We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Q&A: Condemning Sin
Q: I have a question about how you answer the rare occasions when Jesus apparently felt it necessary to publicly condemn sin: like the cleansing of the temple and his very strong judgments on Pharisees and rulers in Matthew 23. Also John the Baptist who not only preached strongly regarding public sins but was imprisoned for judgmental condemnation of Herod taking his brothers wife?
A: Thanks for the question. It’s important to remember that both Jesus and John the Baptist were operating under the First Covenant where it was understood that the job of prophets was to hold fellow Jews, and Jewish institutions, accountable to the terms of the covenant. So you find Jesus cleansing the Jewish temple, but he didn’t concern himself with pagan temples. And John the Baptist confronts Herod, the Jewish King, but he doesn’t go after Pilate or Caesar.
So too, we are only permitted to exercise discernment with people we are in covenant relationships with. So, for example, Paul tells the Corinthians to expel an unrepentant man from the church, but tells them, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Judge [or practice discernment with] those inside the church” (I Cor 5: 9-13). Outside of such covenants, I contend, we are allowed only ONE opinion about people…”Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2).
Hope this helps.
Photo credit: dhammza via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND
Related Reading
What Is The Warfare Worldview?
Greg has written extensively on something he calls the Warfare Worldview. Many today believe that everything that takes place in the world is ultimately part of a divine blueprint and contributes in some way to the glory of God. As opposed to this view, Greg argues that wills other than God’s are responsible for evil…
Sermon: Letter to Henry
We usually share a short clip from Greg’s sermons here, but we decided that a clip just won’t do this week. This last weekend Greg preached about the life and death of Henry and what it does and does not say about God. You can listen to the sermon and download other resources over at…
The Holy Spirit Behind the Scenes
In John 17 we read Jesus’ prayer to be one with each another in Christ. Jesus prayed that his disciples … may be one. As you, Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. … I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one,…
Unpacking Revelation: Is it Literal?
According to many scholars as well as many Christian laypeople, the Jesus we find in the book of Revelation engages in a great deal of violence. This violence reaches a zenith in chapter 19 where we find Jesus going out to make war on a white horse (v. 11). He is dressed in a blood…
Defining Love
If God’s eternal essence is love, as discussed in this post, then we must ask: What does this confession actually mean? We must explore this question carefully because “love” has been defined in many theological streams in ways that seem contradictory to the kind of love revealed by Christ. As with so many other things,…
Is God All-Powerful?
I want to answer yes and no. God is all-powerful in the sense that God originally possessed all power. Before Creation, God was the only being who existed, and thus had all the power there was. He could do anything, and nothing opposed Him. But with the creation of free creatures, I maintain, God necessarily…