Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, “We are delivered!”- only to go on doing all these abominations?.
– Jeremiah 7:9-10
Question 151 of the Larger Catechism asks, “What are those aggravations that make some
sins more heinous than others?” The fifth section (under point 4) of the answer says, “Sins
receive their aggravations, 4. From circumstances of time and place: if on the Lord's day, or
other times of divine worship; or immediately before or after these, or other helps to
prevent or remedy such miscarriages: if in publick, or in the presence of others, who are
thereby likely to be provoked or defiled.” All sin breaks God’s Law, offends Him, and merits
His infinite wrath. Yet as we have seen in Scripture through our study of the Catechism,
the nature of the sin itself, the person committing it, and the one against whom it is
committed can aggravate the heinousness of the sin and therefore the guilt of the sinner.
Today we complete our study of those things that make some sins worse than others.
“Yes, I lost to the tortoise but there were extenuating circumstances.” So said the hare in
the post-race interview. Our fallen nature naturally grasps at those circumstances that
make our guilt less or give us an excuse as to why things are not as bad as they might have
been. Every thought, word, and deed are carefully examined for the slightest nuance or
detail by which we can put a positive spin on things, in order to make ourselves look as
good as possible. Yet if anyone even begins to do the opposite and starts to examine the
circumstances for anything that might make our guilt worse, we immediately howl and
cry out in protest, “Unfair!” and then we go on the attack, “Those circumstances have
nothing to do with what I did or did not do. It is wrong to look at anything over which I did
not have control.” Our sinful nature is always self-biased. It will demand that all
circumstances be viewed exclusively through a one-way lens whereby we look as good as
we possibly can. However, God sees and judges us according to the true nature of our sins,
and all circumstances are valued exactly as they actually are; with no spin!
The fact is that the circumstances of the time and place our sins can make them more or
less evil. Thus, to sin on the one day of the week that I am supposed to give entirely to God
is more evil than to sin on other days. In the Scripture above, God underscores the
heinousness of Israel’s sin in that they would do all kinds of evil and idolatry and then come
and stand in the temple, the house of God, and act like they had done nothing wrong. God
emphasizes the brazenness of this sin in the words, “this house, which is called by My
Name.” At least Adam and Eve had the good sense to hide from God when they sinned,
but Israel had become so hardened and so shameless that even when they did great evil,
they immediately returned to offer worship to God, in His holy temple, without the
slightest compulsion of guilt or sorrow.
Many other circumstances can affect the nature of our actions. We can understand how a
starving man might steal food. He is still wrong for stealing, but his sin is less evil than
when a rich man steals food; or worst of all if a rich, well-fed man would steal food from a
poor, starving man. Thus, the rich man’s actions in Nathan’s parable to David in 2 Sam. 12
are all the more wicked because though he had many flocks from which to take and
prepare a lamb for his guest, he took the poor man’s only lamb, which was not livestock
but the family pet. Also, he callously took the poor man’s lamb, not in some dire
emergency, in order to save someone’s life, but merely because a stranger stopped by and
he wanted to look good according to the current standards of hospitality. The principle
here is “To whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48). Similarly, causing a “little
one” to stumble whether by example, deceit, or force is a great sin, and calls for a dreadful
punishment (Mat. 18:6). Fear God, and do not sinfully exploit the advantages you have been
given, nor abuse God’s good gifts to increase evil and harm. God will more severely judge
those who misuse their wealth, power, or position to prey upon the weak, precisely
because He gives them these and all other advantages for the doing of greater good. May
God grant that we would rightly fear to use the blessings He gives us for evil, knowing that
He is the avenger of the weak, and that He will require from all predators a full accounting.
Comentarios