Sin Among The Saints and Its
Consequences
Mr. JACK C. HULL.
1 Corinthians 6
8 Nay, ye
do wrong, and defraud, and that [your] brethren.
9 Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the
Galatians 5
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these];
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which
I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the
Ephesians 5
3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it
not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not
convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the
We
have in the above passages a long list of persons who shall have no inheritance
in the
The
interpretation of most commentators accept that these
referred to are the unregenerate, but we find ourselves unable to go in with
this. After a long and diligent
perusal of the Scriptures and comparing them with other Scriptures, our
conclusion is that these spoken of are believers in the Lord Jesus who have
deliberately and wilfully sinned whilst enjoying the state of grace.
This
immediately raises the question — "How is it
possible for a believer NOT to have a place in ‘the
A
question that is pertinent to this study is an elementary one, yet it is
necessary to ask it in order to bring home the truth behind the question.
"Can a believer sin?" We
believe one has but to search his own heart and the answer MUST be in
the affirmative. Admitting then that a believer can
AND DOES sin, we ask, "How does this
affect him ‘in Christ’?" His
position "in Christ" remains unchanged
— his life is hid with Christ in God and nothing, but nothing, can alter or
change this. Positionally then, he is unaffected because of the atoning
work of Christ. Conditionally,
however, it is another matter. He has sinned and his sin is a barrier between
God and himself (Isaiah 59:2). He
is out of touch and cannot commune with God, and will remain so until the
sin is confessed and repented of. Once this is done, then the advocacy of Christ intervenes on his
behalf and fellowship is restored once again (1
John 1: 9; 2: 1).
Sadly
though, we cannot end the matter here, for there is yet another aspect to be
considered. Admitting once again
that the believer can and does sin — what then if the sin remains unconfessed
and unrepented of? Scripture assures us that such cases occur (Matthew 18: 15-18) — how then do such stand before
God? Well, we have seen that their sin is as a barrier between them and
God, and as the advocacy of Christ is not called upon this barrier
remains. That a coldness will soon envelope the
believer can be easily appreciated and we subsequently have what is termed a
"backslider." To be filled with
such stubbornness concerning confession and repentance implies that the sin committed was wilful and deliberate — a
path chosen to walk upon, and with the mind steadfast on not returning.
There
are two very significant passages in Hebrews which deal with such people, but unfortunately the effect of this
teaching is lost through watering it down and relegating it to the "unregenerate" or "false
professors." We refer to Hebrews
6: 4-8 and 10: 26-31; and we shall
deal with these at length later on in the series.
We
are convinced that much of the erroneous ideas that are present in our
Christian beliefs today begins with man’s conception
of God’s salvation. For instance, it is generally taught and commonly
believed that when a sinner is regenerated by the Holy Spirit that he is "entitled" to all that God has laid up for those
whom He has redeemed. This is not quite true. It would be more
accurate and Scriptural to say that he has "title"
to all the blessings of God through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
— whether he receives the fullness of those blessings at the end of the
journey will depend on his attitude to God’s (conditional) promises. The
blessed work of Christ brings the redeemed sinner into a new relationship with
God — it makes him a child of God (not a son, for he must grow to be a son), he
is now a member of the household of God, a subject in God’s Kingdom. His
position is similar to that of the children of
Prior
to their redemption at the Passover, God had to take the initiative in calling
their leader, Moses, and equipping him with power to overcome him who held them
in bondage. All they had to do was to slay the lamb and shelter under the
blood; and when the mighty work was done that night of the Passover, to step
forward in faith depending on the word of Jehovah their Redeemer. We find
that from this moment forward, Israel is given conditional promises; and
in effect, God says to them, "If you do this...then I will do
that" (see Deuteronomy 7:12; 8:11
— these examples can be repeated over
and over). God is faithful to His word, and in the few instances the
people did do the will of God, they were blessed with much blessing; but
when they became stubborn and stiff-necked, they felt the effects of His
chastisement.
Our
position is similar to that of the Israelites. At our conversion, we
found ourselves with our backs to
-------