SINNING TO DEATH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

1 John 5:16-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Can sin lead to death?

It’s a question answered in today’s passage from our study of the final chapter of John’s first letter. Look again at those words here:

If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. Vv. 16-17

So God hates sin, so much so that He can choose to rain down judgment that takes the lives of sinners. Just look at what happened when the great flood came, eliminating everything except for Noah, his sons, their wives, and an ark full of animals loaded on in obedience to God’s command.

And then there were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God promised Abraham he would spare both if he could find ten righteous person there (Genesis 18:16-33). Unfortunately, that many couldn’t be found and so the fire and brimstone fell down from heaven and the cities perished along with everyone inside.  

Clearly, there was sin that would lead to death in the Old Testament but then God established the new covenant through His Son Jesus, a covenant that allowed any sinner who believed in Him to be saved and justified, made as if they had never sinned when appearing before the judgment seat of the Lord.

With this, how could there be a sin that would lead to death as mentioned in the Word from 1 John 5?

The answer comes in the matter of Christians who say they are believers but then behave in ways that show they have rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God sent to be the Savior of all mankind. These fake believers willingly sin and then refuse to repent. They are the very ones John is warning his readers about throughout this letter with an avoidance of deception at the heart of the warning.    

It’s important to note that there are necessarily individual sins detailed here. Rather, John is using two broad categories of sinners.

1. Those who are legitimate and devoted followers of Jesus but still fail but quickly repent to get back into a right relationship with God.

and

2. Those who put on a Christian front but choose within their hearts and minds to disobey God’s commands and live in accordance with the world’s desires, desires that satisfy their own wants with no regard for what the Lord expects.

In both instances, you find sinners and all wrongdoing is sin but there are sins that don’t lead to death and the scriptures implore Christians to pray for their brothers and sisters who are truly in Christ but may have fell into transgression.

As for the others, those who decide to play Christian but have no intention to live like Jesus, we need to see that the Word doesn’t forbid us from praying for them. Rather, it lets it up to the genuine Christian believer whether or not to pray over those who are committing sin that leads to death.

One more thing regarding this matter and it’s found in a New Testament passage from the Book of Acts. Look at what happened when a Christian couple decided to sin openly and then lie about their sin.

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. Acts 5:1-11

Now, for some context, let’s back up to the closing verses of Acts, chapter 4:

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. Acts 4:32-37

At its advent, there were beautiful things happening amongst believers in the Christian church. Here, we find that people would willingly sell land or houses and then donate those funds to the apostles so to help anyone who was in need. When this happened, something amazing happened. For we read that “there were no needy persons among them”. As an example, chapter 4 closes with a specific citing of a Cypriot man named Joseph (the apostles called him Barnabas) who “sold a field he owned and brought the money” to the apostles.

After this we turn the page and find the antithesis of Joseph and others like him who willingly surrendered major assets to make a difference in the lives of those who were less fortunate.

We read where Ananias and his wife Sapphira also sold some property but didn’t give the full amount. Rather, Ananias, with his wife’s knowledge, withheld “part of the money for himself” before putting the rest at the apostle’s feet. The act was nothing short of dishonest and I’m sure Ananias thought he could pull it off. After all, how would the apostles know that the amount he donated wasn’t all of what he gained from the sale?

What Ananias and then Sapphira discounted was the incredible power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that was fully dwelling in the hearts and minds of the apostles and ready to disclose and expose the sinful act that was trying to be concealed.

Immediately, we read where Peter confronts Ananias. His words reveal that he knew Satan had been at work in Ananias’ heart so that he would feel it was perfectly fine to lie, not just to the apostles but to God Himself.

Immediately after Peter’s rebuke reached Ananias’ ears and entered his mind, he dropped dead on the spot. His sin had led to death.

Three hours afterwards, Sapphira showed up and Peter asked her a simple question, one that gave her the chance to come clean and not face the same fate as her husband. But she, like Ananias, decided to be deceitful and as a result, she joined him in death.

One conniving couple dead because of their sin in matter of mere hours and we read where the Christian church was impacted greatly but in a positive way. For God had sent a message as to what He would and wouldn’t tolerate, and that message led to a deeper respect (or fear) of Him.

The scriptures are connectional in nature and are always instructing and informing us as we read and study them. My prayer today is that we as Christian believers will never choose to live in ways that show we have no regard or reverence for God or His Son, ways that aren’t self centered like Ananias and Sapphira but rather self sacrificial like Joseph of Cyprus. For when we are aligned with our Lord, we can survive the times when we might fail and sin because we quickly choose to acknowledge that sin while seeking the amazing grace and forgiveness that only comes from Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.