Chapter Seven - Sin
What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God's law. Sin is going against God's law, His commandments. Paul says in Rom. 7:7 that he would not have known what sin was except through the law. The law not only defines sin, but acts as a catalyst, provoking the precise sinful reactions that it forbids and condemns.[i] In itself, the law, which brings us to know the reality of sin in our moral and spiritual system[ii] "holy and just and good" (v12). In other words , the problem is not the law but rather the fallen human heart that takes the law and uses it to increase sin. The law is a faithful revelation of what is right or wrong and does not lose its validity to measure and direct our moral behavior, although its commands lack the power in themselves to produce the obedience that the law rightfully demands.[iii] Paul says it was the sin in him that became the cause of his spiritual death by leading him to break God's good law. Sin is doing something unrighteous. Sin is knowing better but doing otherwise. Sin is lawlessness. "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4) and in v.8, "He who sins is of the devil." One cannot say "The devil made me do it" because he who takes up the whole armor of God is able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:10-17). "Resist the devil and he will flee from you"(James 4:7). Sin is nothing more than failure to trust in God. It is an act or state of unbelief, and an assertion of autonomy. For example, life in the garden of Eden is represented as a banquet table where Adam and Eve chose autonomy. Sin manifests itself in both doing what God has forbidden and failing to do what he has commanded. True religion consists of communion with God based on trust. And genuine trust bears fruit in obedience. Jesus tells us in John 14:15 that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. The proof of love for Christ is not an oral profession but living obedience, just as Israel was to demonstrate love for the Lord by allegiance to His commands. Moses tells Israel that the Lord our God is one. He tells the Israelites that they should love the Lord their God with all of their heart and with all of their soul and with all of their strength. Moses says that His commands shall be in their hearts. They should teach them diligently to their children and they should talk about them when they sit in their houses, while they are walking, when they lay down, and when they rise up. He tells them to bind them as a sign on their hand and they shall be as frontlets between their eyes. They shall write them on the doorposts of their house and on their gates. The emphasis is on the overall importance of God's commands. Jews since before the time of Christ have taken these verses literally and tied little boxes containing these verses on their arms and foreheads and fastened them on their doorposts.
Those who committed a sin and were put to death were to be hung from a tree, but they were not to remain there overnight because that would defile the land "for who is hanged is accursed by God" (Deut. 21:22-23). Paul explains to the Galatians that Christ redeemed us from the curse imposed by the miscellaneous law in Deuteronomy. (It is important to note that hanging as a method of execution is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The bodies were already dead and were displayed hanging from a tree or as in 1 Sam. 31:10 where the Philistines fastened the headless body of Saul to a wall). Paul tells them no one is justified by the law which provokes the question: "What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator" (Gal. 3:19).[iv]
Transgression and rebellion
The law was added because of transgressions. Transgression, from "transgress," to pass over or beyond; to overpass, as any rule prescribed as the limit of duty; to break or violate, as a law, civil or moral; the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or know principle of rectitude (rightness of principle); breach of command; offence; crime; sin. In the Old Testament, pesha' occurs 80 times, rendered in all versions by "transgression". Its meaning is "rebellion". From 132 to 135 CE, Jewish rebel Bar Cochba or Kochba[v], led the second Jewish revolt.[vi] He claimed to be "the Messiah, minted new coins with the number one on them, declaring that in him God's kingdom had finally come into the world."[vii]The word “rebellion” differs from "transgression" in that it may be in the heart, though no opportunity should be granted for its manifestation: “An evil man seeketh only rebellion” (Prov 17:11). Here the wise man contemplates an evil heart, looking for an excuse or opportunity to rebel. The New Testament uses "transgressions" (παραβάσεων) and in the Greek Interlinear New Testament reads: "....transgressions for the sake of it was added, until - should come the seed to whom it has been promised."[viii] Worth noting is where there is no law, neither is there transgression. This is found in Rom. 4:15. Paul is simply saying that the law came 430 years after the promise to Abraham, the promise through faith, the promise did not come from the law. For those under the law instead of faith, "…faith is made void and the promise made no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression" (Rom. 4:13-15). The author of Hebrews clarifies this further with, "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance" (Heb. 9:15). Christ cleanses our conscience from dead works, works of the law that are useless for justification, and from sinful deeds that deserve the covenant curse of His death.
Unrighteousness
"All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death" (1 John 5:17). John tells us that there is sin that leads to death and sin that does not lead to death. The sin that leads to death is the sin of blasphemy found in Matt. 12:31, "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men." Other sin leading to death could result from the stubborn refusal to accept the message of the gospel which is the end-time sin of apostasy in following the teaching of the antichrists. 1 John 1:8 reflects, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Sinful acts arise out of the sinful condition that we inherit in Adam (cf. Rom. 5:12-21). Though Christ has paid the penalty of sin for His people, forgiven them, and made them part of a new creation, and though He enables them to grow in godliness, they never become perfectly righteous in this life. Consequently, they continue to battle their fallenness until they are completely sanctified at the end of the age. By denying that one continues to feel the effects of one's fallenness and still breaks Gods law is deceitful and falsely implies that there is jot need of Christ's sacrificial death for post conversion sins.
Actual Sin and Original Sin
Theologians like to attach names for different concepts to help man use God's word in ways and terms more easily understood. While this is good when proper, it is always more important to allow His Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and minds about what His word has to reveal at any given time and place. In addition, most Protestants believe sin is sin regardless of degree while Catholics in particular make distinctions of sin by degree and gravity. However, even Pope Saint John Paul II writes, “In other words, there is no sin, not even the most intimate and secret one, the most strictly individual one, that exclusively concerns the person committing it. With greater or lesser violence, with greater or lesser harm, every sin has repercussions on the entire ecclesial body and the whole human family.” [Reconciliation and Penance 16][ix]
Perhaps sin should be viewed by species. With that in mind, sin can be divided into actual and original. Original sin is the morally vitiated condition in which one finds oneself at birth as a member of a fallen race. The concept of original sin is complex and for that I include it later in this writing.
Actual Sin
Actual sin is actually any other sin outside Original Sin but can be sub-divided into four general areas where variously named sins flow in and from each of these areas: mortal, venial, material, and formal.
Mortal Sin
In Roman Catholic theology, mortal sin also called cardinal sin is the gravest of sins. Mortal sin is not only a deliberate turning away from God like most sin but is a grave matter that cuts the sinner off from God's sanctifying grace. Any sin is a turning away from God and to declare that murder turns us further away from God than does stealing is not supported by Scripture. Moreover, to suggest that masturbation is as egregious as rape or divorce is further justification to consider sin by species rather than by degree or gravity. Rom. 6:23 tells us that, "…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord'. No sin is greater or more deadly than another. Since death is an effect of sin, what sin passed on death? The one first sin of disobedience, not murder, rape or any mortal sin, passed on death. "The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation…" (Rom. 5:16). The Bible tells us that God's grace is abundant, and He is faithful to forgive.
Venial Sin
Like any other sin, venial sin is a turning away from God, but venial sin involves less severe matters and is committed with less self-awareness of wrongdoing. In this regard, it is also less of a turning away from God than it is a weakened union; therefore, it is with less loss of sanctifying grace. If this all sounds like the lessening of a definition for this species of sin, that is because it is removed from the earlier statement that sin is sin and that perhaps sin should be viewed by species rather than degree. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes that one commits venial sin when, “in a less serious matter [than mortal sin], he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law”[x] In other words, if one does something immoral but the matter is not serious enough to be gravely immoral, he commits only venial sin. An example of a venial sin might be hatred of a neighbor or abusive language. Knowledge is necessary for venial sin.[xi]
Material Sin
Also referred to as objective sin, material sin consists of an act that is wrong in itself, but the sinner does not know it to be wrong. "An act can be an objective sin, without also being an actual sin. For example, a non-Catholic couple might use contraception in their marriage without knowing that it is sinful. An objective sin is still properly called sin, because, in truth before the eyes of God, that choice is to some extent, in some way, incompatible with the threefold love of God, neighbor, self. When a human person commits an objective sin, without knowing that it is immoral, or without any freedom of choice, [then]sic act is not an actual sin. Only actual sin includes guilt before God."[xii] Material sin is committed unknowingly.
Formal Sin
Formal sin is both wrong in itself and known by the sinner to be wrong. "Formal cooperation in evil is always wrong. It occurs when someone intentionally helps another person carry out a sinful act. For example, a doctor who prescribes contraceptives intends that his patient use them, and thus cooperates formally in the patient's acts."[xiii]
Seven Deadly Sins
Seven deadly sins or seven capital sins in Roman Catholic theology as identified by Pope Gregory I[xiv] in the late 6th century, include vainglory or pride, greed or covetousness, lust or inordinate or illicit sexual desire, envy, gluttony or drunkenness, wrath or anger, and sloth. The seven deadly sins are not listed in the Bible as the "seven deadly sins", but the specific sin or concept of that sin is included in the Bible. Isa. 14:13-14 tells us pride and selfishness are related to each of the seven and are viewed as the root causes of all sin. "These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren" (Prov. 6:16-19). Gal. 5:19-21 adds a few more sins of which to be aware: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
The seven deadly sins can be offset by the seven corresponding virtues. Pride or vainglory can be overcome with humility and meekness; Greed or covetousness with generosity or kindness; Lust or inordinate or illicit sexual desire with love and unselfishness; Envy with love, joy and compassion; Gluttony and drunkenness with self-control and discernment; Wrath with peace and gentleness; and Sloth with perseverance and servanthood.
Sins of Intermarriage
Intermarriage sin was only sinful as detailed by Ezra and Nehemiah. Some of the Jewish leaders approached Ezra regarding the problem of intermarriage with various non-Jewish peoples (Ezra 9:1). It is important to note that Scripture never forbids mixed-race marriages. Moses was an Israelite and his wife Zipporah was a Midianite, and Midianites were traditionally also identified as Ishmaelites. Think of a current day marriage between a Jew and an Arab. In the days of old, the Jews were intermarrying with the Ashdodites, Ammonites, and Moabites - and the Jews were so influenced by their pagan ways and practices that half of Judah could not speak the Hebrew language. There is no evidence that God was displeased with the relationship between Moses and Zipporah (Ex. 2:16-22). The issue was not between race but rather keeping the Jew's free from the abominations - the false moral and religious beliefs and practices - of the Midianites/Ishmaelites and others of pagan beliefs. The Ishmaelites associated with the Edomites, Moabites, and Hagrites (Ps. 83:6). Ruth the Moabite married Boaz the Judahite and Moabites were ordinally forbidden to marry a Jew (they could not enter the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:3). Again, the sin is not about the intermarriage between race or culture but rather the intermarriage with impenitent pagans, those who do not feel shame or regret about one's actions or beliefs. Although marriage is a sacred relationship initiated by God for all of humankind (Gen. 2:18), the Bible does not set it forth only for Christians (cf. Heb. 13:4), otherwise, there could never be pagan-on-pagan marriages. The Roman Catholic Church does not recognize that sort of union because it is not considered a "sacramental marriage" in line with the Catholic "church sacrament" theology. Additionally, the postexilic Israelite community (around 458 BCE) was not learning from the lessons of the exile and return period (roughly 641 - 458 BCE).
Shecaniah, the head of a family that returned with Ezra from Babylon (Ezra 8:3) and who married a foreigner (unbeliever) and repented, proposed a covenant to divorce foreign wives (Ezra 10:2-4) and many in the community were consequently divorced. Repentance is a change of action, in this case, a turning away from entering a wrong relationship which meant severing the union.[xv] However, Paul in 1 Cor. 7:12-16 advises not to divorce unbelievers; and in Mal. 2:16: "I hate divorce," says the Lord. Yet "…Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances" (Ezra 7:10). Therefore, there is no justification to suggest a contradiction or misunderstanding. Consider the era in which these divorces occurred. The only special revelation Ezra and the postexilic community had was the Old Testament, particularly the Mosaic law. While the law warns the Jews not to marry pagans, it does not explain what to do if such marriages occurred (Ezra 10:1-3; see Deut. 24:1-4). However, the law does address the conduct of non-Jews (in this case, the pagan spouses and children) in the promised land. That is, foreigners were not required to adopt the entire Mosaic law, but they had to refrain from its capital crimes. For example, divination and child sacrifice required capital punishment under the Mosaic law for pagans and Israelites alike. For such impenitent sins and other, the pagans were to be executed or driven form the land (Lev. 18; Deut. 13; 18:9-14). The Jews tried to obey the law by divorcing themselves from their pagan wives. Ezra's and Shecaniah's hearts seemed to be set on following the Mosaic las inasmuch as they were able in their day. In addition, God hates divorce and the divine ideal was established in the Garden of Eden marriage covenant, but divorce was authorized under the law in Deut. 24:1. Divorce is not always a sin, but divorces are always a result of sin.
Sins of Omission
Sins of omission are committed by the commission of sin. In other words, failing to do what is right or as instructed, such as omitting prayer or omitting care for the needy, are among the many sins of omission. James 4:17 tells us "therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." Sins of omission strip us of the blessings from God. For example, the apostle Peter walked on water when Jesus invited Peter to join Him on the waves. Even though Peter eventually sank after taking his eyes off of Jesus, he had the courage and faith to get out of the boat to meet his lord. Peter experienced a miracle where the other disciples, in fear, stayed on the boat (Matt. 14). Sins of omission may result out of fear, pride, or similar other sins that prevent us from answering God's calling. It is this disobedience and turning away from God that can lead us into the sins of omission.
David
King David committed the sin of omission of kingly duties when he stayed home while his generals went off to war. With this sin of omission his lust for Bathsheba led to the further commission of sin by adultery and murder.
Jeremiah
Jer. 2:13 provides a good example of the sin of omission. Jeremiah was a prophet and priest, divinely forbidden to marry as a sign of the imminent cessation of normal life. The background to the book of Jeremiah is the long struggle in Judah between the idolatrous worship of foreign gods deeply embedded since the reign of Manasseh (696-642 BCE) and the worship of the Lord, which Josiah attempted to restore in his reforms, the written record in 2 Kings 22. 23). Israel had committed the sin of omission when she had forsaken her God. Israel also committed the sin of commission when she replaced her true God with false idols and false alliances.[xvi] Jeremiah uses imagery of a cistern and a well. "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). One has to dig deeper for a well, but the water is ever flowing and plentiful whereas the cistern needs constant refilling. The most reliable and refreshing sources of water in Israel were her natural springs. This water was dependable; and its clear, cool consistency was satisfying. In contrast, the most unreliable source of water was cisterns. Cisterns were large pits dug into the rock and covered with plaster. These pits were used to gather rainwater. This water was brackish; and if the rains were below normal, it could run out. Worse yet, if a cistern developed a crack it would not hold the water. To turn from a dependable, pure stream of running water to a broken, brackish cistern was idiotic. Yet that is what Judah did when she turned from God to idols.
James
In the book of James, we find another example of the sin of omission. James probes the root cause of divisions among the saints. They are caused by evil desires. Envy is still in view as an evil desire that is destructive. The saints know that God refuses our petitions when they proceed from evil desires. The saints are speaking evil of one another which is destroying fellowship and when we slander, we are positioning ourselves as judge above the law. "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). We know that boasting of one's power and accomplishments is evil, and it is arrogance to live our lives without awareness that in God we live and move and have our being, as is written in Acts 17:28.
Sin not from Faith
In Rom. 14:22–23, Paul writes, "Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin." In other words, concerning personal convictions in areas where different views exist, Paul concluded: So whatever you believe about these things (lit., “The faith that you have,” or “Do you have faith?”) keep between yourself and God. A Christian must not insist on influencing a believer with tighter scruples to change his ways. It should be something “in his own mind” (v. 5), for he lives “to the Lord” (v. 8). Paul considered a Christian like himself who had a clear conscience on such matters blessed (lit., “happy”). On the other hand, a Christian who has doubts is condemned (perf. pass. verb, “stands condemned”) if he eats. If a Christian eats food or does anything when he has doubts in his own mind as to whether it is right or wrong before God (one who is “weak” in faith, vv. 1–2), his action does not spring from (ek, “out of”) his faith or trust in God and is therefore wrong. As Paul generalized, everything that does not come from (ek, “out of”) faith is sin. The principle is, “When in doubt, don’t.” The “strong” Christian (15:1) is wrong if he causes a weak brother to sin (by doing something while doubting, 14:20), and a weak brother (vv. 1–2) who goes against what he doubts also sins (v. 23).[xvii]
Thoughts of Foolishness
The Bible has much to say about foolishness, some as sin yet others apparently left up to our own convictions as to whether a sin or not. I provide only as many as are appropriate for this chapter. "The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men" (Prov. 24:9). Foolishness is not lack of intellect but active rebellion against truth and the order derived from it. When foolishness "is not good", could it therefore be a sin? "Also, to punish the righteous is not good, Nor to strike princes for their uprightness" (Prov. 17:26). This is the first of several proverbs with the phrase "is not good" and implies foolishness or something not wise. "It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, Or to overthrow the righteous in judgement"(18:5); "Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge, And he sins who hastens with his feet"(19:2). One who rushes on without knowledge or proper planning. Sincerity and energy alone miss the mark which is also written of in Rom. 10:2: "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." Paul is referring to the zeal of the Israelites and from his personal experience and during that time, the reality of zeal and its wrongheaded and wrong-hearted character which he also references in his sevenfold pedigree under the law in Phil. 3:4-6. Regarding humility and how it is better to let another man praise you, even a stranger, rather than from your own mouth: "It is not good to eat much honey; So to seek one's own glory is not glory" (25:27). From the sayings of the wise found in proverbs, "It is not good to show partiality in judgement" (24:23). The following and final proverb speaks not only about foolishness or something not wise, but to how the sin of even a small bribe can have disastrous results in the maintenance of order and justice in society: "To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress" (28:21).
Sources of Sin
Satan
The relation of truth and righteousness has been prominent in the gospel of John. People love darkness (error) rather than light (truth) because their deeds are evil. John 3:19 tells us, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." In John 8:44 we have a frightful contrast. "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is not truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." There are only 2 options; God or Satan. By God's grace, Abraham (see vv. 39-41) walked in the way of faith and obedience. Those who reject Jesus are doing the opposite.
Man's Heart
We have oral law that is passed down by tradition as well as the written law. The two are very different yet closely connected. Many literary traditions are based on oral traditions which prompts necessary investigation to determine how transitions were made from one to the other. A significant problem developed when the oral law carried equal weight with the written law. In spite of its aim to explain the Law and preserve its true meaning, the oral law had frequently become a burden and as such was condemned by Jesus (Mt 15:3, 6; Mk 7:8, 9). He criticized those who attached more importance to the tradition of the elders than to the Law of God. In the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus engages in a debate with the scribes and Pharisees over the simple tradition of hand washing, but Jesus uses the opportunity to deliver a more important message about the source of sin from man's heart. Jesus cuts to the chase with, "Are you still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is illuminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
When Paul mentions his own zeal for “the traditions of my fathers” (Gal 1:14) before he became a Christian, he was no doubt thinking of his devotion to the oral tradition. Part of the wrong teaching he had to deal with at Colossae seems to have been connected with Jewish traditions (Col 2:8).[xviii]
Sexual Sin
We humans have practiced sexual sin since the very beginning and western culture has increasingly accepted a sexual ethic which is cause for concern especially since the 1960's. Too often on our one-eyed monster television we see sex between unmarried people. We see premarital cohabitation, homosexuality, and prostitution, and a whole host of other practices that seems to enjoy too much of a widespread societal approval. In the first century Greco-Roman world, sexual misconduct ran rampant. Homosexual behavior was widely tolerated; pagan husbands could have a mistress and use female slaves to satisfy their sexual desires. There were even forms of pornography in that culture's art and literature. However, when Christ entered the stage people were persuaded to abstain from sexual immorality. We see this throughout the gospels and in 1 Thess.4:3. Sexual immorality (Greek: porneia) refers to all sexual activity outside of the one-man/one-woman marriage covenant, the ancient Jewish sexual ethic we copied. We are not to be controlled by our sexual desires. We are to practice self-control and abstain from all forbidden sexual activity. The gospel sets us free from sin to honor God with our minds and our bodies so believers will seek to bring their sexual activities and desires into conformity with our Creator's word. With regard to watching pornography, why would we dare misuse our gift of sight?
Sexual immorality steals from other people because we are using for ourselves what rightly belongs to someone else. Extramarital sex, adultery, and other sexual sins steal from other people. Believers can and do fall into all types of sin, including sexual sin. When the Lord brings us to faith in Christ, He sets us apart for Himself. Believers do not approve of sexual sin or seek to change the biblical ethic. We betray the holy status conferred on us in our conversion when we commit sexual sin. Christians strive to keep His moral law.
Lust
Lust is an overpowering and compulsive desire or passion, especially of a sexual nature. Scripture condemns lust of all kinds and urges believers to show self-control.[xix] Combatting lust involves strategies specialized to the type of lust. For example, the lust for another woman or another man must first begin with a self-acknowledgement of that lust. While not every person struggles with this type of lust, every person does have some type of desire and passion. Realizing our desires and passions is what makes us strive to improve, it steers our paths, and helps us realize our boundaries and the established boundaries. In a marital relationship, it might be wise or unwise for us to confess our lust to our spouse. While the confession might raise healthy awareness that something is lacking in the relationship, insecurities might cloud rational thought and send the relationship down the road for more exercises in conflict resolution. Additionally, it is likely never wise to confess our lust to the one to whom we are attracted. That simply adds insult to injury and potentially invites provocation and exacerbation. Unloading that burden on the other is not only unfair but it is a recipe for disaster. Sharing it creates two problems and the sum or even the product of two numbers is only a bigger number problem. Along with the first step of self-acknowledgement comes ownership. When you own the problem, you must work towards the solution. Like any other problem, "humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up" (James 4:10).
Two very significant examples of lust are Potiphar's wife and Joseph, and David and Bathsheba. MRI scanners have revealed that the same area of the brain lights up in people experiencing lust as in addicts receiving their cocaine fix.[xx]
Potiphar's Wife and Joseph
The account in Gen. 36, tells us about Joseph living in his Egyptian master's house. The Lord was blessing this house because Joseph was living there. God blessed the Egyptian's house on behalf of Joseph. Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. The master's wife lusted after Joseph and asked him to lie with her. Joseph refused Potiphar's wife. Joseph explained to her that her husband trusted him with everything and asked how she could do this great wickedness, this sin against God. Shortly after that, Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph's garment and Joseph broke free and went out to do his work. Her deceitful heart mislead her husband and Joseph winds up in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph, showed him mercy, and probably influenced Potiphar's heart with doubt about his wife's story. Otherwise, the attempted rape of a master's wife by a slave might have earned Joseph the death sentence. Joseph fought against her lustful desires and likely did not have any of his own because Joseph believed he was living in the presence of God.
Fighting Against Lustful Desires
To the Churches in Galatia
Believers can and must fight against lust by showing self-control. While Paul was speaking to the churches of Galatia, he instructs them on such things as Christian Liberty, love fulfilling the law, and walking in the spirit. He tells them to walk in the spirit and to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. He tells them that the flesh lusts against the Spirit in the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another. Paul contends that if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Paul tells them that the works of the flesh are evident and presents the long list as adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness, adultery, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, reveries, and the like. He contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Holy Spirit's dwelling within the believer is a sign that the believer is part of God's people and an heir of the covenant promises given to Abraham. The Spirit's presence is also a sign that on the final day, God will consummate the blessings that belong to the believer in Christ, and we will then experience them in all their fullness.
To the Saints in Colossae
When Paul was preaching with Timothy to the Saints in Colossae, he preached against philosophy, legalism, and carnality. He tells the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ to become in practice would they are in principle: dead to sin and alive to God. He tells them to put away the things that are of the world: fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Paul tells them that there is a way of living that is incompatible with life in Christ, and Paul calls for a rigorous and radical departure from that old life. Of the five vices that he lists, four of them have to do with sex. Later in the letter, he lists five more vices, all having to do with anger an abusive speech. He tells them to put off all anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language. It is important to note here that Paul is not advocating legalistic asceticism. He is reminding believers that they are being transformed and renewed after God's image.
To the Church of the Thessalonians
Silas, and newcomer Timothy, joined Paul to preach at the church in the Macedonian city of Thessalonica. Paul gives thanks not to the Thessalonians but to God, since God is completely the cause of their Salvation and good works. He speaks of their conversion and his happiness to see them followed by a genuine concern for their faith. Paul praises the Thessalonians for their progress in learning how to please God, but he also challenges them to excel further. He tells them that their sanctification is the will of God. He wants them to abstain from sexual immorality and explains that each of them should know how to possess their own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion or lust, like the gentiles who did not know God. Pagan society in Paul's day provided little inducement to sexual purity. Marital infidelity, at least for men, was the norm, and some of the Pagan religions from which the Thessalonians had been freed approved of gross sexual misconduct and their rituals. The Christian gospel brings a moral awakening and a fresh revelation of God's righteous standards. Paul's message to the Thessalonians was a bit different than his message while in Ephesus. He had to tell the Ephesians to put off their former self, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. They needed to be renewed in the spirit of their mind and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Paul had to explain to them that belonging to Christ involves repudiating an old life, the way of living in Adam, and embracing a new one, the way of living in Christ. Paul describes conversion as putting on Christ. The image is that of taking off frayed clothes and putting on new ones.
The second letter to Timothy was Paul's last New Testament letter and he wrote 2nd Timothy during his second Roman imprisonment. He tells Timothy to remind his audience, probably the Christians at Ephesus, of a few things. He reminds Timothy to tell them to be diligent, to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, a worker who is rightly dividing the word of truth. Paul especially reminds Timothy to tell them to flee from their youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. He also wants Timothy to tell them to avoid foolish and arrogant disputes because they generate strife. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition.
David and Bathsheba
In 2 Sam. 11, we find the account of David's lustful encounter with Bathsheba who eventually, but not gracefully, becomes his wife. From the roof of his house, David sees Bathsheba bathing and has messengers go and get her. The messengers brought Bathsheba to David and he laid with her and she became with child. David has Bathsheba's husband murdered in battle, tried to cover it up, and then Bathsheba became his wife and bore him a son. David displeased the Lord. David had broken at least four of the ten commandments: murder, adultery, lying, and coveting his neighbor's wife.
King David was undone by his lust for Bathsheba (Solomon’s mother), and Bill Clinton, while still the most powerful man in the world, was almost impeached by his lust for a young White House intern. Lust is such a strong and subversive force that it can be very difficult to see through it or see it through. There are many people who could not organize a two-ticket tombola, but who suddenly become impressively industrious when it comes to acting out their lust.[xxi]
St. Augustine
When Augustine was sixteen, his father died. Augustine was first studying in his birthplace of Thagaste near Carthage in North Africa (which is now Algeria) but it was later while studying in Madura when his father died and Augustine fell into the trappings of paganism and sexual transgressions.[xxii] "I dare to grow wild again with various and shadowy loves…I became corrupt in Your eyes, pleasing myself…unholy desire…boiled confusedly within me, and dragged away my unstable youth into the rough places of unchaste desires, and plunged me into a gulf of infamy…I wandered farther from You, and You did 'suffer' me; and I was tossed to and fro, and wasted, and poured out, and boiled over in my fornications.[xxiii]
It was not until years later, with a mistress and a son in tow, that under the preaching of the greatest teacher of Italy, Ambrose of Milan, Augustine dramatically converted to Christianity.[xxiv] Writing about his encounter reading some of Paul's epistle to the Romans, "I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: 'Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.' I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away."[xxv]
Heart and Mind
Lust has its origins in the heart and mind. I offer the following verses but clearly admit the Holy Spirit will do more towards the epistemology of lust than even the proverbs or works of wisdom, for the gospel of Christ covers all. From Prov. 6:25-29 we have: "Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared? So is he who goes into his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent."
The lust full desire of the heart is the start of the progression. The connection between the desire and the act is not as stark as in Matt. 5:28 but it is present. "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her and his heart (Matt. 5:28).
Lust is Natural to Unbelievers
While Paul was addressing the Saints in Rome, he talked about the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Paul writes that since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. However, even though the people knew God they did not glorify him as God. They were not thankful, and they become futile in their thoughts and there are foolish hearts were darkened. They professed to be wise and they became fools and ultimately changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - birds and four-footed animals and creepy things. Paul stresses that humanity not only has the opportunity to know God through general revelation, but that the revelation yields real knowledge. Human beings' ungodliness in their refusal to acknowledge, approve of, or delight in what they cognitively know to be true. Although at a deep level they cannot avoid awareness of their personal Creator, people refuse to honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. The consequences of rejecting God is that their minds and hearts have grown dark. A refusal to honor God leads all intellectual pursuits to frustration. Peter told the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, "For we have spent enough of the past lifetime in doing the will of the gentiles - when we walked in lewdness , lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries" (1 Peter 4:3). Many of the sins of which Peter references are very similar to those mentioned in the book of Romans, and maybe strong evidence of a Pagan background amongst most of Peter's audience.
In Rom. 1:24, God gave them up to their uncleanliness, in the lusts of their hearts. Judgment involves the removal of divine restraints on both sinful actions and on their consequences. The rest of Romans chapter one, involves the unbelievers creating graven images replacing the Creator with creature. It also speaks of the lust that men have for women as well as men lusting after other men. God judges fallen man's perversion of the divinely ingrained instinct to worship by giving sinful human beings over to their perversion of other instincts from their proper functions. Scripture views all homosexual actions in this light. Lev. 18:22 states that "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." The consequence is degradation of the body , domination by lust, the disintegration of what is truly natural (that which is in accordance with human nature as created by God), and bondage to uncontrollable passions. Even with all of this unrighteousness, God's moral order stands. Gal. 6 tells us that the harvest reaped is related to the crop sown. If you sow to the flesh, the flesh will reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, the will of the Spirit reaps everlasting life.
Sin brings a disdain for God and what is pleasing to Him. It puts one in jeopardy of abandonment by God to a debased mind and a spirit of licentiousness. Paul sees as evidence of the guilt and bondage of sin that the knowledge of divine judgment no longer acts as a restraint, but it becomes a spur to further rebellion in the form of encouraging others to sin. James 1:15, "Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death."
Lust for Money
False Teachers
In the pastoral epistle of 1st Timothy, Paul provides instructions about the exclusive doctrine (apart from the false teachings) and the proper teaching of the gospel. He encourages Timothy to fight the good fight after Paul delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan who "suffered shipwreck" (strayed away from the truth). Paul exhorts prayer for all men and women in the church and describes the qualifications of the church overseers. Paul reemphasizes the problem with the false teachers, especially their greed and lust: "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, an into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and prediction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim. 6:6-10)
Overseers
Bishops
"This is a faithful saying: if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous: one who rules his house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (1 Tim. 3:1-7).
Deacons
Deacons are officers in the church alongside overseers/elders. The church has usually viewed the ministry in terms of the role of the seven chosen to help the apostles in Acts chapter 6 where the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples, saying it was not desirable for them to leave the word of God and serve the tables. Therefore they called out seven men of good reputation, who were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and they appointed them over this business of ministering to the widows.
"Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given too much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith [apparently some of the elders in Ephesus were taken in by false teachers. Paul uses the word "mystery" in other books][xxvi] with a pure conscience. But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful it all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons obtained for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 3:8-13).
Priests
Biblical references for bishops and elders were straight forward, however, no direct references exists as to the conduct of a priest.
The lustful desire of Israel and Judah for Alliances
Consider a lustful relationship between two countries or kingdoms rather than between people or with money, idolatry, or thoughts. The relationship between Judah and Samaria is but one prime example and it is referred to as the Parable of The Two Sisters, daughters of the same "mother", of a common origin, and is described in Ezek. 23:1-49. Both sisters learned prostitution while held captive in Egypt and brought this with them in the exodus, rebelling against Moses and God. The kingdoms became divided around 931 BCE. The Northern Kingdom was Israel and the capital was Samaria. The Southern Kingdom was Judah and Jerusalem represented the whole kingdom of Judah. "Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister; They were Mine, And they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah" (Ezek. 23:4).
Samaria lusted after the Assyrians and defiled herself with their idols when she adopted it into Hebrew worship. Hosea was concerned about Israel's political prostitution.[xxvii] Israel (Samaria) fell to the Assyrians in 722 BCE at the hands of Shalmaneser V [xxviii] and this is recorded in 2 Kings 18:9.
Judah witnessed what was happening to her older sister, Samaria, yet Jerusalem lusted even more. She not only defiled herself also with the Assyrians but as well with the Babylonians of Chaldea. The first Jewish temple, built by King Solomon was destroyed by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BCE.
The relationship between Ezek. 16 and Ezek. 23 should not be overlooked. Chapter 16 is the message of the orphan who became a harlot. Chapter 23 addresses the political alliances with ungodly nations that spelled doom for both Israel (Samaria), the Northern Kingdom, and Judah (Jerusalem), the Southern Kingdom.
Original Sin
Original sin is the doctrine that, as a result of Adam’s fall, all mankind are sinners by nature, having a propensity to sin that underlies every actual sin. While this propensity is not simply an act of the will, it has the character of sin and does not serve as an excuse for actual sins. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all men, because all sinned - for before the law was given, sin was in the world" (Rom. 5:12-13).
Scripture emphasizes repeatedly the universality of human sin. God brought forth a flood upon the world because of the universality of human sin, which extended even to Noah and his family who were spared. While the prophets condemned the wickedness of the nations around Israel, they condemned no nation more strongly than Israel itself. In Romans, the apostle Paul compiles a series of Old Testament quotations in Romans in order to prove that sin affects every person, that no one has escaped its influence. “All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin” (Rom 3:9).
The only explanation for this universality is that, underlying every individual sin is a propensity to sin that affects all mankind. While man has a will and the responsibility for action that comes with it, his will is influenced and shaped by his heart. From the heart of man proceed all types of evil (Mark 7:21–23). “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9). As a result, human beings can even be described as enslaved to sin (Rom 6:6) and unable to please God (Rom 8:8). In the New Testament, sinners are described as dead in sin, not only lacking freedom, but even life (Eph 2:1). But this slavery cannot be the sort of slavery that removes responsibility from individuals; we are willing slaves.
This universal reign of sin is presented in Scripture as the result of Adam’s first sin (Rom 5:12). This means that original sin is not the original state of mankind but instead a departure from that origin. God created man righteous; his nature was not at first bound to sin. But Adam’s first act of disobedience affected not only him but also all mankind. His fall brought not only punishment, but also a propensity to sin that would affect all mankind, save Christ. For that reason, when we are tempted, we cannot blame God, as though he made us this way. We do have a sinful nature, but that is not our nature as created by God but as sullied by human choice.
All Augustinians and Calvinists agree in the doctrine of total depravity and original sin in consequence of Adam’s fall; but differences arose among them concerning the imputation of Adam’s sin and guilt to his posterity.[xxix] The Catholic Church distinguishes sin, in part, by whether the sinner is aware or not aware. For example, Adam and Eve committed sin and all descendants inherit original sin without a knowing choice, and the question can then be raised as to whether original sin is actually a sin. And if not a sin, does then death not result from original sin? The Council of Trent: “2. If anyone asserts, that the prevarication of Adam injured himself alone, and not his posterity; and that the holiness and justice, received of God, which he lost, he lost for himself alone, and not for us also; or that he, being defiled by the sin of disobedience, has only transfused death, and pains of the body, into the whole human race, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul; let him be anathema: — whereas he contradicts the apostle who says; By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.” [xxx]
John Calvin on Original Sin
"Original sin, then, may be defined a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which in scripture are termed works of the flesh. This corruption is repeatedly designated by Paul by the term sin (Gal.5:19) while the works which proceed from it, such as adultery, fornication, theft, hatred, murder, reveling, he terms, in the same way, the fruits of sin, though in various passages of scripture, and even by Paul himself, they are also termed sin. Hence Augustine, though he often terms it another's sin, (that he may more clearly show how it comes to us by descent,) at the same time asserts that it is each individual's own sin. And the Apostle Paul most distinctly testifies that "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," (Roman 5:12) that is, all are involved in original sin, and polluted by its stain. "Hence, even infants bringing their condemnation with them from their mother's womb, suffers not for and others but for their own defect. For although they have not yet produced the fruits of their own unrighteousness, they have the seed implanted in them. Nay, their whole nature is, as it were, a seed-bed of sin, and therefore cannot but be odious and abominable to God."[xxxi] John Calvin said that sin is not our nature, but it is derangement. We cannot blame God for our vices. His divine workmanship was in the uncorrupted nature of Adam. He quoted Ecclesiastics 7:29, "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Our ruin is attributable to our own depravity.
St. Augustine on Original Sin
St Augustine influenced the work of John Calvin, St. Thomas Aquinas and many other theologians.[xxxii] Augustine's view of man was not favorable. Man was created with free rational choice and freely chose to disobey God's command, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or when you eat of it you will surely die (Gen. 2:16-17). Augustine's earlier thoughts and writings were quite different than those now adopted into doctrine. Before 396 CE, Augustine conceived that Adam and Eve were nothing more than organisms of ethereal substances and were not transformed into fleshly bodies until their disobedience which also then brought the consequence of death. He did not think that original sin was sufficient reason to forever condemn man. After all, man was created as innocent.
Augustine was influenced with Neoplatonic thought. In his later writings, Augustine posits that sin is essentially transmitted sexually (see Appendix D for more on St. Augustine). Let me explain that. Augustine thought original sin was passed from generation to generation through sexual intercourse. When people had sex and conceived a child, that child was born with original sin because of the sin of the parents. Augustine's favorite figure to describe body-soul unity is marriage: – your body is your wife.[xxxiii] He considered procreation as one of the goods of marriage. However, the only way to avoid evil caused by sexual intercourse is to take the "better" way (Confessions 8.2) and abstain from marriage (On marriage and concupiscence 1.31). In the next chapter we will explore more about marriage and that "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord" (Prov. 18:22).
[i] Rom. 7:8-11 [ii] Rom. 3:20, 5:13, v20 [iii] Rom. 8:3, Gal. 3:21 [iv] Paul is well aware that the noun "seed" in the singular form may be collective as well as individual as he explains in Rom. 4:18 about God's promise of saving blessing to the nations through Abraham and his offspring. [v] Masterman, E. W. G. (1915). Jerusalem. In J. Orr, J. L. Nuelsen, E. Y. Mullins, & M. O. Evans (Eds.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vol. 1–5, pp. 1619–1620). Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company. For 60 years after its capture silence reigns over Jerusalem. We know that the site continued to be garrisoned, but it was not to any extent rebuilt. In 130 AD it was visited by Hadrian, who found but few buildings standing. Two years later (132–35 AD) occurred the last great rebellion of the Jews in the uprising of Bar-Cochba (“son of a star”), who was encouraged by the rabbi Akiba. With the suppression of this last effort for freedom by Julius Severus, the remaining traces of Judaism were stamped out, and it is even said (Talm Jerus, Ta‛ănīth 4) that the very site of the temple was ploughed up by T. Annius Rufus. An altar of Jupiter was placed upon the templesite, and Jews were excluded from Jerusalem on pain of death. [vi] Second Jewish revolt, (132 to 135 CE), Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in Judaea. The revolt was preceded by years of clashes between Jews and Romans in the area. Finally, in 132 CE, the misrule of Tinnius Rufus, the Roman governor of Judaea, combined with the emperor Hadrain's intention to found a Roman colony of the site of Jerusalem and his restrictions on Jewish religious freedom and observances (which included a ban on the practice of male circumcision), roused the last remnants of Palestinian Jewry to revolt. A bitter struggle ensued. Bar Kokhba became the leader of this Second Jewish Revolt; although at first successful, his forces proved no match against the methodical and ruthless tactics of the Roman general Julius Severus. With the fall of Jerusalem and the Bethar, a fortress on the seacoast south of Caesarea where Bar Kokhba was slain, the rebellion was crushed in 135 CE. According to Christian sources, Jews were thenceforth forbidden to enter Jerusalem. https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Jewish-Revolt [vii] Darrel W. Johnson, Discipleship on the Edge, (Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 2004) p. 229,230 [viii] Gal. 3:19 New Greek -English Interlinear New Testament (NRSV), (Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990) p.659 [ix] Ronald L Conte Jr., The Reproach of Christ, (Blog posted on 29 November 2015) https://ronconte.com/2015/11/29/formal-or-actual-sin-versus-material-or-objective-sin/ [x] Catechism of the Catholic Church, (New York: Image Doubleday, 1995), CCC 1862. [xi] The Catechism describes two main types of venial sin. First, one commits venial sin when “in a less serious matter [than mortal sin], he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law” (CCC 1862). In other words, if one does something immoral but the matter is not serious enough to be gravely immoral, he commits only venial sin. For example, deliberate hatred can be venial sin or mortal sin depending on the seriousness of the hatred. The Catechism explains, “Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm” (CCC 2303). Another example is abusive language. “Abusive language is forbidden by the fifth commandment but would be a grave offense only as a result of circumstances or the offender’s intention” (CCC 2073). [xii] Ronald L. Conte Jr., Roman Catholic theologian and translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible. https://ronconte.com/2015/11/29/formal-or-actual-sin-versus-material-or-objective-sin/ [xiii] Gerry Rauch, "Formal vs. Material, Archives - News, National Catholic Register, Jan 11, 1998, retrieved November 25, 2019, from http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/formal_vs_material [xiv] Lori Wildenberg Christianity.com https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/what-are-the-seven-deadly-sins.html [xv] See Mark 4:18; Matthew 12:41; Jonah 3:10 [xvi] Dyer, C. H. (1985). Jeremiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1132). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. [xvii] Witmer, J. A. (1985). Romans. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 494). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. [xviii] Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Tradition. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, pp. 2093–2094). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. [xix] Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser. [xx] Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201408/the-philosophy-lust [xxi] Ibid. [xxii] Steven J. Lawson, Pillars of Grace - AD 100 - 1564, A Long Line of Godly Men, (Crawfordsville, Indiana: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011) p. 184 [xxiii] Augustine, Confessions, 2.2.1-2, cited in Augustine: Confessions and Enchiridion, ed. Albert C. Outlet (London: S.C.M. Press, 1955)p. 61 [xxiv] Steven J. Lawson, Pillars of Grace - AD 100 - 1564, A Long Line of Godly Men, (Crawfordsville, Indiana: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011) p. 188 [xxv] Augustine, Confessions, 8.12, cited in Augustine: Confessions and Enchiridion, p. 175-176 [xxvi] See Verse 16, Rom. 16:25, 26; First Corinthians 2:7 ; 4:1; Eph. 1:9; 3:3-9; 6:19; Col. 1 26, 27; 2:2; 4:3 [xxvii] See Hos 5:13; 7:11; 8:9; 12:1 [xxviii] Shalmaneser V was king of Assyria and Babylon from 727 to 722 BC. He first appears as governor of Zimirra in Phoenicia in the reign of his father, Tiglath-Pileser III. Evidence pertaining to his rChapter Seven - Sin
What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God's law. Sin is going against God's law, His commandments. Paul says in Rom. 7:7 that he would not have known what sin was except through the law. The law not only defines sin, but acts as a catalyst, provoking the precise sinful reactions that it forbids and condemns.[i] In itself, the law, which brings us to know the reality of sin in our moral and spiritual system[ii] "holy and just and good" (v12). In other words , the problem is not the law but rather the fallen human heart that takes the law and uses it to increase sin. The law is a faithful revelation of what is right or wrong and does not lose its validity to measure and direct our moral behavior, although its commands lack the power in themselves to produce the obedience that the law rightfully demands.[iii] Paul says it was the sin in him that became the cause of his spiritual death by leading him to break God's good law. Sin is doing something unrighteous. Sin is knowing better but doing otherwise. Sin is lawlessness. "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4) and in v.8, "He who sins is of the devil." One cannot say "The devil made me do it" because he who takes up the whole armor of God is able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:10-17). "Resist the devil and he will flee from you"(James 4:7). Sin is nothing more than failure to trust in God. It is an act or state of unbelief, and an assertion of autonomy. For example, life in the garden of Eden is represented as a banquet table where Adam and Eve chose autonomy. Sin manifests itself in both doing what God has forbidden and failing to do what he has commanded. True religion consists of communion with God based on trust. And genuine trust bears fruit in obedience. Jesus tells us in John 14:15 that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. The proof of love for Christ is not an oral profession but living obedience, just as Israel was to demonstrate love for the Lord by allegiance to His commands. Moses tells Israel that the Lord our God is one. He tells the Israelites that they should love the Lord their God with all of their heart and with all of their soul and with all of their strength. Moses says that His commands shall be in their hearts. They should teach them diligently to their children and they should talk about them when they sit in their houses, while they are walking, when they lay down, and when they rise up. He tells them to bind them as a sign on their hand and they shall be as frontlets between their eyes. They shall write them on the doorposts of their house and on their gates. The emphasis is on the overall importance of God's commands. Jews since before the time of Christ have taken these verses literally and tied little boxes containing these verses on their arms and foreheads and fastened them on their doorposts.
Those who committed a sin and were put to death were to be hung from a tree, but they were not to remain there overnight because that would defile the land "for who is hanged is accursed by God" (Deut. 21:22-23). Paul explains to the Galatians that Christ redeemed us from the curse imposed by the miscellaneous law in Deuteronomy. (It is important to note that hanging as a method of execution is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The bodies were already dead and were displayed hanging from a tree or as in 1 Sam. 31:10 where the Philistines fastened the headless body of Saul to a wall). Paul tells them no one is justified by the law which provokes the question: "What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator" (Gal. 3:19).[iv]
Transgression and rebellion
The law was added because of transgressions. Transgression, from "transgress," to pass over or beyond; to overpass, as any rule prescribed as the limit of duty; to break or violate, as a law, civil or moral; the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or know principle of rectitude (rightness of principle); breach of command; offence; crime; sin. In the Old Testament, pesha' occurs 80 times, rendered in all versions by "transgression". Its meaning is "rebellion". From 132 to 135 CE, Jewish rebel Bar Cochba or Kochba[v], led the second Jewish revolt.[vi] He claimed to be "the Messiah, minted new coins with the number one on them, declaring that in him God's kingdom had finally come into the world."[vii]The word “rebellion” differs from "transgression" in that it may be in the heart, though no opportunity should be granted for its manifestation: “An evil man seeketh only rebellion” (Prov 17:11). Here the wise man contemplates an evil heart, looking for an excuse or opportunity to rebel. The New Testament uses "transgressions" (παραβάσεων) and in the Greek Interlinear New Testament reads: "....transgressions for the sake of it was added, until - should come the seed to whom it has been promised."[viii] Worth noting is where there is no law, neither is there transgression. This is found in Rom. 4:15. Paul is simply saying that the law came 430 years after the promise to Abraham, the promise through faith, the promise did not come from the law. For those under the law instead of faith, "…faith is made void and the promise made no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression" (Rom. 4:13-15). The author of Hebrews clarifies this further with, "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance" (Heb. 9:15). Christ cleanses our conscience from dead works, works of the law that are useless for justification, and from sinful deeds that deserve the covenant curse of His death.
Unrighteousness
"All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death" (1 John 5:17). John tells us that there is sin that leads to death and sin that does not lead to death. The sin that leads to death is the sin of blasphemy found in Matt. 12:31, "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men." Other sin leading to death could result from the stubborn refusal to accept the message of the gospel which is the end-time sin of apostasy in following the teaching of the antichrists. 1 John 1:8 reflects, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Sinful acts arise out of the sinful condition that we inherit in Adam (cf. Rom. 5:12-21). Though Christ has paid the penalty of sin for His people, forgiven them, and made them part of a new creation, and though He enables them to grow in godliness, they never become perfectly righteous in this life. Consequently, they continue to battle their fallenness until they are completely sanctified at the end of the age. By denying that one continues to feel the effects of one's fallenness and still breaks Gods law is deceitful and falsely implies that there is jot need of Christ's sacrificial death for post conversion sins.
Actual Sin and Original Sin
Theologians like to attach names for different concepts to help man use God's word in ways and terms more easily understood. While this is good when proper, it is always more important to allow His Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and minds about what His word has to reveal at any given time and place. In addition, most Protestants believe sin is sin regardless of degree while Catholics in particular make distinctions of sin by degree and gravity. However, even Pope Saint John Paul II writes, “In other words, there is no sin, not even the most intimate and secret one, the most strictly individual one, that exclusively concerns the person committing it. With greater or lesser violence, with greater or lesser harm, every sin has repercussions on the entire ecclesial body and the whole human family.” [Reconciliation and Penance 16][ix]
Perhaps sin should be viewed by species. With that in mind, sin can be divided into actual and original. Original sin is the morally vitiated condition in which one finds oneself at birth as a member of a fallen race. The concept of original sin is complex and for that I include it later in this writing.
Actual Sin
Actual sin is actually any other sin outside Original Sin but can be sub-divided into four general areas where variously named sins flow in and from each of these areas: mortal, venial, material, and formal.
Mortal Sin
In Roman Catholic theology, mortal sin also called cardinal sin is the gravest of sins. Mortal sin is not only a deliberate turning away from God like most sin but is a grave matter that cuts the sinner off from God's sanctifying grace. Any sin is a turning away from God and to declare that murder turns us further away from God than does stealing is not supported by Scripture. Moreover, to suggest that masturbation is as egregious as rape or divorce is further justification to consider sin by species rather than by degree or gravity. Rom. 6:23 tells us that, "…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord'. No sin is greater or more deadly than another. Since death is an effect of sin, what sin passed on death? The one first sin of disobedience, not murder, rape or any mortal sin, passed on death. "The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation…" (Rom. 5:16). The Bible tells us that God's grace is abundant, and He is faithful to forgive.
Venial Sin
Like any other sin, venial sin is a turning away from God, but venial sin involves less severe matters and is committed with less self-awareness of wrongdoing. In this regard, it is also less of a turning away from God than it is a weakened union; therefore, it is with less loss of sanctifying grace. If this all sounds like the lessening of a definition for this species of sin, that is because it is removed from the earlier statement that sin is sin and that perhaps sin should be viewed by species rather than degree. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes that one commits venial sin when, “in a less serious matter [than mortal sin], he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law”[x] In other words, if one does something immoral but the matter is not serious enough to be gravely immoral, he commits only venial sin. An example of a venial sin might be hatred of a neighbor or abusive language. Knowledge is necessary for venial sin.[xi]
Material Sin
Also referred to as objective sin, material sin consists of an act that is wrong in itself, but the sinner does not know it to be wrong. "An act can be an objective sin, without also being an actual sin. For example, a non-Catholic couple might use contraception in their marriage without knowing that it is sinful. An objective sin is still properly called sin, because, in truth before the eyes of God, that choice is to some extent, in some way, incompatible with the threefold love of God, neighbor, self. When a human person commits an objective sin, without knowing that it is immoral, or without any freedom of choice, [then]sic act is not an actual sin. Only actual sin includes guilt before God."[xii] Material sin is committed unknowingly.
Formal Sin
Formal sin is both wrong in itself and known by the sinner to be wrong. "Formal cooperation in evil is always wrong. It occurs when someone intentionally helps another person carry out a sinful act. For example, a doctor who prescribes contraceptives intends that his patient use them, and thus cooperates formally in the patient's acts."[xiii]
Seven Deadly Sins
Seven deadly sins or seven capital sins in Roman Catholic theology as identified by Pope Gregory I[xiv] in the late 6th century, include vainglory or pride, greed or covetousness, lust or inordinate or illicit sexual desire, envy, gluttony or drunkenness, wrath or anger, and sloth. The seven deadly sins are not listed in the Bible as the "seven deadly sins", but the specific sin or concept of that sin is included in the Bible. Isa. 14:13-14 tells us pride and selfishness are related to each of the seven and are viewed as the root causes of all sin. "These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren" (Prov. 6:16-19). Gal. 5:19-21 adds a few more sins of which to be aware: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
The seven deadly sins can be offset by the seven corresponding virtues. Pride or vainglory can be overcome with humility and meekness; Greed or covetousness with generosity or kindness; Lust or inordinate or illicit sexual desire with love and unselfishness; Envy with love, joy and compassion; Gluttony and drunkenness with self-control and discernment; Wrath with peace and gentleness; and Sloth with perseverance and servanthood.
Sins of Intermarriage
Intermarriage sin was only sinful as detailed by Ezra and Nehemiah. Some of the Jewish leaders approached Ezra regarding the problem of intermarriage with various non-Jewish peoples (Ezra 9:1). It is important to note that Scripture never forbids mixed-race marriages. Moses was an Israelite and his wife Zipporah was a Midianite, and Midianites were traditionally also identified as Ishmaelites. Think of a current day marriage between a Jew and an Arab. In the days of old, the Jews were intermarrying with the Ashdodites, Ammonites, and Moabites - and the Jews were so influenced by their pagan ways and practices that half of Judah could not speak the Hebrew language. There is no evidence that God was displeased with the relationship between Moses and Zipporah (Ex. 2:16-22). The issue was not between race but rather keeping the Jew's free from the abominations - the false moral and religious beliefs and practices - of the Midianites/Ishmaelites and others of pagan beliefs. The Ishmaelites associated with the Edomites, Moabites, and Hagrites (Ps. 83:6). Ruth the Moabite married Boaz the Judahite and Moabites were ordinally forbidden to marry a Jew (they could not enter the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:3). Again, the sin is not about the intermarriage between race or culture but rather the intermarriage with impenitent pagans, those who do not feel shame or regret about one's actions or beliefs. Although marriage is a sacred relationship initiated by God for all of humankind (Gen. 2:18), the Bible does not set it forth only for Christians (cf. Heb. 13:4), otherwise, there could never be pagan-on-pagan marriages. The Roman Catholic Church does not recognize that sort of union because it is not considered a "sacramental marriage" in line with the Catholic "church sacrament" theology. Additionally, the postexilic Israelite community (around 458 BCE) was not learning from the lessons of the exile and return period (roughly 641 - 458 BCE).
Shecaniah, the head of a family that returned with Ezra from Babylon (Ezra 8:3) and who married a foreigner (unbeliever) and repented, proposed a covenant to divorce foreign wives (Ezra 10:2-4) and many in the community were consequently divorced. Repentance is a change of action, in this case, a turning away from entering a wrong relationship which meant severing the union.[xv] However, Paul in 1 Cor. 7:12-16 advises not to divorce unbelievers; and in Mal. 2:16: "I hate divorce," says the Lord. Yet "…Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances" (Ezra 7:10). Therefore, there is no justification to suggest a contradiction or misunderstanding. Consider the era in which these divorces occurred. The only special revelation Ezra and the postexilic community had was the Old Testament, particularly the Mosaic law. While the law warns the Jews not to marry pagans, it does not explain what to do if such marriages occurred (Ezra 10:1-3; see Deut. 24:1-4). However, the law does address the conduct of non-Jews (in this case, the pagan spouses and children) in the promised land. That is, foreigners were not required to adopt the entire Mosaic law, but they had to refrain from its capital crimes. For example, divination and child sacrifice required capital punishment under the Mosaic law for pagans and Israelites alike. For such impenitent sins and other, the pagans were to be executed or driven form the land (Lev. 18; Deut. 13; 18:9-14). The Jews tried to obey the law by divorcing themselves from their pagan wives. Ezra's and Shecaniah's hearts seemed to be set on following the Mosaic las inasmuch as they were able in their day. In addition, God hates divorce and the divine ideal was established in the Garden of Eden marriage covenant, but divorce was authorized under the law in Deut. 24:1. Divorce is not always a sin, but divorces are always a result of sin.
Sins of Omission
Sins of omission are committed by the commission of sin. In other words, failing to do what is right or as instructed, such as omitting prayer or omitting care for the needy, are among the many sins of omission. James 4:17 tells us "therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." Sins of omission strip us of the blessings from God. For example, the apostle Peter walked on water when Jesus invited Peter to join Him on the waves. Even though Peter eventually sank after taking his eyes off of Jesus, he had the courage and faith to get out of the boat to meet his lord. Peter experienced a miracle where the other disciples, in fear, stayed on the boat (Matt. 14). Sins of omission may result out of fear, pride, or similar other sins that prevent us from answering God's calling. It is this disobedience and turning away from God that can lead us into the sins of omission.
David
King David committed the sin of omission of kingly duties when he stayed home while his generals went off to war. With this sin of omission his lust for Bathsheba led to the further commission of sin by adultery and murder.
Jeremiah
Jer. 2:13 provides a good example of the sin of omission. Jeremiah was a prophet and priest, divinely forbidden to marry as a sign of the imminent cessation of normal life. The background to the book of Jeremiah is the long struggle in Judah between the idolatrous worship of foreign gods deeply embedded since the reign of Manasseh (696-642 BCE) and the worship of the Lord, which Josiah attempted to restore in his reforms, the written record in 2 Kings 22. 23). Israel had committed the sin of omission when she had forsaken her God. Israel also committed the sin of commission when she replaced her true God with false idols and false alliances.[xvi] Jeremiah uses imagery of a cistern and a well. "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). One has to dig deeper for a well, but the water is ever flowing and plentiful whereas the cistern needs constant refilling. The most reliable and refreshing sources of water in Israel were her natural springs. This water was dependable; and its clear, cool consistency was satisfying. In contrast, the most unreliable source of water was cisterns. Cisterns were large pits dug into the rock and covered with plaster. These pits were used to gather rainwater. This water was brackish; and if the rains were below normal, it could run out. Worse yet, if a cistern developed a crack it would not hold the water. To turn from a dependable, pure stream of running water to a broken, brackish cistern was idiotic. Yet that is what Judah did when she turned from God to idols.
James
In the book of James, we find another example of the sin of omission. James probes the root cause of divisions among the saints. They are caused by evil desires. Envy is still in view as an evil desire that is destructive. The saints know that God refuses our petitions when they proceed from evil desires. The saints are speaking evil of one another which is destroying fellowship and when we slander, we are positioning ourselves as judge above the law. "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). We know that boasting of one's power and accomplishments is evil, and it is arrogance to live our lives without awareness that in God we live and move and have our being, as is written in Acts 17:28.
Sin not from Faith
In Rom. 14:22–23, Paul writes, "Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin." In other words, concerning personal convictions in areas where different views exist, Paul concluded: So whatever you believe about these things (lit., “The faith that you have,” or “Do you have faith?”) keep between yourself and God. A Christian must not insist on influencing a believer with tighter scruples to change his ways. It should be something “in his own mind” (v. 5), for he lives “to the Lord” (v. 8). Paul considered a Christian like himself who had a clear conscience on such matters blessed (lit., “happy”). On the other hand, a Christian who has doubts is condemned (perf. pass. verb, “stands condemned”) if he eats. If a Christian eats food or does anything when he has doubts in his own mind as to whether it is right or wrong before God (one who is “weak” in faith, vv. 1–2), his action does not spring from (ek, “out of”) his faith or trust in God and is therefore wrong. As Paul generalized, everything that does not come from (ek, “out of”) faith is sin. The principle is, “When in doubt, don’t.” The “strong” Christian (15:1) is wrong if he causes a weak brother to sin (by doing something while doubting, 14:20), and a weak brother (vv. 1–2) who goes against what he doubts also sins (v. 23).[xvii]
Thoughts of Foolishness
The Bible has much to say about foolishness, some as sin yet others apparently left up to our own convictions as to whether a sin or not. I provide only as many as are appropriate for this chapter. "The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men" (Prov. 24:9). Foolishness is not lack of intellect but active rebellion against truth and the order derived from it. When foolishness "is not good", could it therefore be a sin? "Also, to punish the righteous is not good, Nor to strike princes for their uprightness" (Prov. 17:26). This is the first of several proverbs with the phrase "is not good" and implies foolishness or something not wise. "It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, Or to overthrow the righteous in judgement"(18:5); "Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge, And he sins who hastens with his feet"(19:2). One who rushes on without knowledge or proper planning. Sincerity and energy alone miss the mark which is also written of in Rom. 10:2: "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." Paul is referring to the zeal of the Israelites and from his personal experience and during that time, the reality of zeal and its wrongheaded and wrong-hearted character which he also references in his sevenfold pedigree under the law in Phil. 3:4-6. Regarding humility and how it is better to let another man praise you, even a stranger, rather than from your own mouth: "It is not good to eat much honey; So to seek one's own glory is not glory" (25:27). From the sayings of the wise found in proverbs, "It is not good to show partiality in judgement" (24:23). The following and final proverb speaks not only about foolishness or something not wise, but to how the sin of even a small bribe can have disastrous results in the maintenance of order and justice in society: "To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress" (28:21).
Sources of Sin
Satan
The relation of truth and righteousness has been prominent in the gospel of John. People love darkness (error) rather than light (truth) because their deeds are evil. John 3:19 tells us, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." In John 8:44 we have a frightful contrast. "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is not truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." There are only 2 options; God or Satan. By God's grace, Abraham (see vv. 39-41) walked in the way of faith and obedience. Those who reject Jesus are doing the opposite.
Man's Heart
We have oral law that is passed down by tradition as well as the written law. The two are very different yet closely connected. Many literary traditions are based on oral traditions which prompts necessary investigation to determine how transitions were made from one to the other. A significant problem developed when the oral law carried equal weight with the written law. In spite of its aim to explain the Law and preserve its true meaning, the oral law had frequently become a burden and as such was condemned by Jesus (Mt 15:3, 6; Mk 7:8, 9). He criticized those who attached more importance to the tradition of the elders than to the Law of God. In the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus engages in a debate with the scribes and Pharisees over the simple tradition of hand washing, but Jesus uses the opportunity to deliver a more important message about the source of sin from man's heart. Jesus cuts to the chase with, "Are you still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is illuminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
When Paul mentions his own zeal for “the traditions of my fathers” (Gal 1:14) before he became a Christian, he was no doubt thinking of his devotion to the oral tradition. Part of the wrong teaching he had to deal with at Colossae seems to have been connected with Jewish traditions (Col 2:8).[xviii]
Sexual Sin
We humans have practiced sexual sin since the very beginning and western culture has increasingly accepted a sexual ethic which is cause for concern especially since the 1960's. Too often on our one-eyed monster television we see sex between unmarried people. We see premarital cohabitation, homosexuality, and prostitution, and a whole host of other practices that seems to enjoy too much of a widespread societal approval. In the first century Greco-Roman world, sexual misconduct ran rampant. Homosexual behavior was widely tolerated; pagan husbands could have a mistress and use female slaves to satisfy their sexual desires. There were even forms of pornography in that culture's art and literature. However, when Christ entered the stage people were persuaded to abstain from sexual immorality. We see this throughout the gospels and in 1 Thess.4:3. Sexual immorality (Greek: porneia) refers to all sexual activity outside of the one-man/one-woman marriage covenant, the ancient Jewish sexual ethic we copied. We are not to be controlled by our sexual desires. We are to practice self-control and abstain from all forbidden sexual activity. The gospel sets us free from sin to honor God with our minds and our bodies so believers will seek to bring their sexual activities and desires into conformity with our Creator's word. With regard to watching pornography, why would we dare misuse our gift of sight?
Sexual immorality steals from other people because we are using for ourselves what rightly belongs to someone else. Extramarital sex, adultery, and other sexual sins steal from other people. Believers can and do fall into all types of sin, including sexual sin. When the Lord brings us to faith in Christ, He sets us apart for Himself. Believers do not approve of sexual sin or seek to change the biblical ethic. We betray the holy status conferred on us in our conversion when we commit sexual sin. Christians strive to keep His moral law.
Lust
Lust is an overpowering and compulsive desire or passion, especially of a sexual nature. Scripture condemns lust of all kinds and urges believers to show self-control.[xix] Combatting lust involves strategies specialized to the type of lust. For example, the lust for another woman or another man must first begin with a self-acknowledgement of that lust. While not every person struggles with this type of lust, every person does have some type of desire and passion. Realizing our desires and passions is what makes us strive to improve, it steers our paths, and helps us realize our boundaries and the established boundaries. In a marital relationship, it might be wise or unwise for us to confess our lust to our spouse. While the confession might raise healthy awareness that something is lacking in the relationship, insecurities might cloud rational thought and send the relationship down the road for more exercises in conflict resolution. Additionally, it is likely never wise to confess our lust to the one to whom we are attracted. That simply adds insult to injury and potentially invites provocation and exacerbation. Unloading that burden on the other is not only unfair but it is a recipe for disaster. Sharing it creates two problems and the sum or even the product of two numbers is only a bigger number problem. Along with the first step of self-acknowledgement comes ownership. When you own the problem, you must work towards the solution. Like any other problem, "humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up" (James 4:10).
Two very significant examples of lust are Potiphar's wife and Joseph, and David and Bathsheba. MRI scanners have revealed that the same area of the brain lights up in people experiencing lust as in addicts receiving their cocaine fix.[xx]
Potiphar's Wife and Joseph
The account in Gen. 36, tells us about Joseph living in his Egyptian master's house. The Lord was blessing this house because Joseph was living there. God blessed the Egyptian's house on behalf of Joseph. Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. The master's wife lusted after Joseph and asked him to lie with her. Joseph refused Potiphar's wife. Joseph explained to her that her husband trusted him with everything and asked how she could do this great wickedness, this sin against God. Shortly after that, Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph's garment and Joseph broke free and went out to do his work. Her deceitful heart mislead her husband and Joseph winds up in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph, showed him mercy, and probably influenced Potiphar's heart with doubt about his wife's story. Otherwise, the attempted rape of a master's wife by a slave might have earned Joseph the death sentence. Joseph fought against her lustful desires and likely did not have any of his own because Joseph believed he was living in the presence of God.
Fighting Against Lustful Desires
To the Churches in Galatia
Believers can and must fight against lust by showing self-control. While Paul was speaking to the churches of Galatia, he instructs them on such things as Christian Liberty, love fulfilling the law, and walking in the spirit. He tells them to walk in the spirit and to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. He tells them that the flesh lusts against the Spirit in the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another. Paul contends that if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Paul tells them that the works of the flesh are evident and presents the long list as adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness, adultery, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, reveries, and the like. He contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Holy Spirit's dwelling within the believer is a sign that the believer is part of God's people and an heir of the covenant promises given to Abraham. The Spirit's presence is also a sign that on the final day, God will consummate the blessings that belong to the believer in Christ, and we will then experience them in all their fullness.
To the Saints in Colossae
When Paul was preaching with Timothy to the Saints in Colossae, he preached against philosophy, legalism, and carnality. He tells the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ to become in practice would they are in principle: dead to sin and alive to God. He tells them to put away the things that are of the world: fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Paul tells them that there is a way of living that is incompatible with life in Christ, and Paul calls for a rigorous and radical departure from that old life. Of the five vices that he lists, four of them have to do with sex. Later in the letter, he lists five more vices, all having to do with anger an abusive speech. He tells them to put off all anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language. It is important to note here that Paul is not advocating legalistic asceticism. He is reminding believers that they are being transformed and renewed after God's image.
To the Church of the Thessalonians
Silas, and newcomer Timothy, joined Paul to preach at the church in the Macedonian city of Thessalonica. Paul gives thanks not to the Thessalonians but to God, since God is completely the cause of their Salvation and good works. He speaks of their conversion and his happiness to see them followed by a genuine concern for their faith. Paul praises the Thessalonians for their progress in learning how to please God, but he also challenges them to excel further. He tells them that their sanctification is the will of God. He wants them to abstain from sexual immorality and explains that each of them should know how to possess their own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion or lust, like the gentiles who did not know God. Pagan society in Paul's day provided little inducement to sexual purity. Marital infidelity, at least for men, was the norm, and some of the Pagan religions from which the Thessalonians had been freed approved of gross sexual misconduct and their rituals. The Christian gospel brings a moral awakening and a fresh revelation of God's righteous standards. Paul's message to the Thessalonians was a bit different than his message while in Ephesus. He had to tell the Ephesians to put off their former self, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. They needed to be renewed in the spirit of their mind and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Paul had to explain to them that belonging to Christ involves repudiating an old life, the way of living in Adam, and embracing a new one, the way of living in Christ. Paul describes conversion as putting on Christ. The image is that of taking off frayed clothes and putting on new ones.
The second letter to Timothy was Paul's last New Testament letter and he wrote 2nd Timothy during his second Roman imprisonment. He tells Timothy to remind his audience, probably the Christians at Ephesus, of a few things. He reminds Timothy to tell them to be diligent, to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, a worker who is rightly dividing the word of truth. Paul especially reminds Timothy to tell them to flee from their youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. He also wants Timothy to tell them to avoid foolish and arrogant disputes because they generate strife. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition.
David and Bathsheba
In 2 Sam. 11, we find the account of David's lustful encounter with Bathsheba who eventually, but not gracefully, becomes his wife. From the roof of his house, David sees Bathsheba bathing and has messengers go and get her. The messengers brought Bathsheba to David and he laid with her and she became with child. David has Bathsheba's husband murdered in battle, tried to cover it up, and then Bathsheba became his wife and bore him a son. David displeased the Lord. David had broken at least four of the ten commandments: murder, adultery, lying, and coveting his neighbor's wife.
King David was undone by his lust for Bathsheba (Solomon’s mother), and Bill Clinton, while still the most powerful man in the world, was almost impeached by his lust for a young White House intern. Lust is such a strong and subversive force that it can be very difficult to see through it or see it through. There are many people who could not organize a two-ticket tombola, but who suddenly become impressively industrious when it comes to acting out their lust.[xxi]
St. Augustine
When Augustine was sixteen, his father died. Augustine was first studying in his birthplace of Thagaste near Carthage in North Africa (which is now Algeria) but it was later while studying in Madura when his father died and Augustine fell into the trappings of paganism and sexual transgressions.[xxii] "I dare to grow wild again with various and shadowy loves…I became corrupt in Your eyes, pleasing myself…unholy desire…boiled confusedly within me, and dragged away my unstable youth into the rough places of unchaste desires, and plunged me into a gulf of infamy…I wandered farther from You, and You did 'suffer' me; and I was tossed to and fro, and wasted, and poured out, and boiled over in my fornications.[xxiii]
It was not until years later, with a mistress and a son in tow, that under the preaching of the greatest teacher of Italy, Ambrose of Milan, Augustine dramatically converted to Christianity.[xxiv] Writing about his encounter reading some of Paul's epistle to the Romans, "I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: 'Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.' I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away."[xxv]
Heart and Mind
Lust has its origins in the heart and mind. I offer the following verses but clearly admit the Holy Spirit will do more towards the epistemology of lust than even the proverbs or works of wisdom, for the gospel of Christ covers all. From Prov. 6:25-29 we have: "Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared? So is he who goes into his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent."
The lust full desire of the heart is the start of the progression. The connection between the desire and the act is not as stark as in Matt. 5:28 but it is present. "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her and his heart (Matt. 5:28).
Lust is Natural to Unbelievers
While Paul was addressing the Saints in Rome, he talked about the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Paul writes that since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. However, even though the people knew God they did not glorify him as God. They were not thankful, and they become futile in their thoughts and there are foolish hearts were darkened. They professed to be wise and they became fools and ultimately changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - birds and four-footed animals and creepy things. Paul stresses that humanity not only has the opportunity to know God through general revelation, but that the revelation yields real knowledge. Human beings' ungodliness in their refusal to acknowledge, approve of, or delight in what they cognitively know to be true. Although at a deep level they cannot avoid awareness of their personal Creator, people refuse to honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. The consequences of rejecting God is that their minds and hearts have grown dark. A refusal to honor God leads all intellectual pursuits to frustration. Peter told the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, "For we have spent enough of the past lifetime in doing the will of the gentiles - when we walked in lewdness , lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries" (1 Peter 4:3). Many of the sins of which Peter references are very similar to those mentioned in the book of Romans, and maybe strong evidence of a Pagan background amongst most of Peter's audience.
In Rom. 1:24, God gave them up to their uncleanliness, in the lusts of their hearts. Judgment involves the removal of divine restraints on both sinful actions and on their consequences. The rest of Romans chapter one, involves the unbelievers creating graven images replacing the Creator with creature. It also speaks of the lust that men have for women as well as men lusting after other men. God judges fallen man's perversion of the divinely ingrained instinct to worship by giving sinful human beings over to their perversion of other instincts from their proper functions. Scripture views all homosexual actions in this light. Lev. 18:22 states that "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." The consequence is degradation of the body , domination by lust, the disintegration of what is truly natural (that which is in accordance with human nature as created by God), and bondage to uncontrollable passions. Even with all of this unrighteousness, God's moral order stands. Gal. 6 tells us that the harvest reaped is related to the crop sown. If you sow to the flesh, the flesh will reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, the will of the Spirit reaps everlasting life.
Sin brings a disdain for God and what is pleasing to Him. It puts one in jeopardy of abandonment by God to a debased mind and a spirit of licentiousness. Paul sees as evidence of the guilt and bondage of sin that the knowledge of divine judgment no longer acts as a restraint, but it becomes a spur to further rebellion in the form of encouraging others to sin. James 1:15, "Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death."
Lust for Money
False Teachers
In the pastoral epistle of 1st Timothy, Paul provides instructions about the exclusive doctrine (apart from the false teachings) and the proper teaching of the gospel. He encourages Timothy to fight the good fight after Paul delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan who "suffered shipwreck" (strayed away from the truth). Paul exhorts prayer for all men and women in the church and describes the qualifications of the church overseers. Paul reemphasizes the problem with the false teachers, especially their greed and lust: "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, an into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and prediction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim. 6:6-10)
Overseers
Bishops
"This is a faithful saying: if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous: one who rules his house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (1 Tim. 3:1-7).
Deacons
Deacons are officers in the church alongside overseers/elders. The church has usually viewed the ministry in terms of the role of the seven chosen to help the apostles in Acts chapter 6 where the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples, saying it was not desirable for them to leave the word of God and serve the tables. Therefore they called out seven men of good reputation, who were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and they appointed them over this business of ministering to the widows.
"Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given too much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith [apparently some of the elders in Ephesus were taken in by false teachers. Paul uses the word "mystery" in other books][xxvi] with a pure conscience. But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful it all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons obtained for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 3:8-13).
Priests
Biblical references for bishops and elders were straight forward, however, no direct references exists as to the conduct of a priest.
The lustful desire of Israel and Judah for Alliances
Consider a lustful relationship between two countries or kingdoms rather than between people or with money, idolatry, or thoughts. The relationship between Judah and Samaria is but one prime example and it is referred to as the Parable of The Two Sisters, daughters of the same "mother", of a common origin, and is described in Ezek. 23:1-49. Both sisters learned prostitution while held captive in Egypt and brought this with them in the exodus, rebelling against Moses and God. The kingdoms became divided around 931 BCE. The Northern Kingdom was Israel and the capital was Samaria. The Southern Kingdom was Judah and Jerusalem represented the whole kingdom of Judah. "Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister; They were Mine, And they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah" (Ezek. 23:4).
Samaria lusted after the Assyrians and defiled herself with their idols when she adopted it into Hebrew worship. Hosea was concerned about Israel's political prostitution.[xxvii] Israel (Samaria) fell to the Assyrians in 722 BCE at the hands of Shalmaneser V [xxviii] and this is recorded in 2 Kings 18:9.
Judah witnessed what was happening to her older sister, Samaria, yet Jerusalem lusted even more. She not only defiled herself also with the Assyrians but as well with the Babylonians of Chaldea. The first Jewish temple, built by King Solomon was destroyed by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BCE.
The relationship between Ezek. 16 and Ezek. 23 should not be overlooked. Chapter 16 is the message of the orphan who became a harlot. Chapter 23 addresses the political alliances with ungodly nations that spelled doom for both Israel (Samaria), the Northern Kingdom, and Judah (Jerusalem), the Southern Kingdom.
Original Sin
Original sin is the doctrine that, as a result of Adam’s fall, all mankind are sinners by nature, having a propensity to sin that underlies every actual sin. While this propensity is not simply an act of the will, it has the character of sin and does not serve as an excuse for actual sins. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all men, because all sinned - for before the law was given, sin was in the world" (Rom. 5:12-13).
Scripture emphasizes repeatedly the universality of human sin. God brought forth a flood upon the world because of the universality of human sin, which extended even to Noah and his family who were spared. While the prophets condemned the wickedness of the nations around Israel, they condemned no nation more strongly than Israel itself. In Romans, the apostle Paul compiles a series of Old Testament quotations in Romans in order to prove that sin affects every person, that no one has escaped its influence. “All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin” (Rom 3:9).
The only explanation for this universality is that, underlying every individual sin is a propensity to sin that affects all mankind. While man has a will and the responsibility for action that comes with it, his will is influenced and shaped by his heart. From the heart of man proceed all types of evil (Mark 7:21–23). “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9). As a result, human beings can even be described as enslaved to sin (Rom 6:6) and unable to please God (Rom 8:8). In the New Testament, sinners are described as dead in sin, not only lacking freedom, but even life (Eph 2:1). But this slavery cannot be the sort of slavery that removes responsibility from individuals; we are willing slaves.
This universal reign of sin is presented in Scripture as the result of Adam’s first sin (Rom 5:12). This means that original sin is not the original state of mankind but instead a departure from that origin. God created man righteous; his nature was not at first bound to sin. But Adam’s first act of disobedience affected not only him but also all mankind. His fall brought not only punishment, but also a propensity to sin that would affect all mankind, save Christ. For that reason, when we are tempted, we cannot blame God, as though he made us this way. We do have a sinful nature, but that is not our nature as created by God but as sullied by human choice.
All Augustinians and Calvinists agree in the doctrine of total depravity and original sin in consequence of Adam’s fall; but differences arose among them concerning the imputation of Adam’s sin and guilt to his posterity.[xxix] The Catholic Church distinguishes sin, in part, by whether the sinner is aware or not aware. For example, Adam and Eve committed sin and all descendants inherit original sin without a knowing choice, and the question can then be raised as to whether original sin is actually a sin. And if not a sin, does then death not result from original sin? The Council of Trent: “2. If anyone asserts, that the prevarication of Adam injured himself alone, and not his posterity; and that the holiness and justice, received of God, which he lost, he lost for himself alone, and not for us also; or that he, being defiled by the sin of disobedience, has only transfused death, and pains of the body, into the whole human race, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul; let him be anathema: — whereas he contradicts the apostle who says; By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.” [xxx]
John Calvin on Original Sin
"Original sin, then, may be defined a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which in scripture are termed works of the flesh. This corruption is repeatedly designated by Paul by the term sin (Gal.5:19) while the works which proceed from it, such as adultery, fornication, theft, hatred, murder, reveling, he terms, in the same way, the fruits of sin, though in various passages of scripture, and even by Paul himself, they are also termed sin. Hence Augustine, though he often terms it another's sin, (that he may more clearly show how it comes to us by descent,) at the same time asserts that it is each individual's own sin. And the Apostle Paul most distinctly testifies that "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," (Roman 5:12) that is, all are involved in original sin, and polluted by its stain. "Hence, even infants bringing their condemnation with them from their mother's womb, suffers not for and others but for their own defect. For although they have not yet produced the fruits of their own unrighteousness, they have the seed implanted in them. Nay, their whole nature is, as it were, a seed-bed of sin, and therefore cannot but be odious and abominable to God."[xxxi] John Calvin said that sin is not our nature, but it is derangement. We cannot blame God for our vices. His divine workmanship was in the uncorrupted nature of Adam. He quoted Ecclesiastics 7:29, "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Our ruin is attributable to our own depravity.
St. Augustine on Original Sin
St Augustine influenced the work of John Calvin, St. Thomas Aquinas and many other theologians.[xxxii] Augustine's view of man was not favorable. Man was created with free rational choice and freely chose to disobey God's command, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or when you eat of it you will surely die (Gen. 2:16-17). Augustine's earlier thoughts and writings were quite different than those now adopted into doctrine. Before 396 CE, Augustine conceived that Adam and Eve were nothing more than organisms of ethereal substances and were not transformed into fleshly bodies until their disobedience which also then brought the consequence of death. He did not think that original sin was sufficient reason to forever condemn man. After all, man was created as innocent.
Augustine was influenced with Neoplatonic thought. In his later writings, Augustine posits that sin is essentially transmitted sexually (see Appendix D for more on St. Augustine). Let me explain that. Augustine thought original sin was passed from generation to generation through sexual intercourse. When people had sex and conceived a child, that child was born with original sin because of the sin of the parents. Augustine's favorite figure to describe body-soul unity is marriage: – your body is your wife.[xxxiii] He considered procreation as one of the goods of marriage. However, the only way to avoid evil caused by sexual intercourse is to take the "better" way (Confessions 8.2) and abstain from marriage (On marriage and concupiscence 1.31). In the next chapter we will explore more about marriage and that "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord" (Prov. 18:22).
[i] Rom. 7:8-11 [ii] Rom. 3:20, 5:13, v20 [iii] Rom. 8:3, Gal. 3:21 [iv] Paul is well aware that the noun "seed" in the singular form may be collective as well as individual as he explains in Rom. 4:18 about God's promise of saving blessing to the nations through Abraham and his offspring. [v] Masterman, E. W. G. (1915). Jerusalem. In J. Orr, J. L. Nuelsen, E. Y. Mullins, & M. O. Evans (Eds.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vol. 1–5, pp. 1619–1620). Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company. For 60 years after its capture silence reigns over Jerusalem. We know that the site continued to be garrisoned, but it was not to any extent rebuilt. In 130 AD it was visited by Hadrian, who found but few buildings standing. Two years later (132–35 AD) occurred the last great rebellion of the Jews in the uprising of Bar-Cochba (“son of a star”), who was encouraged by the rabbi Akiba. With the suppression of this last effort for freedom by Julius Severus, the remaining traces of Judaism were stamped out, and it is even said (Talm Jerus, Ta‛ănīth 4) that the very site of the temple was ploughed up by T. Annius Rufus. An altar of Jupiter was placed upon the templesite, and Jews were excluded from Jerusalem on pain of death. [vi] Second Jewish revolt, (132 to 135 CE), Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in Judaea. The revolt was preceded by years of clashes between Jews and Romans in the area. Finally, in 132 CE, the misrule of Tinnius Rufus, the Roman governor of Judaea, combined with the emperor Hadrain's intention to found a Roman colony of the site of Jerusalem and his restrictions on Jewish religious freedom and observances (which included a ban on the practice of male circumcision), roused the last remnants of Palestinian Jewry to revolt. A bitter struggle ensued. Bar Kokhba became the leader of this Second Jewish Revolt; although at first successful, his forces proved no match against the methodical and ruthless tactics of the Roman general Julius Severus. With the fall of Jerusalem and the Bethar, a fortress on the seacoast south of Caesarea where Bar Kokhba was slain, the rebellion was crushed in 135 CE. According to Christian sources, Jews were thenceforth forbidden to enter Jerusalem. https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Jewish-Revolt [vii] Darrel W. Johnson, Discipleship on the Edge, (Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 2004) p. 229,230 [viii] Gal. 3:19 New Greek -English Interlinear New Testament (NRSV), (Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990) p.659 [ix] Ronald L Conte Jr., The Reproach of Christ, (Blog posted on 29 November 2015) https://ronconte.com/2015/11/29/formal-or-actual-sin-versus-material-or-objective-sin/ [x] Catechism of the Catholic Church, (New York: Image Doubleday, 1995), CCC 1862. [xi] The Catechism describes two main types of venial sin. First, one commits venial sin when “in a less serious matter [than mortal sin], he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law” (CCC 1862). In other words, if one does something immoral but the matter is not serious enough to be gravely immoral, he commits only venial sin. For example, deliberate hatred can be venial sin or mortal sin depending on the seriousness of the hatred. The Catechism explains, “Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm” (CCC 2303). Another example is abusive language. “Abusive language is forbidden by the fifth commandment but would be a grave offense only as a result of circumstances or the offender’s intention” (CCC 2073). [xii] Ronald L. Conte Jr., Roman Catholic theologian and translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible. https://ronconte.com/2015/11/29/formal-or-actual-sin-versus-material-or-objective-sin/ [xiii] Gerry Rauch, "Formal vs. Material, Archives - News, National Catholic Register, Jan 11, 1998, retrieved November 25, 2019, from http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/formal_vs_material [xiv] Lori Wildenberg Christianity.com https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/what-are-the-seven-deadly-sins.html [xv] See Mark 4:18; Matthew 12:41; Jonah 3:10 [xvi] Dyer, C. H. (1985). Jeremiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1132). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. [xvii] Witmer, J. A. (1985). Romans. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 494). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. [xviii] Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Tradition. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, pp. 2093–2094). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. [xix] Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser. [xx] Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201408/the-philosophy-lust [xxi] Ibid. [xxii] Steven J. Lawson, Pillars of Grace - AD 100 - 1564, A Long Line of Godly Men, (Crawfordsville, Indiana: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011) p. 184 [xxiii] Augustine, Confessions, 2.2.1-2, cited in Augustine: Confessions and Enchiridion, ed. Albert C. Outlet (London: S.C.M. Press, 1955)p. 61 [xxiv] Steven J. Lawson, Pillars of Grace - AD 100 - 1564, A Long Line of Godly Men, (Crawfordsville, Indiana: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011) p. 188 [xxv] Augustine, Confessions, 8.12, cited in Augustine: Confessions and Enchiridion, p. 175-176 [xxvi] See Verse 16, Rom. 16:25, 26; First Corinthians 2:7 ; 4:1; Eph. 1:9; 3:3-9; 6:19; Col. 1 26, 27; 2:2; 4:3 [xxvii] See Hos 5:13; 7:11; 8:9; 12:1 [xxviii] Shalmaneser V was king of Assyria and Babylon from 727 to 722 BC. He first appears as governor of Zimirra in Phoenicia in the reign of his father, Tiglath-Pileser III. Evidence pertaining to his reign is scarce. [xxix] Schaff, P. (1878). The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The History of the Creeds (Vol. 1, p. 484). New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers [xxx] Ronald Conte Roman Catholic theologian and translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible. https://ronconte.com/2015/11/29/formal-or-actual-sin-versus-material-or-objective-sin/ [xxxi] John Calvin, Institutes of The Christian Religion, Book 2, Chapter 1, paragraph 8. The Nature of Sin, translated by Thomas Norton (Pathianos Classics, 1581) p.96 [xxxii] Kathleen Kuiper, Senior Editor for Britannica.com on the article: St. Augustine, City of God https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-City-of-God Notes - Chapter Eight and Appendix G - Marriage [xxxiii] Augustine of Hippo, De utilitate ieiunii, 4, 4–5. ign is scarce. [xxix] Schaff, P. (1878). The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The History of the Creeds (Vol. 1, p. 484). New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers [xxx] Ronald Conte Roman Catholic theologian and translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible. https://ronconte.com/2015/11/29/formal-or-actual-sin-versus-material-or-objective-sin/ [xxxi] John Calvin, Institutes of The Christian Religion, Book 2, Chapter 1, paragraph 8. The Nature of Sin, translated by Thomas Norton (Pathianos Classics, 1581) p.96 [xxxii] Kathleen Kuiper, Senior Editor for Britannica.com on the article: St. Augustine, City of God https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-City-of-God Notes - Chapter Eight and Appendix G - Marriage [xxxiii] Augustine of Hippo, De utilitate ieiunii, 4, 4–5.
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