"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
My wife, Gwen, and I were discussing the point of my last writing, where I spoke about how it was impossible for humans to live a "Holy" life. And as is often the case, I realized I left a good part of what I believe out of the discussion. I realize that I was essentially making the argument that sets up chapter six of Paul's letter to the Romans. Being human, it is impossible for us to live sin free. So do we just keep on sinning?
You can see how the idea might find footing; If God, through the act of His Grace, forgives our sins, then doesn't it seem like the more we sin, the more grace we get?
Paul makes the case that if we, in true repentance for our human flaws, come to accept the gift of forgiveness, the forgiveness is a complete package, covering both the sins of our past, but also the sins of our future.
As someone who is trying to be an instrument of clarity on Christian philosophy, I do not want to write anything that would take away the real simplicity of the Christian message. There's plenty of that going around already, as misguided pastors, filmmakers, secular publishers and even atheists try to explain Christianity. I've written this before, and I will continue to believe that Christianity is really a simple faith to understand. But you also have to accept a few premises to the argument:
If you can open your mind to these three ideas, then understanding the faith called Christianity is easy. The Bible is essentially a gathering of inspired documents that chronicle God's relationship with man. Oh, it says a lot more about him, such as being the creator of the universe, his omnipotence, his constant presence, and so on, but the main theme is about our mutual relationship.
First, he creates our world, and delegates responsibility for it to man (a task for which we're just beginning to understand the magnitude). We immediately show we are flawed, but rather than toss us away like the first batch of bad waffles, he decides to do something amazing. He says, "I can work with this."
So man gets to thinking we're pretty hot stuff, and we tend to forget him. So God tells us this:
"Okay, I am going to let you grow. Become a nation. Try to run yourselves. You will forget me. So I will give you some rules to follow. You'll forget them too. You want a king to enforce those rules for you? Sure, I'll give you one if you think that will help. It won't. You see, I know you. And I know your flaws. "
"So here, I'll make you a deal. After you've tried all these other things, I will come to earth in the form of a son. And yes, I know you: you will find a way to kill him too. But here's the thing: When you do try to turn your back on me again, this time you will fail. That son is going to live, despite your flaws. He is going to take on all your sins, all your shortcomings. You will insult him, strip him, humiliate him, hate him, make fun of him, beat him, and nail him to a tree. Even then you will taunt him, drain out his blood... every horror man can heap on him, you will do."
"And after all that, He (I) will forgive you. "
"Even then, after he comes back to life, after he walks among you a second time, most of you won't recognize him. After a while, He'll come home to me."
"But..."
"A few of you will realize what happened. A few of you will understand. And my deal is this: In spite of your sins, all you have to do is accept who Jesus is, admit your sins, and accept his forgiveness. If you do that, then You and I are going to be fine. You will be a new version. 'Human 2.0,' if you will. No longer bound by the sins and errors of your way, the old you dies as Jesus died. Your life is now new, changed, and amazing. Not just for this world, but for eternity."
So, now, as a Christian, you are a new creation. That should inspire you to become more like Christ. We "press toward the mark", as Paul goes on to write to the Phillipians.
Yes, even then, you will still fail. But now you know those failures (hopefully fewer and farther between) are forgiven.
So embrace the new you. You have been given a great deal of forgiveness and acceptance, and most of all, eternal love. It should inspire you to do the same for others you meet. Instead of passing judgement, you understand. You give up condemnation for loving.
You are a new person. Show the world what God would want you to be.
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