Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Someone gets a bright idea, putting 2 + 2 together to come up with what he thinks is 4. First, King David experienced a deep repentance for his sin with Bathsheba--front-page news for the world. It occasioned Psalms 32 and 51, both bringing comfort and encouragement to millions in all lands. Second, David would never have written those valuable psalms if he had not sinned his adultery with Uriah's wife (and its concomitant accessory sin of murder; adultery in some way always in God's sight involves murder).
So, says the one with this bright idea: put those two truths together, and you end up seeing that since such a repentance as David had is a good thing, it's okay to commit the same sin so we can have a similar repentance. There's no other way to experience "big" repentance unless we commit a "big" sin. A little sin means only a little repentance, and that's being "lukewarm," the problem of Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-17).
So, this bright idea says, we can never truly appreciate Psalms 32 and 51 unless we commit the same sin. It's a part of good "Christian education." You learn compassion; so it's really a plus. Only if you have been in the depths of iniquity can you appreciate the heights of righteousness. This doctrine is very attractive and subtle, for it makes sin to be a good thing.
It is based solidly on the egocentric motivation of "conversion": what's most important in the universe is my personal salvation. Crucifying Christ afresh and putting Him to an open shame and dragging His name as Savior through the mud--this is secondary (see Heb. 6:6; Ezek. 36:20, 21). Such sin gives "comfort" and encouragement to other people to go the way that leads to hell (see Ezek. 16:54).
But there is Good News: Christ will have a people gathered from "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6) who appreciate His sacrifice; and motivated solely by His love they are constrained to honor His name as Savior from sin even at the cost of life (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). They don't need to re-commit David's sin; they learn David's compassion by corporate repentance. That is implicit in righteousness by faith.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 23, 2001.
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