Don’t Score Sin on a Sliding Scale - Romans 13-14

 Romans 13:13 (ESV)

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

It is always interesting to hear Christians talk about sin and sinners.   We seem to have this classification of what is the worse sins (adultery, homosexuality, abuse) vs those sins we deem less important (white lies, over eating deserts, envy of our neighbors new pool).  In God’s lists, no matter if here in Romans or in other passages, you have to marvel that God makes no distinction between one sin and another.  In fact, in the next chapter of this letter to the Roman Christians, Paul is talking about not offending another believer who is a vegan or abstains from wine.  Notice what he says about things in this life in general:

Romans 14:14a (ESV)

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself,  ...

In talking about “sins” that are “debatable” in the Christian life, Paul makes it clear that if we are “in Christ” (who is holy and has made us holy) everything in this life is “unclean.”    He will go on to say that there are some areas of the Christian life that carry some debate as to whether we can indulge in them or not.  But his main point is that from God’s point of view all things are unclean, since they are not holy things.   So, when we read this list in the Bible that chronicles “sins” we should note how they don’t fit our “list” of what is sinful and what is not.  Note:

Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV)

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Notice in the list Paul sends to the Galatian believers contains “our” high sins (sexual immorality, orgies) and “our” low sins (anger, dissension, envy, etc.).   We should be careful as to what we label sin and what we label mere struggles in our lives.  

In regard to the above text to the Romans, here is what the late R.C. Sproul wrote:

“Paul’s reference to rioting and drunkenness pertains to the pagan religious worship of the god Bacchus, the god of the grape and the vine. Bacchus was the sponsor of the ancient Bacchanalia, an orgiastic feast involving gluttony and unbridled sexual behavior. Participants set out to get drunk to silence pangs of conscience so they could engage in unbridled sin. In contrast to that, we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for our flesh. Paul means that we are not to make or provide opportunities for sin.”

Excerpt From

Romans

R. C. Sproul

So, we see that there are egregious sins that come right from the pit of the world’s evil that Christians are to avoid.   But, Paul does not hesitate to also include quarreling and jealousy in the same list.   We should be warned to stop our conversations that lists sins on a sliding scale and rather view anything that is not the holiness of God, as sin we should avoid.