The Book of Romans pt 11

9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

One of the things that I like about verse 9 here is how it refers to sin as a power. It would seem as though many times when speaking with others, sin is thought of as an act. In the same way that viewing Christ's death as "for me" is correct, but not the whole picture, so too is this view of sin. 

I'm not against the idea of calling sin something that we do. If I were to murder someone, then I would have sinned. Yet, the problem with this ideology still lies in that we don't look deep enough. There is still a sin behind the obvious. What is it that would prompt me to kill someone? There is a deception in me somewhere if I do such a thing. Jesus points out that the sin isn't murdering - the sin is hatred. Anyone who is unjustly angry with their brother or sister will suffer judgment (Matthew 5:22). 

So my main point here is that sin runs deeper than our actions. Yes, our actions can be transgressions and "sin." It is a sin to steal. It is a sin to lie. It is a sin to beat someone without cause. It is a sin to commit adultery. But realize that what is behind all of these actions is the root sin. I think most all iniquity can be taken back to pride. If we truly believed that God was in charge and there would be a day where He would judge the world, then we would be a lot more cautious of our actions. That isn't to say that God desires us to always live in fear of judgment. Perfect love casts out fear - why be afraid when we have been saved?

I like to define sin as a power. It is more than the actions we do. It gets into the mindsets and inner parts of who we are. Sin is by nature deceptive. We know that all lies and deception come from the devil. He is the father of all lies and the accuser of the brethren. So when we're trying to understand what it means that we are all sinners - all under the power of sin - we can't take the spirituality out of it. We can't say that sin is strictly carnal. There must be some form of perception that sin is more than carnal addictions and "bad habits." It gets down into the root of our being and perverts the very foundation of who we are.

I'll take lust as an example.

This one is easy because it is so blatant throughout Scripture and also in our culture today.

We can even make it more specific: a pornography/masturbation addiction. What is the sin? If we say that the sin is looking up dirty pictures and masturbating, we have missed the mark. Jesus tells us that adultery starts with untamed eyes. If we even look at another with lust, then we have already committed adultery in our hearts. So the sin goes deeper than just the physique. 

Lets expand it a bit more.

In the Old Testament, one of the gods that the Israelites worshipped was Ba'al. Ba'al had a mistress named Asherah. Asherah was the fertility goddess. Her image was the shape of a pole, and the way to worship her was to grab the closest person you can find - male or female - and have intercourse with them. While the priests and prostitutes and all the people are having an orgy, the sight pleases the goddess Asherah and she blesses the worship.

When we look at a pornography addiction, we have to take into account that we are dealing with the same old gods as those ancient Israelites were dealing with. What do you think a stripper pole is? It is a monument to Asherah. Sex parties and orgies go back to this pagan worship. There is an actual spirit that attaches to the person. It isn't sufficient to say that they are addicted to the physical adrenaline and endorphins. This is true, but it isn't the whole truth. There is a spirit that is also latching on and causing for an addiction. The person who suffers a pornography addiction is attached to both the physical and the spiritual aspects.

This is why I say that sin is a power.

In the Hebrew mindset, the soul is the whole person. The animals were made and they were called "living creatures." The same Hebrew word is translated in Genesis 2 for man as a living soul. The idea is that it is the whole of you. When you corrupt your flesh - whether by lust, anger, drugs, or anything else - you are also tapping into a spiritual conflict. These addictions and sins are not only physical - they are also spiritual. So in following the corruptions of the flesh, we also corrupt our spirits. Thus, the whole of us is corrupted and skewed. The lives we live are on shaky ground.

I think this is what Paul was meaning when talking in 2 Corinthians about being saved, but only as one who escapes the fire. If we build on the foundation of Christ, then we are saved. It doesn't matter what we build with, if we're building on the sure foundation, then we are assuredly getting to heaven. But if our foundation is not Christ, then there is no hope - even if we pursue godliness and live devout and holy lives. This is why no one is righteous. How can we be apart from Christ?

But if we build on that foundation with hay, wood, and stubble - materials that symbolize the things of this world - then we are going to find a lot of what we have worked toward being burned up and consumed. It isn't that God will condemn you to Hell for smoking cigarettes if you are a Christian. What is happening here is that Paul is telling us to not let anything bind us or hinder us. Cast off all things that hinder. If there are mindsets that we live by that don't line up with the Word of God (like that we need to be provided for by the government in various areas), then we are building our lives with the culture around us instead of with God. Imagine how different we would appear if we refuse to use any material that is given to us by culture, media, government, etc and continue to press forward to only build with the things of God (peace, patience, love, humility, grace, faith, hope, etc).

It isn't sin to have health insurance. Actually, it is illegal to not have it now. It isn't sin to be on welfare. It isn't sin to have cable television. It isn't sin to use the internet. But these are things that we need to carefully consider. They are luxuries. They aren't necessities. In our modern age, we might not see cable, smart phones, or internet as luxuries. But I can remember a time in my life when these things weren't so common. I can remember when internet actually caused you to not be able to use the phone.

This all pertains to the same topic, though. The question isn't whether it is right or wrong to own multiple cars. The question is whether these luxuries have tainted us. Can you do without them? Would you be content to not have internet? Would you be content to only have one car that you share with your wife? Would you be content to not have cable? Would you be content to live in a smaller space?

None of these things are directly sin. I will call it sin if the answer to any of those questions is "no." If these things are now necessity instead of luxury and you cannot live without them, then you have made an idol. You are no longer worshiping the God who provides, but now worshiping the television that entertains. This is the root of sin.

It all goes back to the spirits of the Old Testament, doesn't it?

God said that we shall have no other gods before Him. I can think of a few who are really pushing that command. You are free to spend your time and money however you please. I just want to offer a challenge and ask whether that spending of your time and money brings you closer to God or does it put God on the back burner? This question itself can be profound or it can be cliche. It will either be eye opening and liberating or it will be another banality and truism. 

It is refreshing, even for myself, to rethink through the concept of sin. It opens up a new dimension on how to determine what to follow and what voices to listen to.

I know that I am skipping quite a bit of what Paul had said from verses 10-20. Instead of going in depth, I figured a quick summary of thought might suffice. Actually, I am skipping verses 19 and 20. 

The Law brings awareness of sin. Without law there is no sin. I heard it recently said that, "We have been freed from the Law in that we have the Holy Spirit within us and speaking to us. He directs us and guides us. The reason I don't necessarily follow the Law is because God has taken the Law and written it upon the tablets of my heart by the Holy Spirit. By that same Spirit He convicts me when I have disobeyed the Law."