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, that they might receive the Holy Spirit and honor you as Lord.

Bend the necks of our governors, our magistrates, and our representatives that they may acknowledge you as Sovereign, and lead our nation into repentance. Rise up, O Lord, defend your honor, rescue your people, who are called by your name. For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

(c.f., Daniel 9, Joel 2, Acts 2)

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Does the Argument Make Sense?

Randy Thomas was the Executive Vice President of Exodus International under Alan Chambers, and according to his own words, “helped evaluate/determine that [closing Exodus down] was the only decisions we could make on a numbers of levels.” On January 12 of this year (two years since the closing of Exodus) Randy came out as gay and planning to stay that way.

He wrote recently celebrating the decision to close Exodus and recounting the wonderful impact that decision has had on his personal life.

In order to test the logic of his article I’ve taken an excerpt from the latter portion of his post and copied it verbatim except to substitute adultery in place of homosexual practice. Hopefully, the lunacy of his claims will be apparent.

Adulterers should be given access to all the same life-giving resources and opportunities in the church as anyone else. Minister to us as peers not with the constant undercurrent of objectified “issues” you can’t relate to. Let us minister to and serve *you* as the opportunity arises. Embrace us with true unconditional love that is not disclaimed by hurtful “you are broken” messaging and being relationally relegated to being “other than” for the rest of our natural lives. Let me be fully honest standing in worship, or sitting in the pew next to you, instead of being told I could only be fully “honest” on a Thursday night at 7pm at an adulterer support group.

Jesus is life-giving in a myriad of ways that have transformed me as a person. Even so, He did not change my sexual urges. He didn’t change my desire to be in love with and devoted to another woman besides my wife. I now believe He didn’t change that because it doesn’t need to be changed. I am an adulterer; He knows this and I believe He has guided me to where I am to finally embrace and be at peace with myself and His blessing of who I truly Am. Our Heavenly Father embraces me and everything He has put within me to live out.

I am His; nothing and no one can change that.

Because of God’s love and direction, today I’ve never been more transparent (didn’t say perfect; just transparent). I have never been more free.

Since embracing the truth that I am an adulterer, and Christian and everything else that I am… I have started openly dating. In fact, today, I happen to be in love with a beautiful (in every way) woman I have been referring to lately (online) as Miss Girlfriend. In fact, she is texting me while I type this and my heart is truly full of joy. I am sure that I have the best mistress ever. 🙂

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In Response to “A Letter To Christians In Indiana, [supposedly] From Jesus”

It is absolutely vital, particularly in this day and age, that we read the Scriptures as the connected whole they comprise. If we seek to be “red-letter” Christians we make a critical error, for Jesus’ words were not the new manifesto for how now to live, but an example of perfectly and faithfully living out what we—rather unfortunately—call the Old Testament.

If we presume the Gospels portray a comprehensive example of how we are to live, we make the same mistake as the people of the Gospel’s era: mistaking Jesus’ mission and purpose for that time. He was not there as conquering King, but as suffering servant. This did not mean that he is not the Sovereign of the world; did not mean that he doesn’t have a plan for civil justice. Rather, in the Torah God had already demonstrated how His word/character was comprehensively worked out in every arena of life, and Jesus exemplified living perfectly as an individual who faithfully kept every single jot and tittle of God’s law. But in his time on earth, he did not demonstrate how to be a faithful civil servant, he did not demonstrate how to be a faithful voting citizen (he lived in an occupied land), he did not demonstrate how to be a faithful father, etc. But, he did demonstrate how to be a faithful servant, and how to love your neighbor.

We need to pay greater attention to how he loved his neighbor(s). For some reason, we note that he defended the woman caught in adultery from injustice (note: she was caught in the act, but then, where was the man?), yet he also told her, “Go and sin no more.” Note that Jesus did not break God’s law (the law required the testimony of two or three witnesses to convict, and furthermore required a valid court to hear the case), rather he upheld the law’s requirements and prevented a perversion of justice (which is defined and described by God’s law).

Note that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners—who were seeking salvation and the truth. What was his response to those who self-righteously thought they were fine as they were? “You brood of vipers,” etc. Or to one who was unwilling to change? In what context did Jesus confront the rich young ruler? Mark 10:21 reveals how love really works: “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him…” and proceeded to deliver a command to change; a command Jesus knew would highlight the young man’s unwillingness to repent.

The fact that we do not have in the earthly life of Christ an example of a faithful citizen, nor of a faithful father, nor of a godly judge, nor of a righteous politician, does not mean that we are left without instruction. The character of God is described in detail by His law as expressed in application from Genesis to Revelation, and exemplified in limited but personal humanity by the life of Christ in the four Gospels. It is our task to wrestle with how to pull these instructions for life into our time and place. This is no easy task, but it will never mean failing to exercise our God-given responsibility to work for justice—as biblically defined—in the nation where we live.

Certainly, we should be known by our love—but love is defined, not by the society around us, but by the character of God as described in the law and exemplified (partially) by the life of Christ. Love is compassionate, but it always works for the good of the loved one, even if that is not what the loved one wants. There is such a thing as unsanctified mercy, and lying to someone about the consequences of their lifestyle choices certainly qualifies.

Why is it that we highlight (and misunderstand) many of Christ’s actions, but fail to weigh his other statements? Perhaps it is because we are not committing ourselves to wrestle with the totality of Jesus’ message.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household (and denomination). Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

What are we to take from this? The truth, though delivered in love, will often drive the unrepentant away. This does not mean we should modify the truth to accommodate their sin, for to do so is not loving. To unjustly infringe on actual rights in order to gratify the unjustly claimed false rights of unrepentant sinners is not to imitate Jesus. Rather, if Jesus were a citizen of the United States of America he would both work for justice in legal structure, and minister to the brokenness of individual neighbors.

It is not contradictory to lobby for a just law which prohibits or restricts the practice of sin (or protects the rights of all not to participate in, encourage, or bless sin) and at the same time invite a sinner over for dinner, or out for coffee, or to live in your home. Both should be happening. I know this is possible because both have been occurring in my life for the last 20 years.

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What Was the Sin of Sodom?

Micah, I’m so glad you brought this point up, as it is little understood these days, and in desperate need of correction. If you don’t mind, I’m going to address your second point first, and then move to your first in a second comment.

You are essentially making a plea for precision as we identify what the Bible says. This presupposes the Bible as an authority, a position we are in agreement on. So…let’s be precise.

I would like to state out of the gate that I agree, the sin of Sodom included arrogance, abundance without gratitude, and a failure to help the needy. We are rightfully indicted by the destruction of Sodom when we see these same sins in our hearts and lives.

The more salient point here, however, is that the failure to confront these sins led to a state of sinfulness in Sodom so great that, “the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man” wanted to rape the angelic visitors. This is simply a fact, plainly stated by Scripture. That fact is included in the Ezekiel passage, but listed at the end of the list of what God has against Sodom as “They were haughty and did an abomination before me.” (You may note in a few moments, how this language corresponds with language from 2 Peter.)

What concerns me is that our knowledge of the Bible and of God’s perspective is so deficient that we are being deceived by antichrist activists into believing that it was for inhospitality and not sexual deviance that God judged Sodom.

The Bible consistently portrays some sins as so egregious as to provoke God to judgement; as so beyond the pale that God actually permits the natural order to be overturned that people might receive the penalty of their sins in themselves and in their society. Wilson speaks to this below from another article,

When Ezekiel mentions the sin of Sodom in an aside, many conservative Christians might be surprised at where he starts. Sodom was a degraded city, and they had gotten to the point where the rape of visitors was something that a number of people thought should be allowed in the public square. But how did they get there?

This was the sin of Sodom—pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, neglect of the poor, haughtiness, and abominations. At the end of that list we find what caused Sodom to become a household word. But consider what went before, and ask yourself how America got to the place where the folly from our federal courts is taken even halfway seriously.

But does the Bible explicitly indicate that the sin of Sodom was of a sexual nature? It does. St. Peter writes that Lot was greatly distressed by the “sensual conduct of the wicked,” and that those will be judged “especially” who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.” (2 Peter 2:7-10 ESV)

I draw your attention to the connection between despising authority and engaging in defiling passion as that point deserves an article of its own. However, I also want to point out that this verse does not contradict Ezekiel 16:49-50. The primary point here is that when men cast off God’s instruction they lose clarity of sight (Prov 29:18), when men despise authority they end up defiling themselves, when men fail to give God their gratitude they become idolators (Deut 8:10-14, 17-19). When men fail to confront being arrogant, overfed and unconcerned, they end up committing penultimately despicable behaviors. Behaviors so obviously against God, against nature, and against reason that it should be obvious to all, whether believer or not, but both in Sodom and now, we live in a time where even Christians don’t recognize that the horrific wickedness we read about in Scripture is happening in our midst and we are cooperating in excusing it!

I am sickened to my soul, not in disgust but in despair, when I see that many priests and pastors do not even understand these things. We have claimed Israel’s blessings as our own, and are now re-committing their errors, and are now receiving the same judgements as did they. Isaiah 1:1-23 describes where we are heading in America. And so, for that matter, does Ezekiel 16…read that chapter from the beginning.

Wilson correctly points out,

Why are men sexually attracted to other men? It is the judgment of God upon our culture because we would not honor God as God and would not give Him thanks. Therefore God has given men over to the downward spiral of their renegade lusts fueled by father hunger.