Man lives by the everlasting, irreversible grace of Jesus Christ. Living a life as a good person is desirable, but evil does not have serious consequences. A guilty plea is unnecessary. A Protestant theologian’s view of the Gospel and in response to the query of an inexperienced person.
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Confession of guilt no longer necessary?
Once again the media mouthpiece of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) is waiting in theirs Questions and answers section to provide people asking questions with answers that couldn’t be further from the truth of the gospel. One interested party, assuming that the questioners actually existed, wanted to know to what extent “we” were freed from all sins through Jesus’ death on the cross. According to the promises, Jesus died for us. That’s why we don’t actually have to admit any guilt (Source).
Confusion caused by inaccuracies
Actually, the “EKD expert” should have already been there It was felt that an inaccuracy in the question asked had to be clarified. Because “liberation from sin” is not at all correct in its approach. There is no “deliverance from sin” per se. It may sound fussy, but linguistic inaccuracies are a popular tool to steer the confusion created into a desired direction of thought. Adopting an “incorrect question” would make it very difficult to get a correct answer. In order to lead the interested party onto the path of the truth of the Gospel, the “EKD expert” should have pointed out that it is actually about the “consequences of sin”.
What is sin and what is its consequence?
However, it stands to reason that the “expert” from the ranks of the Protestant churches himself doesn’t know any better, because the “thought leaders” of this once Christian institution have already redefined sin itself (Info). The Bible, on the other hand, provides clear information about what sin is and what the inevitable consequence of sin is.
Sin is the transgression of the law of God, as stated in 1. John 3:4:
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.“
The result of sin is death, as stated in Romans 6:23:
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.“
Violation of any of God’s laws brings death to the lawbreaker. A completely simple principle. No person is free from sin (transgression of the law) and Paul knew that too, Romans 5:12:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
The first two people, Adam and Eve, already knew the consequences of transgression, Genesis 2:17:
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.“
“Expertise” confirms error as truth
However, the “EKD expert” does not point out the easy-to-understand connection between sin and its consequences, but even confirms the underlying error of the interested party. “You’re right, of course,” was the answer, because after Easter there shouldn’t be any more guilty pleas. The reason: “Jesus died for us”. The underlying logic is that Jesus connected dying with his own suffering on the cross and made it God’s business.
But that had been the case long before the crucifixion, the “expert” added. Jesus once visited sinners, ate and drank with them, healed people, and in the background the sentence could be heard: “Your sins are forgiven.” The expert refers to Luke 7:48.
Unfortunately, the use of a verse or statement without any context is misused to support self-formulated, slanted theses. The forgiveness of sins involved a woman who, unlike the present hosts, came to Jesus with much love to anoint His feet with oil. Jesus Christ also told this woman why her sins were forgiven, Luke 7:50:
“Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.“
The Gospel describes another encounter between Jesus Christ and a woman. Pharisees dragged a woman caught in adultery to Jesus to extract judgment from Him. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” is the famous sentence in John 8:7. Jesus Christ admonished the woman to complete, John 8:11:
“Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.“
Sin forgiven, but with the admonition not to sin again in the future! What is sin? The violation of one of God’s laws.
It becomes inexplicably absurd
The “EKD expert” explains to the interested party that Jesus freed us. With the crucifixion, Jesus exceeded “his healing devotion to people” and once again showed people his care.
With the following argument the “expert” is clearly at a loss. This is obvious, because the “liberation from sin” he describes does not of course fit with observable reality. That’s why he finds it “inexplicable” why so many people “fall short of Jesus’ word and his work and continue to spread hostilities despite the crucifixion,” increasing guilt instead of reducing it. They waged wars of aggression instead of keeping the treaties. This all seems absurd.
Right, it’s absurd. However, it is not the “inexplicable reality” that is absurd, but rather the interpretation of sin, the consequences of sin and the saving work of Jesus Christ.
“Final deliverance” from sin
The wrong path taken by the “expert” even goes so far that he sometimes thinks that the life of Jesus, his Sermon on the Mount, his suffering and his death were in vain. The “expert” believes that the supposedly saving answer to this spiritual dilemma can be found in the letter to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 7:27:
“Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.“
Here he believes that behind the statement “this he did once” he will find confirmation of the final liberation. This applies forever and there is no turning back, “even if some of what you experience speaks against it,” said the “EKD expert”.
Here is the same method repeated. A single verse, a particle taken from it, and thus underpinning an adventurous interpretation. As always, the context must be taken into account. The author of Hebrews describes the difference between the sacrificial service on earth (tabernacle, temple – Info) and the ministry of Jesus Christ after His ascension.
What the book of Hebrews actually says
Jesus Christ is the perfect High Priest (according to Melchizedek), in contrast to the human High Priest (according to Aaron). For the earthly high priest was himself a sinner and needed an atonement for himself. Completely different with Jesus Christ. He himself remained guiltless and therefore needs no atonement for himself. In addition, Jesus Christ, the high priest, does not bring the blood of a sacrificed lamb into the sanctuary, but His own (heavenly sanctuary – Info).
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, i.e. the self-sacrifice, was the unique and final, everlasting act. But not the permanent “liberation from sin”, which is nonsensical anyway, because humans are still capable of sin. An easy to observe reality in this world.
However, the “expert” does not give up on his thesis, which at the same time makes the observable reality seem absurd to him. “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” was the “Christian request” cited. This request is still a “stroke of luck” because “we” can ultimately count on an “excess of forgiveness,” “because we are freed through Jesus.” If you look at the tax collector’s statement, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” then this says that man will never be the sum of his deeds, “but a thoroughly loved person” who lives exclusively by grace.
Goodwill counts
Finally, the “expert” states that he wants to protect the interested party from making a mistake. The question arose as to whether it doesn’t matter at all how one’s practical life is structured if one lives exclusively by grace. Whether people no longer have to answer for their misdeeds. With “God forbid” from Romans 6:1-2, the “expert” once again uses only a few words from Paul to support his own thesis. Accordingly, God does not want man to do any injustice. Anyone who has heard and understood the word of Jesus wants the opposite. The “expert” rounds off this statement with Romans 12:21:
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.“
The “expert” mentions Romans 6:1-2, but fails to explain it completely:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?“
Again, there is talk of sin without the “expert” addressing it. It also shows that those people who are fully in Jesus Christ no longer have any desire to sin. Therefore, for understanding, the following two verses 3 and 4:
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.“
“Walk in a newness life”! This means nothing other than giving up your previous sinful life in order to walk in the good pleasure of God in the future. “God loves you as you are,” is a now-worn phrase. Yes, that’s true, but nowhere does it say “stay as you are”!
A fatal result
An “expert answer” that is neither coherent nor capable of providing a satisfactory answer in any way. The interested party receives no answer as to what sin actually is, what inevitable consequences sin entails and what the actual redemptive work of Jesus Christ actually means. The reader still doesn’t know whether he can continue to sin without consequences or whether he just has to show “good will”. The sum of this “expertise” could result in the following picture:
“Jesus Christ freed people from sin once and for all. All people live exclusively by grace. God’s will is not to do anything evil and whoever does it will one day be reprimanded. It remains the painful purification of conscience and is saved in the end because grace ultimately prevails”.
Open question
The connections explained by the “expert” between “liberation from sins,” “eternal grace” and “unnecessary confession of guilt” allow for two possibilities. Either sin no longer exists and therefore there are no valid laws of God that ultimately define sin. Or any sin is irrelevant because of grace.
The “Christian” shoplifter leaves the store with his loot in the “certainty” that this is not a sin at all, or in the “security” that grace will protect him from the consequences. That would be the logic of this “expertise”. That sounds more like Roman Catholic social teaching, but it has nothing to do with the Gospel.
However, a completely different picture emerges when the saving work of Jesus Christ is placed in the correct light and when God’s justice is taken into account (Info). This righteousness is as eternal as the Gospel, as the Word, and as the Law.
It says in Romans 2:11-13:
“For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.“
Jesus Christ’s actual work of salvation
The saving work of Jesus Christ consists in the fact that he bought the right to be able to exercise mercy through his self-sacrifice. Abolition of man, although the (just) law condemns this transgressor. For the justice of God, defined in His laws, condemns the sinner to death. Since Jesus Christ, our Creator, took all of humanity’s sins upon Himself and suffered a just death for them, the punishment is atoned for. But that doesn’t mean that people have been given a “carte blanche” to break the law (= sin). Only when a person confesses his sin, repents of it and refrains from it in the future, can he count on the overflowing grace of Jesus Christ. He will forgive this sin. But only then!
If you don’t repent of your sins, they will remain and you will have to answer for them yourself. In this case there is only one verdict – eternal death. Therefore, the “EKD expert” should have objected immediately to the initial assumption that the person “actually does not have to admit any guilt.” But he did the fatal opposite. He even confirmed this mistake. With one eye that sees, inexperienced people are driven into the abyss either through their own ignorance or intentionally. For no man in his sins will be clothed by the righteousness of Jesus.
This propagated “all-salvation through grace poured out with a watering can” does not exist. They don’t exist. This is also the simple explanation why every sin must be confessed in repentance to Jesus Christ and must be refrained from in the future. God’s justice is not only a “reward” but also includes the final end of those who thought they could trample on God’s laws. It doesn’t help to say, “Well, but he told me something completely different.” It’s not ignorance or being deceived that counts, but what counts is what you could have known if you had only taken responsibility for your own search for the truth.
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 Peter 2:1
Bible verses from King James Version
