Why does unrepentant sin matter?
On the one hand, there is an obvious answer: if someone is in deliberate unrepentant sin, the odds are very high that person will end up in Hell, separated from God for all eternity. Sin impacts and hurts others in addition to the person committing it.
Yet, one can argue there is an even bigger problem: our ongoing sin causes others to blaspheme God. Do we really want our actions to be the impetus for others to blaspheme God?
Romans 2:21–24 (NAU): “You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ‘For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’ just as it is written.”
As we well know, the world is hostile to Jesus Christ, as the Scriptures define him. The world looks at Christians who flagrantly sin, make excuses for it, keep on sinning, and yet still insist they are free in Christ to do so. The world sees no difference between those supposed Christians and their own behavior, and blaspheme God as a result.
We are warned in many biblical texts that if that is how we think, we are deceiving ourselves, and our eternal destiny, regardless of what we may claim, will be apart from God. Here are two:
Galatians 6:7 (NAU): “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”
Ephesians 5:3–7: “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.”
Would that we would heed those warnings!
So again, why does it matter? I am deep into studying for an extended blog series that will hopefully begin late next winter on my own website. Among other things, I’m looking at the writings of the LGBTQIA+ “Christian theologians”. They point to both Barth and Tillich as prime examples of why the “heteronormative” view of Christian marriage does not work, is a false construct worthy of destruction. Biblically, we are back to Romans 2:24 and blaspheming God.
So, what about us? What about our own lives?
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