Sin and its consequences
Submitted by Jules on May 08 2000 16:50:42
|
Dear all, A brother of ours below referred to this teaching of our Lord, and I felt it right to point to it here: Mark 9:42 If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. I think Jesus' language about the millstone here can be called hyperbole, that is, exaggeration for effect, but the point is clear enough. I don't accept the Catholic doctrine of purgatory as a period of suffering that can be reduced by the prayers of the saints, but I do find in the Bible enough to say that we all have to face up to what we have done in this life in the next. There is a sense in which our eternal state is fixed, not only by our faith in Christ, but also by the quality of our lives. Those of us who are Protestants have perhaps tended to play down this aspect of things, because of our emphasis on salvation by faith alone, which is true in itself. But it does seem there are different levels of 'reward' in the next life. I'm thinking of 2 Corinthians 5:10: 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. and 1 Corinthians 3:10-15: 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. In the end it's true that 'the builder will be saved' if they build on Christ, but the point of the passage is that there is greater honour for those whose Christian life has been lived more honourably, and therefore that we must do our best, not only for our own reward, but for his glory. I would hate to think that any of my Protestant brothers here feel they don't need to bother too much because 'it will all be well in the end' - when the world God has made isn't like that. God's grace is infinite in forgiving us and granting us eternal life, but we live in a universe of moral consequences, in this life and the next. In the next life we will be in perfect fellowship with God, but somehow we also take with us something of what we have done. I tend to think of it like this - the worse my life has been, the more remorse I will feel as I enter eternity, seeing God as he is and knowing that in his grace he has overlooked all my sin. If that is what the doctrine of purgatory is about, then to that extent I agree with it, and take note. God's grace can and does extend to forgiving all sin for those who are in Christ. But at the same time we will feel sin's effects on entering the next life, especially in our own minds. I hope what I have said is balanced and challenges us all to better things, and for the right reasons. With Christian love, Jules |
Follow ups: