What Happened to Sin?

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-14 NIV)

Sin is out of vogue in much of the church these days, at least the personal variety.  One hears a lot about the generic version: “We all sin.”  “We all struggle.”  “None of us is perfect.”  “Who are we to judge?” “He who has not sinned cast the first stone.”  The implication of these cumulative messages has been to communicate that because we are all sinners, addressing specific sins is unnecessary, judgmental, and unloving.  They can even take us to the point where everyone is a sinner but no one truly sins.   

Many who proclaim these messages from the pulpit or the blog, I believe, are sincere in their understanding that we live under God’s grace.  But as Paul clearly tells the Roman church, grace is never to be used to justify continuing in a particular sin or sinful lifestyle.  Grace is given freely by God, but that does not mean it is without cost to us.  The price of grace is confession and repentance (I John 1:9; Revelation 2:5).  It is also the most appropriate response to the kindness of God—to obey Him.  By not recognizing our sin and repenting, we cheapen God’s grace.  Did Jesus die so that we might just go ahead and do as we please?  

If you listen and read what many are saying, the practical conclusion to this question is, “Yes.”  There is no reason for confession or repentance because God covers over everything with His grace.  Just come bask in it and never mind your sin.  It doesn’t really matter.

Those who proclaim this make the same mistake many of the Roman Christians made centuries ago: They cheapen God’s grace and misunderstand its purpose.  It was not given as a free pass for sinners, but rather as a means to set them free from their sins.  

Today, recognize we are all sinners in need of God’s grace.  Yet, God’s grace is not intended to allow us to remain in our sin.  Rather, it is to lead us into confessing our sins and repenting from them.

© Jim Musser 2018