Sin Impenitently?

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For, if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:1-3 (ESV)

I am an explainer.  There has always been something in me which believes that if I explain something clearly enough everyone will see things my way.  Just ask anyone who has been in a “discussion” with me. Phrases like dog-with-a bone come to mind. It’s probably the teacher in me; but it also springs from incidents where someone explained something to me and suddenly there was a click which might or might not have actually been audible.  Sometimes, explaining works.

Since the birth of the Church, there has been a tension between those who have stressed the importance of our obedience and those who have stressed God’s grace.  Recently those who stress obedience have coined the term “Hyper Grace” to describe those whom they feel place undue emphasis on grace. This name represents their fear that those who are concentrating on grace have abandoned the belief that our behavior matters to God. They are afraid that, if there is too much emphasis on the fact that Jesus has paid for every sin, people will take the position that anything goes.

Historically, their fears are not unfounded. The Apostle John was combating a heresy like that in his books.  The heresy came from a branch of the Gnostics, and, without going into great detail, included the belief that, because matter was evil, nothing done in the flesh carried any significance whatsoever.  They literally believed that “anything goes”.  Interestingly, another branch of Gnosticism believed that because matter was evil, the flesh needed to be completely denied, and beaten into submission.  They fell into the ditch on the opposite side of the road.

The Nicolaitans are another group whose mistaken belief system has all but faded into oblivion, so there is only speculation on the specifics of their philosophy, but the Nicolaitans are mentioned in Revelation chapter 2:6, 15, where Jesus praises the church in Ephesus for hating their deeds, which Jesus says he also hated; and the church in Pergamum is chastised for entertaining the Nicolaitans in their midst.  The one thing which is agreed upon is that the Nicolaitans encouraged people to do things which were considered to be sinful.

We also know that in 1 Corinthians 5 Paul addresses a situation where a man who called himself a believer was sleeping with his father’s wife, and openly bragging about it with the apparent support of some in the church.  The conclusion has been drawn that this situation existed because some of the believers felt that it was not only all right but good to sin and flaunt it, as a way of showing their faith in Christ and his forgiveness.  They went out of their way to do things which, as Paul says, even pagans wouldn’t tolerate.

The thing which characterizes each of these examples of heresy is that the people were advocating the practice of sinning impenitently; in other words, they were advocating unrepentant, remorseless, unashamed, unapologetic, unabashed sin, in the name of Christ.

To those who are afraid that the heralds of grace are placing too much emphasis on grace and are falling into the ditch described above (and yes, I am one of those who would fit into the category of believing in what you have termed “hyper grace”) let me assure you that this is most definitely not what we are saying, or doing.

I am not aware of anyone in the “Hyper Grace” community who is advocating sinning impenitently.  On the contrary, most of us come from a background of taking sin so seriously that our cycle of shame, fear and despair was killing us.  We deeply felt the demands of the law and clearly saw how far short we fell from what God required of us.  We ran and ran and ran in our attempts to please God, and were well aware that we were not running fast or hard enough.  Some finally quit running and were despondently awaiting their deserved fate, while others kept on, running hopelessly.

That was where grace found us and showed us that Christ had already pleased God on our behalf, and that our need for shame, fear and despair had been removed.  Our lives were rescued from the grave.  That is why we shout the good news of grace to all of the others who are still living in that hopeless state.  It is literally life-giving news!

We know with all of our hearts the utter sinfulness of sin.  And, when we sin, we are immediately convicted and cut to the heart.  Were it not for grace, we would instantly plummet back into our old state; but, instead, we are comforted by the Spirit with the reminder that the precious blood of our Lord and Savior is sufficient to cover our sins and that we have an Advocate in heaven. As a result of that reminder, we are brought back to the sense of wonder and awe at what has been done for us, and humble gratitude arises which motivates us once more to proclaim the Good News!

Impenitence is the issue.  In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul told the church that it was now time for the church to turn, forgive and comfort this same man, about whom he had written in his first letter, for fear that he might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Once the man experienced sorrow for his sin, Paul urged the church to reaffirm their love for him.

If some are sinning impenitently; with no remorse or shame, and, in the name of Jesus, encourage others to follow that path, they need to feel the full weight of the Law of God and its holy requirements. Those who care for those mistaken individuals need to take whatever measures are necessary to help them see their error and come to a place of sorrow for their sin.

There is, however, a world of difference between the brazen, impenitent sinner and those who are bowed down under the weight of their failures to measure up to what God wants them to be and to do.  Those who are ashamed to lift their eyes to heaven, because they know they are unworthy to meet the gaze of their disappointed Father, do not need more Law, they need to be told over and over the message of grace—that Jesus lived a perfect life for them and that, in dying, he paid the penalty for their sins.  They need to be told that no matter how far they fall, they can never fall farther than the love of God can and will reach out to them, and that he is not disappointed, because when he looks at them, he sees his son.  

This is the difference between the man in 1 Corinthians 5 and the Apostle Peter when he denied Christ.  The first man not only felt no shame, but was proud of the statement he was making with his hideous sin.  Because of his impenitence he needed to feel cut off and isolated for a time in order to grasp his sin’s significance. 

But Peter felt the weight of his sin immediately; he deeply felt the shame and sorrow of his betrayal.  He had no need to be shown the horror of his sin, it was inescapable. He didn’t need to be isolated, he needed to be forgiven and comforted; and, at the first opportunity, when he laid eyes on Jesus, Peter jumped out of his boat, swam to shore and ran to his Savior to receive that forgiveness; and Jesus didn’t make him suffer for some “appropriate” amount of time, or prove himself in order to earn back his trust; Jesus commissioned him to feed his sheep, because Peter’s understanding of how it felt to fall and be given grace had uniquely equipped him for that task.

Those of us who cannot stop talking about grace know what it feels like to be forgiven for the unforgiveable; to be loved when we were the most unlovable; to receive mercy when we only deserved wrath; and we know that our sin was the reason Christ suffered and died.  We do not take the gift lightly. 

We do not ever advocate sinning impenitently.  But we do advocate that, when you sin, you run straight to Christ to be loved.