Making Sin Abhorrent (part two)
By Jay Wegter
We saw in part one of Making Sin Abhorrent, that not only did all sin, but also all fall short (Rom 3:23). This single Greek verb is in the present tense, stressing continuing action. It can be translated “keep on falling short.” The simple fact is that as a sinner, not a single human being by his own efforts is able to measure up to the glory of God. God’s glory is His splendor, the outward manifestation of His attributes. God desires that humans share that splendor, that they become like Him in holiness, that is, ‘Christ-like’ (cf. “glory” in Rom 5:2; 2 Cor 3:18; Col 1:27; 2 Thess 2:14). Yet their sin keeps them from sharing it.¹ When man attempts to be his own glory, the focal point of his own life, he will find that he cannot bear the weight of carrying his own meaning, value, dignity, purpose, unity, identity, and integration. Mankind is upheld by the power of God every moment. Our life breath and ways are in His hands. By Him all things exist and are upheld (Heb 1:1-3). Therefore, when man attempts to be his own god; all hell breaks loose. Sin is abhorrent because man’s arrogant claim to be autonomous is an immeasurable affront to God and His glorious character. The Lord has determined to slay the pride of man (1 Cor 1:18-21). It is a central purpose of God in history to bring down the arrogant (Jer 50:29-32). Man’s love of his imagined independence from God is a clear evidence that The Lie sown in the Garden of Eden holds every unbeliever captive (Col 2:8).
Sinful man’s imagined autonomy will die in an instant when the Day of the Lord takes place. We are created to live upon God, who is the constant ground of our being and the supplier of our needs— creaturely dependence is our creational identity. Think of that Day when God in Christ will again invade human history—when Christ is revealed the innumerable little man-made ‘universes’ of millions of sinners who have made themselves ‘little gods’ will implode. When arrogant men of dust are confronted with the self-existent One—there will be no place to stand (Rev 19:17-21).
The inseparable connection between sin and misery is a revelation of the justice of God. It was a southern preacher who titled his sermon on Romans 6:23, “Payday Someday.” Penalty is the pain or loss 1 Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible knowledge commentary: An exposition of the scriptures (Rom 3:23). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
which is directly inflicted by the Lawgiver. It is the vindication of His justice, which has been outraged by the violation of law.
Because this is a moral universe, there are also natural consequences of sin: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23); “the soul that sins, it shall die” (Ez 18:20a); “and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27). Physical death is one of the natural results of sin, but there is an “after this” in verse 27 which represents the eternal penalty to follow. We do not doubt that the natural consequences of sin are part of the penalty. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin” (Prov 5:22). Immorality takes its toll upon the human body— and ungodliness results in mental and spiritual deterioration. In all penalty inflicted by the Almighty there is the holy wrath of the Lawgiver—God’s wrath is His holiness reacting to sin. Temporal wrath (penalty) may be suffered now, but the other is to be experienced in the future.
The fact that sin brings misery and holiness promotes happiness is a revelation of the relation in which God stands to holiness. The inescapable reality that sin produces misery is no less a revelation of the relation in which He stands to moral evil. This constitution of things depending on the nature and will of God proves that sin is evil in its own nature, and is punished for its own sake. The law of God, which includes a penalty as well as precepts, is in both a revelation of the nature of God. If the precepts manifest his holiness, the penalty as clearly manifests his justice. If the one is immutable, so also is the other. Death as the ‘wages of sin’ is what is due to it in justice—to spare the sinner from death would be an act of injustice.
The Scriptural doctrines of satisfaction and justification rest on the principle that God is immutably just—that his moral excellence, in the case of sin, demands punishment, or expiation. The Bible clearly teaches the necessity of satisfaction to justice in order for there to be forgiveness of sin. Christ was set forth as a propitiation in order that God might be just in justifying the ungodly (Rom 3:25-26). This assumes that it would be unjust, or contrary to moral rectitude, to pardon the guilty without such a propitiation. This necessity for a satisfaction is never referred to as expediency—or to governmental considerations. If sin could have been pardoned, without a satisfaction, the Apostle says, “Christ is dead in vain” (Gal 2:21). If there could have been a law which could have given life, salvation would have been by the law (Gal 3:21). Moreover, if there is no such attribute in God as justice against sin, as distinguished from benevolence, then there can be no such thing as justification. The Scriptures, however, pronounce that justification is more than an act of executive clemency. Justification was purchased by the redemption accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 3:24). Christ’s propitiation is the basis for God freely bestowing grace upon the undeserving. The true child of God affirms God’s justice. For, the conscience is not satisfied with mere forgiveness. It is essential to peace with God, that the soul should see that justice is satisfied in the atoning work of Christ. This is the reason why the death of Christ, why his blood, is so inexpressibly precious in the eyes of his people.