Answers from the Word

This week a friend asked a complex question with multiple parts. So, let's look at their inquiry to see if we can answer.

Question: "If it's true that a sin separates your soul from God (only if the sinner knows it is a sin and chooses to do it anyway), what about folks who reject the concept of sin, or reject the concept of certain sins? If (when presented with the information) they dismiss it from their worldview, do they truly KNOW it is sin? And therefore, can they be held accountable for it?"

First, we should make sure the individual who commits the deed actually knows their behavior is prohibited by God and thus, constitutes a sin.

Jesus said, "But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much (knowledge & information), much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much (divine truth & warning), even more will be required." Luke 12:48

However, if that person who committed the sin really knew but merely decided not to obey God, the issue is one of Sovereignty.

Who is sovereign, God or man? Even within the Church, there are two camps:

Calvinism - God is exclusively and absolutely sovereign due to divine predestination and election.

Arminianism - men share sovereignty with God due to human free will.

Immediately we have a BIG problem, "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else..." Isaiah 42:8

So, what if someone knows God's command but is stubbornly unwilling to obey, does that change God's faithfulness to keep His Word and do what He said He would do if they sinned by willfully breaking His Holy Law?

"What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: 'So that you (God) may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.'"  Romans 3:3-4

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them." James 4:17

"It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." 2Peter 2:21

"But if thou forewarn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn NOT from his way, he shall die in his ungodliness." Ezekiel 33:9, Septuagint

So, personal opinion clearly doesn't matter regarding God's commandments. If Sovereign God says an action is wrong, then that behavior is wrong no matter what we think about His divine rule.

Keep reading because next week we will look at another part of my friend's question, "How does God's absolute sovereignty relate to the sins of fornication and sodomy? Is God's Law absolute or do we get to equivocate, pick and choose which sins we tolerate and which ones we forbid?"