Serious Sins
Table of Contents
Bassam Zawadi has a problem with Paul classifying sins as idolatry
(*).
He writes:
As I was reading the New Testament (more specifically the
letters of Paul) I noticed that Paul kind of exaggerates a bit too much when he speaks.
For example...
Ephesians 5:5
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such
a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God
Colossians 3:5
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual
immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
1 Timothy 5:8
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his
immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
How on earth is Paul comparing greed, sexual immorality and
uncaring for family on the same level as idolatry? Idolatry is to go ahead and worship
other false Gods. We all commit sins. Man by nature is greedy from time to time. Are you
trying to say that the sin of being greedy is on the same level as idolatry? Sexual
immorality, not caring for the family, being greedy are indeed great and horrible sins.
There is no argument there. However, you can be a sinful believer who does that because
you still believe in God. But for a person who does that to be worse than a disbeliever is
just going a bit too far.
RESPONSE:
In the first place, the reason why Paul could say that those who do not provide for
their needy family members are worse than unbelievers is due to the fact that the entire
Law and Gospel hinge on two commands:
"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got
together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 'Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: '"Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the
first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as
yourself." All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'"
Matthew 22:34-40
Jesus also said that:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved
you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends." John 15:12-13
Furthermore, love is called the royal Law, the one crowning command that embodies and
fulfills the very purpose and intent of God's Law:
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love
one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The
commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,'
and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your
neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the
fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:8-10
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has
any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love...You,
my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful
nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single
command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Galatians 5:6, 13-14
"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love
your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you
sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet
stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, 'Do not
commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit
murder, you have become a lawbreaker." James 2:8-11
In fact, love is what God is and what we must seek to become:
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know
God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and
only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen
God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We
know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have
seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone
acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know
and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and
God in him. In this way, love is made complte among us so that we will have confidence on
the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But
perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is
not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love
God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom
he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this
command: 'Whoever loves God must also love his brother.'" 1 John 4:7-21
Moreover, one must love a person with actions, not mere words:
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but
has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and
daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but
does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by
itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have
faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by
what I do." James 2:14-18
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid
down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If
anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how
can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but
with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18
To therefore fail to love one's family, one's neighbor, is to denounce the faith and
become a disbeliever. As the exalted Lord Jesus himself stated:
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are
blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed
clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry
and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger
and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in
prison and go to visit you?' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you
who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was
hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I
was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes nd you did not clothe me, I
was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when
did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison,
and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for
one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'" Matthew 25:34-45
As far as idolatry is concerned, it is clear that Zawadi didn't bother reading or
understanding the context carefully. Paul wasn't likening all these vices to idolatry.
He was classifying greed, or covetousness, as idolatry. Note carefully what the texts
actually say:
"For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person
or covetous man, who IS an idolater (he pleonektes hos estin eidololatres),
has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." Ephesians 5:5 NASB
"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual
immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which IS idolatry (kai
ten pleonexian hetis estin eidololatria)." Colossians 3:5
The word for "is", estin, is singular which means that Paul is
referring to greed or covetousness as idolatry, not to the other vices which he mentioned.
Had Paul intended to include all the sins listed he would have used the plural.
And since Zawadi likes commentaries so much he could have consulted a few in order
to save himself from being embarrassed regarding the actual exegesis of the above texts.
The renowned Christian scholar and commentator John Gill — whom Zawadi quoted in
at least two articles
(*,
*)
— wrote in reference to Ephesians 5:5:
Nor covetous man, who is an idolater:
as every man is, that indulges his lusts, the idols of his own heart; and who servesdivers lusts and pleasures, and gives up himself to work all uncleanness with greediness;
never having his fill of sin, but is ever craving and coveting it; as well as he who is
immoderately desirous of worldly things: the covetous man may be called an idolater,
because the idolater and he worship the same in substance, gold and silver, and brass, or
what is made of them; the covetous man admires his gold, lays it up, and will not make use
of it, as if it was something sacred; and through his over love to mammon, whom he serves,
he neglects the worship of God, and the good of his own soul, and puts his trust and
confidence in his riches: now no such person.
And he states regarding Colossians 3:5:
which is idolatry.
The covetous man, and the idolater, worship the same for matter and substance, even goldand silver; the covetous man lays up his money, makes no use of it, as if it was something
sacred; he looks at it, and adores it, and puts his trust and confidence in it, and his
heart is so much set upon it, that he neglects the worship of the true God; and indeed no
man can serve God and mammon. Some think, that by this (pleonexia) rendered
"covetousness", is meant, that greedy desire after the commission of all
uncleanness, and impure actions, which were perpetrated by the followers of Simon Magus in
their religious assemblies, and under the notion of worship, and as acceptable to God, and
therefore called idolatry; and which ought not to be once named, much less practised,
among the living members of Christ. Moreover, such filthy actions were performed by the
Gentiles in the worship of their deities.
More importantly, Zawadi seems to assume that a person cannot be an idolater if he or
she continues to commit all those immoral acts which Paul listed. Yet idolatry, at least
as far as the Holy Scriptures are concerned, is anything that stands in the way of a person
from completely loving and obeying God. If a person centers his life around making more
money to the expense of following God, that is idolatry. If a person lives for carnal
pleasures and doesn't care whether this offends God then that person's pleasures have
become his god:
"Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note
of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you
before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is
in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." Philippians 3:17-19
In fact, the Bible warns about indulging in desires contrary to God's rule since such
desires will eventually enslave a person:
"They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of
depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him." 2 Peter 2:19
Finally, even if Paul had likened all the above vices to idolatry, would Zawadi rather
have the Apostle be lenient towards maintaining ethical and moral standards? Wouldn't it
be safer and better for Paul to warn Christians about taking it too easy and getting
complacent about their moral conduct by warning them about any lapse in righteous living
and justification of immoral behavior?
Or would Zawadi rather prefer that Paul had caused his adopted son to divorce his wife
and then subsequently marry her, and claim it was an example for other adoptive fathers to
follow (even though adoption would be prohibited afterwards!)? In other words, would Zawadi
have liked it if Paul found a way to justify adultery? (*,
*)
Or would he prefer that Paul had allowed for fornication and a certain kind of prostitution
and pass that off as temporary marriage (muta')?
*)
Zawadi may have liked Paul better if the blessed Apostle commanded others to have up to
four wives while he himself had more than that, say eleven spouses, which would be six
more than what was allowed for the rest? (*,
*)
Maybe Zawadi would have liked Paul even more if the Evangelist said that believers
could rape captive women, even married ones whose husbands were still alive, and then sell
them off as chattel? ( *,
*,
*)
Who knows, he may have started admiring Paul had the latter sexually violated a
prepubescent 9 year old girl and permitted others to molest and divorce prepubescent girls
as well? (*,
*;
*)
Just maybe, and we may be stretching it quite a bit at this point, Zawadi would have
followed Paul if the latter committed idolatry by kissing a black stone and claimed that
he was inspired to do so? (*)
There's Paul for you, a person who had some serious issues with sin and immoral
behavior. After all, why should Paul try to warn people about living wickedly since what's
the big deal about sin anyway?
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal
life." Matthew 25:46
"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor
male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what
some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires
of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and
the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so
that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as
I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who
belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Sirit. Let us not become
conceited, provoking and envying each other." Galatians 5:16-26
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what
he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap
destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap
eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a
harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Galatians 6:7-10
"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be
holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
"He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from
the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his
God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the
sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all
liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second
death.'" Revelation 21:6-8
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have
the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the
dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the
idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Revelation 22:14-15
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