Got Sin?

How happy the man whom the Lord will never charge with sin. Romans 4:8

This past week the Vatican (seat of the Roman Catholic Church) announced seven new deadly sins to join their list of seven others. According to the Associated Press, a Vatican official has listed drugs, pollution, genetic manipulation and social and economic injustices as new areas of sinful behavior. “Sins increasingly manifest themselves as behavior that damages society as a whole,” Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti said in an interview published Sunday by the Vatican’s daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. “While sin used to concern mostly the individual, today it has mainly a social resonance, due to the phenomenon of globalization.”

Here’s the real news, and it’s nothing new. Sin is a violation of God’s holiness. If we take the time to enumerate all the ways that can be accomplished, we will be a long time in the discussion. I am convinced we need to have great concerns about “social resonance, due to the phenomenon of globalization.” We don’t need to purposefully or carelessly pollute the Earth or ourselves. I suppose I can even identify with the hazards of extreme wealth, after all, Jesus talked about how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Once again, however, all this hype about the pronouncements of the Vatican regarding sin obscures the reality that the sin we need to be concerned about is the sin of unbelief. We are charged with sin because we have rejected the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as our Savior and Lord. The Good News is that God will never charge us with that sin when He has imputed the righteousness of Christ to our account. Once that righteousness is in us, His indwelling Holy Spirit is the Teacher of all things regarding obedience to the Truth of God’s revealed Word, which in turn keeps us from sin altogether.

I can’t get too excited about Rome’s pronouncements. What I could get energized about is when the Vatican begins to teach the Truth about the Savior and the Lordship of Christ. They’ve got a long way to go – but it’s possible it could happen. Imagine that army of folks, fully redeemed, being obedient to the Scripture, and using the Truth to help stamp out sinful living. Now that would reduce “behavior that damages society as a whole.”