some thoughts on sin

I have just a few short thoughts on sin I'd like to share.

The first comes from 2nd Peter 1:5-9,

5 ¶ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

I never really understood verse 9 - in the past I had read over it kind of quickly because I couldn't quite get my mind wrapped around it. I thought of it saying something like "he who lacks these things (traits in above list) has literally forgotten about his salvation and is now acting under the same manner of guilt and condemnation as before his cleansing". To broaden that thought I think it may be contrasting those who have these traits with those who lack them - as comparing those who are growing in the knowledge of Christ with those who are "growing" in blindness - even to the point of forgetting the preciousness of their free cleansing in Christ. As I was meditating on this verse a couple of months ago I was broken to realize my deep sense of ingratitude and flippantness towards the gift of Life that God has given me.

This leads to another thought I had this weekend when talking to some friends on a camping trip. We brought up the question of whether any of us could be considered a "good person" - obviously no, but it seems culturally most people think they are. We talked about the difference between man forgiving man for a transgression and God forgiving man for a transgression. In the first case we understand that to forgive basically means to have some tough words, say "I'm sorry" and go on from there. That's may be totally right in human to human interaction, but not so with God.

When we sin against God, restitution has to be made in blood - seem kinda harsh? [ Maybe, but it's important - we need for God to be holy (to be God) ]. When God "forgives" us it's not like a man accepting an apology from his neighbor. God forgives us by transferring the punishment away from us on to a scapegoat. We're not dealing with some emotional person who needs to be coddled and pleaded with to change their mind and stop being mad at us. With God, this is almost a purely legal transaction. A crime has been committed and in God's economy of justice a sentence must be served.

My friends and I also discussed this "courtroom scenario" for understanding how God's forgiveness works. When we enter God's courtroom we are "guilty as a dog", but without fail those who place their trust in Christ leave unscathed, forgiven, even "declared righteous"! What kind of trial is that? How do we go from dirty and guilty to clean and free? Well, what doesn't happen is God doesn't examine all the evidence and decide "we're not all that bad". He doesn't hear our apologies or review our acts of restitution. No, we go through the entire trial and are found absolutely (beyond a shadow of a doubt) guilty. Without excuse and without appeal we are sentenced to death. There was never a chance it would be otherwise. But in God's courtroom there is a final phase that doesn't take place in a human court. After trial, judgment and sentencing comes the "atonement phase".

This atonement phase is where our sentence (of death) is transferred to the scapegoat. In this case the only scapegoat available and capable is God's only son Jesus Christ. We are "not guilty" in the same way a person is convicted of a crime, sent to prison, and released after serving their full sentence. We leave the courtroom "not guilty", not because the debt has been canceled, but because the debt has been paid.

What I have found significant about these thoughts is the difference between forgiveness and atonement. When we're asking God to forgive we're asking him to atone for our sin. Unfortunately I have found myself for many years coming to God and basically wanting to say "I'm sorry, please forgive me". The problem is, I never think about Christ's blood or the atonement when I'm am asking this of God. I try to ask God to forgive me the way I would forgive a friend and that's a huge misunderstanding on my part.

In past time I would be critical of those who were always "stuck at the cross". I guess you would have to know me back then, but I really looked at the cross as "Step 1". If you're still on Step 1 you're not making progress. I think that might have been a really bad way of looking at it. The cross is "Step 1" in the sense that we can't have reconciliation or communion with the Father without it, but as long as sin has even a small part in my life I will need the atonement brought about by the blood of Christ shed on the cross.

Finally I was encouraged by one other verse this afternoon, Gen 4:6-8,

6 ¶ So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
8 ¶ Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Sin is a choice. I am to blame for wrong things to do. Sin desires to rule me, however, God has given me the power to rule over it - indeed it is a fundamental command to us as fallen human beings.