5 “But,” some might say, “our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?” (This is merely a human point of view.) 6 Of course not! If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world? 7 “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?” 8And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned.
Doesn’t Sin Benefit God?
I love the way some people think. “By sinning,” they suggest, “I am helping show God’s righteousness.” How nice of you. How thoughtful. How stupid.
Let me explain where the argument comes from. Paul is suggesting that the primary purpose of the Law is to demonstrate our inability to be “good enough.” When we try to live up to all the requirements of the Law, we fail. We sin. We discover it’s hopeless. More than anything else, the Law highlights the need for God’s grace. We need his mercy, because we can’t live up to the expectations of the Law. In other words, the Law reveals just how sinful we are.
If that’s true, then if we keep sinning, we are demonstrating even more how much we need God’s grace. If we keep failing at our attempts to fulfill the Law, then we highlight even more just how righteous and merciful God truly is. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Except is doesn’t. It’s ridiculous.
Because the message of the Gospel isn’t about being accepted by God. It’s about the life we can live as one already accepted by God.
Let me explain. For religious people, the end goal is acceptance by God. I do all this in order to be good enough. The Law demonstrates that you can’t be good enough. The Gospel of grace, however, is that Christ’s death provided that righteousness. We we accept his gift of salvation, we are clothed in Jesus’ holiness. We are suddenly good enough. The key is what do we do with that rightousness? What do we do now that we are good enough? For the Christ-follower, the starting point is God’s acceptance. A huge difference.
And in that light, it would be ridiculous to suggest that what I should do from this point on is just sin as much as I can so that I demonstrate the righteousness of God. It even sounds silly. All you do when you continue to sin after Christ clothes you with his righteousness is suggest that there is no power in the cross to change one’s life.
Paul’s going to park on this theme for a while now, so we’ll get into it a little more over the next few days.
My prayer: Lord, thank you for the Cross. Thank you that I no longer strive to be accepted by you. I don’t have to follow a bunch of rules and rituals in order to get to a place where you declare me “good enough.” I’m good enough, not because of any action on my part, but because of the price you paid on the Cross. So, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for the Cross. Amen.
Until tomorrow.
