Why Christianity Offends

If someone was to ask you or me what constitutes Christian character, what would we say? Off the top of our head, we would most likely say love for God and our fellowman and faith in the Lord Jesus. As we thought about it more intently, we would add things like the fruit of the Spirit, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23 NKJV) We might recall Peter's admonition to add to our faith virtue and godliness in 2 Peter 1. No doubt we would add humility (1 Peter 5:5), mercy and meekness (Col. 3:12), thankfulness (Col. 3:15), and truthfulness (Eph. 4:25) to our list, and our list would still not be all-inclusive of the good things to be found in Christian character at its best.

It is hard to look back over this list and see anything that should offend anyone. It is certainly not the Christian's desire to offend. The word of God teaches the Christian to "pursue peace with all men" (Heb. 12:14 NKJV), "to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men" (Titus 3:2 NKJV), and "as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men" (Rom. 12:18 NKJV). How is it, then, when it is the Christian's desire to be non-offensive to others and he or she has good character, that the Christian ends up offending so many?

The answer lies in what the Christian believes. The very fact that Christians believe what they believe is offensive to many. To whom, you might ask? To those who believe otherwise—to the atheist, to the communist, to the Islamist, to those who will not believe and obey the gospel and live faithfully, to all who do not want to be confined within the constraints the New Testament places on their lives. They know they are living lives that are contrary to the gospel, that the gospel condemns their life choices, and they do not like it. The very fact one is a Christian condemns them. They feel Christianity judges them, and they do not like it.

Let us look at just one example. If the Christian believes it is sinful to live the life of a fornicator, who is likely to be offended by that belief? To ask is to answer—the fornicator, to those who see sex as a sort of human right, married or not. If the Christian was to speak against living together outside of marriage, how many friends do you think he or she would make in the world we live in today? Not many. If he speaks up, it is said he is making himself a judge. He is intolerant and causing trouble. He is considered harsh and hard (as though God would tolerate the sin). He is unloving.

You can go right down the list of what the Bible calls sins, name them one by one, ask the same kind of question, and get the same kind of answer. Who is offended by the sin the Bible condemns? The answer is the person practicing the sin. Christian beliefs themselves are offensive to many—to a great, great many—no matter what subject you end up talking about. It is not so much what the Christian does that is so offensive but what he believes. Jesus said we would be judged by the word of God (John 12:48), and God's word does offend many by limiting their freedom to sin without being rebuked. The word rebukes them. If you believe the word, then that is a rebuke to them, and that is offensive. You offend them because of what you believe about the word, namely, that it is the truth.

Jesus said on one occasion, "The world…hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil." (John 7:7 NKJV) Do you think the sinner wants to hear or be told that his works (his sins) are evil? The minute the Christian speaks up against a sin, he puts himself in company with Jesus, and the world will hate him too, just like it hated Jesus. The men and women of the world want not only the silence of the Christian but, even more than that, they want the Christian's approval. They basically desire the Christian give up his faith, deny the word of God, and join them, join them at least in heart.

Jesus said on one occasion to those who sought to kill him, "You seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you." (John 8:37 NKJV) When God's word has no place in a man, then, given the right circumstances and provocations, as the man sees them, there are no limits to the depths of sin that it can lead a man to. The word of God places boundaries upon men, boundaries that do not satisfy those of a worldly bent, but boundaries that keep men from the evil which men are capable of doing when at their worst. The Christian respects God's fences (boundaries), but the man of the world whose desires are for the world rips the fences to pieces.

The world thus often puts the Christian in a spot that, if he had his choice, he would rather not be in. No one who has had any upbringing about him wants to be offensive to others. We all desire the friendship of others and their affection, we want friends, not enemies, and let us be honest, even if a person is worldly, it does not mean they are unlikeable. Many have very winning personalities. They are often not bad people measured by the standards of everyday life, but the problem is the Christian can have only one standard, and that standard is not the standard of everyday worldly living.

Paul gave us all words of wisdom when he said, "For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Cor. 10:12 NKJV) Christ is the only acceptable standard a Christian can have. The goal and the desire is not to be the best of the average everyday person but to be Christ-like. Our desire is to be saved, and in order to be saved we must live like Christ and not like the average of men. We must seek to please God, not man. "If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Gal. 1:10 NKJV) The command of God is, "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord." (2 Cor. 6:17 NKJV)

The condemnation of one group of believers in Christ lay at this very point. "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (John 12:42-43 NKJV) Thus we come to the fork in the road where we must make a decision. What will it be? Will we go with God and his word, or will we go with the majority of men? Will we offend God, or will we offend man, for that is what it comes down to?

No matter how much you and I desire the salvation of all men, we do not desire it any more than God does. God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim. 2:4 NKJV) He loved the world (mankind) so much he gave his only begotten son that man might be saved (John 3:16). Nevertheless, the Bible teaches "narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt. 7:14 NKJV)

Now let me ask a question. If God is so desirous of men being saved, why is the gate to life so narrow and the way to life so difficult? (Matt. 7:14) The gate is narrow and the way is difficult because man finds it hard to accept God's will, believe it, and obey it. Put another way, man finds it difficult to bring his will into subjection to God's will. Anyone and everyone could be saved, God does not show partiality, but God is God and man is often and generally unwilling to accept salvation on God's terms. It is offensive to man.

What does please man is the way that seems right to man. But what is the end of that way? "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." (Prov. 14:12 NKJV)

Even among those the world calls Christians (whether they are or not, God will judge based on his word), very, very few are willing to accept that a child of faith must repent and be baptized for the remission of sins despite Peter's exact words to that effect. "Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38 NKJV) He had to be mistaken, he could not have meant it, it is offensive, the very thought is offensive. We want non-offensive Christianity. Non-offensive Christianity demands disregard for the word of God.

With non-offensive Christianity, we can have, I recently read, 34,000 Christian denominations (A Short History of Christianity, Stephen Tomkins, page 245). With denominationalism, everyone gets what they want, the church of their choice; all will be saved no matter what group they are with as long as they, in the broadest sense of the term, "believe" in Jesus, and thus no one is offended—non-offensive Christianity. No one is offended because in the end denominationalism means doctrine does not matter. You read it the way you want, I read it the way I want, we are both saved, it doesn't matter which one of us had the truth.

Denominationalism is a wide gate and a broad way. If I am wrong and that is the narrow gate and difficult way (34,000 denominations), then tell me how many denominations we would have to have to have a broad way? Would a hundred thousand do it, or would it take more like a million? When one can find the church of his choice, rather than God's choice, you have non-offensive Christianity.

There is no doubt that the tender heart that does not want to offend people is good in its attitude toward the feelings of others, but the truth of life, all of life, is that man must make choices, and in making choices he will inevitably offend. There are gentle-hearted people who sincerely want to please everyone, not be offensive to any, and who want to stay out of all fights and disagreements, and they are thus unwilling to take sides or take a stand. They just want to be left alone and left out of any disagreements or unpleasantness, but isn't that the desire of most of us? We want peace, not strife. We want less stress in our lives, not more. But there is a problem.

Life just does not work that way. We cannot stay on the sidelines forever. In failing to choose sides, we choose the side by default that is most likely to be wrong, the side of the majority. If the broad way has most of the people in it (according to the Lord it does—Matt. 7:13-14), and that is the way of destruction, then my choice by default is not going to work out well for me. It is true enough in this life a majority position is the most popular and the least likely to cause you strife in the here and now, but it is also the damning position on the Day of Judgment. On that day you want to be a part of the minority, not the majority.

Paul, speaking by inspiration, says, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Tim. 3:12 NKJV) Who is this person who is suffering persecution? Is it the non-offensive Christian? No! The truth is you cannot be a faithful Christian without offending many. You will offend because you will take a side, the side offensive to the world and to much of Christendom.

God calls us to take sides, and he gives us no middle ground. It does not matter if we would prefer to not take a side, for that is not given to us as an option. We will either believe or we will disbelieve. We will either repent of sin or we will not. We will either be baptized for the remission of sins, or we will not be baptized for the remission of sins. We will either be obedient in life or we will be disobedient. We will either battle Satan or we will not battle Satan. God's choices are only twofold. They are either/or. Eve only had two choices, not a half dozen. Yes, this may sound hard and harsh to some. God is a demanding God, but what are you going to do about it? Are you strong enough to take on God and win?

"He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad." (Matt. 12:30 NKJV) It is either/or; there is no other option given. We must "contend earnestly for the faith." (Jude 3 NKJV) We must "fight the good fight of faith." (1 Tim. 6:12 NKJV) Why? Because it is either/or. God commanded it, and we either will obey or we will disobey. There is no third option given. That is the life we live. We can please the majority of men now by not taking sides, sitting on the sidelines, giving the world no opposition, but in doing so we have taken the default position, which is the devil's majority position—the broad way.

We might say we did not ask to get put in this position. No, we did not ask to be put in this position, but God saw fit to place us here. We are his creation. Are we going to fight against God or put on the armor he has given us and go to battle (see Eph. 6:11-17)?

My parents did not ask for the poverty of the Great Depression and then WW II, but that is where they found themselves. The wise man takes a look around to see where he is at and the best course to pursue rather than moan, groan, and complain about where he finds himself. God will give us rest and peace in due time in a place where there is no strife or battle, but that is then and this is now. Those who are overly meek and quiet need to put on the Lord's battle armor and go to war for the time being so they can have peace in a later time, the hereafter. It is an either/or choice; you either do it or you don't. Your future depends on your decision. Do not delude yourself into thinking there is such a thing as not taking sides and sitting on the sidelines, for that is Satan's default position. That is Satan's side.

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On Godly Sorrow and Repentance

The words repent and repentance are Bible words, words hardly ever used outside of a religious context. In reading one’s New Testament, beginning with the gospel accounts, the first preaching that is recorded is that of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2 NKJV) In Matt. 4:17 we see Jesus preaching the same message. The call to men by inspiration from the very beginning of the unfolding of the New Testament was a call to repentance. Jesus said it was a matter so important that it was repent or perish, an either-or proposition. (Luke 13:3, 5)

Repentance is a command to all men, everywhere, in all time to come, as long as the earth shall stand. You and I are not exempt. Paul, in his speech in the Areopagus in Athens, made this statement:

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 NKJV)

After his resurrection, while meeting with his apostles, Jesus said, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47 NKJV) It was thus essential then and essential now that repentance be preached. We see the beginning of such preaching shortly thereafter.

In the very first gospel sermon ever preached, after Christ’s ascension back to heaven and the Holy Spirit’s descending upon the apostles on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, the conclusion of Peter’s inspired sermon was, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” (Acts 2:38 NKJV) Repentance was made essential to salvation (as was baptism).

Who must repent? Sinners. “For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’” (Rom. 3:9-10 NKJV) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23 NKJV) Repentance is repentance of sin against God. God “commands all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30)

Well, if I am commanded to repent on the penalty of repent or perish, what must I do? What does it mean to repent? It is very common to find people who do not understand and who simply think to repent means to be sorry.

If sorrow was repentance, then Judas, the betrayer of the Lord, was a saved man. The Bible says, “Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.” (Matt. 27:3 NKJV) His sorrow was so great he went out and hung himself.

All of that be as it may, Jesus said of Judas, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” (Matt. 26:24 NKJV) That could not have been said if Judas was to be saved on account of his remorse.

Besides this statement we have Paul’s comment in 2 Cor. 7:10 that “the sorrow of the world produces death.” (NKJV) Since we know assuredly that the sorrow Judas had led to death (spiritual death, for he was not saved according to Jesus), we know his sorrow was of the world. A lesson we ought to learn from this fact is that a man or woman can be as sorry as sorry can be and yet not repent or be pleasing to God.

Paul speaks of another kind of sorrow in the same passage in 2 Cor. 7, a sorrow that leads to repentance. He says, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.” (2 Cor. 7:9 NKJV) From this, we learn that there is a type of sorrow that leads to repentance.

In 2 Cor. 7:10 it is called “godly sorrow.” “For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted.” (NKJV) Peter is an example of a man who experienced godly sorrow. He denied Jesus three times when Jesus was in the custody of those who would be responsible for his death. Peter had deep regret and sorrow and went away and “wept bitterly.” (Matt. 26:75 NKJV)

What then is the difference between the two types of sorrow, say the sorrow of Judas versus the sorrow of Peter? Namely this: godly sorrow leads one back to God. Judas fled from God. That was not something he had to do. Peter said on the Day of Pentecost, to those assembled there that day, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36 NKJV) See also Acts 2:23. They were guilty of crucifying the Lord as much as Judas was, and yet we see later in that same chapter 3,000 of them repenting of that sin that very day, being baptized, and becoming Christians. Judas could have repented also, but he chose another course. Peter, while he had denied the Lord after the Lord’s arrest, came back to the Lord.

There are a couple of lessons here for us. (1) Do not underestimate God’s love and willingness to forgive. Did Judas do that? (2) Do not destroy yourself by despair. I speak of destroying yourself spiritually as did Judas (although, admittedly, he destroyed himself physically as well). There are men and women who are sorry for the things they have done but will not turn to God for forgiveness, thinking they have been too evil to be forgiven. They despair. This is a worldly sorrow. It shows a lack of faith in God’s love and willingness to forgive and thus a lack of faith in God and his word.

Others are also sorry for their sins, but it is because they have been caught in them and have suffered as a result (adulterers, those having affairs, are often an example of this type). They are sorry for a reason, but it is not a sorrow that has anything to do with God or God’s laws. They are sorry because they were caught. This is another type of worldly sorrow.

Godly sorrow, on the other hand, leads one to throw himself upon God and his mercy and grace. Godly sorrow is not repentance but is the thing that leads to it. If you are being led to a thing, then you have not yet arrived there, although you will in due time by continuing the course.

Repentance is the actual surrendering of one’s will to God’s will. It is a determination to turn from sin to God, from unrighteousness to righteousness; it is a matter of the human mind and will. The idea is that I will cease being the lord of my life. Jesus will now be my Lord. His will will be my will. It is a determination to follow God. It is the determination to make Jesus my Lord and Savior with all that implies.

It is not yet reformation of life, for reformation is the fruit of repentance. John the Baptist commanded “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” (Matt. 3:8 NKJV) Reformation is, to a degree, a measure of repentance. A man who truly repents reforms his life.

Let me clarify that. There are sincere people who truly have repented who come to doubt their conversion at this very point. When we obey the gospel, we have it in our minds that we are going to live an almost perfect life thereafter. We are committed as we ought to be. Unfortunately, we never live the perfect life. When we next sin, we begin doubting our conversion. Did I really repent? If I did, why did I commit this sin? Doubts arise about our conversion. We begin to wonder, am I doomed to just live my life a hopeless sinner?

There is no such thing as living a sin-free life after conversion unless, of course, you die almost immediately upon being converted. The apostle John, in speaking to Christians, says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9 NKJV)

Repentance, unlike baptism, is not just a one-time act. While there is no true conversion without repentance, we are unable to live sin-free over any extended period of time. David Lipscomb once made the comment that he doubted that any man ever lived a single day without sin. Whether or not that is true, I do not know, but my suspicion is that if not true, it is not far from it. There are sins of commission, sins of omission, sins of ignorance, sins of the mind, of the heart, and of the attitude. We are what we are, and none of us will live without sin after our conversion.

We must also bear in mind that if we could be perfect law keepers we could be saved by law, by works, and that is clearly not the case. All who are sincere in their Christian life will readily bear witness to the fact that, despite their best efforts, they fail in keeping the law of Christ from time to time. We can bear witness, for we can name our sins. We know our failures.

The Law of Moses was designed to bring the Jews to Christ by showing them this very thing; namely, you cannot keep God’s law perfectly, and thus the road to salvation cannot be found in perfect obedience. (Gal. 3:24, Gal. 3:10) That was true under the Law of Moses and under the law of God under which we live today (the New Testament). The need for God’s grace is obvious.

The New Testament is full of admonitions to those who are already Christians but who are involved in sin to repent. Read First and Second Corinthians. Even the apostle Peter needed to repent (read Gal. 2:11-13). In the books of First and Second Corinthians, Paul does not raise the question whether or not those brethren who were caught up in sin were genuinely converted. They were true Christians, but they had nevertheless sinned after their conversion and needed to repent. Let me list a few examples.

There was the man who had his father’s wife in a sexually immoral relationship (1 Cor. 5:1); there were those he wrote of in 2 Cor. 12:21 who he feared might not have “repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and licentiousness which they have practiced.” (NKJV) They were also taking one another to courts of law (not an act of love). (1 Cor. 6:7)

We could also read about various churches in the Book of Revelation, chapters two and three, who needed to repent in one way or another. We could talk about the Galatians.

But my point is this—if you were sincere in heart when you obeyed the gospel with regard to your repentance and you then followed through and completed your obedience of faith as per Acts 2:38, being baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16), baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27, Rom. 6:3), then there is no reason down the road to look back and wonder if you were truly converted, to doubt your conversion. Many have done that, and we need more teaching about it so minds can be set at ease on that point.

You will never live perfectly. If you are a human being, you will sin again after your conversion (dare I say many times?). That does not mean you were never converted. It does mean you need to repent just as Peter needed to in Gal. 2. Having repented, confess your sin and pray and ask for God’s forgiveness and ask for the forgiveness of any you may have personally sinned against. (1 John 1:9, James 5:16) God will forgive if we will repent and ask his forgiveness.

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Hard To Repent

It is hard to repent. I remember the comment made by a well-known preacher of the nineteenth century that the hardest thing to do as a preacher was to get men to repent. By contrast, it was easy to get men to believe. He considered his greatest failure was in failing to convince men to repent.

He was not the first preacher to have that problem. The Bible calls Noah “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5 NKJV). Most Bible students believe Noah preached 120 years (based on Gen. 6:3), and yet the only ones converted by his preaching were members of his own family. Only eight people were saved from the flood—Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives.

The Bible says of those who died in the flood that they were “disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared.” (1 Peter 3:20 NKJV) It was the “world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5 NKJV) that perished in the flood.

I take from the passages quoted above that Noah preached repentance. Why? Because Peter said of those people that they were “disobedient.” They therefore had law from God, whether written or unwritten. They were “ungodly,” and Noah preached “righteousness.” By definition, repentance is a turning from ungodliness to righteousness.

However, one greater than Noah had trouble getting people to repent, and this one worked miracles in the presence of men in confirmation of his preaching. Hear Jesus:

“Then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. … And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.’” (Matt. 11:20-23 NKJV)

How hard is it to repent? We learn from this passage that even the preaching of the Lord himself, accompanied by miracles, would not get some to repent. Remember also Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. It was another city that did not repent at his preaching.

Remember the account of the rich man and Lazarus as told by Jesus? Both had died, but the rich man now found himself in torment due to his ungodly life. He makes the plea to Father Abraham to send someone to his living brothers that they might repent. “And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:30-31 NKJV) In recounting this, Jesus gave his endorsement to the conclusion given by Abraham. Not even a preacher risen from the dead could convince a certain number of people to repent.

The question then naturally arises as to why men will not repent. I might suggest a few things, although my list is far from exhaustive.

Repentance and belief are two separate things. Some who believe will not repent. “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:42-43 NKJV) Here we have men who believe but are unwilling to repent, unwilling to give up their lifestyle.

I want to deal with that in just a moment, but first I want to suggest this. While belief and repentance are two separate factors, they are closely tied together. If a person truly had the depth of conviction (call it faith or belief) that hell was real, and as bad as the Bible teaches it is, and believed they were going there, I think most men would repent. Who volunteers to be tortured? None, not if they believe that will happen.

Jesus said in his day, via the teaching in the account of the rich man and Lazarus, there is no use to send someone back from the dead, for they will not repent. Why not? He does not say, but we can figure it out. They would see no need to repent. You will never convince them of their need. Indeed, that has been proven true with mankind, for one did rise from the dead and come back (Jesus), and yet the multitudes have not repented.

It seems to me nearly everyone is of the opinion that, one way or another, they are going to get by when the Day of Judgment comes. Whatever their degree of faith and obedience is, or should I say disobedience, they are of the belief that they will scrape by. Most simply do not believe they need to repent. They are good enough just as they are. Thus, belief, or the lack thereof, is tied closely to repentance.

People argue today over how the American Constitution should be interpreted, and there are two points of view (bear with me—I am not getting off the subject). One is that of the strict constructionist who says the Constitution tightly binds us as to laws and powers. The other view is that of the liberal constructionist. The liberal constructionist does not feel bound by the strict wording of the Constitution but feels at liberty to update it, for want of a better way of phrasing it, to the changing times and society’s values. It is like a rubber band that you can stretch, allowing more things inside.

The Bible is the same way as regards how men view it. I would suggest that a rubber band can be stretched to the breaking point. We can get so liberal with our interpretations of the Bible that there is indeed no need to repent.

Whatever the merits of this type of interpretation might be with regard to our Constitution, it will not work with the Bible without destroying the commands of God. When they are destroyed, ceasing to be viewed as commands for our time, then who needs to repent? My point is that what you believe has a great deal to do with whether or not you will repent. What do you believe about yourself? What do you believe about the Bible?

If you believe the Bible no longer condemns living together outside of marriage (fornication), how are you going to repent? I use that as an example, but you could ask the same question of many other things men used to call sin but have seemingly changed their minds on in our day. Adultery would have to be one such thing placed in the forefront of what people used to believe the Bible condemned but either no longer believe it, don’t care, or have convinced themselves that God is going to understand their situation is unlike other adulterers and grant them an exception. Yes, people refuse to repent, for they have changed their minds, their belief, about what constitutes sin. Perhaps I am wrong, but I get the impression most people living in adultery today think all is well with their souls. Yes, belief and repentance are tied closely together.

But I want to get back to the rulers who would not repent, being unwilling to confess Jesus, as found in John 12:42-43. Belief was not the problem but the joy of the things of this world was, in their case the joy of the praise of men in the synagogues.

The simple fact of the matter is we enjoy sin. I do not say all sin is enjoyable, but much of it is. The writer of the book of Hebrews, in speaking about Moses, says he chose rather to “suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” and spoke of the “treasures in Egypt.” (Heb. 11:25-26 NKJV)

As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses could have readily enjoyed all that money, fame, and position or power could offer. The Hebrew writer called these things “the passing pleasures of sin.” What we have (position, power, fame, money, luxury, prestige) has, for the average man or woman, a great deal to do with what we believe and what we think about repentance. We do not think these things color our perspective, but they do.

Paul spoke in 1 Corinthians about these things when he said, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” (1 Cor. 1:26 NKJV) What did he mean by that, given the fact the gospel call is for all men (2 Thess. 2:14)? We are all called by the gospel. It is obvious he was saying that not many of such a class of people would respond to the call.

Jesus said of a rich man that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (be saved). (Luke 18:25) Why? Again, the answer is obvious—the pleasures of the world. See also 1 Tim. 6:9.

In 2 Cor. 4:3-4 the Bible talks about people being blinded. Paul says, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (NKJV) What is it these people do not believe?

We would say the gospel, the message about Jesus being the Christ, the Savior of the world, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Cor. 15:3-4 NKJV) Part of what was veiled to these people who did not believe was their need for repentance. Who was hiding it from them? The god of this world.

Finally, in closing, I add this. Human pride plays a big role in making repentance hard to do. It takes a big man or woman to confess they are a sinner. Humility is a hard thing to come by, but it is the very thing required of any person who would be saved.

“And Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” (Matt. 18:2-4 NKJV)

It is hard for a successful person, by this world’s standards, to humble himself to the degree necessary to repent. However, pride is a killer, and we must be humble not just by outward appearance but in our heart—truly be humble. The Bible says God not only hates “a proud look” (Prov. 6:16-17 NKJV) but it is an abomination to him.

It is not hard for the man who has been a failure to repent in comparison to the successful man; nevertheless, even the lowly must fight the battle against pride. None are exempt from pride. It is tough to say, “I have sinned.”

Yes, it is hard to repent, but it is necessary. For the man or woman who succeeds in doing it, there is a peace, joy, and rejoicing within one’s heart unknown to those who have not repented and thus not experienced it.

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Honestly Deceived: Does It Matter

1 Tim. 2:12-14 has always troubled me a little. It reads, “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” (NKJV)

Paul says elsewhere, “the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness” (2 Cor. 11:3 NKJV), which Eve herself admitted in Gen. 3:13 when she said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (NKJV)

I would have thought that sinning with one’s eyes wide open (Adam) would be worse than sinning because one was deceived (Eve). Of course, I understand both suffered the same penalty for sin, so in that sense it mattered not, but it does seem that Eve was blamed in a way Adam was not, and for the worse, not for the better.

Eve’s sin was that she was willing to believe one who contradicted what the word of God said and acted on that belief. That ought to be a lesson for us all, man or woman, for that was the road that led to her ruin. You can read in 1 Kings 13:1-33 about another person who did the same thing, allowed himself to be deceived, a man described as a man of God, and who likewise suffered for it. God does not give mankind a pass for being honestly deceived. He does not look with favor on those who will take someone else’s word over His own.

This being the case, it would behoove the Protestant world to take another look at baptism. Will the Protestant believe God’s word that baptism is “for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38 NKJV), the washing away of one’s sins (Acts 22:16), the “antitype which now saves us, namely baptism” (1 Peter 3:21 NKJV), or will he or she continue to believe a deception of man that it is merely a sign? The word sign is not once used in the New Testament in association with the word baptism, not once. It is an invention of man.

But if the reply is, “We are saved by faith, not by baptism,” a false dichotomy is set up, for who says it must be one or the other exclusively? If these are the only two requirements for salvation, then repentance from sin is not required. We know that is not true. The truth is, everything related to salvation begins with faith. Faith is the motivating factor, but it is not the end-all of salvation but merely the starting point from which everything else flows.

As surely as the Bible teaches that faith is a requirement for salvation, it just as surely teaches that repentance is (Acts 2:38, Luke 13:3-5, Acts 17:30) and that baptism is. Who wants to try to explain to God on the Day of Judgment why he believed man rather than God’s own word? Eve chose to believe another over God. It did not work out well for her. Likely, it will not work out any better for anyone who tries it today.

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