THE INNOCENCY OF SIN

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 17, 1869

THE INNOCENCY OF SIN.

ONE of the most surprising delusions of the Devil is the doctrine that sin, with certain persons, becomes an entirely innocent matter. It is not the nature of the deed, but the character of the man who does the deed, that, in their estimation, determines its sinfulness, or its innocence. So, if the transgressor is only a holy man, behold the sin is transformed into a virtuous deed! And such persons dare to use our Lord's words in support of this doctrine, when he said (Matt. vii, 18), "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." They forget that Satan, who was perfect in all his ways from the day that he was created till iniquity was found in him (see Eze. xxviii), did, by one act of rebellion, become the prince of darkness. And as he abode not in the truth (see John viii, 44), so, also, was it with our first parents, who, being created in uprightness, ventured to commit transgression against God. Eccl. vii, 29; Rom. v, 12. They found, to their cost, that God had no favorites. Their previous innocence, and the sacredness of their Eden home, did not make disobedience an innocent thing on their part. Instead of lessening the guilt of Satan, or of Adam and Eve, their previous exaltation and intimate communion with the God of Heaven, only served to enhance the guilt of their disobedience.

The innocence of sin! What a deception of the Devil! If men are only the dear servants of God, they can then violate his law and enjoy his smiles all the time! Was there ever another so detestable a doctrine promulgated by the prince of darkness? Were this doctrine true, it is a secret worth knowing by those who love sin. You stand now as open rebels against God's government, exposed to his awful judgments against sin. But when you have named the name of Christ, and taken the vows of God upon you, and made a public profession of godliness before the world, then, behold the exalted privileges of the saints! You sin to the honor of God! Rather, what you do is no longer wicked and detestable. God is well pleased with the wickedness of his saints! Or more exactly, what they do is not evil at all in his sight.

This doctrine, made to apply particularly to the violation of the seventh commandment, is supposed to be the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which Christ says he hates. Rev. ii, 6, 15. It is worse than the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel by leading them to commit fornication. Rev. ii, 14; Num. xxv, 1. Balaam did not pretend that this sin could be committed without God's displeasure. He taught Balak to lead Israel into sin by means of the women of Moab, so that God should depart from them, and then they would fall an easy prey to his arms. He could not prevail against them so long as God was with them; but he could lead them into sin in this thing, and then God would depart from them. Bad as was the doctrine taught by Balaam, it was not at all the equal in wickedness of this doctrine, that sin is innocent when committed by the saints. This latter doctrine is evidently referred to, and most fitly characterized, in Rev. ii, 20, 24.

The words may, indeed, have a further reference to the church of Rome, but they are taken from real life. Here they are: "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. . . . But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden." This doctrine, taught by this reputed prophetess, was the innocency of fornication. She had a space given her in which to repent of her sin, and she repented not. For her there was no further space of repentance. For those which were led into sin by her, there was still an opportunity to repent. Her doctrine our Lord characterizes as "the depths of Satan." And well may it bear that name. As there are "the deep things of the Spirit of God," so, also, are there "the depths of Satan." And never did the depths of sin, the wiles of the Devil, the mystery of iniquity, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, so appear in their true character as in this doctrine of innocent sin committed by pious men. Sin is that abominable thing which God hates. It was not tolerated in the highest angel in Heaven. It would cost the whole angelic throng their place in Heaven were they to commit the smallest transgression.

When will men learn that the God of Heaven has no favorites? Let the case of Moses teach us a most impressive lesson. He was in the highest sense "a man of God." Yet this man, for one unadvised word, was shut out of the promised land. In any ordinary servant of God, this might, upon repentance, have been forgiven. But not in Moses, the highly-favored servant of God. He had sinned. God's displeasure at sin must be shown, lest men should think it a light thing for men, highly favored of God, to sin against him. Let us remember this lesson. Those that bear the vessels of the Lord must be clean. Isa. iii, 11. God abhors hypocrites. Sins, committed under the garb of religion, are infinitely worse than those which honestly appear in their native ugliness. The worst of all sinners are the sinners in Zion; and the worst of all sins are the sins committed under the cloak of piety.