Ligonier has a book review of Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate (NavPress, 2007) by Jerry Bridges.
Tragically, the idea of sin has disappeared in many churches, and where the concept remains, it is sometimes deflected. In other words, we readily condemn those outside of the church for flagrant sins, all the while silently condoning our own sins such as gossip, envy, and discontentment. We do not realize that sin, all sin, is a malignant spiritual cancer that, left unchecked, will destroy us and corrupt those around us.
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After dealing with these necessary introductory matters, Bridges moves to a chapter-by-chapter analysis of “respectable sins.” Bridges considers the root sin to be ungodliness: “living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God’s will, or of God’s glory, or of one’s dependence on God.” Christians often live in this way, as if God is essentially irrelevant in their day-to-day lives.
My question is this: is it useful to think of sin like this? Is it useful to make lists of things we shouldn’t do? Why would such a list be helpful? why might it be harmful?
How might the “list” concept of sin create unnecessary guilt? How might the “list” concept of sin create an unjustified sense of well being?
Look at the story of the Rich Young Ruler and then look at Romans 14:23. What did Jesus think of the “list” concept of sin? why did he tell the man to sell everything he had and give it all away. What did Paul think of the “list” concept?
Paul describes sin as anything that is done apart from faith. Whether it is on our checklist of actions to avoid or not. Eating apart from faith is sin. driving to work apart from faith is sin. Kissing my children apart from faith is sin.
Romans 14:23 thus expands the universe of sin infinitely. All of us are drowning in sin everyday. I think it is probably more useful to get away from the “list” concept of sin and bear down on the real issue. How can we live all of our life every day in faith? How can we endeavor to trust God with every aspect of our being, our family and our material resources? Failure to do that is sin.
UPDATE: I want to disagree with myself a bit and clarify. Obviously, there are sinful actions that would be on any list. We are told to avoid these things repeatedly. Ephesians 5 is a good example of the contrast. In Eph. 5:3-4 there is a good list of actions that sinful people engage in. However, even in a passage like this Paul is not telling the believers to simply avoid those actions. He is telling them to go beyond conduct modification to avoid the bad stuff they used to do.
He tells them to be imitators of God in verse 1. He tells them to walk as children of the light in verse 8. And he tells them that they must endeavor to find out/discern what is pleasing to God in verse 10 and to make the best use of their time because the days are evil (time is slipping away quickly) in verse 15.
Read Ezekiel 16. In that chapter, God allows Ezekiel to record how God feels about Israel’s betrayal. When you read it, do you get the sense that God is most upset by the actual actions taken by the Israelites? or is He most upset by their placement of their trust in the beauty and stuff that He gave them rather than maintaining their trust in Him?