It is no news that there are many people in the United States who claim the title “christian”. In person, on t.v., on the internet, etc. the spinelessness of many “christians” is evident. It is frustrating to see, but it is inevitable and will continue to happen.
Lately I’ve seen a colossal contradiction: individuals who label themselves “christians”, but try to justify sin. This is a great example of the manifestation of self-centeredness in the human heart. When we try to justify sin, it is like saying,” I got this! I don’t need you, God! I can do this on my own!”. We continually try to nullify the magnitude of our sin. We must realize how greatly we offend God with our sin and just how big of a deal our sin is. And when we try to say that specific things are not sins, especially ones that are clearly stated in the Bible as perversions of God’s plans and purposes for our lives, we are knowingly and actively rebelling against God and His intentions for our lives.
Throughout the Scriptures, Satan is often described through hypocatastasis as a serpent. He is referred to as a “twisting serpent” as well as a “Leviathan” in Isiah. A Leviathan was known in ancient cultures as a menacing beast of a sea creature. Leviathan is a transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning “twisted” or “coiled”. This is exactly what Satan does throughout the Scriptures; he twists and perverts words from Scripture. A very common example of this can be found in Matthew when Jesus is in the desert. Satan recites Scripture, twisting its meaning. At one point, he recites Psalm 91:11-12 and says that Jesus could jump from off of the temple and angels would protect Him. Ironically, Satan even leaves out verse 13 that says God tramples the serpent underfoot.
Anyway, my point here is that the very nature of Satan is to twist and pervert the Scriptures and that this is what we do if we try to justify sin. Some people I know refuse to think that some things that people choose to do, to God, are considered sins. Now, we must remember that it is very clear in the Scriptures that sin is not merely “doing bad things”. It’s much more than that. In the famous parable of “the prodigal son” (or better yet, the parable of “the two lost sons”), which is found in Luke 15, the elder brother ends up being just as lost as the younger brother. Now, the elder brother always did “good” and never disobeyed the father, but he was still lost like the younger brother was (you can read more into this in The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller). Once again, it is clear that sin is more than “doing bad things” because the elder brother had never done “bad things” yet he was more or less living in sin. When we sin, we step out from under the authority of God and turn our backs to Him. We rebel and claim that we know better than Him, that we don’t need Him, and (like the younger brother) that we wish Him dead. We do this when try to justify sin. It’s nonsense because sin is not justifiable. People try to say “well (specific thing) is not bad”. But it is more than that. Attempting to justify any given sin is an unveiling of a sinfully self-centered heart. If we can’t understand why something is a sin, we must look past the “it’s just bad” explanation or even the “because it says so in the Bible” explanation. Ask yourself “why?”. Sins are things that separate us from God’s intentions for our lives. The danger of some sins is that they look so innocent. We say “oh, how can this be bad?”. That’s an attempt to justify it. Just because someone cannot see the “wrong” in a particular sin, doesn’t make what they are doing right or justified.
Earlier, I stated that Christians are being “spineless”. I see this when a non-Christian states a particular action or idea, and claim that it is not “bad” or something along those lines and state a reason why. They are testing the Christian not unlike how Jesus was constantly tested. In response, some “christians” give in and say that that particular thing is not really “bad” or “sinful”. This is a justification of sin. You must accept the Bible as a whole. You cannot label some sins as “sin” and other sins as “not sin” just because you think that some things are “bad” and other things are "not bad”. Look deeper into the texts. Was Adam and Eve eating from the tree just a “bad” thing? It was much more than that. In doing so, they were saying that they didn’t need God and that they knew better than Him. They stepped out from under the authority of God. Since when do we ever know more than God? How ridiculous is this justification of sin and rebellion against God? It’s nonsense!
If you are struggling with why something in particular is a sin, pray about it and really study the Scriptures on why it really is a sin. Examine the root of the sin. Try to understand why this thing separates you from God. Understand that it is a big deal; don’t shrug it off and undermine the severity of it in an attempt to justify it. Understand that God has plans and purposes for your life that are much bigger than the sin you struggle with. Understand that whatever the sin is, Jesus took on that burden on the cross and that He alone has the power to overcome our brokenness. Amen.
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