Reinterpretting Sin in Christ
Posted by vincevincevince on December 7, 2009
At advent, it is traditional to pray for the new advent, the return of Christ; and amongst these prayers is usually one that Christ return that sin might cease. The end of sin coming with the end of this world is a Biblical concept, and well supported by scripture, and yet sometimes in our zealous longing for the return of Christ we fail to take time to properly think about the sin which is around us now.
We live in what has been described as the ‘now but not yet’; a period in which we have now inherited the promise of salvation, have already seen the coming of the Messiah, and but have not yet seen the final acts of completion take place in the establishment of a new heavens and a new earth when our sinful state and fallen relationship with God will be finally restored. So this means that sin is around us, and indeed within us, even though Christ has already died upon the cross. Yet, our salvation should change the way in which we see sin; for whilst we once looked as sinners without hope, now we look as a people redeemed by the great grace of God.
Without salvation, we could do nothing but measure our lives according to our possessions, whether they be tangible, such as a house or a car, or intangible, such as renown or popularity. Now we are in Christ our glory is hidden until his return, and we no longer measure ourselves with the measure of the world. Christ has turned the loss we once suffered when we are sinned against right on its head.
This morning I awoke to find that someone had broken into my car and stolen money from within it. It wasn’t a lot of money yet it was enough to make a difference. How should I respond? Should I respond? The really important question to answer is whether I have been wronged, and if so, in what way have I been wronged.
I have lost some money, and now have fewer worldly possessions; yet even that is no more than the fulfilment of scripture that earthly treasures are stolen away or decay. Jesus exults us to pile up great treasures for ourselves, but not on earth but in heaven. The lesson of Matthew 6:19-20 looks like a reiteration of the law and not directly founded in the Gospel, yet close attention to 6:21 transforms the message into something we can understand through the Gospel and in the Gospel for it relates the statement of law with our rebirth in Christ.
Matthew 6:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What then have I lost, if a man has taken away from me something which is keeping my heart away from God? Have I not rather gained, if only a little, by having fewer treasures here on earth to drag me down on the day of the Lord? Yet, this neutralisation of sin, whilst important is not the end of the story. I depend upon the saving work of Christ, for without it, I have no means to stand before God as a wretched sinner — I rely upon forgiveness of sins in his name. Likewise; as Jesus explains in his chilling warning of Matthew 18:32-35, it would be a rejection of the very act of my salvation if I were not to forgive those who sin against me.
Matthew 18:
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
So, in being sinned against, not only has the effect of the sin been neutralised by Christ, indeed by forgiving the sin of the person who stole from me I am in direct obedience to Christ in showing others the same mercy that I rely on from Him.
Where then is anger and retribution? Where is the need for revenge and punishment? Surely, there was a sin committed last last night; yet the victim was not me. The victim of the sin was the thief, who has piled yet more charges to his wretched account. If anything, I come out of the experience with more than I had whilst the money was still within the car.
I think that if we really think deeply about the sin which is around us in the context of Christ and his great work of salvation, we start to see that the end of the effects of sin which we await with the second coming of Christ has already arrived, if not generally then at least personally. So, I will pray for the person who stole from me, not for my own ends but that God might by his grace bring that person into the knowledge of Christ, an undeserved mercy which I too undeserving obtained through his grace alone.
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great thoughts. Love the comment you left on my blog. Glad to read more of your incredible insight.