Jesus has done life’s heaviest lifting; George was merely urging the Church to stay out of the way.  See the column below, 

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Spirituality Column #872

August 1, 2023

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

‘Whoever Says …’ Part 6

By Bob Walters

“Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” – Romans 6:1-2

This week we are wrapping up George’s 12 warnings to the Coptic Orthodox Church (background HERE), #11 dealing with sin and mercy, and #12, our life in Christ.

“Eleventh: Whoever imagines that the Lord died to unite justice with mercy, and that “eternal sins” required an eternal redemption; then he has by this given sin a divine attribute, which is the attribute of eternality, and made a god out of sin and sinners.  By this he loses the powerful work of Christ crucified, for with Him we are crucified, die, and [are] resurrected, as the Apostle of the Lord [Paul] says in Romans 6:1-8. By our death in Him, we also rise to newness of life, and whoever denies the power of the Cross denies the glory of the Resurrection.”

Paul’s question in Romans 6:1 about “Should we sin more that righteousness may abound?” – I have to say – made a lot of sense to me my first time reading through the Bible.  I expected 6:2 to say “Yes!” not “No!”  Jesus so often defies human logic.

I’m guessing George’s complaint about temporal Coptic doctrine of a decade ago, on this point, involved the Church skipping past gracious redemption while assigning unconditional condemnation for certain sins.  George had a knack for sniffing out false doctrine and seeing scriptural truth hiding in plain sight.  

Paul of course explains his answer throughout Romans with thorough depth and elegance.  George here puts it bluntly: sin is not eternal; grace and redemption are.  The work of God, Christ and the Spirit are eternal.  Typical George, going straight for the pressure point.  In this case, sin is not eternal and was not created by God; humans did that on our own with the freedom God gave us … and with an assist from Satan.

Freedom opens us to sin, yes.  But without freedom, love is impossible.  Jesus brings new life, the Gospel is about renewal, and faith is a journey that never stops.

Also, justice and mercy are not counter-weight opposites but complementary and gracious attributes of God’s righteousness. Sin is human and temporal; grace is divine and eternal.  Justice may not mean punishment, and mercy is always love in action.

“Twelfth: Whoever denies that we are partakers of the divine nature (1 Peter 2:4), and that this is partaking in immortality, adoption, resurrection, and inheritance of the Kingdom; then he has denied the divinity of the Lord, who has given us from His immortality, his sonship, his resurrection, and has promised that we will be on the right hand of the Father in His Second Appearance.”

Much as I would love to know George’s exact observation prompting this warning, I have no doubt he was seeing the Church interrupting or interfering with the free and personal relationship between congregants and Christ.  George saw “The Kingdom” or “Heaven” not as something only “ahead” or “in the future” for humans, but an eternal component, partaken of now, of our true and fully human life.

Are we fully human?  No (don’t be surprised) … not without Jesus, and not yet, not in this fallen life. But our faith, joy, love, creativity, and hope allow an occasional and powerful peek behind God’s divine, mystical curtain. Immortality, adoption, resurrection, and inheritance of the Kingdom are promised and shared in a life with Christ.  So, smile.

Jesus has done life’s heaviest lifting, once for all.  Don’t ever say otherwise.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) again thanks Joyce Vannatta for sharing George’s letter. This has been fun.