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Sin & Judgment

By Phillip Ross

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 19Jul2009 Word count: 1054 Viewed: 442 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

"And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?" (1 Corinthians 5:2). The Greek word literally means to inflate or puff up, and is often translated as "proud." The clear implication is that they were proud or arrogant with regard to their sin, when they should have been humiliated and in mourning about it -- and that is the greater problem here. Pride is worse than their sexual sins because it is more subtle, more difficult to identify as sin.

But the sin itself was not the main problem. All of God's people are sinners, to a person. No one is condemned because of some particular sin. Sin is the natural condition of humanity since the Fall. We are all condemned by Adam's sin. Paul says in Romans 3:10, "None is righteous, no, not one." So, in the light of Jesus Christ people are condemned, not by their sin, but by their refusal to repent of their sin, by their refusal to turn away from sin, by their refusal to acknowledge it as sin and to turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation from the eternal consequences of sin. No, sin is not the problem. God can forgive any sin through Jesus Christ. But God will not forgive any sin apart from Christ, and Christ demands repentance. "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matthew 4:17).

There is a difference between the ongoing struggle against sin by repentant Christians and the celebration of sin as a God-given right by the unfaithful. The faithful are humbled by their sin and moved to repentance, but the unfaithful are proud of their sin because they believe they have a right to it. In fact, all unrepentant sin thrives on pride. Pride is what keeps people from repentance. Pride is what keeps people from Jesus Christ, and from salvation.

John wrote, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15-17). The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, these are the enemies of the gospel, the enemies of truth, and the stumbling blocks to salvation. Where pride leads sin follows.

Paul went on, "Let him who has done this be removed from among you" (1 Corinthians 5:2). John Gill said of this verse that the guilty parties should be removed, "not by excommunication, for that they could and ought to have done themselves; but by the immediate hand of God, inflicting some visible punishment, and taking him away by an untimely death, which the Jews call "cutting off," by the hand of God; and such a punishment, they say, this crime deserved." Ouch! John Gill provides the traditional interpretation of this verse, which was that it deserved excommunication by the church and judgment by God. The Apostle Paul called the wrath of God down upon down upon these unrepentant sinners, these leaders of the Corinthian church.

Had they repented, he would have called the mercy of God down upon them. Jesus said, "'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call righteous ones, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13). Jesus didn't just come to call sinners, He came to call sinners to repentance. Big difference! To the Pharisees Jesus said, "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Jesus is always after our repentance.

Paul goes on, "For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing" (1 Corinthians 5:3). Wait a minute! Doesn't the Bible teach that we should be nonjudgmental? Yes, we ought not judge a repentant person on the basis of their sin because God's mercy is grater than any sin. The grace of God through the propitiation of Jesus Christ trumps all sin. There is no sin so great that it cannot be forgiven by the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ -- save one (Matthew 12:31).

But, on the other hand, the churches are called to judge those who are unrepentant. Jesus said, "Do not judge according to sight, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). We should not evaluate things on their appearance, but on the basis of God's righteousness, on the basis of Scripture alone. We are not to judge according to our own values, our own ideas, but according to God's standards of righteousness, according to Scripture. It is not the standards of the community that are to prevail, not the standards of the civil government, or the standards of the press, or TV, or popular opinion, but the standards of Scripture by which Christians are to judge (or evaluate) everything.

So, Paul could say to the Romans, "We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man -- you who judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself (note the lack of repentance) -- that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:2-4). God's kindness, His grace and mercy are linked to repentance. God is kind and merciful in order to allow people the time and opportunity for repentance. God does not rush to judgment, but provides ample time for repentance. But at some point the opportunity for repentance comes to an end, and judgment follows.

We confuse ourselves when we neglect the fact that Scripture treats repentant sinners differently than it treats unrepentant sinners. Repentant sinners have the protection of Jesus Christ the advocate, where unrepentant sinners face the full consequences of God's law on their own. Repentant sinners have been pardoned, unrepentant sinners have not. Judgment for repentant sinners has been suspended by the propitiation of Jesus Christ, but judgment for unrepentant sinners remains.

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