The Irrepressible Force of Secret Sin
TGC Blog | May 24, 2012
"The public face of the [Secret] Service is one of steely professionals in impeccable suits, wearing discreet earpieces and packing even more discreet weapons," Calvin Woodward recently wrote for the Associated Press. "Agents are expressionless except for their ever-searching gaze, lethal automatons ready to die for a president.
"By reputation, stoked by Hollywood myth and the public's fleeting glances at dark-windowed motorcades, they are anything but party animals. But what happened in Colombia didn't stay in Colombia."
Indeed not: The Secret Service wasn't able to keep its own sins secret, and a prestigious arm of the government is now paying a heavy price in prestige. Agents are learning that to sin is one thing; to be found out is another. As Mark Twain once said, "A sin takes on a new and real terror when there seems a chance that it is going to be found out."
Terror of Sin
The terror of sin is a common theme in Scripture. In 1 Samuel 10, for instance, Saul is chosen to be king under the watchful eye of Samuel, Israel's final Judge. In 1 Samuel 13, after a series of military victories, an impatient and defiant Saul usurps Levitical law by offering a sacrifice, an act that amounted to treason against the Lord. Therefore, Samuel informs Saul that his kingdom shall not continue and will be given to a man "after [God's] own heart."
Now in 1 Samuel 15:1-3, Samuel has new instructions for his flawed protégé, and they are crystal clear:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
Because of Amalek's sin against Israel in the time of Moses, Saul is commanded to wipe them out completely.
Such a death sentence sounds harsh, even horrific, to our 21st-century ears. Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, faced the same issue when the Lord announced the destruction of Sodom. Aghast, Abraham could barely stammer, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (Gen. 18:25) We are far from the first generation to question the goodness of God.
Yet is such punishment unjust? Only if you doubt the utter wickedness of sin. Sin is not mere ignorance or an honest mistake. Sin is high-handed rebellion against the true Sovereign of the universe. Sin is saying "My will be done," rather than "Thy will be done."
So Saul executes all the Amalekites he can find . . . but spares their king, Agag, and "all that was good of what they had." Perhaps Agag had begged for mercy. Perhaps he had even promised a bribe. Whatever the case, Saul stopped short of complete obedience.
In verses 1 Samuel 15:10-16, Samuel receives word from the Lord about Saul's disobedience: "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." Incomplete obedience is disobedience.
Early the next morning, Samuel meets Saul at Gilgal. Rather than admitting what he has done, Saul tries to cover it up---terrified, as Twain said, of being found out: "Blessed be you to the LORD," he says to Samuel, attempting to paper over his sin with religious jargon. "I have performed the commandment of the LORD."
Of course, like certain Secret Service agents, what happened in Amalek didn't stay in Amalek. Samuel's bitter reply is priceless: "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?"
Saul quickly shifts blame to the people, saying they "spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God." Samuel stops his protégé in mid-explanation. "Stop!" Samuel commands him.
Then Samuel asks two piercing questions: "Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" Why has he not obeyed God's command ("thy will be done") and instead "pounce[d] on the spoil" ("my will be done")?
At this point, the game is over, but Saul, like the son who said he would do his father's will but didn't, resorts one last time to a tired cover-up. Samuel, however, pronounces judgment:
Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
The poetry contrasts religious ritual---which Saul said he was upholding---with obedience, which is much more important in God's sight. Jesus himself said we can and sometimes must make distinctions between two forms of good, that there are "weightier matters of the law" (Matt. 23:23) that come first.
Then Samuel's poetry compares evils. Rebellion and divination both involve rejection of God and his Word. Neither one trusts God but strikes out on its own dark path. Presumption is defined as "a behavior or attitude that is boldly arrogant or offensive; effrontery." While Israel's king tried to cloak his audacity in religious language, the Lord saw it for what it was---iniquity and idolatry.
Held Accountable
At the end of this poem, Samuel speaks for the Judge whose holy standards have been flouted:
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has also rejected you from being king.
The judgment is fair. Those who reject the Word of the Lord---or who purposefully obey only part of it---will be held accountable. Saul's kingdom will go to David, then to the divine Son of David---who, instead of killing God's enemies, will die for them.
Is there a part of God's law we are rebelling against in secret? Are we men or women after God's own heart? Or are we in the habit of doing what Saul did---rejecting God's standards to pounce on our own spoil? Remember, what happens in Colombia will not stay in Colombia---or in Gilgal, Chicago, or wherever we happen to be.
Comments:
May 29, 2012 at 07:15 PM
Mitchell,
I read this article as being completely consistent with Paul's imperative/indicative in Philippians 2:12-13. I think it's "both/and," not "either/or.". And by the way, I'm thinking of the Hebrews warning passages before James! I don't think this is perfectionism... I think it's the paradox of individual responsibility and Divine sovereignty.
May 28, 2012 at 12:06 PM
[...] To obey is better than sacrifice [...]
May 27, 2012 at 11:19 PM
Amen to that....so much needless and contentious words. It grieves me read some of these posts...
May 26, 2012 at 11:20 PM
I think what the author is trying to say is that secret sin[s] isn't secret. And he's encouraging us to remember that fact, and to make sure we're not deluded (or foolish) enough to think that they can be secret. If you know what you're doing (or about to do) is sin, or even that it's only half-true obedience, then repent and turn away from it. Never try to diminish the seriousness of sin. Just my two cents.
May 26, 2012 at 10:21 AM
[...] The terror of sin is a common theme in Scripture. In 1 Samuel 10, for instance, Saul is . . . click here for further reading [...]
May 26, 2012 at 09:35 PM
[...] | PRINTABLE VERSION [...]
May 26, 2012 at 09:18 PM
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May 26, 2012 at 03:04 PM
As we grow in Christ. If we indeed have His Spirit in us. We will slowly become more and more like Him. A couple of things happen. We slowly grow in our obedience. We can't do otherwise. At the same time we become more and more aware of our sinful nature, because we are getting closer and closer to God. If there is no growth and no change I believe we should examine our salvation. The Father didn't just save us from our sins. He saved us for His glory ! We can only bring glory as we learn to obey so that the world see's Christ in us.
May 25, 2012 at 12:58 PM
Are you suggesting we can have perfection in this life if we will "only obey"? God's Word is clear—we will all die with sin fresh on our hands—and Jesus' righteousness which now cloaks believers, will be fully realized in our death.
The issue is not whether we will sin up until our last breath—we will. The issue is whether we abhor our sin, or excuse it as part of our identity.
May 25, 2012 at 12:24 PM
If that is all one has to say about redemptive grace, you’re not saying enough. With all due respect, it is a demented version of Reformed theology that sets obedience in opposition to the Cross. In the words of Paul in Romans 6:2, “mh genoito” (may it never be!)
Even if you look to a classic law/gospel dialectic, such as Luther’s Theology of the Cross, you never see this bifurcation. In Luther's own words: “Faith, however, is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[:12-13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; and it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works” (L.W., vol. 35, 370-371).
May 25, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Do we ever obey completely? Doubtful. It is for this reason God sent His own Son to be a ransom for the ungodly... that's you and I. He commands complete and total abandonment in obedience to Him - and yet we don't. On those days in which we feel as though we are "doing well" the cross of Christ attacks our "best."
But now because of Christ's life death and resurrection we are not only declared "not guilty" but "innocent" as though we had obeyed Him fully in every way - and we have done this - by faith. God reconciling Himself to the world - Done. The Good News.
May 25, 2012 at 03:44 PM
Some people are never pleased unless you rehearse justification every time you even mention another doctrine. As if one had to say everything all at once...every time. Zeal for grace should make more gracious blogging.
May 25, 2012 at 03:04 PM
Nah! Just talking points probably. I grew up Southern Baptist so I'm well versed in the language of perfectionism... it absolutely drove me out of American evangelicalism to Confessional Lutheran. I'm really not that concerned with what you believe. I simply hope to give someone who may happen upon your article, who are actually honest about there Christian life, and have the living 'hades' scared out of them. Maybe they'll read the comments and see something that gives them hope in what has been done for them.
It seems that most writer's goal, at the TGC, is to make everyone question as to whether they are really saved. "If you're not obeying fully then you aren't saved... or may not be." In reality none of us are fully devoted. Junk the qualifiers of 'absoluteness' since we're not... none of us. That's the problem in the first place is it not?
May 25, 2012 at 02:16 PM
That is amazing. Just two brief comments and you have me pegged as holding a Revivalist view of sanctification. I suppose I should be grateful that you didn’t consign me to the company of Charles Finney and Aimee Semple McPherson.
May 25, 2012 at 01:28 PM
"He who abides in Me bears much fruit."
This is a promise of fruit with the emphasis on "abide." The fruit isn't the point. I'm not against works or law... I'm against making them the focal point. I'm a Christian... I have works. Luther was dead on! You may want to continue to read Luther in the Heidelberg Disputation he defines what those works are. I can almost guarantee you that you're not going to like what he has to say... at least in accordance with what you're saying.
You have more of a Revivalist view of sanctification. Paul at the end of his life refers to himself as the "chief of sinners" and we would do well to echo that sentiment about ourselves.
We now have a righteousness that is by faith apart from works. Now I'll go read James and save you the trouble of bringing him up.
May 25, 2012 at 01:27 PM
Clearly we must abhor sin. And there is certainly no reason to expect perfection in this life, apart from the righteousness that God imputes to us. I am reacting to the false dichotomy that drives a sharp wedge between the Cross of Christ and the obedience that God produces through his church by the Spirit. With regard to the original comment, just because our obedience is imperfect or incomplete, doesn't mean that we stop pursuing obedience.
June 11, 2012 at 02:30 PM
[...] Sin does not stay secret. [...]
PuritanD71
May 29, 2012 at 10:02 PM
Chris,
Now that put a smile on my face. You in the company of Chuck Finney. Gordon-Conwell should demand your degree back :-)))
Though we may never see perfection this side of our new bodies, I do agree that the Scriptures are clear that we are "to be Holy as I am Holy". Or as Jesus said, "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect". This would seem to undergird your point in regard to our obedience.