- Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
The standard line I am hearing these days is ‘judge not.’ ‘Judge not’ is bolstered by the fact that everyone has their own sins. So, some of the advocates of, say, homosexual marriage, are saying, ‘You have moral problems of your own, how can you then judge people who have what you believe to be moral problems? Why don’t you go worry about one that hits closer to home?
In its more concrete form it usually looks like this: ‘You Christians are so busy worrying about gay marriage. Why don’t you worry about your own problems like divorce and being judgmental bigots and leave them alone?!’
This is actually a crafty move. If you boil it down, what this argument seeks to do is to paint the whole world as having problems and pet concerns. And since the whole world has problems and pet concerns, then no one has problems and pet concerns. They are each invalidated by the other.
From a Christian perspective, let me put it this way: Everyone sins, therefore no one has a right to call another person to repentance. It’s the old ‘pot calling the kettle black’ line of thought. If this argument succeeds, then the idea of sin is completely eradicated. If everyone sins then no one sins. If everything is sinful then nothing is sinful. We’re all on equal footing, and so we have no right to call anything sin.
What this argument fails to account for is the fact that we don’t get to make or choose the standard of righteousness. The standard is God (who does not sin). And he reveals himself as standard in the Law of Scriptures.
One could then brush back by saying that, since we all fall short of that Law, we still have no right to call sin sin. The issue then is this: the Christian, though he sins, is counted as righteous on account of God’s righteousness. He has been credited with an alien righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And, having this righteous standing, he must call sin sin. It is on account of the good news of the forgiveness of sin that he has a duty to proclaim the heinousness of sin – his own, and that of others.
If he truly thinks he is more righteous in himself, then he should keep his mouth shut. But if he counts his own righteousness as wholly wrapped up in the righteousness of Christ, then he must open his mouth. And it is through such a man, counted righteous in Christ, proclaiming the standard of the Law, and the righteousness that comes by faith, that others will come to repentance and faith.
The bottom line is that we must not be silent. We cannot be afraid that we will be charged with hypocrisy. Our righteousness is not our own. Let them charge away, it only gives us more opportunities to proclaim the Savior. Let them accuse us of sin, and we will confess our sins and point to the Savior. Let them say there are no standards, and we will point to the standard of God’s Law. The discussion has to gravitate toward God and the Scriptures.
