Jesus v. Evangelicals by Constantine R. Campbell

Author:Constantine R. Campbell [Campbell, Constantine R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2022-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Jesus Overturns the Tables on Sin

Just as God will exalt the humble and lower those who exalt themselves, so Jesus turns evangelical assessment of sin upside down. The very sins that Jesus finds most repugnant are the ones that evangelicals tend to excuse. And the sins that evangelicals punish are the ones for which Jesus offers comfort and forgiveness.

All sin is sin. But not all sin is equal. Evangelicals know this, but they have got the weighting wrong, as did their forebears—the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Jesus accused them of neglecting “the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” and of straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel (Matthew 23:23–24). This provocative imagery highlights the problem of overvaluing some relatively smaller sins (the gnat) while ignoring comparatively huge sins (the camel). Pride, arrogance, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, divisiveness, judgmentalism, and their ilk are truly deadly sins. Jesus vehemently opposed them. Evangelicals need to stop excusing them and recognize their devastating threat to genuine faith and to the health of believing communities. Evangelicals also need to stop disproportionately demonizing those who fall into the sins for which Jesus offers forgiveness and compassion. If Jesus forgives such sins, why can’t evangelicals?

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