If you are continuing this post from Part 1, then skip our quick “review” and dive right in below it. If you stumbled into this climactic ending like a dear caught in the headlights, then I highly recommend that you first go read Part 1 of this post because it is the entire context for what Paul is about to say. No “highlights” is going to properly set the stage for what we are about to discover. But if you insist, here is the super condensed version of Part 1.
Review of Part 1
We discovered that the literary structure and greater context of the quoted verses, Rom 1:26-27 is that these two sins are presented within a list of 28 other sins, which progress from simply wrong or arrogant thinking to worse and worse sins. There is a clear, logical progression of the listed sins in order of their severity in their impact on the individual’s relationship with God, the sin’s impact on individuals themselves and the sin’s impact on both the individual and those around them or in our greater society. Essentially the list goes from one way of thinking to another with examples of the results of their thinking and actions progressing into an ever deeper death spiral that ends in a crash of fiery death and destruction. The big surprise here is that the sin that we are concerned about makes up just 2 of the 28 listed sins and are listed near the top of the list, while the remaining 26 sins that you and I deal with as heterosexuals deal with are mostly at the bottom of the list!
To be sure, none of the sins are exclusive to any sexual orientation, and anyone can and often does have to struggle against any of them. But the idea that homosexuality is somehow the worst of sins, and that my being straight keeps me in a somehow better situation when it comes to sin, is utterly decimated by Paul’s listing of sins and their severity, especially once you step back and see the depressing whole picture!
Sure, I may not ever struggle with 2 or even 8 of the sins listed… but I am still left “holding the bag” as it were, with another 20 sins that I might or do struggle with to some degree, and nearly all of them do more damage to me personally and those around me than the few I don’t have to worry about. It seems clear that if I spend much if any time pointing out the mote in my brothers eye, I have a pretty large ship floating around in my tear ducts. We also discovered that its possible for our accusation and condemnation of homosexuals finds an unexpected ally that come to the their aid and it ironically rises up to defend them (not their sin) against our “righteous condemnation” and actually condemns us as being unrighteous ourselves! See, you just have to go back and read it now don’t you? 😉
So after all of this very uncomfortable self discovery, our hero (you and I) reaches the point where we finally understand that out problems are likely much deeper than we ever imagined and likely much more worrisome and evil than the ones that we thought were so dangerous. And just before we are able to close the bible and let our little revelation fade into the busyness of the day, we notice that Paul is not done with us yet.
In fact, we suddenly realize that he has just gotten started! He has shown us all of our vulnerability, failings and lower nature not as the goal, but as the foundation for the big idea that he is about to hit us with. All that has been said before is the sauce for the goose – And we my fellow adventurer are the goose!
A Little More Context Than We Might Want
Romans 2 – God’s Righteous Judgment
Remember we are coming from chapter 1, where Paul has just laid out a whole list of 28 sins, in order of progression and severity from least to worst, and shown us how we have been guilty of the worst of them. That we have been forgiven for the worst of them. Now, after helping us to see our personal sin from a more objective point of view, Paul gets to his main point. Because of everything he has just shown us he goes on to say:
Rom 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”[a] 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
Notice the very first word of chapter 2 is not “homosexuals”. Its’ not “pagans”, or “sinners” or “heathen”. It’s “You”. Or rather, it’s ME! Paul is pointing his finger directly at you and me and saying this next section is to ME, the believer and follower of Christ, the receiver of grace (un-merited favor) and forgiveness. Me – nobody else. Go back and read that first verse again. Slowly… I tried to make it easy to see the first time… I even high lighted it in bold. Oh, never mind, I know we’re lazy and it’s hard to go all the way back up there. I’ll make it easy 😉
Rom 2:1 “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”
Ok… the killer verses here are these:
Because of the truth I’m guilty of all any of the sin’s listed in chapter one (28 of them – To be sure it is hardly attempting to make an exhaustive list), when I pass judgment on someone else, I have no excuse, I should know better! At whatever point I judge another, I am condemning myself, because I do the same things! 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when I, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do I think I will escape God’s judgment? 4 I actually show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead me to repentance!
When I judge others, I’m digging my own hole!
Oh man, does this mean I’m not supposed to point out sin when I see it? Sometimes it probably does. I believe God will point out people’s sin; my job is to love them. Sure there are times… but mostly… not.
But in verse 2:4 we get the sense that it’s not our condemnation that leads others to repentance, but our kindness and love. could it be that in or zeal to warn people of their sin, we have actually been “lovingly” applying the Cane, rather than the carrot of Christs love? and in so doing, turning that “love” into a mockery of what Christ intended?
I’m about to get in trouble…
It seems that sin was never as big a deal to Jesus as it seems to be for us. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t care about sin, of course He does, it’s that He care more about something else. How else can we make sense of His response to the woman caught in adultery?
“Where are your accusers? Gone! Neither then do I condemn you, go now and sin no more.” John 8:11
As believers, we are all in the school of Christ. Some of us are preschoolers, some of us middle school, high school, college, masters, Doctoral programs… we are all in different grades learning different things. God teaches us things as we need them and shows us things about ourselves as we can hear them. I don’t know where you are on this thing or that… I don’t have too. When I teach the the Bible, I know that some of you will get every little drop, others will get one drop but it will stick and make way for something else and something more later. I’m OK with that.
I don’t worry about making sure you are at the same level. Even with regard to sin in your life. Do I care that some of you might be struggling with this or that – absolutely, but I know that you are in good hands. God will put his finger on your sin just like he does mine and I trust you to do what I have to do… say, “Yes Lord, I hear you and I agree with you about that.” I need to see sin differently before I’ll ever walk away from it. It’s too strong for me until I realize what it really is and how weak it really is. That comes by Revelation from God, not constant reminder by man.
If Not Me, Then Who?
So who is going to tell gay people or anyone for that matter that they are in sin if not me?
I’m going to let God do it. When God wants to, in His time, and in His way. I’m going to worry about what He is telling me about my sin and what I need to do about it.
You know the amazing thing about sin; God doesn’t even count it as sin against you until you understand that its sin. We are responsible for following Gods law that is written on our hearts and what of his word he has reveled to us. That doesn’t just mean I read it in the bible so now I know it’s a sin, It means I read it in the bible and I knew it was God speaking to me. The Holy Spirit stirred my heart and I knew that God, in his love, has called me away from something to something else that will be the beginning of more life for me. I CAN’T DO THAT IN SOMEONE ELSE’S HEART! Only God can.
Years ago, my wife’s became very close friends with her new choir accompanist. Her friend knew her for 3 years before she got up enough nerve to tell her she was a lesbian. She finally told her because she the law of integrity, honesty, that was written on her heart pulled her to be honest with her friend, even though she was sure that it would mean the end of her friend ship with Jennifer (Because Jennifer, a strong Christian couldn’t possibly be a friend with her once she knew the truth). In fact Jennifer turned out to the first “Christian” who had not rejected her after finding out – ever! Even her own parents had disowned her! This woman was 40 years old and only one Christian had not outright condemned and rejected her.
40 years old, and in all that time, only one Christian that she had ever met had not cast judgment on her and rejected her. See the problem?
I’m not called to tell certain people about how bad their sin is. In fact, it appears from Romans 2 that even in regard to homosexuality, I’m to be very careful not to judge people, but to let God deal with their sin. I’m called to love them.
How do I feel when someone points a finger at my sin and calls it the worst, when I know in my heart that my sin is not even as bad as theirs? 😉 And in fact it could be asserted that, according to this passage, judging others is even worse than the sin itself!??
One more point on this vein. How often do you need anyone to tell you when you are sinning? Not very often right? Most of us know in our hearts when we have sinned against another person or God. (Let’s leave the reprobate, conscience seared people out of this since they are way down the list of sins in Romans 1… near the bottom). Do you really think, that any single homosexual person in the entire world has not had someone already make it abundantly clear that not just their behavior, but their very existence as someone with an abnormal attraction to the same sex is not themselves the embodiment of horrible sin? Trust me, they’ve been told over and over and over again by people. The funny thing is, I don’t think God is nearly as freaked out by it as we are.
The last thing I need to worry about is making sure a gay person knows they are a sinner. Duh, I think they know that. If not the sexual sin, then pick a few others from the list in Romans One. And they already know. What they don’t know, because they can’t even hear our words when our actions speak so clearly to the contrary, is that God loves them desperately, hopelessly, un-conditionally and even in their exact gay state of existence.
Corinthians says “Love covers a multitude of sins”. Can it even cover the 28 sins in Romans 1? All of them? All of them!!!??? Yes, I think so!
We have given up our right to speak into their lives by looking, sounding and acting nothing like God or His written and unwritten laws to them. We say “God loves you so much but He is going to send you to hell because you are gay”. They hear Satan like hate, judgment, and hypocritical graceless condemnation. I know, because I’m not gay, and that is pretty much all I hear from a lot of Christians myself!
Again, note also that for those who don’t know Jesus, their sin… if they are not being convicted by the Holy Spirit, is not even sin for them, so why is it the most important sin for me to worry about in their lives? How can that be?
Hold On, There Are Other Verses That Say Differently!
I know… there are a few other verses in the New Testament that prove I have no idea what I’m talking about… I’ve barely looked at them… but let’s take a gander anyway.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Lawsuits Among Believers
6 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? 2 Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Sexual Immorality
2 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[c]
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Here again, in context… its’ on a list of lots of sins, twelve sins, of which it is only one of. It’s worse than some are to me personally because it’s in our own body, but it’s not as bad as some others that directly affect people around me and are thus two sins in one! 😉 Like swindlers, slanderers, greedy, cheating, even against our own brothers and sisters. Here it’s in the middle of the pack, but it is alongside sexual immorality and adultery and then dealt with the same as those in the following verses about why sexual sin is worse for us personally than sins that are outside the body. (That doesn’t mean that our outside sins have no effect on others… so it’s not like they are ok to do! It’s just that we personally get more negative results in our own lives from sexual sins).
Neither…
cheaters
do wronger’s, to your own brothers and sisters. 9
wrong doers (to anyone)
sexually immoral
idolaters
adulterers
men who have sex with men[a] 10
thieves
greedy
drunkards
slanderers
swindlers
…will inherit the kingdom of God.
The reason to avoid sexual immorality, of all kinds, heterosexual or homosexual, is really this:
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
It’s not so much because one is really somehow intrinsically worse than the other.
Sweeping Across the Land
A few years ago the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for states to keep gays from getting married.
Some of my Christian friends are happy, some are distraught, some are even angry. Many people added rainbows to their Facebook pic in support of the decision. I’ve even seen friends get in to public “shame” slinging from opposite sides of the spectrum. (for which I feel a little ashamed of them for because, as Christians, we should tackle such matters personally and not in the public square that Facebook has become).
I’m not wanting to add a rainbow to my pic to support homosexuality because it seems a bit too ironic to me. For some 6 thousand years, the rainbow has been the symbol of God’s promise to never again destroy mankind for its wholesale slide into deep moral depravity and evil (rape, violence, all manner of sexual sin and generally horrible monsters to each other sort of sin), via a massive flood. To have this symbol of God’s promise co-opted as the symbol of homosexuality, while I get why the like it, and it might even be appropriate from the standpoint that His grace and love is certainly meant for all people, no matter where they are of the spectrum of sexuality, could be taken as a purposeful affront to the One person who died to make that message of the rainbow possible, Jesus. Why? Because taking any sin, of any level of severity and waving a flag of forgiveness over it, as an act of pride is not how I would want to treat any sin in my life and I certainly don’t want to make is appear that God’s love for me or Christs blood that is shed for me would in anyway be construed as His endorsement of my sin. It’s ironic, it’s tragic and it’s extremely dangerous!
Hebrews 10 says, and I’ll clarify, that this is not written to homosexuals or any other particular sinner or in fact to any non-Christians! It’s written to believers. It’s written to me!
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:26-31
If I don’t live my life as the dispenser of forgiveness, I should be terrified of what I’m storing up for myself!
Christians so often make the mistake of taking all the verses and promises and consequences of their own sin, and applying it to people who have no relationship with God. And while it’s true that God’s truth is certainly true for all mankind, there are some things that God does and says that are intended for and only apply to those who choose to follow Him. yes, we can invite everyone to come follow Him, but until they do, WE are the people that many of these passages directly apply to, not them.
The Holiness of Free Choice.
Christ died to forgive our sins and to ultimately give us a way to have a choice between obedience and sin, life and death. Without his death, we would be captive to our sins, in a very real way, Christ died so that I would have the free will. If free will and the right and ability to make a hopefully right choice is so important that Christ died to provide it to me and everyone on the planet in all time… who in the world do I think I am to try to take that free will away from someone else? How Christ like is that? As a Christian, and as an American Christian I am compelled by His example to stand up and say… “I don’t choose your choice, I don’t think it’s best for you, it’s not what I want for you, but I will defend and fight for your right to make your choice as though it were my own. And while I will not cover my face with a rainbow to support you, I will stand under God’s rainbow of grace with you.
Legislation of MY morality is good, Legislation of YOUR morality is bad.
I find it ironic that some Christians have trouble separating their personal faith and freedom for the personal faith and freedom of someone else.
As a believer, I’ve been granted freedom. Complete, utter, no strings attached freedom to follow God, if I want to, or not. I don’t have to, but finally I can if I want to. In fact, in this country and in this time, I have more freedom to do so than perhaps any person in any time or place has in the world. This country was founded on the Judeo-Christian idea that God created all men equal and inherently free. And while slavery had been historically accepted, to some degree into various Judeo-Christian cultures throughout history, it is also true that the seeds and vision of its demise spring from these same Judeo-Christian ideals too. God set Israel free from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Jesus came to set all captives and slaves free… not by force of might (though the bible says that day will come too) but by force of idea. It could be argued that even with our horrible history of enslavement, the idea of “freedom” was stronger still and it ultimately won out because our idea of freedom was given to us from God and once we finally really get it, and then finally realize it’s the same for everyone, because God created and loves everyone, this greater idea finally sloughs off, pushes out, or outright violently throws out slavery in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.
What made this country so great is the idea that all of us are entitle to the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as everyone else here. The idea that regardless of economic resources, social status, political position or most importantly religious beliefs, we are all entitled by law to be treated equally, because God made us all and gave us all the mind and free will to determine our own destiny. It’s so intrinsic to our country that it is not just written in easily changed laws, which certainly can have a bit of vacillation over time, but it is written in our nation’s bedrock, the Constitution. In a way, the ideals and principals in the constitution are the sounding board, or the testing wall that we use to help keep laws, and hopefully politicians from running amok. If you throw a law against the wall of the constitution and it sticks because it resonates with its ideas, then you could surmise that they are probably pretty good laws. On the other hand if it bounces off with a dissonant clan…. If it doesn’t ring true to the spirit of the idea, then you can surmise that there is probably a problem with the law.
Some Christians are upset that the Supreme Court just ruled that all the laws in all the states that forbid homosexual marriage clang and fall off when they come into contact with the constitution that is supposed to ensure equality and freedom for ALL men and women in the country. We should all be saying great! The inequity of treating gays differently than I would want myself to be treated is un-Christ like. It only hurts us all to treat some of us worse than others, no matter what our personal beliefs are on the issue.
We’ve grown up in a land that was founded by people where were largely men of great faith who were repulsed by the state or king forcing it’s faith upon them. They wanted a county that ensured the liberty to pursue faith on our own terms, each of us, personally. They took great care to design a government that had no power to dictate a particular religion to its people and to server its people rather than lord it over them. We’ve had the luxury of living in a predominantly christen country that has a legal system that draws many of its roots form biblical ideas. But there is a difference between a country that is influenced by and one that is dictated by the morality and beliefs of its majority religion. I can want my fellow citizen to agree with my opinion on how everyone should live their life, I can talk to them about it if they are interested or gracious enough to hear me out when they don’t want to listen, but I cannot, nor can my religion dictate to them what they must believe, how they must live or how they must believe in or follow God. And thank God that I can’t! Because that would be a disaster for this great country!
It’s easy to confuse this the realization that many of the ideas and things that have made America so great and exceptional are founded and sourced in the God, faith and the moral foundations that we as a nation have benefited from in the bible with this nation being a Christian nation. Or the fact that with about 80% of the nation having some sort of belief in God, and a solid majority of American’s claiming to be “Christian” does not make the Christian religion, it’s teachings, it’s definitions and it’s values somehow “required” for every other citizen in the nation. In fact, the more Christ like our nation, the more we should be insistent that no one is “required” to follow Christ!
The nation has largely shrugged off the notion that homosexuality is inherently sinful. That homosexual marriage is inherently sinful. That many things like promiscuity is inherently sinful. You or I may not agree. The Bible might well be very clear on these and other topics, but that doesn’t mean that we have the right to force everyone to abide by my/your or even Biblical definitions or morals. In this country we don’t have that right. Those outside of a relationship with God, are in no way obligated to abide by God’s law. Yes, it would be in their best interests to know Him, and follow Him, but even God does not require that of people. Who Am I to do so? And we should be just as protective of others rights to not follow our convictions as we are of ours to be able to follow them.
Some would argue that we as a culture come to a common agreement on what is “morally” acceptable. When this was a predominantly Christian nation, it was pretty easy to agree. We are not one anymore so we are finding a new measure of agreement as a country. One in which the teachings of the bible are of less weight, no weight or even repulsed by a large portion of our citizen’s.
Popularity does not make right, but nor did it prove Christians right in treating anyone as second class or without the same rights as they enjoyed when they held a solid, unquestioned majority. What is right is respect, love, freedom and equality for all – period. And we as followers of Christ, who embodies and championed this idea, even for people that had not chosen to follow Him, to die for people who had not chosen to follow Him and might never choose to follow Him, We should be the loudest voices in demanding love, respect, freedom and equality for all. Period.
The definition is changing because the majority of Americans, Christian and otherwise sense, at a heart level, at a word of God written on their hearts level, the inequity of the situation and agree it should change.
It’s not that I was saved so that I could tell everyone else how to live and force them to do what I say because it’s best for them. Its that I was saved to come out of the world and live my life according to the law of love and to have freedom from anything that might entangle me. I’m not called to condemn the world but to be a light to everyone in it. To be a beacon of life/by dispensing Gods love. I can’t shine death and expect people to gather around.
As a little side, but related argument, here is an article on MSN that talking about same sex marriage and the push by the left to have the government remove tax example status from conservative religious colleges. One of the things is mentions is that
“Many conservatives fear they will become pariahs, and objects of discrimination themselves.”
Which should just show them exactly why it wrong to do the same thing to homosexual people currently. Duh!
Tough Love = True Love?
Some might say that what I’m proposing, we’ll really what Paul is proposing, is just being soft on sin. Accommodating sin rather than calling it out so that people can deal with it and have their lives changed and redeemed. What we need is not more soft, warm and fuzzy, “God loves everyone no matter what they do” lies from the devil, but more tough love! If we knew that we were on a sinking ship, would we, shouldn’t we run around warning everyone we could to abandon ship and pile into the life raft that God has provided? If we didn’t, wouldn’t that be a moral sin? Don’t we need to tell everyone where they are sinning, so that they don’t go to hell for eternity, not to mention having that on our own conscience? Even more to the point, doesn’t the bible always combine forgiveness of sins with being first contingent on repentance of our sin? Like in…
Luke 24:46-47 “46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the [a]Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance [b]for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed [c]in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
Acts 3:19 “ Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
To be sure I’m all for repentance of sin in order to receive forgiveness for sin. But I think love sometimes plays outside the box that we tend to try to keep it in. By this I mean that just as those who have not come to know Christ, or recognize Him as their Lord, are living by a different sent of rules, (the Law of God written on their hearts), they are also not bound by our understanding of the 1:1 relationship of repentance to gain forgiveness. They are not accountable for what God himself has not revealed to them as sin yet.
In fact, you may not realize, but the idea that forgiveness of sins is always and must always be coupled, and preceeded by repentance, is not the whole picture of how forgiveness works. Have you ever forgiven someone for something that they are not aware of having done to hurt or offend you? Did you insisit that they come to you and repent and ask for your forgiveness? I have. And I can tell you that unless you have and regularly do, you are missing out on more than a part of God’s attitude toward forgiveness – You’re missing the very heart of God towards forgiveness!
We can insist that God is just, that He has to know we are repentant before He will or maybe even can forgive us… but… It seems God behaves and thinks differently! Remember Romans 2:4 at the beginning of this post?
Rom 2:4 “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
Look closely at that… it’s backwards! God’s kindness, forbearance and patience is not the result of our repentance. It is the cause of our repentance! Repentance is birthed out of His love and care for us. And strangely enough, I forgive those who I love. I show kindness and patience and forgiveness to those I care about. Is that only me? could it be that God is the same way?
As we’ll see in a moment, forgiveness might be obtained in more ways than “repentance first”, even within the New Testament teaching.
I agree that we need tough love, but my definition of tough love in this case is the kind of love that is better described as power grace. A love that is so powerful and driven that we just can’t help but to run around the deck letting everyone know that they are loved, forgiven and valued by us and by God. Admittedly this is a much tougher love to have for and give to others, but it seem to be exactly the sort of tough love that Paul is calling for here.
As to the charge that I’m being overly forgiving, even of people who have not asked for forgiveness or repented of the sins that I know they are committing, even if they themselves are unaware, my only defense is to say “Dear Lord, I hope you are right!” I hope that when I stand before Jesus He will say, “Bruce, you were very forgiving to everyone you came across! In fact, you might even have taken things too far! You even forgave some people that didn’t want to be forgiven, that didn’t ask to be forgiven and had no intention of changing their ways or turning from their sing. And yet you forgave them… but I’ll tell you what… I was so hoping you would do that! Because that is exactly what I did when I gave up my life for them and asked the Father to forgive them. So, since freely given forgiveness, I’ve got your back on this. I’ll make it happen somehow.
Wait, what? Is that even possible? I’m not sure, you tell me?
John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
1 Corinthians 7:14 “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.”
Hummm, I guess it just might be. If we are commanded to be the “hands, arms, eyes and mouths” of Christ, the Body of Christ – to touch, love and forgive people in His name and with His granted authority, and we are to dispense it as freely as possible, it seems like I would much rather error on the side of having forgiven too many people, than to have with held it from… anyone! Wouldn’t you? John 20:23 doesn’t say, “Be sure that they repent first!” or “Make sure that they know about their sin before you forgive them!” We can assume that we must… but it’s not there and oddly it even goes against something Jesus Himself does.
Remember this passage from the beginning of this post?
“Where are your accusers? Gone! Neither then do I condemn you, go now and sin no more.” John 8:11
This woman was caught in the very act of adultery, she was in context a believer so she is aware of and accountable to obey the Law of Moses (unlike non-believers) and yet when Jesus talks with her, what He does is remarkable. Notice that she didn’t ask for forgiveness. To be sure she must have been ashamed and humiliated, but she did not “repent and ask for forgiveness” She sat in the dirt and waited. fully aware of her guilt and sin. She didn’t need Jesus to remind her. She didn’t need Jesus to make sure she new that she deserved to die and go to hell. What she needed was something no one else was willing to to give. Jesus gave her grace. Unmerited favor. He gave her love and forgiveness. Not strings. No prerequisite repentance, not correct theology, no promise of turning from her wayward ways. He just gave her the one that she desperately needed. Free. Afterwards, He told her to not sin anymore.
My point is that the forgiveness of sins is not a formula of “repentance first in order to obtain forgiveness” and only in that order. In this case forgiveness came first! Holy Cow! (I can say “Holy Cow” here because it’s my blog! and while I may offend a person of the Hindu faith, I confident that I will not offend any cows! 😉 Repentance is powerful. It’s vital. But repentance is not the power of forgiveness or it’s un-locking mechanism. Forgiveness is the actually the POWER behind repentance. It’s not just in this passage that we find Gods willingness to let forgiveness stretch out ahead of repentance.
He delights in mercy – Micah 7:18-19 (Not about repentance/forgiveness, but just a generally good thing to understand about God – He LOVES and takes delight in forgiving!)
Sheep and goats – Matthew 25:31-46
“Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
– Luke 7:47-48
In Luke 7:47-48 we see that is that this woman who lived a sinful life was kissing and anointing Jesus feet with expensive perfume. Jesus forgave her not on the basis of her “repentance” but on the basis of her great love! Somehow, in the middle of her many sins, she was greatly following the Law of Love and Jesus counted that as enough for Him to forgive her! Repentance was not even part of the conversion.
If you’ve ever wondered why the world is so negative, distrustful, and even down right hateful of Christians, it is largely due to this disparity between what Christians say, “Repent or go to hell” you are a sinner and must repent, but they know that they are living their life with as much “love” as they can. Their heart defends them and at the same time condemns us.
Because of this, people will not be willing or able to hear our “law” until we have validated ourselves by being obviously following the one law they do know… the one written on their hearts… the law of love. Until we are “authenticated” by God’s own law that lives within their hearts, we will have no say in their lives. Again, what they need to know is not how guilty they are, or how they are not following OUR more detailed understanding of the Law that Jesus and the apostles wrote, (which still all fits within the basic Law of Love), But that we are actually true a emissary of the writer of the Law that lives within them! In other words, we don’t get to validate or tell them about anything until we have been recognized and validated by their heart. They get to validate us, not the other way around.
If I’m raising children, there may be times when tough love is appropriate and needed. When I’m giving out forgiveness to people, they need something more powerful than a little love, more powerful than tough love. They need grace. They need forgiveness. And they need it not just one time. Not seven times. The need it every time. How do I know that is what they need? Because I know it’s what I need. And I need it desperately and I’m already trying to follow Jesus and be a passable Christian. Remember when I mentioned that Corinthians says….
“Love covers a multitude of sins”. “Can it even cover the 28 sins in Romans 1? All of them?” Yes, I think it can!
Bruce Searl, BarelyChristian.net
Perhaps the answer to this question has more to do with how much am I personally willing to extend forgiveness and love. Is MY love, the love that I see Christ offering me, that I am charged to love others with in turn, Is MY love powerful enough? Is MY love “tough” enough to cover all 28, and even more of those sins? I pray that it is! Not just for their sake, but for my own sake as well!
Ultimately, I just hope I’ll be Barely Christian enough to always give everyone what they need most – Love & Forgiveness. I hope you will be too.
