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CHAPTER FIVE

SIN and SIN

It would be good to elaborate the distinction which our Lord makes between these two kinds of sin in John 9,41 & 15,22-24; Matt. 12,31-32.

(a) In the first place there is the sin referred to and described in Rom. 1,18 - 3,20. This is the sin of breaking the Moral Law. It has two sides to it, corresponding to the two divisions of the Ten Commandments: there is sin against God and sin against man. The first is dealt with in Rom. 1,18-32; the second in Rom. 2,1-16. The peculiar case of the Jews is dealt with in Rom. 2,17 - 3,18. The final summing up is that so far as the Moral Law is concerned all the world is guilty before God, since everybody has broken that Law.

Then Paul goes on to point out that for such guilty sinners God has provided a way of escape through the blood of Jesus Christ. This salvation can only be offered to sinners: the righteous do not need it! But in the Law there was no way of escape once the Law had been deliberately broken; Law never forgives, not even the Law of Moses.1

The light then, spoken of in Rom. 1,18-20 & 2,14, 15, was enough to show men the way of life and to keep them in it, as our Lord said to the Rich Young Ruler who enquired what he must do to inherit eternal life.2 But once the Law had been broken it had no salvation to offer. The wages of sin was death, and had to be paid. While therefore it is true to say that the heathen have had an opportunity of living right according to the light of Creation and Conscience, it is quite untrue to say that they have had any opportunity of salvation when once they have sinned: for "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must

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be saved"3 and as Paul says "how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?"

If, however, the light spoken of in Rom. 1,18 - 3,20 were indeed enough not only to show the way of life to the righteous, but also to save a sinner who had forsaken it, there would be no need to send missionaries to the heathen at all, since they would already be in possession of a way of salvation without hearing of the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ! But this is to mistake the whole point of these opening chapters, which is to show that the heathen world was in need of salvation since it had disobeyed the light that it had, and so was justly under the wrath of God. Had it had no light it could not have been guilty before God, and so would not have needed forgiveness.

Those who believe in any of the doctrines of being "born in sin" do not believe that the heathen have had any "chance" of "going right" at all; and since they have had "no chance" of hearing the Gospel either, they really teach that the great majority of human beings will go to everlasting torment, without having had "any chance" either of going right or of being saved! What a slander both upon the righteousness and the Love of God! It seems inconceivable that anyone could bring themselves to believe such a terrible thing of a God who is Love.

(b) In the second place there is the sin mentioned by our Lord in John 9,41; 15,22-25. This Sin is so enormous that our Lord speaks as if no other sins counted in comparison; "If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin", He says. He describes this sin as a whole-hearted hatred for His Father and Himself in the light of His perfect teaching backed up by His perfect works. It is irrational hatred of God in the light of full understanding. There is nothing to be said in extenuation of such sin: it is the sin of Satan who urged Job through his wife to curse God to His face. Even the men of Tyre and Sidon, of Sodom and Gomorrah, had not gone so far as this, but would, as our Lord Himself said, have repented if they had had the opportunity which was given to Bethsaida and Chorazin!4 We are to remember here that the men of Sodom and Gomorrah had actually had the testimony to The Living God of Melchizedek, Abram,

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and Lot. Yet this testimony had not been backed up by such works as our Lord performed in Galilee, which would have produced repentance. No man therefore is hopeless in our Lord's eyes until he has committed this sin of deliberate rejection of the Gospel of God preached in the convicting power of the Holy Ghost; "but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men" (Matt. 12,31). The horror of this Sin is that even God has no argument left wherewith to bring such men to repentance: this hatred is eternal (Mark 3,29 R.V.).

To sum up therefore: all the world have had the opportunity of living up to the light they had; and all the world, including Christians, have failed to do so: a very small part of the human race has however also had an opportunity of salvation offered to it in the Name of Jesus. This salvation was to have been offered to "every creature"; but, as The Lord knew, great continents filled with people had not yet been discovered nor would be for hundreds of years. It follows therefore that the vast majority of men will arrive at the Great White Throne of God condemned by its breaking of the Law, but never having had any opportunity of accepting the Salvation of God, since it has never heard the Name of Jesus. So far from needing a "second chance" they have not even had a first chance!

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The Disastrous Effects Of The Doctrine Of Original Sin | By His Stripes We Are Healed | The Book Of Revelation | The Second Coming Of Christ | The Baptism And Gifts Of The Holy Spirit | The Comforter Is Come