In a response to the poem printed in the February 2000 issue of Beacon Lights which reads as follows:

We stray in sin, we cheat, we lie,
We set up other gods, we lust,
We steal, we kill, we are unjust.

a reader writes:

Dear Editor

Is this what describes a child of God? Someone who has been convicted by the Spirit of God that there is no good in our flesh, that we need to be born again of the Spirit so that we may be justified by His life? Such were you, St. Paul writes to the church, but now you have been cleansed.

I know that in my flesh dwells no good thing, but it is no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me. St. Paul writes about laboring in birth pains that Christ may be born in the members of the church. We do not become omniscient by being converted and often think we are doing what is right, only to learn that it originated in the flesh, and therefore will be burned up like hay and stubble. It is easy to be deceived, since the devil will disguise himself into an angel of light. The elect will not stay deceived, faithful brothers and sisters will lovingly correct them and God Himself will witness to them, as He did to Job.

Lying, cheating, killing etc. cannot be the marks of a child of God. The Word teaches us that these are the sign of being outside of Christ. He did not only come to remove our sin, but to restore us and cleanse us. What He began, He will also finish.

Sincerely,
Erica H. Lavender

Response

The reader voices an understandable concern and I am grateful for the opportunity to dig a bit more deeply into this issue. It may appear that the poem we published promotes the ungodly attitude “let us sin that grace may abound.” I believe, however, that the writer of the poem is emphasizing that sin, no matter how innocent it may seem, is an abomination before God. The Heidelberg Catechism points out that we break the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” when we have feelings of envy, hatred, anger, and desire of revenge and when we do not show love to our neighbors. We steal whenever we try in any way to get for ourselves the goods which belong to our neighbor and do not promote the neighbor or faithfully labor. We lie even in the slightest twisting of words and when we do not honor and promote the honor and good character of our neighbor. This explanation of the commandments of God captures every one of us every day. On the other hand, as the author of the letter indicates, we must “constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may become more and more conformable to the image of God, till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us, in a life to come.” (Heidelberg Catechism A. 115b) Even so, we still

“… stray in sin, we cheat, we lie,
We set up other gods, we lust,
We steal, we kill, we are unjust.”
(Poem in Feb. 2000 Beacon Lights)

We must never forget how sinful we remain in this life. Only in this way do we see how great our salvation is. In the concluding question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism regarding the Ten Commandments, we read Q. 115. “Why will God then have the ten commandments so strictly preached, since no man in this life can keep them? A. First, that all our lifetime we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature, and thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of sin, and righteousness in Christ; likewise, that we constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may become more and more conformable to the image of God, till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us, in a life to come!”

The writer refers to Romans 7:18 where we read “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Yet at the same time she notes that Paul exhorts the church in Romans 6:11-14 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

Another passage of Scripture that reveals the truth of the Christian life is found in the first book of John. In I John 3:8-9 we read, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” But then we also read in chapter 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” God says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin,” and He also says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” What can this possibly mean? I believe that the answer is included in the above quoted passage from Romans 6. Sin no longer has dominion. Christ has won the battle. This does not mean that we cease our fighting against our sins. Our personal fight is necessary so that we see how great our sins are. God also reveals to us that we as believers must live with the battle of our old man of sin and our new man in Christ. We read of this in Romans 7:23-25 “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

I hope these passages from God’s Word and the explanations from the Catechism have helped.

The Editor