Link of the Day: Societal Sins
Scott, over at Grace is Unfair, looks at Amos and Isaiah and comes to some troubling conclusions about personal and societal sins.
In Amos, God condemns oppression of the poor and sexual sin in the same breath. And in Isaiah, God shows that He detests both when people amass too much land at the expense of the poor and when people act as drunkards. Neither passage suggests that God is placing a greater value judgment on personal sin or societal sin. What does that mean for us as Christians, who desire to do God’s will?
At the end of his post, he quotes James 4:17, which says: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” We know the right thing to do - therefore societal sins that we participate in are our own.
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Comments
I’m not sure what you mean by “we don’t put enough ’social’ in our gospel”. All sin, whether they are on a societal level or on a personal level all come from the same place, a depraved heart and mind. Jesus words in Mark 7:14-23 and Paul’s words in Romans 8:5-8 both come to mind here. I also think of Paul’s stunning and sweeping condemnation of all of mankind, Jew and Greek in Romans 1:18-3:20. There is no fear of God and therefore in humankind and therefore sin grows more rampant and it effects everything, both individually as well as socially/societally. Therefore the same gospel message for personal sins is needed for societal sins. Man must receive the blessings of the New Covenant to obey God’s will and laws (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8; Ezekiel 36:22-27).
I would say that we need to do more to equalize the heinousness of societal sins with personal sins. Condemn adultery in the same breath as racism. Really bring out that to defile society is the same before God’s standard as to defile one’s body. So in some ways I would say yes we need to put more “social” into our preaching. As long as it understands that all sin is a heart issue. It is just that some sins impact society and others impact only individual persons.
But removing those divisions in how one understands the Law Covenant as a whole would help people to see that the societal evils such as racism and sexism etc. The distinctions help clarify in what realm of life the Covenant effects and impacts, namely every part of life. But many Christians (especially in my experience) need to realize that to disobey a civil law required as much blood as disobeying a personal moral law. Its all sin to God.
I would say that we need to do more to equalize the heinousness of societal sins with personal sins.
Sounds like you agree with me, as that is what I am talking about. At times in your comment you talk about sins against society. I think you also include sins of (by) society in which a person participates, that is, structural societal sins.
You down with us being culpable for sins of our society? I say that Godly living is living with actual justice as well as saving a person’s soul. If we neglect one or the other we sin.
That is what I mean by more social in the gospel. It is not enough to save the soul of a person or of a community, we must also reject unjust societal structures and work to create a just society / community.
That is what I mean by more social in the gospel. It is not enough to save the soul of a person or of a community, we must also reject unjust societal structures and work to create a just society / community.
I agree with the point of this statement, but I don’t think we can draw a dichotomy between the two as your words seem to indicate to me. I think the solution to rejecting injustice and “unjust society structures” is to be participants and members of the New Covenant and the New Covenant community. That community is made up of individuals who now have the affections for justice and the Holy Spirit to cause the obedience that results in just societal structures. The result of a society with its members having saved souls is a just society. So yes we must work for both, but I think that they have to be linked together, the eternally saved forming a just society.
But something else that I think has to be kept in mind (unless one is a full preterist or a full-blooded postmillennialist–this issue is why I am not fully amillennial but lean heavily towards postmillennialism without being fully postmil.) is that this society cannot be fully achieved until the Parousia of Christ. When the King is on his throne, justice will flow forth like an overflowing fountain as in Isaiah 2:1-5.
I don’t think we can draw a dichotomy between the two as your words seem to indicate to me.
I am saying there should not be one, but look around - that is exactly what we have done! (So I agree with you!)
I think that we agree for the most part, given what we have said. The only thing I wanna add is that we can’t use the comming of the King as a cop out. We should still strive as hard as we can for it in the here and now.
I agree that it shouldn’t be a cop out. It should be a hope that even though we have failed, we are failing, and will fail so many times in the future, we can know that our efforts to form that community where justice thrives will be vindicated. It should be hope and encouragement, as well as a pointer to that day for those around us who are not apart of that New Covenant community and blessings.
One reason why I think people make the distinction between personal sin and societal sin is from a false understanding of OT Law found in the Covenant of Moses. It has been Protestant tradition to divide up the Law into three parts: civil, ceremonial, and moral. The NT writers did not see it that way, the ancient Jews did not see it that way, the OT prophets and writers didn’t see it that way, and the early church didn’t see it that way. The Law saw sin as sin, whether on a societal level or a personal level. All sin, as the post talks about, is just as heinous before God and equally deserving of his wrath and equally in need of Jesus’ blood and the gospel.