Minor Sins

Romans 3:22b-24 “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

I was talking to a friend the other day about “degrees of sin.” He felt that had a scale that He used to determine minor sins from major sins. That once “saved”, Christ paid and continues to pay for all of our sins. But also, that God does not expect us to stop willfully practicing the minor sins, like speeding on the highway & little white lies. That God does not expect perfection and allows for those “minor sins” without penalty. Where is the line? It’s an out-of-context Psalm 103:1-14 attitude and argument (leaving out verses 15-22), for a message unconditional forgiveness and freedom to sin, to match his heart and life-style. Like Jesus is a get-out-of-Hell free card in the game of life. I wonder why people make God in their own image and pretend that there is no consequence for their thoughts, words and actions against His will and way? As if Christ is their Savior, but not their Lord; they are. Oh yeah, the flesh, the world and the devil. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) are straight forward. Proverbs 6:17, 1Corinthians 6:9-12, Galatians 5:19-21 are clear that sin is serious. God hates all sins against Him (and hate is a “strong” word, but the wages of sin is death). Legalism or obedience? We all answer individually to our Maker. Doesn’t the Lord desire righteousness? What so we seek?

Romans 5:19-21 & 6:1-7 says “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.”

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 tells us “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The objective is not to beat ourselves up, but to straighten our selves up to align our will with the will of God and have a “right” relationship with our Lord.1 Peter 1:14-17 explains that As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

Let us remember, John 3:17-18a declares, “ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” And 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  Sin is a difficult subject, but important enough for Jesus to die for. And that I something to thank and praise God for.

I am interested to hear your thoughts on Minor sins. What do you think?

1 Thessalonians 4:7 “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”  

In Christ, Brian