Christians Condemning Sinners

My previous post about the The Gospel Coalition’s “Gag Reflex” article has brought about some disagreement (not unexpectedly). I’m not going to defend against most of the arguments here but I will speak to one of the themes I saw in the feedback I received. One of the most interesting aspects of the disagreements is that the majority of the people who disagreed with me were fighting for the need to condemn others for their sin. Some felt that we need to temper love with condemnation. Others said we need to outright condemn in order to honor God. 

As a result I thought it would be helpful to look at the gospels and see what Jesus has to say about condemning sin and sinners (which describes us all). 

John 3:17-18 states, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” 

These words, along with several other NT passages (Galatians 2:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:12, 1 Timothy 3:6, 5:12, Titus 3:11) teach that people are presently living in condemnation and the future condemnation that comes upon them is of their own doing. Jesus, who is God in the flesh with us, does not come to us to condemn us for our sin but rather to do the exact opposite. He comes to save us from our condemnation and sin. None of these teachings give us the idea that we, as Christians, are to condemn others (especially if we are to imitate Jesus in as much as we are able). The condemned are already condemned. We can correct and we can love but we can not condemn unless we also desire to be condemned. 

In Luke 6:37-38 Jesus says, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” 

We have a choice to condemn others, of course, but it is not a choice that will result in blessings. The contrast of judgement and condemnation with forgiveness and generosity in this teaching is strong and serves to show that we are to approach others with forgiveness and generosity (which is Christ-like love) instead of condemnation. That is fighting for the sinner instead of fighting against the sinner. If Christ died for us while we still against him by living in sin and if we are to imitate Christ then we must fight for the sinner and not against the sinner. But knowing what that looks like can be hard. 

There is an example of this in John 8:2-11: “Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more”

As John said five chapters earlier, Jesus does not come to condemn but to save. He brings forgiveness and generosity to the sinner (and as this passage proves we are all sinners). It is then no wonder that when Jesus encounters the adulterous woman and the religious mob that he makes it absolutely clear that nobody but Jesus himself is free to condemn sinners. In doing this he points out that all people are sinners. This includes the people who are believed to be the most righteous. Then, he refuses to condemn anyone when he has all authority to do so. Instead, he forgives the adulterous woman and calls her to repent as she lives her life in freedom.

That is forgiveness and generosity. That is love. That is what we Christians must be about. If we are eager to condemn or to be against people, to prove them wrong or disgusting then we’ve missed Jesus. As we are honest and bold in speech about the evil of this world and the sin that kills humanity let us do so without condemnation but rather with forgiveness and generosity. We can’t pussy-foot around the reality of sin, that would be unloving to both God and neighbor. However, Jesus shows us there is a way to address sin without condemning others. After all, if someone is in sin they are already condemned so our condemnation doesn’t help them. However, our forgiveness, generosity, and honest speech help. 

May God’s Spirit give us discernment to know what is good and what is harmful. May we see love rightly defined through Jesus and follow him into love so that we and others may find freedom and true repentance. May we learn to stand against sin as Jesus does through love and not condemnation.

The Gospel Coalition's Gagging Reflex

I was told this morning that The Gospel Coalition is once again under some attack for a blog they posted entitled The Importance of Your Gag Reflex When Discussing Homosexuality and “Gay Marriage” by Thabiti Anyabwile. I read the article and I had several thoughts but when I finished writing my reaction I discovered a better thought.

Anyabwile wrote, that Christians in the gay-marriage debate must “Return the discussion to sexual behavior in all its yuckiest gag-inducing truth.” In an attempt to show what Anyabwile calls the “yuck factor” he describes homosexual acts. He then states, “That sense of moral outrage you’re now likely feeling–either at the descriptions above or at me for writing them–that gut-wrenching, jaw-clenching, hand-over-your-mouth, ‘I feel dirty’ moral outrage is the gag reflex. It’s what you quietly felt when you read “two men deep kissing” in the second paragraph. Your moral sensibilities have been provoked–and rightly so. That reflex triggered by an accurate description of homosexual behavior will be the beginning of the recovery of moral sense and sensibility when it comes to the so-called ‘gay marriage’ debate.”

Here is what I think:

The idea that we will make progress in reestablishing moral sensibilities through the development of reactions of disgust towards certain sexual acts is misguided and shortsighted. People who are easily grossed-out aren’t bound to be morally upstanding people. They may be sensitive (possibly even hypersensitive) to sinful acts but that doesn’t make them necessarily upstanding or send them on the path towards being morally upstanding. Weren’t the Pharisee’s disgusted when they encountered Jesus breaking the Mosaic Law or when they found a woman committing adultery? What good did it do them? And in contrast, how good was it for the Pharisee’s and the sinners to encounter the person of Jesus?

What we need is not to see certain sexual acts as “yucky” but rather to see sinful people as similar to us. We must learn to see others as God sees them and created them. Ultimately, this begins with us seeing ourselves as sinful (and whether or not our sin is “yucky” or not is relative).

This means we embrace the knowledge that all humans, gay and straight alike, chaste and promiscuous alike, are created in the very image of God. It means we acknowledge that we are ourselves sinners in need of the Father, Son, and Spirit. We focus on the log in our own eye so that we may be of assistance to those who have specks in their eye (something done delicately). My sin is a bigger issue than someone else’s sin and my fight against sin is within myself.

Our focus must always be on loving people because that is the command Jesus gave us. He told us to give up our own sinful ways and to love others. He didn’t tell us we need to see sinful acts as more disgusting, create a morally sensible population, or to win political debates. His focus isn’t on those things. So why is ours? Jesus tells us that his kingdom is subversive. It does not flourish by winning political quarrels or by the establishment of laws that suit the opinions of his people. More often his kingdom is found in the suffering of his people. Maybe we see the kingdom more when we are busy being with people instead of being busy being against people.

If we will faithfully read the words of Jesus in the gospels, I guarantee that we will not be focused on convincing others that homosexual acts are disgusting so that we can recover “moral sense and sensibilities” and as a result win a political or moral debate about gay-marriage. Rather, we will be focused on following Jesus into his upside down kingdom as humble people who fight sin in their own hearts and honor others in a way that makes them see the beauty and goodness of God and his Way so that they desire to also follow him.

I’m not saying we don’t call sin out for what it is. I’m not saying homosexual acts aren’t sinful. Scripture teaches that they are indeed sinful. But that doesn’t mean I should fight to be disgusted by other people’s sin or fight for other’s to be disgusted by other people’s sin. It means I should avoid that sin in my own life and be unafraid to call it sin when necessary as I deeply love others, no matter what sins they commit. 

If I’m disgusted or not doesn’t matter. What matters is if I am pure and loving in Christ Jesus. So perhaps the better aim and strategy is to love God and to love neighbors as ourselves. This means we talk less about homosexuals and talk more with homosexuals, and not about their sexuality but about everything in love. Less debate, more life. Eventually our focus won’t even be about homosexuals but rather about people. Let’s face it, people don’t want to be labels and projects anyway. People want to be embraced as people through love.