Real Talk: God is Just, Calling a sin a sin

People say "Yes God is love, but God is also just." I don't see how just is separate from love. Just & righteous are the same word in the Greek. Justice isn't arbitrary, it is based on worth & love. That is why no one demands justice if someone carelessly runs over an ant in their driveway but would if someone ran over their child instead. There is nothing in scripture that says you have to "balance God's attributes." His love is not separate from His justness, His holiness, or even His wrath. There is no such thing as "God is love but.." If you put a but after God is love you need to check to see if you really believe He is love.

The New Testament never once says God hates a human being & it never once says God hates sin. It also never tells us to "call a sin a sin." Jesus died for the world because He loves the world, He loves everybody. He took the sins of the world away by the sacrifice of Himself.

Going around & slapping the label of sin on people's actions is Satanic. Satan is the accuser. You are going around like Satan & being an accuser. An accuser is by definition, "someone who charges another with a shortcoming, error, or wrongdoing; someone who ascribes guilt or blame." Charging someone with sin condemns them. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus & there are no sins laying on a Christian because Jesus has taken them all off. If you're going to be a friend then be a friend. You can love someone to help them out of harmful behaviors without having to lay guilt on them, that is the only way God does it Himself.

When God judges you as righteous forever Satan stands up & says "Objection!" then goes about listing things you've done wrong. God cannot be swayed about His judgment of you but you can believe His judgment was too merciful or "only positional," that He doesn't see you as righteous from His heart or treat you as righteous in your daily life.

Likewise when God says in 2 Corinthians 5:19, "I no longer count the world's sins against them," we stand up & say "Objection!" then go about listing the things we think of as sin that other people do. God doesn't receive accusations against those who He loves & He loves the whole world whether you believe it or not. When you don't believe God loves the world, when you believe He constantly wants to judge & destroy people because of their actions or beliefs, you don't even believe John 3:16. If you don't even believe John 3:16 then when you open your mouth using the words "God" or "sin" what you say isn't going to cause good things to happen.

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All the Specific Things the New Testament Labels as Sins

Do you expect a list of all the specific things the New Testament labels as sins to be astronomical?
Christians love labeling things as sin. "This is a sin.." "That is a sin.." For almost all of those things the word "sin" doesn't even appear in the same context. For example they say homosexuality is a sin & cite Romans 1 but the word sin doesn't even appear in Romans chapter 1. I'm not saying the bible doesn't describe certain things as harmful, destructive, or unloving. However, with the over the top slapping with the label of sin Christians do I think it would be interesting to see what specific actions the New Testament literally calls sins. Why just the New Testament? Because ALL old covenant law breaking would be considered sin (1 John 3:4). In the New Covenant the law is over. Romans 5:13 says, "Sin is not charged when there is no law." If you want to claim that all lawbreaking is still sin then you best get ready to keep the true sabbath starting at sundown on Fridays.

Even I was surprised at what I found. Remembering that sin is still talked about in a general sense, here are the only specific things explicitly identified with the label of "sin" in the New Testament:

• Mark 3:29, Blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is basically saying Satan is responsible for the good God does.
• Romans 7:7, Coveting, although in context it is described such in relation to the law.
• 1 Corinthians 6:18, fornication is described as "a sin against your own body"
• James 2:9, showing partiality, although in context it is described such in relation to the law (The letter of James is addressed to the 12 tribes of Jews).
• James 4:17, "A person who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to that person it is sin." Of interest is the fact that it does not say this "is a sin" it says that it is a sin to that person. Just before this in verse 12 it says, "God is the only Lawgiver and Judge." Thus James 4:17 has similar meaning to what Paul said in Romans 14:22, "Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves." Essentially it means you have the option to condemn yourself about any good thing you aren't doing at the moment & see it is as a sin. Notice it doesn't say it is a sin to God. People do this sort of thing all the time, they say "I'm not doing enough. I'm not giving enough" etc. They "measure themselves by themselves" instead of exploring the immeasurable righteousness Jesus has given them.
• 1 John 5:17 says "all unrighteousness is sin." Here is the only thing specifically described in the New Testament as unrighteous, Acts 1:18, Judas getting paid off for betraying Jesus.

Again the word sin is used in the broad sense a lot so don't read into this saying I'm trying to make excuses for whatever. Just take an honest look at what the New Testament labels as sin.
   0. Coveting & showing partiality are sins against the law, which is over. I could have left those out.
   1. Fornication is sin against your own body.
   2. You can count sins against yourself by counting all of the good things you aren't doing at the moment.
   3. Saying Satan is behind the good God does is a sin against the Holy Spirit. Don't know of any Christian who has ever done that.

Just food for thought for the next time you want to label something as "a sin." You're probably doing it by your own "knowledge of good & evil." Most of Christianity pictures God as the tree of knowledge of good & evil & as the accuser (convicter) but God is actually the tree of life & the comforter. I say it is time to stop being sin conscious & start being love conscious instead. It is a lie that you have to understand evil to understand or appreciate good/love. Do I have to abuse my baby daughter for her to appreciate the love she gets? Absurd! Good doesn't need evil to be appreciated. Love is awesome like that. God is awesome like that.

The Law is Over (In 100 Words)

Colossians 2:14 & Ephesians 2:15 say "the Law of commandments contained in written ordinances" were "against us" and "stood opposed to us." Those also say that Jesus "abolished" the laws, that He "took them away and nailed them to the cross"

2 Corinthians 3 says the law brings condemnation (including the 10 commandments) and is of no comparison with the glorious righteousness brought by Christ.

We are to walk by the spirit not by the law. Burdening yourself with law just leads to self-condemnation. We don't need a to do list or a don't do list when we have a loving Father to walk with.