The Apostle Paul evidently thought of spirit, soul and body as making up the whole” person, a fully integrated individual. His prayer was that we might be “sanctified wholly” (NIV “through and through”) and so appear before Jesus at his return “blameless.” Moreover, he envisaged that this is a work of God, not a human achievement at all: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”
Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonian saints is a pointed echo of Moses’ words: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart (spirit), and with all your soul and with all your strength (of body)” (Deut. 6:5).
The whole person
The biblical doctrine of the “whole” person is a first principle. It deeply affects our understanding of sin and of holiness. But very few people believe this basic Bible doctrine, and from many discussions with brothers and sisters, many of us Christadelphians do not accept it, or at least we do not face up to its implications for ourselves.
Before his conversion, Saul of Tarsus found this doctrine very hard to accept, and even after he had become a Christian, the old thinking kept coming back — that in some way the body, with its fleshly appetites, acts separately from the ego, the true self, the part of us that is ashamed of what the body does (Romans 7:14-24). From our own experience we recognize much truth in what Paul says, but in Romans 8 – 10 Paul shows that God’s forgiving mercy and His spirit, through the power of His word working on our regenerated hearts, can and will enable us to be “sanctified through and through,” to be “blameless” and even “faultless” when we are presented by Jesus Christ to his Father at his judgement seat. The constant warnings of Jesus about hypocrisy should remind us that not one of us dares approach the soon coming judgement day believing that, because we have not committed a lot of gross “bodily” sins, he will turn a blind eye to unconfessed sins of the “spirit.”
“Sin is lawlessness” (I John 3:4)
It is most instructive to examine the teaching of Jesus regarding those who are rejected at the day of judgement. The sins which will lead to our rejection include lack of mercy and an unforgiving spirit (Matt. 18:34-35); an uncaring attitude to those in need (Matt. 25:41-43); hardness of heart (Matt. 21:28-32); pride and refusal to acknowledge one’s own sinfulness (Luke 7:40-47) and idle and malicious speech and scandalizing of others (Matt. 5:22). Even though adultery is clearly considered a sin, it is the lustful thoughts of the heart that no one can see that most concern the Lord (Matt. 5:28). It is abundantly clear that, for Jesus, sins of the heart are our paramount danger and far more likely to lead to our ultimate rejection than any gross immorality of the “flesh.”
There is a great tendency among us to emphasize bodily or fleshly, especially sexual, sins. We somehow manage to deceive ourselves that begetting an illegitimate child, getting a divorce, or marrying out of the faith are terrible, inexcusable sins warranting instant and often dramatic expulsion from the body of Christ, whereas grumbling, pride, worldly ambition, financial irresponsibility, laziness, scandalizing, lying, and flagrant misuse of the tongue are completely excusable.
A recent analysis of recorded expulsions from the Brotherhood indicates that 80% were for “fleshly,” mainly sexual, sins, and almost all the rest were for doctrinal departure or simply absence from the Lord’s table. Only a minuscule portion (less than 1%) of the recent expulsions were for the deadly sins listed by Paul, “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy” (Gal. 5:20-21).
Several leading brethren have told us that these are “inevitable” or “not really very serious,” and that it is “morbid” of us to concern ourselves with their prevalence in the Brotherhood. We totally disagree.
Four deadly sins
It is instructive to note that in I Corinthians 10:1-10, the apostle Paul picks on four sins which, he emphasizes, will keep us from eternal life: idolatry, sexual immorality, testing the Lord (that is, challenging the Lord’s providence), and grumbling. “So,” Paul continues, “if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (v.12).
We recently had the experience of having to listen to a brother listing a long catalogue of “immoral” sins we Caribbean brothers and sisters are supposedly guilty of to the shame of the Brotherhood as a whole (which we did not attempt to deny), while the “dissensions” and “factions” and “evil speaking” and similar sins of the “spirit” in another part of the world, which have led the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, were whitewashed and completely trivialized. It was a glaring example of the mote and the beam (Matt. 7:3-5).
We have no intention of justifying fornication. It is not only abhorrent to God, but with AIDS sweeping the world, it is a dangerous and foolish way of life in the Caribbean, the U.S.A. and everywhere else. But an obsession with carnality to the exclusion of other deadly sins derives directly from the Apostasy. It was institutionalized by “saint” Augustine and perpetuated by John Calvin. Their bias is illustrated by the KJV translation of Philippians 3:21: “our vile body.” The Greek word simply means “of lowly status.” God created us, including our wonderful bodies, in His own image. It is Platonic and Calvinist heresy to consider our bodies “vile.” We have tended to follow this prurient hypocrisy and not the clear teaching — and practice — of Jesus as recorded in the scriptures. We can and should “glorify God in our bodies” (I Cor. 6:13,20). Just contrast the attitude of our Lord to the adulterous woman of John 8, to the Samaritan woman of John 4, to the street girl of Luke 7 and to many others guilty of “immorality” with his scathing denunciation of heartlessness, pride, hardness of heart, and lack of concern for others among those who claimed to be religious. To whom did he extend his arms of compassion? To whom did he offer hope and comfort? What worries us is a “double standard,” the tendency to be “partial,” and to show “respect of persons in judgement,” all of which are condemned in scripture.
“Flee from sexual immorality”
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” (I Cor. 6:18). Most of our poor, young brothers and sisters in the Caribbean have no hope of marriage and family life. A home of their own is just a dream. The temptation for us to be content with a “relationship,” as we euphemistically call it, is acute. The outside insistence that the solution is to marry regardless of economic and social circumstances and conditions is certainly not the answer, as we have found to our cost and sorrow. Caribbean brothers and sisters do not cover up or excuse less than exemplary behaviour, but neither do we stigmatize it out of all proportion. Lapses are always regretted and repented of.
“The tongue is a fire”
“The tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person” (James 3:6). Many brothers and sisters in Europe and North America, who tend to see defilement as only sexual, just do not accept James’ teaching and certainly fail to recognise that misuse of the tongue (and pen or computer) is gross immorality. Recently we were shocked at some correspondence on the Internet, which has become a high-tech use of the tongue. We can say with James, “this should not be” (James 3:10).
Some sins are worse than others
Although all sin defiles the whole person, in God’s eyes some sins are undoubtedly worse than others. According to the prophet Nathan, the worst aspects of David’s sin with Bathsheba were not sexual at all. They were despising the word of the Lord, ingratitude for divine blessings, secrecy, insensitivity and lack of pity (2 Samuel 12:5-12).
Our sexuality is a precious gift of God, given before sin entered into the world (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:21-25). Like hunger for food, it is a vital and natural part of our make-up. And like hunger, it can be terribly abused. But even when abused, the sin is not predominantly sexual as such. The deep sin in adultery is stealing what belongs to someone else, as Nathan carefully explained to David. The real vice in fornication is in enjoying the ecstasy of sexual union without accepting the attendant lifelong responsibilities of married life and parenthood.
True pleasure requires appropriate responsibility. This is the real reason why, to Jesus, a divorcer is no better than an adulterer. European serial marriage is just socially accepted adultery, just as “de facto marriage” in the Caribbean is socially accepted fornication — enjoyment without responsibility. And as we see in David’s case, adultery can be forgiven by God — and hopefully by ourselves — as can any other grievous sin.
Mercy is what we all need
Finally, let us face the uncomfortable truth that whether we belong to American, European or Caribbean ecclesias, none of us will ever be in God’s Kingdom without a generous dose of the forgiveness and mercy of Almighty God. Although we are made in God’s image, there is one big difference. We learn from medical science that every act, every word, every thought is imprinted somewhere in our brains. Only when we die are they erased. But God, who made the brain and the memory, can deliberately “forget.” When lie forgives, we are told over and over, it is absolutely unconditional. He remembers our sins no more. What a grace! What a blessing! How thankful we should be!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One