THEOLOGY & APOLOGETICS

The Consequences of Willful Sin

Many people struggle with habitual and addictive sins. There are five main concerns when it comes to these willful and deliberate sins by people who profess to be believers:

1. Practical consequences;

2. Sin presents a hindrance to our ability to carry out our mission for God and might possibly affect God's receptivity of our prayers;

3. The concept of "grieving the Holy Spirit";

4. A "fearful expectation of judgment" mentioned in Hebrews 10:26-31, which may or may not be tied to the unpardonable sin; and

5. The unpardonable sin.

1. Practical Consequences of Sin

If you lie, people won't trust you. If you murder someone, you will go to jail or be executed. The sin on this level doesn't necessarily have an impact on salvation, but it does have practical consequences on one's life on earth. Paul says this fairly clearly in 1 Corinthians 10:23 and 6:12, where he says, "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial."

2. Hindrance to Mission and Prayer

Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 that "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other." If you are living in willful and deliberate sin, and thereby serving as a slave to sin (John 8:34), you cannot serve as a slave to the good works that God has prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). Of course, there is a difference between acting out of the flesh and acting out of our spirit/heart/mind. Paul says in Romans 7:25, "I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." So, there is some room for the idea that God does not allow our flesh to negate His ability to use us for His purposes, though we don't want to present an intentional hindrance — and when the sin is willful, conscious, and deliberate, then there is greater trouble.

With respect to prayer, Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." This is coming from David, who was already "saved" or "of God" at the time of this writing. Other passages hint at this notion, such as Isaiah 59:2, James 4:3, and John 9:31. Of course, many people will counter that these references to people in sin are not to Christians, but non-Christians, and that the implications of David's words are not about any evil, but it is to say that "if wickedness was in my heart instead of God, then God would not hear." So, it's up for debate whether or not your prayers will be hindered; but it is certain that sin will present a hindrance to one's ability to carry out God's mission for his or her life.

3. Grieving the Holy Spirit

There is only one real passage that talks about this concept, and that is Ephesians 4:30. There are two main interpretations of this concept:

a. Our sin causes the Holy Spirit emotional pain or grief;
b. Our sin frustrates/"grieves" the purposes of the Holy Spirit

The Greek word for "grieve" does literally mean "sadden," which would lend its support to the first view. But the overarching tone of Scripture lends better to the second view. That is...

· We know that God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17), and thus it would be unusual to say that God's temperament toward us is constantly changing based on how we live and act, which would be akin to the very thing James 1:17 says God does not do: "change like shifting shadows," which are never stable in one state.

· The concept of God being grieved by our sin after salvation seems to negate the purpose of the cross. Specifically, our sin was on Jesus on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), and therefore it would be unusual to think that God would be impacted by a sin that has already been put to death with Christ.

· Alternatively from the last view, one would have to take the presumption that God can be grieved because the sin isn't put on the cross until we put it there. But this presents interpretive problems with passages like 1 Peter 3:18 and other theological problems with Christians who die with unconfessed sin, including sins they didn't know about.

· Hebrews 8:12 and Isaiah 43:25 also says that God will "remember their sins no more." Why would God be grieved by something he doesn't remember?

· It's also noteworthy to point out that God is the one who must empower us not to sin. We are so utterly sinful ourselves that nothing we do can get out of it. So, it would be weird to think that God would be emotionally wounded by us doing something that He already knows we're bound to do and that only He can stop us from doing. It would be like putting a six-month old child in the middle of some stairs and then being saddened by its choice to move and fall down the stairs rather than climbing up them safely. Any parent would not be saddened at the child's choice to move because they know what it inevitable; instead, they are potentially saddened at the child's helplessness and do something to save the child to protect them from their inevitable and harmful choices.

In any case, it seems more probable to me that the Holy Spirit is not emotionally wounded by our sins; rather, his purposes are "grieved" or "frustrated" by our sins because of the fact that God allows our choices to have an impact on his world (unless you're a believer in hyper-Calvinism, in which case there are other more glaring theological problems you have to deal with).

Continue to Page Two

comments powered by Disqus

Published 6-20-16