Reconciling Sin, Judgment, and a God of Love – Part 1

It is not a sexy thing to talk about sin in our current culture. If you were brought up in a home or in a church with an overemphasis on sin with condemnation and fear of punishment, talking about sin can understandably be a real trigger. The temptation, however, is to fall in the opposite toxic ditch and say, “There is no such thing as sin,” or “Since everyone has sinned, it is not a big deal.” I will be addressing both these ditches in Part 1 of this blog series. 

Scripture addresses two ditches in or relationship with sin in the parable commonly referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The first ditch is that of legalism—the problem with the elder brother. The second ditch is lawlessness—the problem with the younger brother. 

In Luke 15:11-13, the younger son asks his father for his inheritance, which in Middle Eastern culture was a great offense, being the equivalent of saying “I wish you were already dead.” The father gives both the younger and older son their inheritance. The older son stays and works the fields. The younger son leaves and recklessly wastes his inheritance on extravagant, reckless living. He eventually ends up hungry, and in desperation, he begins working for a farmer, feeding his pigs, and even sinking so low as to begin coveting the pig slop. He wakes up and decides he’ll go back to his father and admit his sin, forfeit his place as a son, and beg his father to take him back as a servant (Luke 15:17-19). 

Concerning the two ditches, the fallen condition of the younger son is the easiest to see. This error says that sin does not matter, or that there is no such thing as sin. This error is the error of antinomianism, which literally means no law. This is the “anything goes” culture. 

This can be seen as a mistaken understanding of grace. Grace does not mean we can do anything we want. Lawlessness is actual bondage because it is sinful, and sin has consequences of death (Rom. 6:23). We may not be under the Old Covenant Mosaic Law, but we are still under the laws of love, Christ, the Spirit, and freedom. When we violate these laws, this is what sinful behavior looks like, and we reap bondage and death. We see this when the prodigal son ends up reaping the consequences of sinful behavior and finds himself in the pig pen, craving pig slop. 

Lawlessness is addressed in the following scriptures:

First John 3:4 (New American Standard Bible, NASB) makes the direct correlation between lawlessness and sin:

4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

Matthew 24:12 (NASB) connects lawlessness with love becoming cold:

12 And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.

Hebrews 1:9 (NASB) unpacks Christ’s love of righteousness with joy:

9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your companions.”

So, we are under laws—just not the Law of Moses. I will discuss the laws we are under in detail in Part 2 of this series. For now, let’s explore the second “sin ditch”—the sin of legalism. Scripture refers to legalistic people as Judaizers. These people want to mix the letter of Mosaic Law with grace. When we are under the letter of the law, it squashes us with the bondage of impossible rules and condemnation for not perfectly following them. Indeed, the letter of the Mosaic Law kills (2 Cor. 3:6).

We can see this with the elder brother when he learns that his younger prodigal brother has come home and there is a great feast of celebration. Luke 15:25-30 (NASB) says of the elder brother:

28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” 

The elder brother has forgotten he also got all his inheritance early. He is keeping score. He is enraged that his prodigal brother gets to come back into the fold and be celebrated. He looks at serving in His father’s house as slaving. Moreover, he is self-righteous, saying he has never disobeyed his father’s commands. He also accuses the heart of his father, saying that he has withheld from him. He has also disowned his brother, saying “that son of yours.” Finally, he accuses his father of being unjust. 

The elder brother is smack dab in the mean ditch of legalism. There is an overemphasis on sin and on following rules. Much of the church, historically and still currently, has embraced the concept of having a sin nature. The problem is that if this is true, we will eventually despair because we cannot overcome who we are. Here, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was as payment on our behalf to an angry, displeased Father, and we receive Christ as Savior so that we will avoid God’s punishment.

But Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was not to appease an angry Father (more on this later). Something profound happened to humanity in our fallenness because of the cross and resurrection. We (the old man/sinful nature/Adamic nature) were baptized into his death and raised a new creation with no sin nature. Yes, as Christ is in this world (Rom. 6:5-11; 2 Cor. 5:17, 21; 1 John 4:17). 

Faulty understanding of the Gospel, and the rampant legalism that results, have caused a lot of fallout. We become judges of the world and ourselves. We legalists are miserable and in bondage, and we make others miserable and put them under bondage (Luke 11:46, Matt. 7:1-5).

We can see the father’s response to the elder legalistic brother:

31 Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

Luke 15:31 (NASB)

The truth is that neither of these sons, the prodigal or the legalistic elder brother, knew their father’s heart. They saw themselves as orphans or servants when in reality, they had everything and the full run of their father’s house. 

We, like prodigals and legalistic elder brothers, just don’t know our Father. We don’t know who we really are. Stuff happens and our minds, wills, emotions, and bodies become damaged, broken, and diseased. And out of that brokenness—not the nature of who we truly are—we sin. Sin is a really big deal because it is destructive—either toward ourselves or others. BUT we are forgiven, and God is in us to remind us who we are and help us do better!

Which “brother” do you relate to more? Have you found yourself operating as both? I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

Much Love,

Catherine